Al Qaeda chief executive Usama bin Laden today requested a formal ruling from the U.N. Human Rights Commission on how to conduct beheadings of civilian and military prisoners in ways that comply with the Geneva Conventions.
"Al Qaeda seeks the global credibility that comes only from adherence to the Geneva Conventions," Mr. Bin Laden wrote. "Specifically we want to know what kind of cutlery is permissible, guidelines for videotaping the beheading and any advice about dealing with crowds as they burn, hang and mutilate the corpses of the infidels."
Sen. Ted Kennedy, on the day after he sharply questioned Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales, welcomed Mr. Bin Laden's gesture and suggested that the Bush administration would "do well to emulate Al Qaeda's respect for international protocols on prisoner treatment."
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2005 10:41:55 AM ||
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Let's hope Teddy returns the favor by giving UBL swim lessons.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/09/2005 12:40 Comments ||
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This one ain't too far from the truth. Dan Darling or Paul Moloney might have more details, but I know that I've read here and other places that both Binny and Zarqawi depend on "holy men" to give them dispensation to commit these atrocities.
#3
Thats easy, Robbery, theft, rape, pedophilia, and murder are the basis for Islam. The prophet Mohomand did all of these things with relish and encouraged others to do them as well.....
THE IRA is continuing to train and recruit members as well as prepare for more robberies, according to senior security sources. Only days after being accused of masterminding the £26 million ($64 million) pre-Christmas robbery from the Australian-owned Northern Bank in Belfast, the sources expressed fears that the IRA was embarking on a big funding drive. The robbery, which Northern Ireland's police chief, Hugh Orde, has blamed on the IRA, is thought by some analysts to have been designed to secure a "pension fund" for the IRA's demobilised volunteers. "There is no intelligence to suggest that this was their last robbery," one British source said. "The intelligence available to the British and Irish governments suggests that they continue to train, plan and gather intelligence."
He pointed to a series of previous robberies, each netting more than £1 million in the past two years. The most recent, last May, was mounted on a cash-and-carry warehouse at Dunmurry outside Belfast. Bulk thefts of cigarettes have made it necessary for Gallahers, a cigarette factory in Northern Ireland, to take goods to the Irish republic by boat through Liverpool because it is too dangerous to do so by road. The raid on the National Australia Bank-owned Northern Bank is seen as the most ambitious to date and raises the prospect of the IRA turning into a criminal mafia to enrich its members and fund its political arm, Sinn Fein.
There were few political repercussions after the previous thefts. This might explain Sinn Fein's outrage that it is now being put in the dock and called to account. Bobby Storey, the IRA head of intelligence, is believed to be the main planner behind the robberies. He also masterminded a break-in at Northern Ireland's Special Branch headquarters in Castlereagh where clues to the location of police informants and concealed listening devices were uncovered. This helped the IRA to avoid detection. In an attempt to limit the damage, the Northern Bank is withdrawing nearly £300 million of currency and replacing it with notes of a different colour. However, it will take two months to print the notes and the changeover period is expected to be at least another two months. This gives the IRA four months to get the stolen cash into circulation or converted into property.
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Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/09/2005 9:44:21 AM ||
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Thugs and common criminals who clothe themselves in ideological crap. No different, fundamentally, from mafiosi.
#2
Paul Murphy, the Northern Ireland secretary, said on the weekend the peace process had been damaged by the IRAâs alleged involvement in the robbery.
#3
Figure out how to implement the currency conversion faster than the four month window and begin tracing any significant upticks in monetary transactions during the interim. They're going to need to launder US$4 million per week to beat the four month window. Run the new currency reprint on a three shift basis and cut its debut schedule in half. That kind of time pressure will likely cause some sort of major blunder as the IRA scrambles to launder even huger chunks of the stolen cash. None of this bodes well for any cessation of The Troubles.
North Korea has launched an intensive media assault on its latest arch enemy - the wrong haircut. A campaign exhorting men to get a proper short-back-and-sides has been aired by state-run Pyongyang television. The series is entitled Let us trim our hair in accordance with Socialist lifestyle. While the campaign has been carried out primarily on television, reports have appeared in North Korean press and radio, urging tidy hairstyles and proper attire.
The propaganda drive on grooming standards has gone a stage further than previous attempts. This time television identifies specific individuals deemed too shoddy. Pyongyang television started the campaign last autumn with a five-part series in its regular TV Common Sense programme. Stressing hygiene and health, it showed various state-approved short hairstyles including the "flat-top crew cut," "middle hairstyle," "low hairstyle," and "high hairstyle" - variations from one to five centimetres in length. The programme allowed men aged over 50 seven centimetres of upper hair to cover balding. It stressed the "negative effects" of long hair on "human intelligence development", noting that long hair "consumes a great deal of nutrition" and could thus rob the brain of energy.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
01/09/2005 12:07:20 AM ||
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#1
So what do you call the hair style sported by their freakish leader?
#5
The propaganda drive . . . stressed the "negative effects" of long hair on "human intelligence development", noting that long hair "consumes a great deal of nutrition" and could thus rob the brain of energy.
Thing is, if you remember Woodstock and Abbie Hoffman, you start to think that they might have a point.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/09/2005 7:39 Comments ||
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#6
Uh, Dear LoserLeader, how about mullets? They're only half long.
Posted by: Tom ||
01/09/2005 11:36 Comments ||
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#8
" "negative effects" of long hair on "human intelligence development", noting that long hair "consumes a great deal of nutrition" and could thus rob the brain of energy."
Maybe they've been studying the US - comparing the stringly long haired anarchist lefty stoners (liek the ones on DU) to the high-and-tight US Marines and Army Ranger, and seen how effective each of them are compared to the other...
This is fun stuff, the only thing missing is the Juche.
#14
It stressed the "negative effects" of long hair on "human intelligence development", noting that long hair "consumes a great deal of nutrition" and could thus rob the brain of energy.
Bwahahahaha!
Hair growth rate remains largely unaffected by length and utilizes the same amount of dietary nutrients regardless. Backing up intrusive statist dictates with pseudoscience only makes it all the more ridiculous. Fricking morons!
Trust a country with institutionalized starvation to come up with this sort of unmitigated bullshit.
#18
" "negative effects" of long hair on "human intelligence development", noting that long hair "consumes a great deal of nutrition" and could thus rob the brain of energy."
Maybe they've been studying the US - comparing the stringly long haired anarchist lefty stoners (liek the ones on DU) to the high-and-tight US Marines and Army Ranger, and seen how effective each of them are compared to the other...
This is fun stuff, the only thing missing is the Juche.
#19
" "negative effects" of long hair on "human intelligence development", noting that long hair "consumes a great deal of nutrition" and could thus rob the brain of energy."
Maybe they've been studying the US - comparing the stringly long haired anarchist lefty stoners (liek the ones on DU) to the high-and-tight US Marines and Army Ranger, and seen how effective each of them are compared to the other...
This is fun stuff, the only thing missing is the Juche.
NEW YORK (AP) - Internal audits conducted by the United Nations of its oil-for-food program revealed lapses in U.N. oversight that allowed contractors to overcharge by hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to copies obtained by The Associated Press. Two of the audits examined irregularities including overcharging by two companies who were hired to monitor oil sales and the import of humanitarian goods under the program. Another detailed financial mismanagement by a U.N. agency administering humanitarian aid under the program. An independent panel led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who was appointed in April by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to investigate corruption at the oil-for-food program, was set to release 400 pages of the audits on Monday. But the panel distributed the documents to congressional investigators two days early. A congressional aide provided the AP with copies of three of the 56 audits, including one that found that the United Nations was billed over several years for 31 days of work in June, which only has 30 days.
The series of audits, which were carried out from 1996 to 2003 by the U.N watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, have been a source of contention between the United Nations and members of Congress examining allegations of corruption in the program. The United Nations had refused to release them while Volcker's panel conducts its investigation, although the world body passed a resolution in December making OIOS reports available to member states who request them. Though the audits illustrate negligent U.N. management of contracts, a U.N. spokesman said that they also show that the United Nations was monitoring itself during the course of the oil-for-food program. ``These audits do show that this was a program that was highly audited with a great level of oversight by the U.N.,'' spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Saturday.
