GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that he would hold parliamentary elections on Jan. 25 as scheduled after he received U.S. assurances that Arab residents of east Jerusalem will be allowed to vote in the city.
Abbas' announcement alleviated some fears that he was planning to call off the vote under pressure from members of his Fatah party concerned that the popular Hamas militant group would embarrass Fatah at the polls.
Abbas said Monday that the ongoing chaos in Gaza - much of it caused by Fatah-affliated militants - is aimed at scuttling the elections, and he told his security forces to protect that "democratic day even with force." However, Abbas' interior minister, Nasser Yousef, warned that he will not be able to secure polling stations from gunmen trying to disrupt the election.
But what are the chances of that happening?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2006
22:41 ||
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SRINAGAR: A Kashmiri separatist arrested four months ago for harassing a romantic couple as part of an anti-vice crusade in the majority-Muslim state has been set free, her organisation said on Sunday. Aasiya Andrabi was charged early September under Indian Kashmir's Public Safety Act and could have been held for up to a year without bail. The legislation was enacted to combat insurgency in the region which has left tens of thousands dead since 1989. "Our leader was released on Saturday," said a statement Sunday from Andrabi's group, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, or Daughters of Faith.
Moderate and hardline factions of the region's main separatist alliance and other Islamic groups had urged her release, saying she was doing a good job fighting obscenity and immorality.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006
20:07 ||
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High school French teacher Curtis Lofton, 23, of Springford Terraces, Lower Paxton Twp., faces charges of assaulting an officer and drug possession after being arrested last month standing naked in the snow outside his house, according to The Patriot-News.
When police, responding to a report of a disturbance, asked Lofton if he was OK, he responded, "No, I am ... crazy, and I need a menthol cigarette," according to court papers. If he says he's crazy, then he must be rational enough to know the difference, so he isn't. Catch 22, sort of.
Court documents say Lofton then allegedly told one officer that he was "Jesus Christ" and the cop must be "God" after being asked why he was nude and where he lived. Lofton allegedly bopped the policeman over the head with a plastic toy trumpet he scooped up from the yard after a fight broke out between them. The cop pepper-sprayed Lofton, who cursed and told him "'Jesus' is now blind," court documents say. But he can still see your sins.
Police charged Lofton with resisting arrest, open lewdness, aggravated assault involving a police officer, possession of marijuana, unlawful possession of prescription drug oxycodone, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Terrence J. McGowan, Lofton's attorney, told The Patriot-News the defense of his client has been complicated by the fact that he doesn't remember anything that happened that night.
McGowan told the paper the school district had scheduled a meeting to address Lofton's future at Central Dauphin High School. "Basically, he had some mental health issues that hopefully are in remission. I don't think it affects his ability to be a French teacher and it wasn't school-related, so we're hoping we can get him back to work," McGowan told The Patriot-News. God forbid you actually fire a teacher for anything (except voting Republican).
Cy, short for Cyclopes, a kitten born with only one eye and no nose, is shown in this photo provided by its owner in Redmond, Oregon, on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2005. The kitten, a ragdoll breed, which died after living for one day, was one of two in the litter. Its sibling was born normal and healthy. (AP Photo/Traci Allen)
Dam that Rove, fiddling with Cat DNA. Whay? Karl, Why? But is does resemble Leaky Leahy
#3
Oh Lord, now that Aris has said this, half of RB will feel obliged to argue kittens normally have three eyes, but one of them is really hard to see unless you're sufficiently hard on terrorism.
Shi'ite clerics are recruiting young Iraqis to go to neighboring Iran for political indoctrination and militia training, said the uncle of one young man who recently returned from a one-month session.
Upon the return of the young man -- whose name has been withheld from this article to protect his family -- he was recruited into the armed wing of the pro-Iranian Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) political party, the uncle said.
The claim is consistent with remarks by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, who has repeatedly warned about Iranian meddling in Iraq's affairs.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) -- an exiled opposition group -- also charges that Tehran has been training Iraqi and other nationals in intelligence gathering and terrorist operations at garrisons across Iran.
The uncle, who agreed to be identified only as Muhammad, said the young man and a number of others were recruited from Husseiniya mosque, a large Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad. The young man told his father he was going to visit a religious site in Iran.
But, Muhammad said, "They took them to a camp and gave them a briefing on what is happening in Iraq, and what Iran is trying to do: Support the Shi'ites and help them retain power. ...
