Police in Taif are investigating a strange incident that occurred at Al-Ufairi village, when a man entered a mosque and started firing from his pistol at the imam just before Friday prayers. The imam, who received two bullet wounds in his chest, died on the spot. According to a Taif police source, the killer had personal grudge against the imam. According to police reports, the killer said that "he had no choice but to kill the imam after finding all doors locked in solving his conflict with him." The incident, which took place at the mosque located in Ranyah district, shocked worshippers as the imam was about to deliver the Friday sermon. Eyewitnesses described the moment as terrifying.
Personally, I always find occasions where holy men get plugged kind of exhilirating, but maybe that's just me...
"I couldn't believe my eyes," said Muhammad Al-Harthi, a 60-year-old retiree. "The man just barged into the mosque and started shooting at the imam... We couldn't stop him until we called the police," he added. "When we called the police the man quickly left the scene and hit the road." But he was quickly apprehended and taken into custody.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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First the nonsense: British Prime Minister Tony Blair called on the United States Wednesday to take the world's needs into account when it seeks global support for its actions, and cited climate change as an issue all nations must address together. "If America wants the rest of the world to be part of the agenda it has set, it must be part of their agenda, too," Blair told the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.
Blair pledged to help developing countries reduce pollution and build more environmentally friendly economies. Blair called for a common agenda worldwide, at the top of which would be cooperation in the fight against terrorism. He also urged that the world's countries protect human rights and freedom and "when we can, seek to increase the number of people able to live in democracy." The only thing Blair should have said: He dismissed claims that the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq was trying to foist Western-style government on the country in this weekend's Iraqi elections. "The notion of democracy being a 'Western idea' is a nonsense and mythology as most recently the people of Afghanistan have powerfully demonstrated," he said.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/27/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Blair smells a Lame Duck cooking opportunity to advance US EU relations with the Arab World!
#6
Tony is playing to his base and to the Europeans.
He knows very few nations can even hope to comply with Kyoto. He also knows Bush can't attack another nation. The US doesn't have the troops to attack with. This is pre-election politicking.
#9
Europe has not yet, and will not, blow billions on Kyoto. As with so many other things, they talk big about this. As far as I've been able to determine, their Kyoto efforts are along the lines of Germany's recycling efforts: all the plastics are picked up weekly curbside, then delivered for safekeeping to the salt mines in East Germany. The last I'd heard, several levels have been filled with masses of unsorted plastic things. German recycling of paper, also collected curbside, has ruined the commercial French paper-recycling industry, and mandatory reuse of glass bottles has significantly increased gasoline usage due to massive shipments of empty bottles back to the manufacturers. Shoot, replanting the damaged and dying pines of the Schwarzwald, not to mention the other ancient forests of Germany, would go a distance toward offsetting CO2 emissions, but I'm not aware they are even doing that.
/rant. Sorry 'bout that, its a pet peeve of mine.
#14
British Prime Minister Tony Blair called on the United States Wednesday to take the worldâs needs into account when it seeks global support for its actions,..
The obvious solution here is simple: when action is contemplated, do not seek "global support". Keep seeking it, and sooner or later everybody else starts to think that they have a say in your own business....
#17
I've got a better idea: Since we have the most robust economy, the largest and best-equipped military, and the most inventions and entrepreneurs (not to mention the right of self-defense denied so many other people around the world), the world needs to integrate with us.
C'mon, world - clean up your act. Decrease your regressive regulations, taxes, and welfare states and liberate your people. Quit being jealous of us and join us!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/27/2005 19:56 Comments ||
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#18
Barbara, what's the point of living if one can't be one's inferiors' betters?
A2u, really! I saw something about it on the news once, about 1995. Neatly piled rows of the yellow trash bags that are only for plastics, as far as the camera could pan. Makes the punters feel good because they are doing something Good, keeps the housewives busy because it all has to be clean before its bagged, and no cost to the economy except for transport, as nothing is ever done with it. Perhaps they do now, they've had a decade to think it over, but they certainly didn't then. Perhaps TGA can update us.
JThis Public Announcement is being issued to alert U.S. citizens to the current security situation along the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border in the wake of increased violence among drug traffickers.
Although the majority of travelers in the region visit without mishap, violent criminal activity, including murder and kidnapping, in Mexico's northern border region has increased. The overwhelming majority of the victims of violent crime have been Mexican citizens. Nonetheless, U.S. citizens should be aware of the risk posed by the deteriorating security situation. This Public Announcement expires on April 25, 2005.
Violent criminal activity along the U.S.-Mexico border has increased as a product of a war between criminal organizations struggling for control of the lucrative narcotics trade along the border. The leaders of several major criminal organizations have been arrested, creating a power vacuum. This has resulted in a wave of violence aimed primarily at members of those trafficking organizations and criminal justice officials. However, foreign visitors, including Americans, have been among the victims of homicides and kidnappings in the border region in recent months.
Mexico's police forces suffer from lack of funds and training, and the judicial system is weak, overworked, and inefficient. Criminals, armed with an impressive array of weapons, know there is little chance they will be caught and punished. In some cases, assailants have been wearing full or partial police uniforms and have used vehicles that resemble police vehicles, indicating some elements of the police might be involved.
U.S. citizens are urged to be especially aware of safety and security concerns when visiting the border region. The majority of the thousands of U.S. citizens who cross the border each day do so safely, exercising common-sense precautions such as visiting only the legitimate business and tourism areas of border towns during daylight hours. It is strongly recommended that red-light districts and neighborhoods where street drug dealing occurs be avoided.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/27/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
If I were Condi, I'd put the squeeze on Boxer by deploying a "Virtual Iron Curtain" on the Mexican border to California! With the grilling she took from Boxer, as though she were applying for the Secretary of Defense post; alittle payback could be sweet! With the Mexicans swarming all over California government restricting ebb and flow to south of the border...I'm sure Boxer or Arnie would come crawling to "W" for relief!
#2
I'd be a lot more impressed if the announcement made reference to travel being inadvisible because of the likelihood of tourists getting in the way of the six infantry divisions being deployed on the border...
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
01/27/2005 1:18 Comments ||
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#3
Interesting Ricky, however Vicente Fox would go nuts over such a deployment and counter protest with a Mexican boycott of influxing labor to the US (sealing the border from his end), thus affecting our economy in the short fall. Border labor states would 'cry' to the Administration through the Congress! My feeling is, we would slowly need to tap the spigot.
#4
Ricky, I'm w/you. Let Fox go nuts. For those corporations that care more about cheap labor then they do American security/sovereignty and the rule of law - I say f*ck you, learn to adapt.
#5
smn - nuts! Close the border - gates are for screening, and IF we need their labor they can come in on guest-worker visas. I could care less whether Fox cuts his wrists or not, nor could I care if my chicken costs twice as much because Tyson has to quit undermining our national interests for their profits. We'll get over it. Either you don't live in a border state, as I do, or you have blinders on. A Mexican boycott? sheeesh
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 10:33 Comments ||
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#6
I'm all for closing the border, but nobody said nothing about doubling the price of no chickens. 49 cent lb. chicken quarters and 10 cent lettuce are what make America great.
The Saudi foundation Al Waqf-Al Islami has built several mosques in Bulgaria, but the Islamic community is tight-lipped about its links with the elusive organization, which has been linked to Al Qaeda.
Bulgaria's Muslims--most of whom are members of the country's Turkish minority--are traditionally a moderate lot. But in recent years, more radical forms of Islam have arrived in Bulgaria and elsewhere in the Balkans, often with Saudi financing.
If it's Saudi money, you can bet it's radical
So, how radicalized is Bulgaria's Muslim community and what is this Saudi money being used for?
This investigation, conducted in August 2004 by Yana Buhrer Tavanier, who is an editor with the Bulgarian weekly Kapital and a TOL contributor, has not found any evidence of terrorist activity--but it has uncovered a shadowy network that finances mosques and schools that promote the radical teachings of Wahhabi Islam and similar tendencies, and a network that has links to the chief mufti's office.
The first of our two articles looks at several mosques that were built with Saudi money, though Bulgaria's Muslim leaders continue to deny this fact. A second article deals with the network of Islamic schools in the country.