They just never did anything about it.
In an interview with The New York Times published Friday, Volcker downplayed the importance of the audits. ``There's no flaming red flags in this stuff,'' he said.
"compared to the usual UN spending," he added.
But investigators from two congressional panels also looking into corruption at the program disagreed. ``What these reports show is a real lack of U.N. oversight and coordination of the Oil-for-Food program,'' a spokesman for the House International Relations Committee said on condition of anonymity.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2005 11:52:29 PM ||
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Is this all? Do a global replacement of "United Nations" by "Department of Defense", and nobody would raise an eyebrow.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
01/09/2005 0:23 Comments ||
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Hmmm!
Posted by: Mr. Spock ||
01/09/2005 1:33 Comments ||
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Lol! In your dreams, catfish. This is the minnow pool they're letting Volker fish in. When the shark pool goodies are leaked, you'll be looking for a new job, though I must admit, you are the most proficient and dedicated ass-kisser I've ever come across. Someone will want you. Truly impressive. Keep your fingers crossed and put on your Don't Panic HHGG specs, son, I fear you will suffer serious trauma when the shit, the really Big Turd you worship, finally does hit the fan. G'luck!
#4
*yawns* as if the MSM gets onto UN fraud with as bad an attitude as it gets onto military fraud. I'm still waiting.
Lessee, use of universals when talking about reality, and gratuitous use of moral equivalence in the face of documented malfeasance/incompetence of a supranational "authority". Keep it up, boy, and you WILL identify yourself.
#7
The UN represents the only last bastion in the world against total US Domination. For those who fear American hegimony, no amount of reality truth matters. To admit failure in the UN amounts to questioning an entire political rational.
And note the consequences. Every meeting of the World Bank, G8, WTO, NATO, Pacific Rim, Presidential Inauguration, results in anarchy, riot and protest. When was the last time the same activities occured at the UN Gen Ass, UNICEF, HRO?
(OK, UN Cafeteria is an exception.)
Whither the enemy.
Posted by: john ||
01/09/2005 13:08 Comments ||
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Do a global replacement of "United Nations" by "Department of Defense", and nobody would raise an eyebrow.
I realize I'm probably wasting keystrokes here, but please respond to this, Mike - the US government has a system of checks and balances against the three branches. If the DoD does something the legislative branch doesn't like, they withhold funding, plain and simple. The UN, by design (unless I missed it), does not have a similar structure, but the US, as the main funder of the UN can do something similar but such a move can be perceived as retaliation. That's why so many Rantburgers criticize your positions with respect to the UN. If you understand that point then maybe you'll understand where we're coming from.
#9
... anarchy, riot and protest. When was the last time the same activities occured at the UN Gen Ass, UNICEF, HRO? (OK, UN Cafeteria is an exception.)
That wasn't anarchy in the cafeteria - that was reverting to type.
#10
You remember what happened to the monumental screw-ups of the DIVAD and the A-12? The entire program was cancelled, and lots of people lost their jobs.
Cancel the UN.
Posted by: Brave Sir EU ||
01/09/2005 20:57 Comments ||
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Palestinian Turnout Low, Voting Extended
Palestinians held their first presidential election in nine years Sunday, choosing a successor to longtime leader Yasser Arafat in a vote that many hoped would revitalize the Mideast peace process. Mahmoud Abbas, the candidate of Arafat's ruling Fatah movement, was expected to win easily. But he was struggling to capture a clear mandate to push forward with his agenda of resuming peace talks with Israel and reforming the corruption-riddled Palestinian Authority. Palestinians initially said polls were being kept open another two hours because of heavy turnout. Subsequently, however, officials said the polls were being kept open to encourage turnout, which was only about 30 percent of 1.8 million eligible voters by noon local time (5 a.m. EST). The Central Election Commission decided to keep polls open until 2 p.m. EST. Results of two exit polls were to be announced shortly thereafter.
One election official said the panel came under heavy pressure from Fatah to keep polls open longer amid growing concerns that a low turnout could strengthen Abbas' challenger, Mustafa Barghouti, an independent. Voting went relatively smoothly. In one incident, five gunmen burst into an election office, firing into the air and complaining that the names of their relatives had been left off registration lists. The situation was resolved peacefully. In Jerusalem, there was some confusion over voter lists that was eventually resolved with the help of international observers, including former President Carter. Jerusalem is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and both peoples claim it as their capital. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, part of a U.S. delegation, met with candidates in the West Bank. "We're here because we have very, very high hopes for an election that can help move the peace process forward," he said. Voters trickled into stations soon after they opened Sunday
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/09/2005 3:39:16 PM ||
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In one incident, five gunmen burst into an election office, firing into the air and complaining that the names of their relatives had been left off registration lists. The situation was resolved peacefully.
Yeah, that'll inspire confidence in Paleo government - appease groups of people making armed threats. Those wretched bastards are only one step above anarchy.
Iraq's most influential Sunni group will abandon its call for a boycott of Jan. 30 elections if the United States gives a timetable for withdrawing multinational forces, a spokesman for the group said Sunday. Members of the powerful Association of Muslim Scholars relayed their request to a senior U.S. embassy official at a meeting Saturday, the Sunni official said on condition of anonymity. The meeting was confirmed Saturday by U.S. Embassy spokesman Bob Callahan, who said an unnamed senior embassy official in Iraq met with leading association members in an effort to persuade them to participate in the landmark election for a constitutional assembly. Callahan described the meeting as an "exchange of views" but would not elaborate. He said U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte was not present.
It wasn't important enough to bother him. We're supposed to give something up in exchange for a promise from them that they won't keep. If our "timetable for withdrawal" is when the country's calm and an elected government is in place, then they should maybe think of calming down and electing a government.
It is extremely unlikely the United States would consider giving a timetable for a withdrawal.
Like sometime when the temp in Hell is around 25 degrees Fahrenheit?
Sunni leaders have urged that the vote be postponed, largely because areas of Iraq where they dominate are far too restive for preparations to begin. The United States insists on holding the vote as planned and strongly opposes a postponement. But some American officials have acknowledged that a low turnout could jeopardize the vote's credibility.
"You want to vote, then vote. You don't want to vote, don't vote. Nobody's forcing you. Anymore."
The Sunni official said the U.S. Embassy initiated the meeting, and the association was represented by its chief, Sheik Harith al-Dhari, and public relations chief Abdul-Salam al-Kobeisi. "Dr. Harith al-Dhari insisted that a timeframe for the withdrawal of the occupation forces be set and guaranteed by the United Nations," the official said.
Oh, gee, golly. And what could we possibly get in return?
"If this happened, the association will call on other parties who declared the boycott to participate in the elections," the Sunni official said, adding that an end to the boycott did not necessarily mean the association itself would participate. The Sunni officials said the meeting with the American diplomat was fruitful "because the Americans now know who has a sway on the Iraqi streets. They now know where to go to and who to talk to."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/09/2005 1:11:40 PM ||
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If y'all would stop blowing stuff up, we could leave tomorrow. It's not like we don't have better things to do.
#2
Fred, are you sure that's not Anthony Quinn in that photo? Thought he died a few years ago, but maybe he just went under cover. Zorba al Tekrit?
Posted by: Tom ||
01/09/2005 14:45 Comments ||
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Clue to Association of Muslim Scholars - Sunni Branch: You stupid bunch of friggin idiots. If you would take care of the sunni-allan-worshipers killing other sunnis in your own friggin neighborhoods we would be gone in less than 2 years.
#4
I think the AoMS has a lot more to worry about right now than the US leaving. For example, just about 4/5ths of the country wouldn't mind it a whole lot if they went toes up. And since their Baathist friends aren't likely to return to power any time soon, they had better start learning the Syrian dialect in a hurry.