"They trained them for militia purposes -- to go out on patrol, to get people out of their houses, execute them and leave them on the street," he said, adding that his nephew had boasted about his training to the family when he returned in early December.
"He was brainwashed; he was very proud when he was talking to us. He told us all the details in order to try and make us afraid. He had an AK-47. He didn't say who arranged his passport, but he is getting his orders from one of the imams in the Badr office," Muhammad said.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/09/2006
14:39 ||
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Speaking at a mosque on the plain of Mount Arafat, Sheik Abdul-Aziz al-Sheik, the kingdomâs grand mufti, said Muslims were facing critical challenges, among them accusations of terrorism and human rights abuses and calls for revisions in their school textbooks, many of which make nonbelievers, especially Jews. [SIC]
âOh, Muslim nation, there is a war against of our creed, against our culture under the pretext of fighting terrorism. We should stand firm and united in protecting our religion,â he said. âIslamâs enemies want to empty our religion from its contents and its meaning,â said al-Sheik, the Saudi kingdomâs top religious authority. âBut the soldiers of God will be victorious.â I copied this 'as is' from the news report... I don't know what is going on at the end of that first paragraph. Something about the Jews being out to get everybody. As an apostate infidel crusader, I feel very left out.
#1
Cool beans, call all your followers to arms. Give us yet just one more reason to make sure all of you die, and not just the fanatics. Muslims have very little time to figure out that these radical imams will be the death of them all.
Exhibiting a fascination with death while antagonizing the most well-armed nations on earth is about as stupid as stupid can get. The time is drawing nearer when all their dreams will come true as they not-so-gently attain the afterlife they're so d@mned obsessed with.
You don't understand. Muslims have the right to subjugate kaffirs. It's in the book. He's pissed because nowhere in the book does it say anything about them hitting back.
Will this be the end of Rantburg as we know it - Gee thanks W
In other words, it's OK to flame someone on a mailing list or in a blog as long as you do it under your real name. Thank Congress for small favors, I guess.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
01/09/2006
13:52 ||
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#1
The law will not pass a court chalenge. You have no right not to be offended or annoyed.
#4
So what are they going to do? Trace IP addresses, do all kinds of computer forensics? Because you annoyed someone? Some asshole hacked my credit card number once and bought 50 pairs of shoes in europe, they didn't do shit to find out who that guy was. They couldnt care less from the way they talked. Now you can get two years for roasting someone on the net. Give me a break
#6
To grease the rails for this idea, Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, and the section's other sponsors slipped it into an unrelated, must-pass bill to fund the Department of Justice. The plan: to make it politically infeasible for politicians to oppose the measure.
Something needs to be done about this crap. Doesn't matter who does it, Reps or Dems, it's gotta stop.
#8
The US Constitution says Americans can own guns and can speak on any issue without having said speech to be copyrighted or patented. State and Federal Caselaws and Statutes say Americans don't have to do anything that we think is wrong or morally incomprehensible, nor do we have to obey any contract or agreement, oral and or written, where criminal activity or action is part of the inducement/begotiation, part of the terms, andor the outcome of said contract or agreement, and no matter if said contract is executed or anticipatory, current or future, etc. The Spetzlamies are just a bloody, violent, hyper-correct MSM and geopol diversion - the real threat to America right now is from CREEPING SOCIALISM/COMMUNISM - iff America doesn't go Socialist 2015-2020, the Failed/Angry Left and anti-US forces reserve their singular and unconditional right to destroy the USA vv MAD nuke war. Steve Hoagland on COASDTTOCOASTAM argues that alleged GLOBAL GULAGISTS intend to destroy approximately 5 1/2 BILLION, plus-minus, persons for OWG, [Global]Resources-control, and Global Utopia -WHOM GETS TO BE ONE OF THE 500 MILLION, OR LESS, OF THE HUMAN POPULATION THAT GETS TO LIVE IN GLORIOUS SOCIALIST UTOPIA AND FUTURE OWG; VERSUS WHOM, SOCIALIST OR NON-SOCIALIST, THAT GETS TO BE PROPERLY/PC
"ELIMINATED" FOR THE GOOD OF THE SURVIVORS, FOR HILLARY'S UNIVERSAL/COMMON GOOD = BENEFIT OF A HANDFUL/FEW!? Hoaglands belief shows that even for Socialists their desired future OWG and future Socialist World isn't big enough for Socialism and alleged Socialist ideals of alleged "UNIVERSAL EQUALISM, WELFARISM, SUFFRAGE AND DIVERSITY, ETC"!? NOT EVEN FOR A SIMPLE, ALL-BY-ITSELF, NO-FRILLS WHITE XMAS = HOLIDAY, etc. PC STAR ON A SIMPLE, ALL-BY-ITSELF, NO-FRILLS GREEN XMAS = HOLIDAY, etc. PC SIMPLE TREE.