Very long investigative report at the link.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/27/2005 12:13:33 PM ||
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#1
Another wonderful contribution to the world of stability - courtesy of Turkey.
Posted by: Tom ||
01/27/2005 14:22 Comments ||
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True Tom the Saudi's will continue to spread radical Wahhabism wherever they can. The key being where they can. Had Turkey and the wonderful Ottomans not occupied so much territory in Europe proper and incessantly attacked the Byzantines the Balkans would not be such a powder keg today. Their Muslim influence would be diminished in Europe and more difficult for radical Islam to take hold.
When more than 200,000 people died in a tsunami caused by an Asian earthquake in December, the immediate reaction in the United States was an outpouring of grief and philanthropy, prompted by extensive coverage in the news media.
Two months earlier, the reaction in the United States to news of another large-scale human tragedy was much quieter. In late October, a study was published in The Lancet, a prestigious British medical journal, concluding that about 100,000 civilians had been killed in Iraq since it was invaded by a United States-led coalition in March 2003. On the eve of a contentious presidential election -- fought in part over U.S. policy on Iraq -- many American newspapers and television news programs ignored the study or buried reports about it far from the top headlines.
It wasn't ignored -- it was turned into the A-#1 talking point of the perpetually indignant.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/27/2005 13:46 Comments ||
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#2
Idiots. You'd think that there would be a modicum of itelligence, but no, you get drivel like this.
"That's a classical sample size," says Michael J. Toole, head of the Center for International Health at the Burnet Institute, an Australian research organization. Researchers typically conduct surveys in 30 neighborhoods, so the Iraq study's total of 33 strengthens its conclusions. "I just don't see any evidence of significant exaggeration," he says.
As any Statistics 101 student knows a random sample is only valid if a random distribution can be reliably assumed. In a country like Iraq that is poppycock of the worst kind!
This is statistical analysis on the order of the man putting one hand in freezing water and one hand in boiling water and saying on average I feel fine. One skewed site could totally corrupt the extrapolations.
#6
Yeah, I read that "study." It was a statistically inept and inaccurate load of CRAP.
Don't have a copy of it, but if memory serves they took the word of people - rather than looking at actual death certificates - and the guestimate (which is what it was) was anywhere from 8,000 to 200,000. So they just decided on 100,000. And this piece of flatulance was supposed to be peer reviewed? By whom? The DU?
What The Lancet did - for political purposes not even in its own country - was to make every other article they publish suspect. Their articles are often used in court cases to prove a particular medical point. I know if I'm involved in one in the future I intend to suggest to the attorneys they use this very flawed and obviously rigged article to question any Lancet article used by the other side.
If I were a genuine researcher who regularly published in The Lancet, I'd be livid at what they did.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/27/2005 19:47 Comments ||
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#7
There is a discussion of this going on at Michael Totten's blog. A fool named Factcheck insisting that this is a perfectly reliable scientific study.
To refresh your memory Barbara the "sample" included 33 neighborhoods, 30 homes per neighborhood for a total of 8,000 people interviewed. They verified with a death certificate ~6% of the deaths, but, only tried to verify ~8%. There was a total of 21 violent war realted deaths from which they extrapolated 100,000. The 8,000 to 200,000 range was the 95% confidence factor.
If I tried this crap in a stat class (oh that was a loooooonnng time ago) I wouldn't have gotten an F; I would have been laughed out of class!
Between this and USC telling jews not to call themselves 'zionists' because it might offend the muslims I think our education system is going to hell in a handbasket....
A University of Colorado professor has sparked controversy in New York over an essay he wrote that maintains that people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were not innocent victims.
Nor has anybody ever killed before or after in a terrorist attack an innocent victim, right Ward?
Students and faculty members at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., have been protesting a speaking appearance on Feb. 3 by Ward L. Churchill, chairman of the CU Ethnic Studies Department.
Ethnic studies, is it? That's what I always look for on a resume...
They are upset over an essay Churchill wrote titled, "Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens." Churchill's essay argues that the Sept. 11 attacks were in retaliation for the Iraqi children killed in a 1991 U.S. bombing raid and by economic sanctions imposed on Iraq by the United Nations following the Persian Gulf War.
Then why didn't they attack the United Nations? Seems they'd be on the list someplace...
The essay contends the hijackers who crashed airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11 were "combat teams," not terrorists.
Ward's a little fuzzy on the concept of "combat teams," apparently...
It states: "The most that can honestly be said of those involved on Sept. 11 is that they finally responded in kind to some of what this country has dispensed to their people as a matter of course."
The "most" than can honestly be said about them? I guess that, speaking of quantities less than "most", you could also say that those "combat teams" hijacked four planeloads of innocent civilians going about their legitimate business, running two of them into civilian targets, one of them into the ground, and one into a legitimate military target. But you can't stop there, Ward. There are other acts of terrorism specifically directed against civilians, most of whom are innocent as babes, and some of whom have actually been babes. The same flavor of terrorists, for instance, took 600 people hostage who went to enjoy an evening at the theater in Moscow. The same flavor or "combat team" took an entire elementary school hostage in Beslan. The same flavor of "combat team" blew up a couple beer joints in Bali, blew up commuter trains in Madrid, shot up churches in Pakistan, and blew up two of our embassies in Africa. The very same "combat teams" are trying to intimidate all of Iraq out of voting, because they're convinced that people need to be ruled by holy men. To make their point, they're chopping people's heads off whenever they get a chance. But they're just giving back some of what they received, right, Ward?
The essay maintains that the people killed inside the Pentagon were "military targets."
That's arguably so, assuming we were in a state of hostilities. Even though Binny declared war on us in 1998, we hadn't geared up to a war footing. As far as the passengers on those four planes were concerned, we were at peace.
"As for those in the World Trade Center," the essay said, "well, really, let's get a grip here, shall we? True enough, they were civilians of a sort. But innocent? Gimme a break."
Give you a break in what manner, Ward? They were either civilians or they weren't...
The essay goes on to describe the victims as "little Eichmanns," referring to Adolph Eichmann, who executed Adolph Hitler's plan to exterminate Jews during World War II.
No one in the either of the World Trade Center buildings, to my knowledge, was a "little Eichmann." Some were no doubt mean to their wives or ducked their child support. Some probably surfed the internet on their employers' time, or stiffed their creditors. Most probably didn't do any of those things, merely getting up in the morning and going to work, like most of us do. By that measure we're all "little Eichmanns," to include you, Ward... Oh, and in what manner were the passengers on the four planes "little Eichmanns"? Or don't they count?
Churchill said he was not especially surprised at the controversy at Hamilton, but he also defended the opinions contained in his essay. "When you kill 500,000 children in order to impose your will on other countries, then you shouldn't be surprised when somebody responds in kind," Churchill said. "If it's not comfortable, that's the point. It's not comfortable for the people on the other side, either."
First you'd have to demonstrate that half a million children were in fact killed by the UN sanctions and during the first Gulf War. That's an arguable point. Any of the UN sanctions figures would be doubtful, since Sammy was milking the system and grabbing off the money that should have been going to the kiddies, using it to build palaces and maintain an iron grip on power. Remember the truckloads of gold bars found after the war? How many kiddies would a truckload of gold bars feed for how long?
The attacks on Sept. 11, he said, were "a natural and inevitable consequence of what happens as a result of business as usual in the United States. Wake up."
I would state unequivocably that such acts are not a "natural and inevitable consequence" of U.S. policy. Otherwise we'd no doubt have Vietnamese flying planes into buildings all the time. Otherwise such acts would be directed exclusively at the U.S.
A longtime activist with the American Indian Movement, Churchill was one of eight defendants acquitted last week in Denver County Court on charges of disrupting Denver's Columbus Day parade. His pending speech at Hamilton has drawn criticism from professors and students, including Matt Coppo, a sophomore whose father died in the World Trade Center attacks. "His views are completely hurtful to the families of 3,000 people," Coppo said.
Things like that don't matter to innalekshuls like Ward. They're little people, of no consequence...
A spokesman for Hamilton College released a statement noting that Hamilton is committed to "the free exchange of ideas. We expect that many of those who strongly disagree with Mr. Churchill's comments will attend his talk and make their views known."
Are they searching attendees for rotted fruit at the door? Are the campus police breaking up gatherings that feature tar and feathers?