#6
These guys don't give a shit about Iraq. If U.S. forces were to leave early, these Sunni idiots would probably plunge the country into a civil war in a bid to regain what they lost with Hussein's removal.
#9
Or maybe before. Feb 1 it's a much more Iraqi show. How it plays depends on who votes. If I were the Shia and Kurds, I'd get even while the Amis are there to cover my back with Syria and Iran.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/09/2005 20:17 Comments ||
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I strongly doubt Dubya will stop the elections - the only thing the Sunnis will accomplish is their reduced power in the new democratic Government from the onset.
#11
I've got a better idea - let the BaathistsSunnis leave and go live with their soulmates in Syria.
It would get them away from the Shias & Kurds before payback really starts, and concentrate them with their buddies for our next "project."
It's a win-win all around! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/09/2005 22:29 Comments ||
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Iraqâs most influential Sunni group will abandon its call for a boycott of Jan. 30 elections if the United States gives a timetable for withdrawing multinational forces ...
Blackmail doesn't work when the only one being threatened is the blackmailer. It's such fun watching morons screw themselves. Too bad so many innocent people are being killed in the process.
Obviously, the Iraqi elections will immediately be challenged by those who didn't even participate. Now, where's my femto-violin?
Opinion polls indicate Palestinian presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas has at least a 30 point advantage over his closest opponent, human rights activist Mustafa Barghouti. Are those the same pollsters that said Kerry wa winning?
Polls give Mr. Abbas between 52 to 62 percent of the vote. Barely a landslide, especially in the ME, where 98% is the usual result.
Mr. Abbas is also the favorite of several foreign governments, including the United States. Surprised that wasn't the kiss of death.
And Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said he believes Mr. Abbas is someone he can work with. That too.
Mr. Sharon had refused to negotiate with the late Yasser Arafat. Israeli officials have said they will meet quickly with whomever is elected the new Palestinian president. In all, seven candidates are vying for the presidency, including a representative of a Palestinian militant group, a lawyer running as an independent, and a U.S. resident under house arrest in Virginia on charges of racketeering. Want to bet his U. S. registration is as a donk?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/09/2005 12:22:46 PM ||
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Why do I find myself thinking "landfill" is more appropriate than "landslide?"
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
01/09/2005 15:25 Comments ||
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Not so fast. There have been some reports of irregularities in the Akron polls...
Three years after the attack on New York's World Trade Center, the manhunt for Osama bin Laden has failed to produce the world's most wanted terrorist, and, according to the former No. 3 man at the CIA, that's just fine. Former Central Intelligence Agency executive, A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard, has told the London Times that letting the al-Qaida leader run free may actually make the world a safer place. Buzzy wasn't fuzzy was he
"You can make the argument that we're better off with him (at large)," Krongard said. "Because if something happens to bin Laden, you might find a lot of people vying for his position and demonstrating how macho they are by unleashing a stream of terror."
That's a pretty fatuously contrarian argument, especially coming from someone who's supposed to have been in the intel business. Binny's the head Bad Boy. He needs to be killed or captured because he's the one with all the connections to the al-Ghamdis and the princes plus the adoration of the Arab street. Any likely successor, with the exception of Zawahiri, might have one, but not the other. And the follow-on would have to be an immediate hit at the successor, whoever he may be, like the IDF with Rantissi following Sheikh Yassin's departure from the gene pool. Any factors in favor of leaving Binny alive have long since dissipated: It would have made a perverse sort of sense (and may have actually) to leave him alive but ineffective following Tora Bora. Had he been outright killed then, the Lefties would have said something to the effect of "Okay, he's dead. War's over. Let's find our who really killed Jon Benet."
Krongard, former head of Alex. Brown & Co., a Baltimore-based investment bank, came to the CIA in 1998 as then Director George Tenet's counsel. He was appointed executive director of the CIA in March 2001 by President Bush. Krongard, 68, stepped down six weeks ago as the agency's third most senior executive following the appointment of Porter Goss as director. six weeks out and he is allready talking, when's the book coming out. The stench of the Clinton Administration.
Krongard sees bin Laden's role "not as a chief executive but more like a venture capitalist." terrorist, warlord, murderer,islamofacist,...?
"Let's say you and I want to blow up Trafalgar Square," Krongard says. "So we go to bin Laden. And he'll say, 'Well, here's some money and some passports and if you need weapons, see this guy.' I don't see him keeping his fingers on everything because the lines of communications are just too difficult." Krongard is the most senior official to date to publicly question the wisdom of capturing Osama. If his views are widely shared — and the London Times reports that other U.S. officials have privately said pinning bin Laden down on the Afghan-Pakistan border is preferable to making him a martyr or trying him — they represent a break with three years of official pronouncements about bringing him to justice. The shift in thinking certainly reflects the difficulty the CIA has had getting inside Islamist groups. "There are hundreds and hundreds of cells — it's like a living, moving bit of protoplasm," Krongard explains. "In order to penetrate you not only have to be language-proficient, you also have to commit acts that exceed criminality. It's very hard." well Buzzy, what price are you willing to pay for not wanting to get your hands dirty? Sometimes the ends do justify the means. Sure it is a tough job; however, you accepted your paycheck for two weeks work every pay period for a tough job. You did not do it, now just quietly go away as you are making a complete idiot out of yourself
Only this week the U.S. re-stated its desire to capture the elusive bin Laden and more than a dozen other al-Qaida figures by placing a half page ad in the Urdu daily "Jang" promising millions of dollars in rewards. "All the information would be kept secret," the U.S. Justice Department advertisement promised. Krongard continues. "He's turning into more of a charismatic leader than a terrorist mastermind. Some of his lieutenants are the ones to worry about."
Posted by: TomAnon ||
01/09/2005 11:09:31 AM ||
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"You can make the argument that weâre better off with him (at large)," Krongard said. "Because if something happens to bin Laden, you might find a lot of people vying for his position and demonstrating how macho they are by unleashing a stream of terror."
Yes, you can make the argument, but that doesn't make it correct. I just wonder how many terrorists are running around with great ideas they are holding on to, unimplemented, waiting for Osama to find the great beyond so that they may then unleash their super idea to show the terrorist world that they are the wothy successor to OBL. By this logic, we should keep it a secret when we waste him so that all his successors don't implement their plans.
This is just making excuses for failure.
This guy was at the CIA? Almost makes me feel qualified.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/09/2005 12:09 Comments ||
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" I just wonder how many terrorists are running around with great ideas they are holding on to, unimplemented, waiting for Osama to find the great beyond so that they may then unleash their super idea to show the terrorist world that they are the wothy successor to OBL. "
I dont think they are waiting for OBL to go anywhere. Where in the terrorist manuals does it say OBL has to be dead in order to implement a terrorist act ? It wouldnt take much to show him up right now.
Quite true. We need to capture him first, publicly try him and then make him dead.
Somehow, this moron wails about the danger of apirants to bin Laden's throne needing to establish their terrorist credentials while totally ignoring the potential value of lengthy infighting over who wears the crown.
This is like being afraid of taking down the Mafia dons because they might form a bigger syndicate.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2005 15:17 Comments ||
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#5
How about no trial and a slow death in an iron cage in lower Manhattan or outside the Pentagon.
Posted by: Tom ||
01/09/2005 15:39 Comments ||
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#6
no trial - execution on the spot.
Nope, it's far more important to apply rule of law, especially in this particular case. It is crucial for all Islam to finally understand that this shaaria horseshit of theirs will forever be trumped by constitutional law. There needs to be made a clear demonstration that Allah cannot save maggots like bin Laden from answering for their crimes.
The trial and execution of Osama should serve as the starting gun of a worldwide hunt for all Islamist terror advocates with the simple aim of killing them all.
Preach violent jihad - catch a bullet. No exceptions or exemptions. Aspire to civilian atrocities and you are dead meat. No options.
#7
Better look at the circus Milosovic's trial has turned into and which will be Saddam's. I'm with Frank, shot resisting capture.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/09/2005 15:58 Comments ||
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Better look at the circus Milosovic's trial has turned into and which will be Saddam's.