Which is announced almost as an aside in this important analysis of Middle East politix. Please read it all. Excerpts:
A:
And, according to Iranians I trust, Osama bin Laden finally departed this world in mid-December. The al Qaeda leader died of kidney failure and was buried in Iran, where he had spent most of his time since the destruction of al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The Iranians who reported this note that this year's message in conjunction with the Muslim Haj came from his number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, for the first time.
B:
In short, both demography and geopolitics make this an age of revolution, as President Bush seems to have understood. Rarely have there been so many opportunities for the advance of freedom, and rarely have the hard facts of life and death been so favorable to the spread of democratic revolution.
The architect of 9/11 and the creator of Palestinian terrorism are gone. The guiding lights of our terrorist enemies are sitting on cracking thrones, challenged by young men and women who look to us for support. Not just words, and, above all, not promises that the war against the terror masters will soon end with a premature abandonment of what was always a miserably limited battlefield. This should be our moment.
#2
From what I've read over that past few years, Ledeen's sources in Iran have a much better record for accuracy than all other media (I know that's not saying much).
#4
Too bad we will have to wait until we take Iran to dig up his grave and see for sure! It would be the banner year, Binny and Arafat! I just get all funny inside thinking about it.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/09/2006 15:18
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#5
Gotta watch 'em the potassium. Gotta takem 'em your phos go too.
#6
I seem to recall Ledeen falling for exaggerated stories of ballot tampering in Iranian and Iraqi elections. He also systematically overstates the potential threat to the regime of the student demonstrations that occasionally happen in Iran.
I like the guy and agree with him regarding Iran, but suspect his sources -- understandably -- are feeding him self serving info sometimes and he's not great at filtering it out. So, though he's one of the 'good guys', I nominate him for a salt shaker picture on Rantburg.
That said, the idea that Iran is harboring Al Queda is widely believed and this particular story may turn out to be true.
#10
If he's still alive there's a chance, however small, taht he may yet repent. If he's dead, he's too preoccupied with misery to be of any harm to us.
#11
This article sounds like convenient cover to me:
HREF='HTTP://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/01/09/zarqawi.statement/index.html'>
Posted by: Tibor ||
01/09/2006 22:05
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#12
No matter whether alive or dead I believe most Americans want closure as per those Terror leaders whom planned and executed 9-11 - send in SPECOPS to find and dig up Osama's corpus dilecti, and bring it back to the USA for full public exposure. Many Americans in the past wanted the Kaiser's head, Lenin and Stalin'd head, Tojo HItler and Mussolini's, etal. - why should Osama and the Burqua Boyz be "special"!
Snip, duplicate. C'mon folks, this is the fourth or fifth one of these that's come through.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
01/09/2006
12:51 ||
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#1
The NCO's that make American forces what they are say it for what it is!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/09/2006 13:36
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#2
It was a bad day for Murtha and Moran. General Louis C. Wagner also rose to speak and left Moran fumbling for words. When Moran said he also supported the troops the General walked out on him.
Transcript from the Mudville Gazette via Michelle Malkin. You can find the video on Michelle's page. Scroll down to: VIDEO: ANOTHER VET TELLS OFF MURTHA/MORAN January 07, 2006 11:05 AM
Hello Mr Moran I'm General Wagner. I'm here tonight, I decided to come at 7:30. And I'll tell you the reason I came at 7:30 is because I want an answer to a letter, to a friend of ours. She wrote this letter to Mr. Murtha, where she pointed out to him that he was causing the insurgents to bring more activity against the soldiers in Iraq, just as the traitors did during the Vietnam war. I was fighting in 1972 with the Vietnamese when people were cavorting with the North Vietnamese.
Her son was killed today.