#2
"The Sept. 11 attacks were in retaliation for the Iraqi children who were killed in a 1991 bombing raid and for economic sanctions imposed on Iraq by the United Nations following the Persian Gulf War."
-so why not run a jet into the UN building then?
-This guy has some interesting intel sources, I thought Iraq had no direct involvement w/9-11?
-And how many of the hijackers were pissed off Iraqis btw?
Hijackers who crashed jets into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11 were "combat teams," not terrorists.
-yeah, we should've known by the uniforms they all wore on the planes.
The people killed inside the Pentagon were "military targets."
-If we were in a declared state of war w/another nation I'd agree.
This should be filed under the "When the 1st Amendment is abused by insufferable morons on tenure" list.
#3
Ah, the rantings of a worthless Indian Commie...
I suppose those Iraqi children had it coming, though, using this logic. After all, the Iraqi army raped and killed a lot of Kuwaitis. Chickens roosting, or something like that.
Posted by: Jeff ||
01/27/2005 13:44 Comments ||
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#4
A more concise citation of self-loathing and nonsensical Western guilt I could not have invented. Bravo, Ward.
#5
You beat me to it Jarhead. Un and Iraq involvement. One more thing, when he says The attacks on Sept. 11, he said, were "a natural and inevitable consequence of what happens as a result of business as usual in the United States. Wake up."
does this include Clinton?
#6
Me thinkum Big Chief Churchill should lay offum firewater, he speakum with loser tongue.
âBury my heart at Wounded Liverâ
Posted by: Big Sarge ||
01/27/2005 14:05 Comments ||
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#7
This staggeringly STUPID "professor" has garnered an audience...which many people equate with having validity for your position (e.g., Je$$e Jackson).
Bad enough that as an American we have to have traitorous scum like this moron running around loose, but since he is a âprofessorâ at a public institution that means that in one fashion or another AMERICAN TAX DOLLARS pay part of his salary!!
#8
A more concise citation of self-loathing and nonsensical Western guilt I could not have invented. Bravo, Ward.
Actually, Jules, there's no self-loathing there. Churchill is one of those embittered Native Americans who is totally and utterly consumed by hatred for everybody and everything White. He's pretty successful, too, having built an entire career off of it.
Posted by: Jeff ||
01/27/2005 14:09 Comments ||
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#10
Kill 500,000 children? Is it me, or do the loonies double their number every year or two?
Posted by: Tom ||
01/27/2005 14:33 Comments ||
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#11
What kind of numbskull, dhimmi wit, elevator doesn't go to the top floor, asshole, shit-for-brains, son-of-bitchin, weasle bastard is this pig-screwin peckerwood? Did I miss anything?
Posted by: Eddie Haskell ||
01/27/2005 15:22 Comments ||
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#16
Jeff-does he consider himself an American? He certainly sounds like a lot of leftie Americans to me. (Thanks for the info, though. I was afraid he might be a descendent of a different Churchill.)
The leftie self-loathing formula seems to hold these statements as self evident and God help the poor soul who disagrees with one of them on these:
Whatever ills others have done, Americans have done more, worse, longer, more painfully, more unjustly than any other people on earth today or in the past. We are the one nationality that is by nature and culture evil. We must atone for our souls.
Verbally self-flagellate in public. Others must see your guilt and your remorse on the six o'clock news in order to consider you worthy of living on the same planet as they.
Accept responsibility for people in the rest of the world getting robbed and killed by their own criminals. If there are corrupt people in those countries, we are the Dr. Frankenstein.
Agree to pay room, board and medical care for all inhabitants of third world countries. If others don't do so it's because they can't afford to, but they care, they really care, unlike Americans who can afford to pay for everyone everywhere but don't, proving that they don't care.
Accept responsibility publicly for all people who die as a result of warfare. If Palestinians die, it's America's fault for not making the Peace Plan work. If Iraqis die, it's America's fault for the pompous act of risking our own lives to try to help people who said that their leader was a mass murderer.
And never never forget, APOLOGIZE FOR BEING AN AMERICAN.
#17
It's sure hard not to vote with #1 Scooter for a major thumpin for this idiot. As satisfying as that would be, what would be much more just would be for UofC to dismiss him as incompetent and everyone else to ignore him as irrelevant and insignificant.
Posted by: DO ||
01/27/2005 15:55 Comments ||
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#18
I was at a party in New Zealand on the 26th of December and heard a guy tell me a similar thing. I said that if you carry that logic out to its end, anybody perceiving some injustice can go ahead and condemn another group of people to death without so much as a by-your-leave. Take this insane attitude to its logical end and Mr. Churchill can be perceived as a threat to someone by advocating for murderers. How long does the American public have to act like sheep and go to the slaughter for our alleged sins, asshat?
Of course, nobody in his circle of friends weeps for murder, torture, disfigurement, or rape victims of Saddam. He gets a pass. This additude of Mr. Churchill's is not just bad, but it seems like more of a mental disease. He views our right of freedom of speech as license. Freedom of speech implies responsibility, and a price to be paid for one's view. He has the right to say it, but cheering for murder should have a steep price to pay. We'll see what happens with this fellow.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/27/2005 16:02 Comments ||
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#19
Hopefully this jackass will be run down and trampled to death by the CU buffalo mascot. What an idiot.
#20
Anyone here living in Colorado? Then consider the following: this guy has the right to say such things on his private time (First Amendment) but
it is an entirely different thing if he is using his pulpit for propagating his ideas. Your pay taxes for having him teaching not for sprouting his ideas. In other words he is steling from the tax payer. Start a camapiagn for such people having to refund the state ALL the salaries they perceived in the last ten years and add a substantial interest.
Jeff-does he consider himself an American? He certainly sounds like a lot of leftie Americans to me. (Thanks for the info, though. I was afraid he might be a descendent of a different Churchill.)
I'm not exactly sure, but as the stuff he spouts centers around how the evil, White Americans are to blame for everything, I can only assume he considers himself separate from the USA. There are a lot of Native Americans who feel the same way he does and who celebrated on 9/11.
And, of course, the Native Americans are one of those sacred cows - perhaps the most sacred - of the Left, so it's pretty likely no major liberals will strongly condemn Churchill's (if ever a guy didn't deserve his surname...) words. Most Leftists won't admit it, but they feel exactly the same as Churchill. As you said, they're a sick, self-loathing, and ultimately suicidal bunch. Not too different from the old Trappist monks, really, and I'm sure if you told them that wearing hair shirts and sleeping on rocks would be for the Common Good, you'd get a lot of takers among them. :-)
Posted by: Jeff ||
01/27/2005 16:32 Comments ||
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#22
This son-of-a-bitch is deserving of a 12ga. slug.... right between the eyes.
#23
Churchill is so far out on the lunar fringe, I'm not certain even a 12 ga would get his attention. Unfortunately, there are many goofballs like him populating our universities.
#24
What's with the hyper-violent Canadian? All I've ever seen it post is trollish crap.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/27/2005 17:59 Comments ||
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#25
Actually, according to AIM {American Indian Movement}, Ward Churchill is a violent Caucasian mole planted by the FBI in the Indian movement to forment trouble. AIM kicked him out for attacking one of their elderly female board members and injuring her. AIM says that there is no evidence whatsoever that Churchill is descended from any known, recognized, or generally accepted tribe of Indians : just an out-to-lunch Commie troublemaker.
The ringleaders of this conspiracy are two wannabees, white men masquerading as Indians, who are very deceitful and treacherous individuals by the name of Ward Churchill and Glen Morris.
Posted by: Christopher Johnson ||
01/27/2005 20:13 Comments ||
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#27
Let's have a UN conference about it. I just found a great deal on French Champagne and I already have the fois gras on ice. Whaddya say? Cost plus 150 percent?
#29
Courtesy of Nation Review Online, Mr. Churchill's university page.
As some folks have noted: 1) The school he attended, Sangaman State University, wasn't exactly top tier in the 70s and 2)None of the publications at the bottom of the page were put out by academic presses (meaning no peer review).
#30
Dan Caplis & Craig Silverman of Denver's KHOW radio afternoon show are leading up an effort to get this moron removed from the University - he is the latest in a series of really stupid and tasteless events at Univ. of Colo.