No milquetoast World Court three ring circus trial for bin Laden. Swift and sure trial by an American military tribunal for waging war against our nation's people and then a brief visit with the firing squad.
Videotape bin Laden's execution and cremation, then distribute it throughout the Arab world. Let them know what awaits anyone who seeks to harm our nation.
#9
If it were that easy, I'd agree, but the Ramsey Clarks and showboating Democrats like Pelosi will prevent it and it will become a farce. First step is to file a motion that the military court does not have jurisdiction because 9/11 was not an act of war by a foreign power, it was a criminal act and should be tried in the approrpiate civilian courts. Civilian courts will not be able to resist.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/09/2005 16:14 Comments ||
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Civilian courts will not be able to resist.
Nothing a presidential directive couldn't cure. Go ahead with the judicial challenges, just make sure that bin Laden's trial runs concurrently. Osama and his turban would be up the chimney long before a final ruling ever got handed down in the courts.
#12
"A.B. 'Buzzy' Krongard," eh? How many more of these J Leverett Saltonstall WASP incompetents are still mucking up the top echelons of the CIA? Would it be too much to ask of our intelligence agency to recruit and promote some of the thousands of brilliant Asian-Americans who actually know the regions and speak near and far eastern languages?
#13
Since you asked, Lex, here's what the boys at Princeton had to say about Buzzy:
A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard '58 once punched a great white shark in the head on a bet. He practices lethal martial arts with an intensity that is frightening. And the only guns he collects are ones he can use.
Colleagues and family say they're not surprised Krongard chose a second career in the perilous world of international espionage. He's a former Marine with an outspoken nogutsnoglory persona that made him stand out among the reserved, grayflanneled ranks of investment bankers.
Some intelligence experts say Krongard might be just what the CIA needs now. He earned a reputation for being brutally honest while building Baltimore brokerage Alex. Brown into a respected Wall Street player before Bankers Trust bought it in 1997.
"It's going to be a breath of fresh air out at Langley. Buzzy is certainly sympathetic to the mission of the agency, but isn't at all hesitant to speak out about problems," says R. James Woolsey, the CIA director from 1993 to 1995.
Critics say the CIA has lost its analytical depth -- it failed to foresee India's nuclear tests last May, for instance -- and is in need of a major overhaul. "It's not a one-to-one translation from Wall Street to the intelligence community. But unlike an agency insider, Buzzy will be able to use his principles of management to help improve the agency," Woolsey says.
What does Krongard say he can offer? "My main job is to be helpful. I'll pick up towels in the men's room if they want," he says. "What I will be doing is assist in strategic matters. Many Wall Street analysts do things and collect information in ways not dissimilar to what we do here. The only difference is methodology."
Krongard is a larger-than-life character whose words often beg to be accompanied by the Marine anthem. ( I always thought it is a Hymn. What do I know, I didn't go to Princeton.)Friends say he exudes a stormthebeach brand of patriotism.
Krongard's second career was born over a lunch late last year with his old friend Tenet, who raised the possibility that Krongard come work for the CIA.
Krongard's business experience began 36 years ago when he went to work for his father-inlaw's label and patch company in Baltimore after a threeyear stint in the Marines. He got hooked on the art -- and adrenaline -- of dealmaking when negotiating the sale of the company. He knew finance was for him. In 1971, he joined what was then called Alex. Brown & Sons as a finance associate. Under Krongard's leadership as CEO at Alex. Brown, the firm was transformed from a regional brokerage into a Wall Street force, all the while remaining headquartered in Krongard's native Baltimore. Between 1992 and 1996, the firm's revenue grew from $445 million to more than $1 billion. The firm also became a leader in underwriting initial public offerings, a lucrative business that made Alex. Brown an attractive target for Bankers Trust. The bank bought the firm for $1.7 billion last year, and the deal left Krongard with $71 million in Bankers Trust stock. In his last year at the firm, Krongard made $4 million in salary and bonus.
Krongard likes honing his marksmanship with his favorite 9mm Glock or SIG-Saurer handguns at the firing range on his 93acre estate near Baltimore. But he also enjoys intellectual pursuits. He can carry on for hours about his favorite philosophers -- Socrates, Spinoza, and Hume -- or about his favorite paintings in the Louvre. And if Krongard is as driven in his new job as he is about his physical fitness, the spy world had better watch out.
Consider this recent demonstration: Krongard, in the basement gym of his Baltimore home, asks me to punch him in the gut. After some trepidation, I land a right jab squarely on Krongard's taut abs. "Come on now," Krongard shouts. "Is that all you got?" I swing again. And again. "Geez, is that all you got? I mean really hit me." I deliver one last punch, this time with a wind-up. A grimace doesn't even cross Krongard's face. "Boy, you don't hit very hard, do you?" Disappointed, Krongard returns to practicing moves on a rubber dummy.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/09/2005 18:17 Comments ||
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#14
Thanks for the research Mrs. Davis. The guy sounds incredibly reckless. A lot of people made a lot of money during the boom times of the 80's and 90's, that hardly qualifies them as a good CIA analyst.
#16
I read this and thought if we get Osma he will spill his guts and when he does it better be made very public, just like his execution. Don't keep everything about it secret. Let all the info out. Screw the Saudi princes that are still paying his bills. He is staying hidden by this money and help from Pakistani govermental types. Let the world know who they are.
This clown Krongard is just another rich weirdo who should go back to banking and keep his mouth shut. His opinion doesn't count for much.
#17
That's one of those names like Bourke Hinckenlooper you just don't forget.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/09/2005 19:02 Comments ||
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#18
After sifting and applying the WTF?, BS!, and Who Cares? tests, I saw 2 things:
1) I tend to trust Woolsey because he's anything but an idiot and looney.
2) But the article did say that Tenet was Buzzy's good friend (uh, oh)...
Sigh. I'll go with Woolsey, Tenet might've had a hot sister or something.
#19
I read this and thought if we get Osma he will spill his guts and when he does it better be made very public, just like his execution. Don't keep everything about it secret. Let all the info out. Screw the Saudi princes that are still paying his bills. He is staying hidden by this money and help from Pakistani govermental types. Let the world know who they are.
Bingo, SPoD. We need to find out who's been financing this maggot, then put them and all their buddies through the wringer a few times. This is one food chain that needs to be carefully disassembled link by link. No expense should be spared (e.g., using fMRI or other sophisticated analysis techniques) in doing so. No pains should be spared either, at least upon Osama's part.
From Saudi Royals to the lowliest backstreet hood, once they are identified we need to apprehend and interrogate every single one and then kill them. No one gets out of the net alive. The terror world needs to be shown that their activities are nothing but a one-way ticket to the graveyard.
#21
Mrs D, you've drunk too much kool aid. The myth of the macho CIA ivy leaguer is outdated at best.
What does "Buzzy" know about the middle east? About jihad and jihadists? Iran? In that region the CIA has next to no (Gerecht would say none at all) productive assets. I think it's long past time the CIA started recruiting non-blue-eyed, dark-skinned second-generation persian-americans and pakistani-americans and arab-americans, regardless of their macho credentials or investment banking skills. Wrong century for that.
#22
Raj - my sources within Langley complained long and bitterly about the dead weight of all the WASPy incompetents hired in the 1950s and 1960s. Perhaps they no longer clog the agency to such an extent, but the ascension of Buzzy Boy does not inspire confidence.
#24
I don't know why you think I've drunk any kool-aid, lex. I agree with you. But that is what's on the web for Krongard's WASPy background.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/09/2005 20:00 Comments ||
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#25
On the princeton.edu website, Mrs D. Nothing wrong with dear old princeton but the mythology mill's working overtime here. We have an agency that is, acc to (Princeton grad and former Bernard Lewis student) Reuel Marc Gerecht, "flying blind in the middle east." This region presents the most important security threats we face. Why would we tap to head the agency someone whose within-memory experience is almost entirely in arranging private placements in Baltimore?