I got the message at 7:30 tonight, and I'll tell you, I wasn't going to waste my time coming here because I knew the trash that was going to be put out. But I'm really mad. Because what is being put out is being used to incite the insurgents to continue this war, just as it incited General Giap to consider the Vietnam war.
He hasn't answered her letter, Mr Moran, but I want to read a paragraph to you. I think its a little instructive:
"I have faith in our military leaders and believe that they are making the necessary steps to train the Iraqi forces and provide for our eventual withdrawal. I also have faith in our executive branch, that they are taking the necessary steps to help the new Iraqi government to get a democratic style government in place and to give them at least a chance of success. Although mistakes were made in the execution of the war and its aftermath, the goal itself is worthy, and in spite of all the negativity that we are constantly bombarded with I believe that there have been some remarkable successes.
"Although my son would surely" - and this, incidentally, this is the one that was killed today - "would surely prefer to stay home with his wife and four young children" - from 10 to 2, I'm adding that - "he is both a soldier and a scholar, he understands that we are in a vital long term struggle against a dangerous ideology, and he is willing to make the necessary sacrifices to defeat it. It is a difficult struggle and will require patience and fortitude both on and off the battlefield. If we lose our will at home, it makes the task for our soldiers all the more difficult. I believe your comments were irresponsible and are contributing to the loss of national will. If they were made to obtain political advantages I would find that abhorrent and unworthy of a former Marine."
Sir, I'm mad. Because that is happening every day when I read the newspapers. I visit Walter Reed, and talk to the young soldiers with their legs blown off. I know you do too.
I can't find one in a dozen that don't believe that they are fighting for a noble cause and are fighting to go back. And I think it's a disgrace when members of our congress, just as they did in 1975 when they sold out the South Vietnamese, are selling out our soldiers today in Iraq.
Thank you sir. (no applause)
Then the almost speechless Moran tries to respond.
But..., um... I.. I do respect your point of view, I know it is widely shared. Uhh... and, um..., and I respect your service in the military.
Uhhh.. I do support the troops, and I do believe that the best way for me to support the troops is to make sure that when they do go to war its a war that needs to be fought. Uh... I... (applause) I... In response to the first two... I don't want the applause, because its going to be interpreted that I'm appealing to the audience. But the, uh... with regard to having faith in the troops I do have faith in our troops, and... uh... but with regard to having faith in uhh... the government that sent them, I don't, and the reason I don't is because they deliberately... is because the reasons that we were giving... given to go to war in Iraq were not accurate, uhhh, and, um, uh, and uh we have now found that Saddam didn't have weapons of mass destruction, there wasn't reliable evidence that he did. He was not a threat to the United States despite any number of attempts in any number of speeches to uhhh... tie Saddam Hussein to the attacks of 9/11 he had nothing to do with it. So our going into Iraq was not in response to any attack, or even real threat to the United States, and it seems to me it uhh... it failed on that and any number of other reasons for being a war that was of necessity.
#3
You missed the point where the good General stomped out of the room in disgust as Moran said 'I support the troops'...
You have to understand that when Moran or Murtha or Kennedy or Kerry say 'I support the troops' they are not talking about U.S. troops. To them 'the troops' or 'our [their] troops' are Al-Quada, Iran, and Taliban troops (or any troops who might kill more american soldiers (so that they can claw their way over the dead bodies to get into power again).
If you start making that little translation it all makes perfect sense.
#4
"I support our troops" is a polite noise that's supposed to deflect criticism because the speaker doesn't support what the troops are actually doing. Often it comes out as something stoopid like "The best way to support our troops is to bring them home!"
It worked for a little while because in 1969 the same people weren't saying it -- they were "asking questions" about the war, one of which was "how many babies did you kill?" (My response: "No more than I could eat.")
To nitwits like Moran -- and the twits who continue reelecting him, regardless of what he says -- it will always be 1969. Only now there are people who will call them on it.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006 16:12
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When Moran said he also supported the troops the General walked out on him.
Bush reaches beyond inner circle on Iraq policy
Fri Jan 6, 2006 3:00 AM GMT
By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush reached beyond his tight circle of trusted aides on Thursday to solicit views on Iraq of former secretaries of state and defence, including some who have publicly criticised his policy.
The meeting, part of the president's effort to defend his policies on Iraq and the war on terrorism as he tries to recover from low opinion poll ratings, took place as insurgent violence surged anew this week in Iraq.