The House Judiciary Committee chairman, F. James Sensenbrenner Jr (R-WI), introduced a bill to clamp down on illegal aliens' use of driver's licenses and to give judges more discretion to deny claims of asylum, beginning the new Congress' first fight over immigration.
#2
the White House promised it as a '05 priority so he'd let the Intel overhaul bill pass. He's holding them to it. Good for him/us!
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 17:39 Comments ||
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#3
He's holding them to it. Good for him/us!
The WH is not the impetus behind this bill, Frank. In the article Frist was quoted as not being too thrilled. Also, Mr. Sensenbrenner said he has not heard support or opposition from the White House
#4
It's an '05 priority issue: immigration reform - per the WH. Get your facts straight. Sensebrenner, however has a different scheme in mind (a la Tancredo) than W. I don't support the President on his (floated) plan. Shut the borders. Allow legal, orderly immigration and work permits ONLY as it benefits the American nation, not Mexico
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 17:51 Comments ||
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#5
Frank, I agree. "Shut the borders." The U.S.-Mexico border is far too porous. The citizens near the border recognize the problem to the extent that they have organized a border watch program. Why not make use of citizens to a greater extent to help out? We don't have enough Border Patrol and probably never will. During WWII, older people who weren't fit to go to war were armed and watched the beaches in the U.S.
#6
It's an '05 priority issue: immigration reform - per the WH. Get your facts straight
Get your threads straight. What's under discussion is Sensbrenner's specific bill about driver's licenses for illegals. Your number #2 response led me to believe that you thought that the WH was backing Sensbrenner's bill. What is "it" referring to in a thread about the drivers license for illegals? I'm not a mind reader. I just take cues from logical sequence. the White House promised it as a '05 priority so he'd let the Intel overhaul bill pass. He's holding them to it. Good for him/us!
#7
if I was unclear, I apologize, but the WH promised to raise the issue as a priority in '05, even knowing their (WH vs Sensenbrenner) approaches differ. Immigration will make or break the GOP the next two yrs
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 19:06 Comments ||
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#8
We don't need more laws, just federal and state governments that will enforce those already on the books. What part of ILLEGAL alien is hard to understand?
#9
i agree. Any 'immigration reform' should consist of simply ENFORCING EXISTING IMMIGRATION LAWS.
If you want any new laws how about withholding federal finds from states, and local governments who violate those laws with 'sanctuary' laws which hogtie local law enforcement. AND require proof of citizenship for such things as drivers license, voter registration, voting, etc....
#12
I agree that the existing laws need to be enforced. The executive branch gets the enforcement going. It is their job. The President does not want to do it. Therefore, to get the Executive to do it will require the people holding the Congress and the President's feet to the fire. The President will drag his feet on this. He has shown where he wants to go on illegal aliens. The people will need to build a big fire and stoke it if it is going to happen.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/27/2005 22:23 Comments ||
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#13
Agreed AP. I have been very unhappy w/the lack of responsiveness to this problem from the admin.
#14
I will be writing letters to the President and to our three congresspeople this weekend. I will at least see where they stand and hold their feet to the fire, with my little rosebud torch.....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/27/2005 22:55 Comments ||
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#15
Unfortunately the only letters concerning our borders that the federal government pays any attention to are en espanol.
None of the news articles I read gave the complete list of the idiotarians who voted against Rice's nomination. So, I went to the Senate's vote-record page and found out for myself. And, to save you the trouble, I post the names here.
#3
Notice that Billary voted Yea? She was in church last week using the word God at least three times in every sentence. Next month look for her to go hunting for Ducks or whatever is in season. Note to Bill: You may want to stay home.
Just to put some of this open-source stuff in perspective, Ali = Hamid Reza Zakiri (both are pseudonyms) and at least one of the two senior dissidents is Choopan, whom I believe has been mentioned on Rantburg in the past.
In a rising tide of rhetoric, Vice President Dick Cheney said on Jan. 20 that if Israel decided unilaterally to attack Iran to halt its alleged covert nuclear weapons program, the Bush administration would probably be unable to halt the military action. In comments published in the Shargh newspaper, Iranian Revolutionary Guards Brig. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari replied to the threats and warned that Iran will carry out an "astonishing" retaliation in the event that the country is attacked by Israel or the United States. Jafari said, "We will counter any stupid action by Israel and its master with firmness and in an astonishing way." Jafari, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards' ground forces, said Iran now had to ability to defeat any invader in the space of just weeks, commenting, "We pushed the Baathist enemy from our country within one and a half years." He added, "With the experience and skills from that war (the 1980-1988 war with Iraq) and in the case of any invasion, the invaders will be defeated in less than one and a half months." Chief of the Revolutionary Guards Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi commented, "Even though the U.S. and Israel do not have the courage to invade the Iranian nation, the Revolutionary Guards are in very good state of readiness to response to threats. The U.S. cannot bring security to the Middle East by pushing Iran aside. And if they plan conspiracies, the Iranian nation and its leadership will stand against expansionism with firmness."
Congress has been pressing the Central Intelligence Agency to investigate claims by an Iranian defector identified only as "Ali," over his claims that Iran planned to crash an airliner into a nuclear reactor in the United States. Several members of Congress are reportedly alarmed by the intelligence and one has met with CIA senior officials to press for an investigation. The CIA has thus far refused to interrogate the Iranian, a former senior official in the 1970s. The vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Representative Curt Weldon has met with "Ali" several times in Paris over the last two years. Weldon commented that "Ali" has been accurate in predicting several important developments in the Iranian regime since February 2003, including developments in Iran's suspected nuclear weapons programs and the regime's alleged support for al-Qaida. "Ali" reportedly remains in contact with two dissidents in the inner circle of the Islamic republic who reputedly told of a secret government directive by Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who presides over the nation's strategic weapons programs while financing and controlling groups labeled terrorists by Western governments.
On Wednesday, France's domestic counter-espionage service, known as DST, arrested seven people who were allegedly trying to go to Iraq to fight coalition troops. Among those detained by the DST are two women. The militants were taken into custody following raids in a Muslim area of northern Paris. The Paris raids centered on the Addawa mosque in the city's 19th arrondisement, described as a recruitment center for Iraq. It was the first operation of its kind in France since reports surfaced in 2004 that some young French Muslims had been killed in Iraq. The names of those taken into custody were not released. The first French citizen reported killed in Iraq was 19-year-old Redouane al-Hakim. Hakim entered Iraq and was killed during a U.S. aerial bombardment of Fallujah in July. Hakim and his brothers frequently visited a radical Islamic prayer center in the Parisian suburb Levallois Perret, which French authorities investigated and closed in early 2004. Other French citizens killed in Iraq included 24-year-old Paris resident "Tarek N.," who was killed in the Sunni triangle in September and 19-year-old Abdel-Halim B., who was killed a month later. French anti-terrorist services estimated last month that up to 25 young French citizens had left to fight in Iraq. France DGSE country's foreign intelligence service reported that a young Algerian-born French citizen is in charge of a 20-man fighting group in Iraq. French anti-terrorism experts said it is too early to talk of a highly organized French recruitment network similar to that for Afghanistan, but worry that guerrillas would return home as heroes with impressive reputations high, which they could then use to recruit others. French intelligence discovered that most of those heading to the combat zone appeared to have entered Iraq from Syria.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/27/2005 4:30:47 PM ||
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The EU is now calling on Iran to totally dismantle its nuclear fuel program in order to guarantee it does not seek atomic weapons, according to confidential reports on deadlocked month-old talks with Tehran.
Representatives of Britain, France and Germany told Iran that "nothing short of full cessation and dismantling of Iran's fuel cycle efforts would give the EU3 the objective guarantees they need that Iran's nuclear program is peaceful," a diplomat said Wednesday, reading to AFP reports on a meeting held in Geneva on January 17.
Iran has suspended uranium enrichment as a confidence-building measure but the EU now wants the Islamic Republic to definitively abandon enrichment as well as any activities for making plutonium.
Iran insists that the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty guarantees its right to peaceful enrichment activities.
The Geneva meeting was the second round of talks on a potentially lucrative trade pact after a deal clinched in November by the European bloc's three most powerful members -- the so-called EU3 of Britain, France and Germany -- for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, the key process that makes what can be fuel for nuclear reactors but also the explosive core of atomic bombs.