This is insane. There are thousands of brilliant asian- and arab-americans in this country who have forgotten more about the middle east and south asia than Buzzy will ever learn. Why promote the latter over the former?
[rant]
Can the labels - there are brilliant people who know their shit. They do not need to be of any particular ethnic stripe, but they do need to have no foreign matter in their value system. Words don't cut it. Life experience is essential, and Buzzy doesn't have it unless they left out being raised in Baghdad or Beijing for 10 yrs or so.
There are good reason why a second, or even third, generation whatever-ethnicity should be viewed with strong suspicion and given an extremely careful vetting - those people who immigrate bring their shit with them. The evidence for this is absolutely irrefutable - look at Chinatown, look at Detroit, look at the whole of the UK. It takes both a long time and a certain type of person to throw off the "traditions" (read: baggage and indoctrination) and actually internalize the values you have. Multiple generations for most families. I know a LOT of transplanted Middle-Easterners, Pakiwakis, Saudis, Jordanians, Paleos, you name it. And those who have been in the US only one generation are still full of third world idiocy. I only know 2 who are members of families on the second generation (i.e. grandchildren of the original immigrants) and they STILL have the tell-tales. Why? Indoctrination passed down from moron to idiot and idiot to fool. Stupidity is a family affair. Passing on stupidity is the norm.
I would be far more comfortable with a 5+ generation American who was raised in multiple locations overseas, than an immigrant of less than 3 generations who lives in the US. I suggest that you are 100x better off with someone who is generationally steeped in the American values system and then goes overseas - and notes the differences from our POV, than the reverse.
And a corollary... I do NOT subscribe to the idiocy of the various myths, Indian programmers, et al. Such horseshit - and common knowledge to those who've been there / done that. TFBS - Total Fucking BullShit. There are good and bad, smart and stupid, looney and sane people everywhere, but what is instilled in your early years is extremely hard to jettison, even when you know, on an intellectual level, that it's crap. I've seen it in Saudi and Pakiwaki "friends" who seem so logical, able to abstract and theorize, work hard as the devil, and accomplish great things - then you hit one of those ethical buttons, such as the Paleos, and BOOM! Instant Foam-at-the-Mouth Moron. Implacably, undoubtedly, irretrievably indoctrinated and knee-jerk. Pavlov's Pooch had nothing on these guys.
Give me an American, nothing less, who knows his shit about them, not one of them who thinks he's now an American. He's not, unless his great grandfather was an adopted orphan.
[/rant]
#28
"Because if something happens to bin Laden, you might find a lot of people vying for his position and demonstrating how macho they are by unleashing a stream of terror."
On the other hand, they may decide to show their stones by whacking the competition. That's worth it's weight in popcorn!
#29
Give me an American, nothing less, who knows his shit about them, not one of them who thinks he's now an American. He's not, unless his great grandfather was an adopted orphan.
[OT]
So, .com, where do you stand on Schwarznegger running for president?
#30
Another Ivy League turd trying to make excuses and whitewash his buddies' failures.
THIS is why I am favoring a "purge" that the press is whining about - its jerks like this that killed Ops.
And this is why the CIA need to start recruiting from the Red States instead of the Ivy League. The Ivy League no longer represents the best this nation has to offer - it has rotted from the inside out since the time of "God and Man at Harvard".
The best we have are now at the State Universities out here in Flyover land. Precisely the people the Old Boys Club at the top look down their nose at - and ignore.
And BH, you make exactly the point I am going to amplify. I know this mindset. Its not "blowing up the Infidel" that gets you ahead with these types. Its gunning down your rivals that gets you there. The Infidel is only for fund raising amongst the fat moneybag windbag wannabes like the Saudi's, and the compliant power hungry mullahs that deliver the cannon fodder to them and launder the money for them.
The real movers and shakers will go for the throat if they have a chance to grab the top spot - and once they do, they purge all they way down the line, for loyalty - anyone that is competent and possibly disloyal will be "neuatralized" as a threat to the new leadership.
These guys learned how to operate at the knee of western organized crime and eastern totalitarians, and put their own fanatic fundamentalists twist on it.
This twit from the upper echelons is just as misinformed as the Police Chief's computer was about Simon Pheonix in Demolition Man.
And no, I've not taken the oath again yet. Once I do I will have to shut up about this kind of thing.
#31
Another Ivy League turd trying to make excuses and whitewash his buddies' failures.
THIS is why I am favoring a "purge" that the press is whining about - its jerks like this that killed Ops.
And this is why the CIA need to start recruiting from the Red States instead of the Ivy League. The Ivy League no longer represents the best this nation has to offer - it has rotted from the inside out since the time of "God and Man at Harvard".
The best we have are now at the State Universities out here in Flyover land. Precisely the people the Old Boys Club at the top look down their nose at - and ignore.
And BH, you make exactly the point I am going to amplify. I know this mindset. Its not "blowing up the Infidel" that gets you ahead with these types. Its gunning down your rivals that gets you there. The Infidel is only for fund raising amongst the fat moneybag windbag wannabes like the Saudi's, and the compliant power hungry mullahs that deliver the cannon fodder to them and launder the money for them.
The real movers and shakers will go for the throat if they have a chance to grab the top spot - and once they do, they purge all they way down the line, for loyalty - anyone that is competent and possibly disloyal will be "neuatralized" as a threat to the new leadership.
These guys learned how to operate at the knee of western organized crime and eastern totalitarians, and put their own fanatic fundamentalists twist on it.
This twit from the upper echelons is just as misinformed as the Police Chief's computer was about Simon Pheonix in Demolition Man.
And no, I've not taken the oath again yet. Once I do I will have to shut up about this kind of thing.
#32
Another Ivy League turd trying to make excuses and whitewash his buddies' failures.
THIS is why I am favoring a "purge" that the press is whining about - its jerks like this that killed Ops.
And this is why the CIA need to start recruiting from the Red States instead of the Ivy League. The Ivy League no longer represents the best this nation has to offer - it has rotted from the inside out since the time of "God and Man at Harvard".
The best we have are now at the State Universities out here in Flyover land. Precisely the people the Old Boys Club at the top look down their nose at - and ignore.
And BH, you make exactly the point I am going to amplify. I know this mindset. Its not "blowing up the Infidel" that gets you ahead with these types. Its gunning down your rivals that gets you there. The Infidel is only for fund raising amongst the fat moneybag windbag wannabes like the Saudi's, and the compliant power hungry mullahs that deliver the cannon fodder to them and launder the money for them.
The real movers and shakers will go for the throat if they have a chance to grab the top spot - and once they do, they purge all they way down the line, for loyalty - anyone that is competent and possibly disloyal will be "neuatralized" as a threat to the new leadership.
These guys learned how to operate at the knee of western organized crime and eastern totalitarians, and put their own fanatic fundamentalists twist on it.
This twit from the upper echelons is just as misinformed as the Police Chief's computer was about Simon Pheonix in Demolition Man.
And no, I've not taken the oath again yet. Once I do I will have to shut up about this kind of thing.
A senior Iraqi Sunni Muslim politician called on Saturday for the country's elections to be put on hold, warning the results could be seen as illegitimate if large sections of the population don't vote. Adnan Pachachi, who was Iraq's foreign minister before the 1968 Baathist coup and now heads the small Iraqi Independent Democrats party, told British Broadcasting Corp. radio that a delay could allow talks to be held with those who are refusing to take part in the elections. "If they are going to be held on Jan. 30 without the participation of large segments of the Iraqi population and important areas of Iraq, the elections would be seen as non-inclusive and illegitimate," Pachachi said.
I think of it as the intransigient antidemocracy forces refusing to participate. To me, it would seem more important for them to be thinking about participating than for the other 85 percent of the country to put itself out trying to cajole them into it.
In the election - the first democratic vote in Iraq since the country was formed in 1932 - the Sunnis are certain to lose their dominance to the Shiites, who comprise 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million population. Sunnis have repeatedly called for a boycott or postponement of the vote.