The trade deal forms part of a package of incentives for Iran if the talks produce "objective guarantees" the country is not seeking to develop nuclear weapons, as the United States charges it is doing.
Iran insists its nuclear program is a peaceful one to generate electric power.
The diplomat said the EU trio had agreed not to give Iran any incentive "goodies until progress was made in the nuclear working group," one of three in the meeting.
The nuclear group "is setting the pace for the package of incentives," which are to come from the political and technology transfer groups, the diplomat said.
The diplomat said Iran had argued that it needs to be able to generate 7,000 magawatts of nuclear power by 2021, and that it needs nuclear power for this.
But the European trio said this made no economic sense in oil-rich Iran.
The Europeans then "presented their views that what would be needed would be cessation/dismantling of sensitive parts of the nuclear program (i.e. the fuel cycle)," a second diplomat said reading from another report on the meeting.
Diplomats said the Europeans told Iran, however, that they would not object to a "safeguarded nuclear program," namely if Iran used fuel it did not make itself.
Iran did offer to limit enrichment to low levels producing fuel that was not weapons-grade and to allow for more intense monitoring by the UN nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"The Europeans said no," the first diplomat said.
The diplomat said Iran had also asked to be allowed to use 20 centrifuges for research, despite the fact that the enrichment suspension is supposed to extend to all related activities, and the Europeans rejected this.
Meanwhile, in the political-security working group, Iran called for a "friendship treaty" with the EU, the diplomat said.
The Europeans offered assistance, with France to help Iran develop an export control regime, Germany to help with Tehran's counter-narcotics strategy and Britain with counter-terrorism.
The Iranians wanted to discuss Al-Qaeda and Iranian resistance groups but ruled out talks on Hezbollah and Hamas. The EU refused this limitation, the diplomat said.
The second diplomat said that while Iran was blocking the talks with its refusal to abandon the nuclear fuel cycle, the EU was stymied since it needs US backing if it is to offer Tehran key incentives, such as the trade issue of helping the Islamic Republic join the World Trade Organization (WTO).
"The Europans can not offer anything to Iran until the United States comes on board," the diplomat said.
A US diplomat said British Foreign Minister Jack Straw had made this point in recent talks with US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
The United States is not backing, but is also not opposing, the EU talks with Iran.
A third round of talks between the EU3 and Iran is scheduled for February in Geneva.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/27/2005 3:40:19 PM ||
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#4
reminds me of how my bro in law use to do child disipline:
Jake!
Jake Come here!
Come here RIGHT NOW!
Jake! Jake! Jake!
Jake, I'm going to count to three you are going to get a spanking if you don't come here right now! ...ONE.......... TWO..................
JASON ALEXANDER SMITH YOU COME HERE RIGHT NOW!!
JAKE, DID YOU HEAR ME?
JAKE, please come here!
peleeease, Jake, please come.
If you come here right now, I'll give you a cookie.
Come on Jake, please!
Never mind.
#6
2b, Would I be correct in assuming the child turned into a monstrous brat? I learned early that sometimes you have to chase them down first. Of course, you only have to read trailing daughter's post last night on the Condi thread to realize how well that turned out. ;-)
President Mohammad Khatami, responding to comments by a senior US official that Iran tops the list of world trouble spots, said yesterday the United States was the country which most endangered global peace. Tensions between Tehran and Washington, which broke diplomatic ties in 1980,
And the reason was...? Think back, now...
have heightened in recent days as US officials have taken an increasingly tough line on the Islamic state. "You look around the world at potential trouble spots, Iran is right at the top of the list," US Vice President Dick Cheney said last week on the day George W. Bush was sworn in for a second four-year term as president. Khatami, speaking to reporters after a meeting with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, responded in kind. "We say that America is at the top of the list of countries which are endangering world peace and security and we hope that one day they come to their senses," he said, adding he thought a change in US policy was very unlikely. Iranian officials have been quick to stress that Tehran would respond vigorously to any military attack by the United States or Israel, which Cheney said may decide to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2005 9:38:44 PM ||
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#1
Tehran would respond vigorously to any military attack by the United States or Israel
as in: panicked scattering in all directions for cover
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/26/2005 21:44 Comments ||
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#2
Right on Frank...The US need not have to invade per se in order to accomplish it's primary objectives of neutralizing the nuclear threat. I would recommend to the President: No boots on the ground (other than CIA, special forces, and or mercenaries)! Hit the 300+ targets, both known and suspected in a first stage wave; wait for reaction and prepare for the second demoralizing hit. Take them back atleast 22 years!
#3
No boots on the ground
See that's the problem, smn. There are "boots" on the ground-our GI's and coalition forces in Iraq. This has been discussed quite a bit on other threads. The problem is that Iranians would rush the Iraqi border and call their Shiite cousins to arms. One of the top contenders in the Iraq election is a Shiite cleric called Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution. He's a pal of head honcho Shiite cleric, Sistani. Hakim lived in exile for many years in Tehran like other Iraqi clerics did when Saddam the Terrible was in power.
Hakim made some odd comments recently about looking to Iran for suggestions about security issues in Iran, so it may not be so far fetched for Iran to think they have some sympathies in the Iraqi political community: In comments certain to raise eyebrows in the United States, al-Hakim spoke of a role for Iran and Syria â both regarded in Washington as enemies in the war on terror â along with Iraqâs other neighbours, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Kuwait, in the security of the country.
âThese countries have past experiences and good security forces and with good relations we can solve this problem together,â he said.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1452397,00.html
This situation is very tricky. The US needs to tread carefully.
#4
Now wait a minute, let's be cognizant of the circumstances underway:
1. There IS IRG (Iranian Republic Guards) in Iraq. So, when (not if) the US takes action against Iran, there would be an uprising in Iraq. That is why we must accelerate the military training of Iraqis, who are best equipped to identify friend from foe.
2. SF is the tool of choice in Iran (and Syria for that matter), only SF can ID the numerous targets, paint them for targeted missle attacks.
3. Attacking Iran will unleash a much wider theatre of attack, perhaps beyond the ME region. It will also make overt the insidious relationship between al Qaeda and Iranian groups like Hezzbolah and Hamas.
4. Like with Iraq, Iran has had years to prepare for the inevitable. They are deploying a worldwide counter US strategy, while stroking the EU-3 for all its worth.
There is a red line, folks, a point at which action is required. Moves and counter-moves are well underway, they are just not obvious.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/27/2005 9:04 Comments ||
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#5
"Right on Frank...The US need not have to invade per se in order to accomplish it's primary objectives of neutralizing the nuclear threat. I would recommend to the President: No boots on the ground (other than CIA, special forces, and or mercenaries)! Hit the 300+ targets, both known and suspected in a first stage wave; wait for reaction and prepare for the second demoralizing hit. Take them back atleast 22 years!"
An added benefit, it'll remaind the Iraquis who is who, and what is what.
#6
What I mean by no boots on the ground 2xstandard #3, is that without the nation building option on the table as a hindrance, the US could concentrate on unfiltereddestruction of the enemy! A filtered war (using surgical precision) will only inflame the Iranian street (such as what has happened in Iraq) as nationalism take root! Take Japan for instance; the Emperor never would have surrendered if the targeted sights of "Fatman" and "Littleboy" were isolated but totally military encampments. The horror of war is what prevents or stops it!
#7
IMHO the "Iranians rush the border scenario" is absurd. A decapitating or disabling strike would cause havoc among the IRG and mullarchy. They barely control the populace now. Rushing our troops and arms would be like condensing the Iranians'8 yr Iranian-Iraq war casualties into a week-long carnage. They have no chance to counterattack, and we don't want to invade. Destabilize and arm the opposition/population for regime change. Why would the war spread beyong Hezbollah firing (briefly) into Israel? Think Israel wouldn't annihilate them? Syria gonna attack? who?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 10:44 Comments ||
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#8
For Khatami, "world peace" == current status quo, where Iran and its agents spread their poison around unopposed.
It seems the mullahs' current comfy position is being threatened, and they don't like it. Well that's just too damn bad.
#9
Frank, frank, frank, how many times do I have to tell ya....
Hezbollah and Hamas have a global reach far beyond an attack on Israel. Shit, they are even in Latin America. Iran's counter punch is asymetric warfare, using H & H and AQ. They've been planning counter measures for years.
There are by some estimates over 2,500 IRG in Iraq, including some senior folks. They are primarly in southern regions and Sadr is a huge backer.
Baby Asshat does not control his daddy's country, they do have WMD, and pose problems. It is no surprise that a mutual defence (and more) alliance has been struck with Iran.
US action on Iran is imminent. You can bet that plans have been developed to counter the above-mentioned potentialities.
Posted by: Kofi Annan ||
01/27/2005 15:02 Comments ||
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#10
ok "Kofi" lol. I also hope US action is imminent, harsh, and successful. I'm still not over the '79 embassy hostages. I think Iran's minions will have their hands full enough to worry about the MM's demise
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 15:12 Comments ||
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Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) said he was very satisfied with efforts by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to restore calm and pledged in an interview published on Thursday to pursue peace with him.
"There is no doubt that Abu Mazen (Abbas) has begun to work," Sharon told the Yedioth Ahronoth daily.
"I am very satisfied with what I hear is happening on the Palestinian side, and I have a serious interest in advancing the process with him."
Abbas, speaking after talks with U.S. envoy William Burns, urged Israel to agree quickly to a cease-fire with Palestinian militants and said he was looking forward to holding a still unscheduled summit with Sharon.
Burns told reporters the United States was "very encouraged" by steps Abbas has taken toward a "restoration of law and order" that would serve as a basis for a cease-fire.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie later signed an order banning unauthorized Palestinians from carrying weapons. Militant groups have ignored such edicts, issued by the Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) in the past.
Abbas, elected president on Jan. 9 on a platform of ending more than four years of bloodshed, has been pursuing a truce deal with Hamas and other militant groups. Violence has dropped sharply in Gaza, raising hopes peacemaking can be revived.
A Palestinian official said Israel had already agreed to free 500 of some 7,000 Palestinians it is holding. Israeli political sources confirmed Israel was considering letting hundreds of prisoners out as a goodwill gesture to Abbas.
"I intend to advance the chance of a settlement with the Palestinians," Sharon said. "I intend to be accommodating toward Abu Mazen while at the same time remaining vigilant and assessing the situation on their side."
Israel says it will answer quiet with quiet and has shelved major military operations, but refused to stop selective raids.
But Abbas suggested he needed formal word from Israel that it would hold its fire in order to get militant factions behind a truce they insist must be mutual.
"The Israelis have to respond quickly. We cannot wait for a week or two," Abbas said in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
In another sign of change after Yasser Arafat (news - web sites)'s death, Palestinians voted in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites)'s first municipal election, a test of strength between Abbas and the militant Hamas, which is popular in the territory Israel plans to leave this summer.
Abbas and Sharon are expected to meet next month for talks likely to focus on coordinating the planned pullout from the Gaza Strip and ways to restart a U.S.-backed peace "road map" charting incremental steps toward a Palestinian state.
Across the Gaza Strip, thousands turned out to vote for candidates vying for 118 seats in 10 municipal councils.
"The election is our way of getting rid of corruption," Mohammed Abu Harbeed, a supporter of pro-Hamas candidates.
Hamas, which advocates Israel's destruction, made significant inroads in last month's West Bank municipal elections in which the mainstream Fatah (news - web sites) came out ahead.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/27/2005 3:21:33 PM ||
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Jordan's King Abdullah II on Wedneday affirmed that political, economic, administrative and social development is an integrated process and stressed the need to broaden public participation.
"As political development is a gateway to the full participation of all segments of the grassroots and civil society institutions in the various aspects of the development process, I assert here that political development should start at the grassroots level, then move up to decision-making centers, and not vice-versa," King Abdullah said in a televised address to the nation.
The King also stressed the necessity to reconsider the current administrative divisions of the Kingdom where there will be a number development areas or regions, each of which consisting of a number of governorates and each region will have a local council directly elected by its people.
To that end, King Abdullah said "we shall as soon as possible form a Royal Committee to study the various aspects of such an approach and to put the appropriate mechanism for its implementation and translation from an idea to tangible facts on the ground."
In his speech, King Abdullah congratulated the Palestinians "for their great achievement in concluding the presidential election and choosing their legitimate leadership." The King described this achievement "a key and essential step for the Palestinians in their pursuit to regain their rights and to establish their independent state on their national soil."
King Abdullah also called upon Iraqis of all groups and spectra to take part in the elections to be held in few days. "The elections are the only realistic way for Iraqis to achieve security and stability, rebuild their country, and ensure that Iraq regains its natural and special status within the region," the King said, according to Petra.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/27/2005 3:26:07 PM ||
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Iraqi troops need six more months before they can take control of cities and towns, the country's army chief said Thursday, and after that, the military would still need help from U.S. and other foreign forces to protect its borders.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Gen. Babaker Shawkat Zebari said he was optimistic about prospects for bolstering the capabilities of Iraq's security forces -- a key U.S. goal as the White House comes under domestic political pressure to withdraw American troops.
"God willing, during this year, our units will be fully armed, trained and have enough soldiers," said Zebari, an ethnic Kurd. "After all this is finished, I am very optimistic that the Iraqi army will be able to protect the territories and border."
Zebari said that if Iraqi forces continue to improve, "we will be able to protect Iraqi cities and villages within six months."
On Wednesday, however, the top U.S. commander here, Gen. George Casey, said Iraqi forces were not ready to take over the fight against the insurgents and there was no guarantee they would ever be able to do so.
In remarks prepared for delivery at Johns Hopkins University, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said the U.S. military presence in Iraq "has become part of the problem, not part of the solution" and that the United States needs to work with the Iraqis "on a specific timetable for the honorable homecoming of our forces."
Zebari said he was hopeful that in the next six months, the insurgents could be weakened militarily as Iraqi forces grow in confidence and capability.
Nevertheless, Iraq would still need U.S. help even after Iraqi troops and police assume the main responsibility for protecting Baghdad and other major cities.
"The Iraqi army should benefit from presence of coalition or multinational bases to protect from any border violation by any country," Zebari said.
According to Zebari, Iraqi authorities in the past three weeks have detained 2,000 insurgents, including foreigners from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen. He added that 95 percent of the suicide attacks in the country are carried out by foreigners.
As the elections draw nearer, insurgents attacks have been increasing to try to scare people away from the polls. Flyers distributed in Baghdad and elsewhere warn that the insurgents will "wash the streets of Baghdad" with voters' blood.
The government is tightening security starting Friday, imposing a 7 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew, banning driving on election day, and closing the border and airport.
"There are threats. There are suicide attackers and terrorists, and we do not say they are not dangerous, but we have exerted all we can to find safe ground so that the voter can vote," Zebari said.
To try to bolster its fighting capabilities, Zebari said the Iraqi military was buying weapons from former Soviet bloc nations, mainly Poland and Ukraine. Iraq's old army used Soviet equipment and officers and sergeants are more familiar with it.
Earlier this month, Deputy Defense Minister Ziad Cattan visited Poland, where he signed a $20 million deal to buy weapons from the state-owned arms company Bumar PHZ.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/27/2005 3:23:31 PM ||
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Pakistan is considering a request by Afghanistan to return the aircraft used by Afghan pilots when they defected from their country's communist government in the 1980s, officials said.
The Afghan aircraft include six helicopters and eight fighter jets — four MiG-21 and four SU-22, a senior government official said late on Tuesday.
"The aircraft landed in Pakistan between 1983 and 1989 on account of defections of their pilots," he said on condition of anonymity.
He said the aircraft are parked at various air force bases in Pakistan. He would not specify their locations.
Afghanistan — which is struggling to rebuild after a US-led coalition ousted the Taliban militia from power in late 2001 — made a request to Pakistan to hand over the planes "sometime last year", Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said.
"Pakistani authorities are looking into this question," he said. He would not elaborate.
"This is a matter that can be sorted through consultations," Khan said.
Last month, the Afghan Defence Ministry said it was seeking the return of 26 aircraft — nine helicopters, five bombers, eight fighters, two trainer jets and two transporters.
Afghan officials have said 19 of the planes are in Pakistan and seven in Uzbekistan.
It was not possible to reconcile the discrepancy in the number given by the Afghan and Pakistani officials for the sought-after planes in Pakistan.