Until they can breed more little Sunnis?
Pachachi warned if the polls went ahead on Jan. 30, as the interim authority and US-led coalition is insisting, violence in Iraq would worsen. "That, I think, would exacerbate the situation and would really make the whole situation worse," Pachachi said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2005 11:00:00 AM ||
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#1
The Shia shit hammer is coming down gents! Vote or die!
#2
The Sunnis will eventually be forced to understand that increased violence brings an increased response. I fear that we will have to revert to invasion tactics in the Sunni triangle before they grasp the concept: they seem to still be working with the idea that if they push back, we will fold. Once again, thanks be to all Powers above that GWB was re-elected.
#3
Adnan Pachachi, who was Iraqâs foreign minister before the 1968 Baathist coup and now heads the small Iraqi Independent Democrats party, told British Broadcasting Corp. radio that a delay could allow talks to be held with those who are refusing to take part in the elections.
Sounds like the guy hasn't learned any common sense after the passage of 37 long years.
#4
âIf they are going to be held on Jan. 30 without the participation of large segments of the Iraqi population and important areas of Iraq, the elections would be seen as non-inclusive and illegitimate,â Pachachi said.
Only by the exact same (Sunni) faction that is trying to disrupt the elections. It's time for the Sunnis to get a firm lesson in how elected representation works.
Don't participate = Don't get any say
Its more than a little obvious how the Sunnis continue to think that sheer brute force will get them their way. All the more reason that they should find themselves marginalized after a voluntary no-show in the coming elections. Those who embrace elected representation will deserve their well-earned access to power. Those who do not will be ground under a majority boot-heel of their own making.
You'd think that all the other Sunni majority Arab nations surrounding Iraq would be vigorously slapping some sense into their recalcitrant Iraqi brethern. I can only suppose they're so caught up in the usual modus operendi of fomenting terrorism that they've completely forgotten about what'll happen after the elections. A complete lack of elections in most of those same states might be another explanation. If the Shiites weren't such total loons, I'd actually relish this.
#5
As I said when this first came out, who the hell would be stupid enough to even want a jihadi's organs?
And you don't transplant an entire eye, AFAIK. Just the cornea.
What a bunch of whiny, pathetic losers. If they had ever actually accomplished anything themselves, they wouldn't have such a need to lie about other peopole.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/09/2005 11:20 Comments ||
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#6
It's the Brits I tell you -- kidney pie. The French are more civilized and concentrate on livers. We lowly Americans are more the bacon and scrapple type.
Posted by: Tom ||
01/09/2005 11:33 Comments ||
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#7
Hey, you know, if they happen to come across a nice pipe organ, our church could really use one...
On Jan. 3, I met Ann Coulter at an Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side. She was glowing, stunning, radiant. Better than ever. She was wearing a powder blue shirt, black pants, black boots and a cross around her neck made of diamonds. I hadn't seen her since the Republican convention. Since then, the President had been decisively re-elected, her book How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must) hit the New York Times best-seller list, where it remains, and some dopes threw pies at her during a speech she was giving at the University of Arizona and missed.
"I sort of like liberals now," she said, taking a sip of white wine. "They're kind of cute when they're shivering and afraid. They're so pathetic and sad. They can't come up with a fight. I mean, if the best you're going to give me to argue about is Rumsfeld's auto-pen âŠ.
"I'm rooting for the faction of the Democratic Party—like Nancy Pelosi, quoted in yesterday's New York Times, and I think this is the dominant faction—taking the position that our ideas are fine. That's right, class, do not change anything about what we believe. We've just got to package the wine in new bottles. We need a new way of delivering our message, but the message is perfect! We just need to advertise RU-486 at NASCAR or something—that'll do the trick!
"I think the trick is, they need to obfuscate their message," she said. "Democrats always have these open public discussions on how they can fake out the American people, so that's one wing—let's not tell them what we believe—and the other wing is, Our message is perfect. Ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Why was 2004 a great year?
"I'm thinking about putting up a reward on my Web page for any liberal who will mention either Afghanistan or the Kurds," she said. "I mean, 85 percent of Iraq is free, it's beautiful—we have about 300 troops patrolling the entire Kurdish area. These poor beleaguered Kurds are free, are happy, are dancing in the streets, and liberals simply won't mention them. I certainly thought Afghanistan was going to be a tougher nut to crack than Iraq—the Russians couldn't take Afghanistan! They've basically been at war for a hundred years—even when nobody's there, they're at war with one another. We took Afghanistan in a month, and now they've had elections and women vote, and they didn't vote for some crazy lunatic mullahs. So that's a pretty good year."
The Iraqi people didn't seem to have that great a Christmas.
"That's right! But they'll be opening Christmas presents soon enough," she said. "And then they'll be happy. We'll see, but things are going pretty well, and in most cases better than expected. We're going to transform the Middle East by the time Bush leaves office, or it will be within shouting distance of there. I think Arabs flying planes into our skyscrapers will be as likely as a Japanese kamikaze pilot."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: tipper ||
01/09/2005 9:09:57 AM ||
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#1
ROFLMAO!!!
People will go positively apoplectic over this, but she rocks like Led Zeppelin at their peak. My face hurts from laughing. I love Coulter.
#2
Great piece; as proof of the soundness of this piece, did anyone else notice how the Dems rolled out Katrina Vandenhoovel (sp?) as their mouthpiece to all the networks post the election? Katrina is the Spin doctor whose purpose was to assert that every vote for kerry was a vote for the far left ideology she and hers represent. This is perposterous by the way....I'd love to see Ann C and Katrina live in debate at Carnegie Hall, using the statistics of the electorate. The Left has a record....and frankly its just not good.....tickets get your tickets....mountain vistas in North Korea....cheap.
#4
believe it or not I hear (I think it was in the wapo style section that she has been seen in the company of an arab american businessman (didn't hear whether he was a christian or moslem or other),
#6
I've heard her talk before (the first time I saw her was on Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect waaaay back when the show was still funny). I had no idea who she was, but her comments were devastatingly funny.
But this interview is an absolute gem: "[The countries of the Middle East] theyâre pretty much George Bushâs bitch," she said. As some of you here like to say, unf&cking believable! Or, in my usual vocab, wow!
Just before the New Year, Army Reserve Capt. Gabriella Cook sent an urgent e-mail from Iraq requesting food shipments. Not for her or her unit -- for Iraqi police dogs. "The dogs are starving and urgently need dry dog food," Cook wrote in a December 28 e-mail that said the Iraqi Interior Ministry's only bomb-sniffing police dogs were eating table scraps and garbage. The response to the canine crisis has been overwhelming: Offers of help poured in from New Hampshire, Florida, Texas, Ohio and New York. One sports gambling handicapper alone ponied up $5,000.
The Las Vegas Valley Humane Society is now trying to find a way to ship pallets of dry dog food to Iraq to feed the 12 undernourished German shepherds and one black Labrador retriever at the Iraqi Police Academy. The Nevada effort appeared to be unique, said Stephanie Shain, spokeswoman for the Humane Society of the United States in Washington. She said the national organization was contacting officials on Capitol Hill about Cook's account.
The appeal to help feed the Iraqi dogs also has a human benefit. After all, having healthy Iraqi bomb-sniffing dogs translates into safer U.S. troops. "If one dog smells one bomb and saves a platoon's life, it's worth it," Terry Muratore, a veterinarian who looks after Cook's pets, told The Associated Press. Muratore said his telephone started ringing with offers of help after he was first quoted by the Las Vegas Review-Journal about Cook's request to "please send all the dog food you can."
In Baghdad, military spokesman Staff Sgt. Don Dees said the care of Iraqi police dogs was separate from U.S. military working dogs, which he said were well-fed. "Each dog handler deploys with their dog and 180 days of rations," Dees said of U.S. canine teams. "The MPs tell me sometimes the dogs eat better than the handlers."