A senior Pakistan air force official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said Monday that the Afghan planes in Pakistan were not airworthy.
He said the aircraft had developed 'flaws' while parked for two decades.
AUSTRALIAN Iraqis today expressed pride at being able to vote in their country's first democratic national elections.
Voting opened at nine polling centres in Sydney and Victoria at 7am (AEDT) today, making Australian Iraqis the first in the world to vote in the poll.
More than 11,800 Iraqis in Australia are among 280,000 expatriates across the world who are expected to vote over the next three days.
Out-of-country polling closes at 5pm (AEDT) on Sunday.
Kassim Abood, a senior adviser to the out-of-country voting program, said it had been an exciting morning.
"I think a lot of Iraqis are very proud today. People coming to me, shake (my) hand, hug me, kissing me and tell me 'congratulations', it's wonderful," he told reporters outside the Fairfield polling centre in Sydney's south-west.
Centre manager Shimon Haddad was the first to vote and said he never thought he would see this day.
"I'm proud to vote for the election. We have been looking forward to this time (for the) last 50 years actually, so it's a very exciting day for Iraq citizens," he said.
"We call Australia home now, but as Iraqi origin we are proud to participate in this election and we hope and we pray that everything goes smooth back home ... and we get a democratic Iraq."
Another Iraqi to cast his vote this morning, Hussein Khoshnov, is a Kurd who came to Australia 10 years ago.
"We are Kurds of north of Iraq and we have been suffering (for the) last 50 years through the dictatorship and we are now hoping for a really fair life for all the different (people) in Iraq.
"We have the honour to do that (to vote) and we are very proud of it and (it's) a very historic moment for many Iraqis and we hope for this election to be a success," he said.
About an hour after voting started traditional music and dancing broke out at the doors of the Fairfield polling booth, with the flags of Iraq and Australia being waved above heads and triumphant shouts of "Iraq" filling the air.
Meanwhile across the road, a small group of protesters from the World Communist Party assembled to demonstrate against the elections.
Counting of the votes will take place in Australia on Tuesday, February 1.
At Strategy Page, which unfortunately provides no permalink.
The Iraqi navy (officially, the Iraqi Coastal Defense Force) is slowly coming back into existence. At present, the force consists of five 89 foot long harbor patrol boats, and twenty FABs (Fast Aluminum Boats). There are about 500 sailors, many of them older men who have experience, but have been out of the navy for many years. The new navy was activated last September 30th, after nearly a year of training by Australian, Italian, Dutch and American naval personnel. For the next few years, the main work of the Iraqi navy will be protecting port facilities from terrorists, chasing smugglers, and dealing with potential safety problems aboard the many ships delivering goods, and taking out oil, from Iraqi ports. Smuggling is a bigger problem than terrorism, with well organized gangs doing over a billion dollars of business a year smuggling oil products out of Iraq and Iran. The new Iraqi government will decide when, and how, the navy will expand. Eventually the navy will probably have some larger ships, like corvettes (1,000 tons and up) for patrols farther out into the Persian Gulf. Aircraft will have to be obtained, for maritime surveillance. For now, those two tasks are taken care of by coalition naval forces.
Posted by: Dar ||
01/27/2005 12:19:49 PM ||
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#1
A long time ago, I read how the Iraqis had purchased a ship from Italy, how the ship was almost completed when the embargo came into effect, and how the ship was just sitting at an Italian port with an Iraqi crew, unable to leave for years. I wonder what ever happened to it and them?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 20:33 Comments ||
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#3
Anonymoose - I didn't know anything about that story till last summer, when I visited a friend in La Spezia, where the vessel was laid down. Apparently on their first attempt to return to Iraq the crew got lost in the Med and the Italian Navy had to come to their rescue, returning them to port. When war broke out the Iraqis were left in limbo, and without funds. They stripped the vessel of anything sellable and, I believe, the boat never left port again. Some still live in La Spezia.
A senior Palestinian commander said the deployment of Palestinian police in southern Gaza, originally set for Thursday, has been postponed. The commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity, would not give the reasons for the delay. However, lower-ranking officers said there were still some disagreements with Israel over where the Palestinian policemen would take up positions. Israeli security officials were not immediately available for comment.
Yup. Israel's fault, again. Yup. Yup. Ri-i-i-ght.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
01/27/2005 11:49:05 AM ||
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#1
in fairness, this is bureaucratic blame - "hey, shimon, i think commander Mahmuds post should be over there" "no, abdul, with all due respect, we've done this for years, and the post needs to be 150 meters to the east" "I insist he goes over THERE, and I expect your signoff immediately" "wait a bit while I run it by the MOD in Tel Aviv"
rather than - "we cant do this cause the Evil Israelis are hurting Pal children and cutting down olive trees"
#2
i mean youve got israelis who know the local security needs, and are blunt, and Pals officers who have arab sensitivity about face, and they havent been working together for some time. Some friction is to be expected.
#3
The article, however brief, claims that there are disagreements over positioning. If the Paleos can't or won't take suggestions, then it should be made clear that they can organize their own effort if they prefer, but a failure to perform up to expectations will result in negative consequences.
#2
US military 'overenthusiastic' in helping Iraq vote: UN official
I prefer: "UN Officials "overenthusiastic" About Raping Young African Girls: US Military"
Posted by: Tibor ||
01/27/2005 9:33 Comments ||
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#3
Maybe we should hold a 'Is Overenthusiastic for Democracy a Good Thing" conference in Brussels. I got a good deal for fois gas this week and I am looking to unload it.
#4
Right. Americans usually are overenthusiastic about 'regular people' voting, not just the special people of the General Assembly representing their dictator, autocrat, thug, or average overpaid UN bureaucratic weenie. Sort like the enthusiasm of individual giving for disaster relief.
#7
If the UN had its way, Iraqis wouldn't be voting because US involvement would have been so minimal Saddam would still be funding Kofi's retirement.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/27/2005 11:42 Comments ||
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#8
The Americans are enthusiastic because they see it as eventually being a ticket home and because they are hopeful for Iraqis.
Once again, the UN is shown to be on the wrong side of history.
Posted by: Kofi Annan ||
01/27/2005 14:48 Comments ||
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#9
OK, just like your mom would fine you a quarter for bad words out of your mouth, I say we start fining UN officials for negative comments about the US...let's just take it out of our "donation" to that useless organization each year.......uhmmm....$1 Mil per offense sound OK to you, guys?
Eckhard added that Perelli "did not intend to criticize the US military's profile."
Sure she did.
But they're backtracking. Maybe they're getting scared the U.S. will (1) not protect the UN wankers in Iraq and (2) get fed up and tell the UN to FOAD.
Which we should.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/27/2005 19:32 Comments ||
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#11
Barbara, I'm learning acronyms. Is FOAD Freak Of And Die (Acronym finder)
Seven people were gunned down in a tribal area of northwest Pakistan on Wednesday when two clans decided to settle scores in the middle of a crowded bazaar, officials said.
"Apostate!"
"Land thief!"
"That does it, go fer yer guns!"
Police said four pedestrians were caught in the crossfire and three of the tribesmen also died when a land dispute turned violent in Mir Ali district near Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan.
"We'll settle this Bengali style!"
The two tribes quarreled late Tuesday over the plot of farmland in Aapy village and "after exchanging hot words they agreed to show their power in Mir Ali's main bazaar on Wednesday," local official Mohammad Jamil told AFP.
The groups met at the appointed time and opened fire on each other. "The exchange of fire continued for quite some time. The rival groups lost three men
That'd be Ike, Jimmy, and Doc...
while four pedestrians caught in the crossfire also died," he said. At least five other people were rushed to hospital with serious bullet wounds, Jamil added. Tribal police intervened to arrange a ceasefire, he said. The area is run on tribal laws and is semi-autonomous from central government control. "We have registered a case and the accused will be arrested soon," he said. Rival tribesmen in the deeply conservative region, which is dominated by heavily armed ethnic Pashtuns, often settle disputes at gunpoint.
How do you say, 'slack-jawed mopes' in Pashtun?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/27/2005 12:08:16 AM ||
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#1
If they where Bengali they would talk each other to death. Thats how we do it in my hood! Bigups to the Far Far East Coast Possie :-)
Posted by: robi sen ||
01/27/2005 0:36 Comments ||
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Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
01/27/2005 3:38 Comments ||
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#4
The modern version of waving sticks and shouting. I wonder how many bullets it took to actually hit twelve people, only three of whom were targets. Heaven help them if they ever get their hands on machine guns -- they might wipe themselves out an entire village per quarrel, but the land would be unusable due to lead concentrations forever.
#8
Look on the bright side guys (3) less loonies to wield ak-47's. PS do they these weapons out at a coming of age party? Everytime I see images of this area of the planet these people all seem to have ak's or RPG's. Nice place eh!
Israel and the Palestinians resumed political contacts yesterday and finalised a deal to deploy thousands of Palestinian security forces to curb attacks in southern and central Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon froze all contacts with the Palestinians in mid-January after a suicide attack killed six Israelis at the Karni crossing between Gaza and Israel. The move cast a major shadow across Mahmoud Abbas' inauguration as Palestinian Authority president the following day, but Sharon has since been impressed by Abbas's efforts to end the bloodshed.
After authorising security contacts last week, Sharon dispatched his senior adviser Dov Weisglass for talks with Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat yesterday. "We discussed in great depth and detail several political and security issues, mainly preparations for a summit between the Palestinian and Israeli leadership," Erakat said. The two would meet again next week for further preparations, he added. Sharon's office said "contacts were renewed after positive developments in the Palestinian Authority and the efforts to prevent terror". Abbas praised the meeting for having "very good negotiations on every issue."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Two senior Palestinian security commanders said Wednesday that Israel has agreed to hand security control of four West Bank cities to the Palestinians within 10 days. However, a senior Israeli official said the issue has not yet been discussed, noting that Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz is abroad.
The Palestinian commanders said security control is to be handed over in Ramallah, Tulkarem, Qalqiliya and Jericho. Undercover Israeli troops shot dead a wanted Palestinian militant on Wednesday and wounded a teenage passerby during an arrest raid in the West Bank, witnesses and security sources said. Two other Palestinians were also killed on Wednesday — a 3-year-old girl in Gaza and a West Bank village mayor who apparently stumbled across stray ordnance in an area where Israeli troops conduct live-fire exercises. The violence prompted the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militant faction to threaten to end a de facto truce obtained by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas if the Israeli army did not halt raids and military strikes within 24 hours.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
..said security control is to be handed over in Ramallah, Tulkarem,..
Sounds like an excuse to kill people. They'll settle for Paleos if they can't get to the Zionists...
The radical Islamist group Hamas will make its first major foray into the Palestinian political process Thursday when it takes part in local elections in its Gaza stronghold on an anti-corruption ticket. New Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas is trying to persuade both Hamas and its smaller rival, Islamic Jihad, to end their campaign of anti-Israeli attacks by joining the political mainstream. While they boycotted the Jan. 9 presidential election, both groups will be participating in the next round of municipal elections being held in 10 electoral districts across the Gaza Strip.
Hamas did field a number of candidates in an earlier round of elections in the West Bank late last month but Thursday's ballot is being viewed as a first real barometer of its electoral strength. While voting is not taking place in Gaza City or in the other main towns of Rafah and Khan Yunis, the elections are seen as highly significant as they are the first since the territory was seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2005 00:00:00 ||
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King Abdullah II announced steps toward democratic reform in Jordan on Wednesday and urged all Iraqis to take part in their historic elections. In a televised speech, Abdullah said he wanted to "address all our ars are appointed by the government. "I assert here that political development should start at the grassroots, then move up to decision-making centers, and not vice versa," the king said.
"Mahmoud, what's he saying?"
"I dunno Ahmed, he's babbling in tongues again. Musta seen a blonde."
He said the plan for the new councils would be developed and implemented with assistance from a royal commission that will soon be formed. Abdullah spoke only hours after US President George W. Bush urged him at a Washington press conference to "make sure that democracy continues to advance in Jordan." Jordanian government officials, insisting on anonymity, stressed that Abdullah's announcement was not linked to Bush's call because the king had recorded his speech much earlier.
"How much earlier?"
"Much earlier."
Bush made the statement in reply to a question on whether he would condemn the Jordanian government for arresting a man and charging him with slander after he delivered a lecture called "Why We Boycott America." Since ascending the throne five years ago, Abdullah has sought to press ahead with reforms introduced by his late father, King Hussein, who died in 1999. Hussein's reforms focused on political liberalization, which included reviving a multiparty system banned since a 1956 leftist coup attempt and restoring parliamentary elections. Abdullah's reforms are economy-oriented. A computer and Internet enthusiast, Abdullah wants to make Jordan a regional information technology hub. He also wants to see his nation geared toward open-market economy and globalization and has introduced relevant legislation in recent years. His early target was to ensure that Jordanians have access to computers, improved education and health care.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/27/2005 11:47:53 PM ||
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Former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif and Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, agreed to begin a unified struggle to depose President General Pervez Musharraf, after a long meeting in Jeddah on Wednesday. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz sources told Daily Times that it was a somewhat volatile meeting during which Sharif adopted an aggressive stance. MNA Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was present at the meeting and MNA Hafiz Hussain Ahmad, Fazl's right hand man, joined them at the dining table after the meeting. Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the chief of the Muttahida Majlis e Amal (MMA), had called on Sharif on Tuesday. "Sharif accused Fazl of giving the government a safe exit in critical situations and pointed out that Qazi had adopted a sterner posture against the rulers while Fazl had a soft corner for them," said the insiders. They quoted Sharif, "The reason for your soft stance against the government is that you want to save your Opposition leadership in the National Assembly and in the provincial governments of NWFP and Balochistan."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2005 00:00:00 ||
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The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has exempted hajis (pilgrims) returning to Pakistan from getting their luggage scanned in order to speed up their clearance process, said an official statement issued by the CBR on Wednesday. The CBR instructed all Customs officials not to screen or check the baggage of hajis and post senior supervisory officers to help them in all possible ways, the statement added. The instructions have been issued especially in view of International Customs Day. The concession will restore the hajis' confidence in government policies.
Easier to bring back a Holy Hand Grenade Relic this way.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2005 11:23 Comments ||
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#4
I thought it was trivial to find whatever weapons you wanted in Pakistan already. Why would anyone go to the trouble of importing them in haji luggage from Saudi controlled Arabia? Am I missing something here?
Posted by: James ||
01/27/2005 13:29 Comments ||
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#5
Must be all the money to pay the jihadists is in the luggage!
(Think smuggling caddies into Mexico not drugs out!)
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.
Police in Taif are investigating a strange incident that occurred at Al-Ufairi village, when a man entered a mosque and 
British Prime Minister Tony Blair called on the United States Wednesday to take the world's needs into account when it seeks global support for its actions, and cited climate change as an issue all nations must address together. "If America wants the rest of the world to be part of the agenda it has set, it must be part of their agenda, too," Blair told the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos. 
Mexico
President 
A senior Palestinian commander said the deployment of Palestinian police in southern Gaza, originally set for Thursday, has been postponed. The commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity, would not give the reasons for the delay. However, lower-ranking officers said there were still some disagreements with Israel over where the Palestinian policemen would take up positions. Israeli security officials were not immediately available for comment. 
Seven people were gunned down in a tribal area of northwest Pakistan on Wednesday when two clans decided to settle scores in the middle of a crowded bazaar, officials said.
Israel and the Palestinians resumed political contacts yesterday and finalised a deal to deploy thousands of Palestinian security forces to curb attacks in southern and central Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon froze all contacts with the Palestinians in mid-January after a suicide attack killed six Israelis at the 
Two senior Palestinian security commanders said Wednesday that Israel has agreed to hand security control of four West Bank cities to the Palestinians within 10 days. However, a senior Israeli official said the issue has not yet been discussed, noting that Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz is abroad. 
The radical Islamist group 
Former prime minister 
The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has exempted hajis (pilgrims) returning to Pakistan from getting their luggage scanned in order to speed up their clearance process, said an official statement issued by the CBR on Wednesday. The CBR instructed all Customs officials not to screen or check the baggage of hajis and post senior supervisory officers to help them in all possible ways, the statement added. The instructions have been issued especially in view of International Customs Day. The concession will restore the hajis' confidence in government policies. 