Stephan Bognar, a field agent with WildAid, a San Francisco-based animal welfare group, said he was not surprised by the report that Iraqi dogs were going hungry in Baghdad. "Dogs were a problem, even at the zoo," said Bognar, who helped rebuild the Baghdad Zoo after coalition forces entered the city in 2003. The zoo lost 600 animals to theft, escape or death, Bognar said.
Cook, a Las Vegas police officer, is commander of the Las Vegas-based 313th Military Police Detachment. The unit arrived in Baghdad in mid-December to train Iraqi police, including officers with bomb-sniffing dogs. Cook's friend Diana Paivanas said Thursday that she has heard twice by e-mail from Cook, who was excited by the stateside response. "That is so wonderful," Cook wrote in an e-mail thanking Paivanas. "P.S. the Iraqi bomb dogs helped us Americans to sniff out a building."
Posted by: tipper ||
01/09/2005 8:58:56 AM ||
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"Jes' as long as we can kill some evil Jooos afterwards!"
This weekend's election to replace Yasser Arafat has the potential to usher in the Arab world's first genuine democracy - a peaceful transfer of power that will augur well for the dream of a Palestinian state. But four years of bloody conflict with Israel have deflated expectations. Many Palestinians say they will settle for simpler achievements: jobs, clean government, an end to ubiquitous Israeli roadblocks. "We don't need theater," said 68-year-old Saud Jaradat, a village elder in Sair, near Hebron. "It's time to start killin' more Jooooos solving our problems," he said in a clear reference to Arafat's four decades of roller-coaster leadership.
Could maybe start with bumping off all the Hamas guys you can find...
At campaign rallies from Gaza to Hebron, Mahmoud Abbas, the candidate almost certain to win, has been greeted with exuberant shows of support not unlike the emotional farewell Palestinians gave Arafat at his funeral two months ago. Abbas has begun to chip away at his gray terrorist image - alarming some Israelis with a public embrace of terrorists militants but gaining new stature among Palestinians whose backing he'll need for any future peace deal. With polls showing Abbas with more than double the support of his nearest rival, terrorist democracy activist Mustafa Barghouti, Sunday's election is more or less a foregone conclusion.
Has there ever been an election in the Arab world that hasn't been a foregone conclusion? Think hard, now...
The question is not if Abbas will win, but by how much - and the answer will have great impact on Abbas's ability to rein in militants and talk peace with Israel. Mahdi Abdul Hadi, chairman of the Palestinian Academic Society, said the candidate will need 65 percent of the vote to get the mandate he needs. "Otherwise the Israelis will build the wall anyway not respect your position, and they will keep you weak and (the militant group) Hamas wants you to be weak in order to bargain," he said.
They just can't get away from that Fearless Leader thing.
Hamas has been lookin' mighty afraid of the Israelis lately ...
Maimon, who was in the 1lth grade when terrorists attacked the school in the Galilee, near Safed, stated he will physically keep Abu Mazen out of the city if he tries to enter. The mayor termed the PA leader "worse than Arafat."
Maimon was held hostage by the terrorists and was the liaison in negotiations between terrorists and defense forces. "I still hear the echo of gunshots and screams of my friends," he recounted.
"Abu Mazen is responsible for sending the terrorists to commit the murders in Maalot."
More than 1.5 million Palestinians are expected to cast a vote today in presidential elections to replace the late Yasser Arafat.
When last heard from, Yasser remained in stable condition...
Hundreds of international observers will be in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to monitor the election. Opinion polls point to a resounding election victory for Mahmoud Abbas who leads the main Palestinian political faction Fatah. A critic of the armed Palestinian uprising, Mr Abbas is vowing to work with the Zionist entity Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to hammer out a peace deal if he is elected president.
Meanwhile, Israel is threatening to scrap its plans to ease travel restrictions in the West Bank and Gaza to allow for a smooth vote. The Israeli Government issued the threat after a Palestinian ambush left one soldier dead and several others wounded. Palestinians have accused Israel of not carrying out a promised easing of its military grip on the West Bank and Gaza. Israel has denied the allegations, saying it had relaxed restrictions on movement in the occupied territories. "Major checkpoints are still in place, but there was never an intent to remove them. It's obvious they must stay in place for security reasons. Terrorist threats still have to be dealt with," said an Army spokesman. Israeli officials acknowledged only one obstruction, around several villages outside Nablus where troops imposed a curfew in a hunt for militants who killed an off-duty soldier and wounded three in the northern West Bank on Friday.
The curfews initially prevented deliveries of ballot papers there, but the restrictions were later lifted and monitors said all election materials were distributed. Israeli officials said the Army was also adhering to a commitment to keep troops out of West Bank cities, where they often mount raids in search of militants, to help Palestinians hold their first presidential election since 1996. In other developments, Palestinian officials announced a parliamentary election would be held on July 17 to complete what they hope will be a smooth transition towards democratic reform and peacemaking with Israel after Mr Arafat's death in November.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
01/09/2005 10:59:12 PM ||
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Mr Abbas is vowing to work with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to hammer out a peace deal if he is elected president.
Abbas: You just sit back like good little infidels and let us wipe you out, and then there will be peace.
Sharon: No deal.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad members vowed to obey orders from their Islamist groups to boycott Sunday's Palestinian election as frontrunner Mahmud Abbas urged a massive turnout to bolster his legitmacy. "I won't vote and I don't believe in these things. This election is an Israeli-American game just marketed for the Palestinians to distract them from their struggles. Nothing less," said Abu Mohammed from Islamic Jihad in northern Gaza.
"Real Moose limbs don't need no damned elections! We got holy men to rule us! If you can't trust holy men, who can you trust? Us Paleostinians yearn for the days when we have a caliph again, with a big jeweled turban and dancing girls and a grand vizier and curly-toed slippers!"
"I support Islamic Jihad, but I was going to boycott the elections even before they called for it," said the 32-year-old sign painter from the run-down Jabaliya refugee camp. Consenting to talk only in deserted strawberry patches in the northern Gaza Strip, a 24-year-old engineering graduate and Hamas member said his obedience to the radical faction was total. "Firstly, I don't believe in any of the seven candidates. Secondly, I am a Hamas member. Tomorrow is a day off for me. I'll probably stay home and watch TV," he said, calling himself Abu Mujahid.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2005 00:00:00 ||
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A spokesman for the Defence Ministry has contradicted a news item appearing in a section of press, stating that the federal cabinet's ministerial committee on religion column issue has recommended insertion of religion column in new machine-readable passports. The spokesman called the news "absolutely baseless" and said the meeting only discussed the issue without making any recommendations. The meeting decided to hold further consultations, he said.
"Really. If you don't have a religion column on your passport, why, you just can't travel anywhere! It don't work!"
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2005 00:00:00 ||
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The United States, often criticised for not working with its allies, has for the past two years been quietly consulting a group of senior military officers from more than 20 countries, including Pakistan, Europe and the Arab world, for advice on combating terrorism. Among the members are senior officers from several Arab states, Pakistan, Australia, France, Germany, Britain and the United States. CENTCOM did not provide a full list of countries involved in the project. The team of 26 officers, known as the Combined Planning Group, has provided "fearless and frank" advice that one US member said has influenced American strategy. They have been meeting for just over two years at the Tampa, Florida, headquarters of US Central Command, which is in charge of military operations in the greater Middle East, Horn of Africa and Central Asia — including hot spots such as Iraq. US Col Mike Greer, a deputy director, said the team had "great influence" on some aspects of planning and strategy, bringing the input of its diverse members to bear.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Heh. Trolls, moles, methinks they are the same thing. I'd thoroughly disinfect all "product" before handling... and as for the "great influence", puhleeze, PR is good for MSM consumption, but you're sucking too hard on the teat, Pakiwakis. Greer's handling you - like a Pro, I might add. Wink Wink Nudge Nudge, boyz.
Pakistan is a staunch supporter for the supremacy of law and lasting peace in Afghanistan, said Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao on Saturday.
"We're not too good at it here, but we rilly, rilly support it there!"
The minister was addressing the passing out ceremony of 37 Afghan Police at the National Police Academy. He said Pakistan was actively involved in the reconstruction of war ravaged Afghanistan. Pakistan is training Afghan police officers, which would be immensely helpful to maintain law and order in Afghanistan, he said.
Good Gawd! I hope they're not training them to be like Pak police officers!
The training not only improved the skills of the Afghan police officers, it also strengthened existing relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, he said.
"See? We're just like you!"
"No, you ain't! You people are crazy!"
The interior minister said the Afghan officers would play a crucial role in their departments. The security that they would help provide was important for economic activity to flourish in Afghanistan, he said. Mr Sherpao said it was an honour for Pakistan that Afghan police officers ranking from captains to generals were being trained at National Academy and hoped that the next batch of Afghan officers would come to Pakistan soon. Mr Sherpao praised the academy's performance. He said 426 law enforcement officers had been trained here last year and they had performed well since graduating.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2005 00:00:00 ||
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The Cynic Sez:
The latest batch of The ISI Taliban Restoration Corps Pakiwaki-trained Afghan Police! I'll bet this little jewel on your resume is a career-maker... Well now, ain't that something? We'll tell you what later on, when they've been tagged and bagged on the job awhile and evaluated.
No word yet from the Non-Cynic in me... he's turned kinda purple all over... I think he may need the Heimlich Maneuver.
#2
Afghan police officers ranking from captains to generals were being trained at National Academy
A cheap lesson for the Afghans on "know thy enemy," both methods and personnel. This is almost the equivalent of our Marines getting to train with Saddam's Republican Guard before the recent invasion. I wonder how much of that information is planned to trickle up to our guys at headquarters?
An adjournment motion has been filed in the Senate for debate over the 600 foreign terrorists arrested in Pakistan. The motion has been filed by Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP-P) Senator Farhatullah Babar. The senator raised several questions in the motion regarding the identity of arrested terrorists and the laws followed during the raids, on the houses of innocent people, conducted to arrest the terrorists.
Babar wanted to know that under which laws and by which agencies the alleged terrorists had been arrested but the information had been denied on the pretext of being sensitive in nature. The senator has also questioned whether the arrested people were still in Pakistan. He asked that if they had been extradited to other countries, had Pakistan signed extradition treaties with those countries or not? The senator said that Amnesty International had reported, in April last year, that Islamabad had violated basic human rights of people not connected with acts of terror and asked what assurances the parliament would be given that human rights had not been violated and innocent people had not been apprehended.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2005 00:00:00 ||
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PPP-P?
Close, but no grenade for you.
The PPPPPPPP will emerge in time. The prior preparation prevents piss poor paki performance party is probable.
Instigated by a cleric, several people burnt copies of the regional Urdu language daily, Sarhad News, in Balakot (Hazara division) on Friday, the paper's editor told Daily Times on Saturday. "All this happened because the paper published a report about a cleric who built a mosque with the qibla facing the wrong direction," Chief Editor Ibrar Rashid said.
Horrors! Oh, Ethel! Hand me my pills!
Earlier, some people called the newspaper's office and threatened him with "dire consequences", Mr Rashid added. He is also the president of the Abbottabad Press Club. Mr Rashid said he lodged a verbal complaint with Balakot Deputy Superintendent of Police Khalid Khan. "Some people on behalf of the cleric also threatened the Balakot-based reporter Khurshid Zaman, who filed the story," Mr Rashid added. Meanwhile, the Abbottabad Press Club condemned the incident, calling it an attempt to muzzle the freedom of the press. The press club's members and office bearers demanded the NWFP government discourage such elements "who bring a bad name to the government by claiming to be Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal representatives and threaten journalists".
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Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazlur Rehman (JUI-F), Balochistan chapter, on Saturday decided that it would honour Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal's (MMA) decision to launch a protest campaign against President General Pervez Musharraf. Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani, JUI-F Balochistan chief, chaired the meeting which was attended by members of the party's executive council. Sources said the meeting also discussed the overall performance of the Balochistan government. "The issue of Gwadar also came under discussion and the senior minister talked to Mushahid Hussain Syed, Pakistan Muslim League secretary general, on phone," sources added. They said that during the conversation it was decided that a delegation headed by Sherani would meet Mushahid. Sources said the issue of royalty for natural resources was discussed. The meeting was in process till the filing of this report.
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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.
THE IRA is continuing to train and recruit members as well as prepare for more robberies, according to senior security sources. Only days after being accused of masterminding the £26 million ($64 million) pre-Christmas robbery from the Australian-owned Northern Bank in Belfast, the sources expressed fears that the IRA was embarking on a big funding drive. The robbery, which Northern Ireland's police chief, Hugh Orde, has blamed on the IRA, is thought by some analysts to have been designed to secure a "pension fund" for the IRA's demobilised volunteers. "There is no intelligence to suggest that this was their last robbery," one British source said. "The intelligence available to the British and Irish governments suggests that they continue to train, plan and gather intelligence." 
North Korea has launched an intensive media assault on its latest arch enemy - the wrong haircut. A campaign exhorting men to get a proper short-back-and-sides has been aired by state-run Pyongyang television. The series is entitled Let us trim our hair in accordance with Socialist lifestyle. While the campaign has been carried out primarily on television, reports have appeared in North Korean press and radio, urging tidy hairstyles and proper attire.
NEW YORK (AP) - Internal audits conducted by the United Nations of its oil-for-food program revealed lapses in U.N. oversight that allowed contractors to overcharge by hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to copies obtained by The Associated Press. Two of the audits examined irregularities including overcharging by two companies who were hired to monitor oil sales and the import of humanitarian goods under the program. Another detailed financial mismanagement by a U.N. agency administering humanitarian aid under the program. An independent panel led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who was appointed in April by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to investigate corruption at the oil-for-food program, was set to release 400 pages of the audits on Monday. But the panel distributed the documents to congressional investigators two days early. A congressional aide provided the AP with copies of three of the 56 audits, including one that found that the United Nations was billed over several years for 31 days of work in June, which only has 30 days.
Iraq's most influential Sunni group will abandon its call for a boycott of Jan. 30 elections if the United States gives a timetable for withdrawing multinational forces, a spokesman for the group said Sunday. Members of the powerful 
Three years after the attack on New York's World Trade Center, the manhunt for Osama bin Laden has failed to produce the world's most wanted terrorist, and, according to the former No. 3 man at the CIA, that's just fine. Former Central Intelligence Agency executive, A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard, has told the London Times that letting the al-Qaida leader run free may actually make the world a safer place. 
Just before the New Year, Army Reserve Capt. Gabriella Cook sent an urgent e-mail from Iraq requesting food shipments. Not for her or her unit -- for Iraqi police dogs. "The dogs are starving and urgently need dry dog food," Cook wrote in a December 28 e-mail that said the Iraqi Interior Ministry's only bomb-sniffing police dogs were eating table scraps and garbage. The response to the canine crisis has been overwhelming: Offers of help poured in from New Hampshire, Florida, Texas, Ohio and New York. One sports gambling handicapper alone ponied up $5,000.
At campaign rallies from Gaza to Hebron, 
More than 1.5 million Palestinians are expected to cast a vote today in presidential elections to replace the late Yasser Arafat.
A spokesman for the Defence Ministry has contradicted a news item appearing in a section of press, stating that the federal cabinet's ministerial committee on religion column issue has recommended insertion of religion column in new machine-readable passports. The spokesman called the news "absolutely baseless" and said the meeting only discussed the issue without making any recommendations. The meeting decided to hold further consultations, he said. 
Pakistan is a staunch supporter for the supremacy of law and lasting peace in Afghanistan, said Interior Minister 
Instigated by a cleric, several people burnt copies of the regional Urdu language daily, Sarhad News, in Balakot (Hazara division) on Friday, the paper's editor told Daily Times on Saturday. "All this happened because the paper published a report about a cleric who built a mosque with the qibla facing the wrong direction," Chief Editor Ibrar Rashid said.