"Not everybody around this table agreed with my decision to go into Iraq and I fully understand that," Bush said, adding that he had listened to their concerns and suggestions. "We take to heart the advice."
The former officials who served in administrations dating back to President John Kennedy, met with Bush, current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
They were briefed by Gen. George Casey, the U.S. commander in Iraq, and Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador to Iraq.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a Clinton administration official who has criticised Bush's Iraq policy, said later she had voiced her concerns during the meeting.
Appearing on CNN, Albright said she told Bush that "we had a long way to go" to succeed in Iraq. She said she suggested creating a "contact group" of regional powers to help and to make clear that the United States did not intend to have permanent bases there.
"I took advantage of the time to say that I was very worried about the position of the United States internationally," Albright added, listing Iran, North Korea and the situation in the Middle East among her chief concerns.
Bush has been emphasising progress in Iraq after the December elections to an American public that has shown increasing discontent with the war in which more than 2,100 U.S. troops and thousands of Iraqis have died.
Critics have called for a quick withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, but Bush has repeatedly said that he will not set a timetable and U.S. forces would not pull out until Iraqi forces can take over security.
"The main thrust of our success will be when the Iraqis are able to take the fight to the enemy that wants to stop their democracy, and we're making darn good progress along those lines," Bush said.
HAIG: BUSH 'ABSOLUTELY CORRECT'
Alexander Haig, secretary of state for President Ronald Reagan, said Bush was right to say withdrawing troops from Iraq would be determined by conditions on the ground.
"I think the president has taken the absolutely correct position, contrary to a number of Washington politicians," Haig said.
Bush has to address the troop-withdrawal question because many Americans want to know when U.S. forces will pull out, but it can give information to the enemy, Eagleburger said. "Every time we talk about withdrawal you can see the ears of Osama (bin Laden) and his friends perking up," he said.
Among those attending were Colin Powell, Bush's first secretary of state whose tenure was often marked by friction with the White House and the Pentagon on a range of foreign policy issues.
Since leaving the post, Powell has avoided publicly criticising the president, but several of his aides have lashed out at Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld.
Also at the meeting were William Perry, defence secretary in the administration of President Bill Clinton who was an adviser to Bush's 2004 election opponent, Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.
Other who attended from Republican and Democratic administration included former secretaries of state James Baker and George Shultz.
Former secretaries of defence included William Cohen, Frank Carlucci, James Schlesinger, Harold Brown, Melvin Laird and Robert McNamara.
McNamara, 89, served under Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Although he was a key architect of early U.S. policy in Vietnam, he eventually became disillusioned with the war there.
#2
McNamara, 89, served under Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Although he was a key architect of early U.S. policy in Vietnam, he eventually became disillusioned with the war there.
"100,000 more men is all we need I tell you, only 100,000, thats roughly 5 divisions, 100,000, we'll have them all cleaned out in no time, China and Russia will never invade."
#3
I'll say again, I don't think this meeting had anything to do with Iraq. Iraq is a done deal.
However, Iran will require every bit of brain power and insider information that can be obtained from anywhere. By reaching back, quite literally, through 40 years of information and experience, Bush is demonstrating once again his near obsessive infatuation with strategic planning.
#4
I agree with anonymouse. There just isn't enough to discuss regarding Iraq at this point. Yet Iran is a hairy nut to deal with and I imagine Bush was hoping for any kind of insight they might not have thought of before as well as guarantees of silence.
IMHO, he's making a mistake : old mo' was into little girls, not little boys...
Manama: Worldâs top pop singer Michael Jackson, who recently settled down in Manama has donated a huge amount of money, the figure was not disclosed, for building a state-of-the-art mosque near his luxury palace in the Bahraini capital, according to his spokesman. The proposed mosque would be designated for learning the principles and teachings of Islam, as well as teaching of English language, for which high-standard teachers would be brought from United States under his personal supervision, the spokesman said.
Jackson did so as a token of appreciation to the Bahraini people, who welcomed him and treated him as if he was one of the citizens of their country.
Michael Jackson has moved to reside in Manama after the long-judicial battle, which ended up with being acquitted of the charges of child molestation.
The court hearings were followed up by news agencies for many months, and the number of reporters who attended and covered them was estimated at more than 2000 from all countries in the world.
It is noteworthy that Germain Jackson, the brother of Michael, had embraced Islam at the beginning of 1990s. He was one of former Jackson Five band and the solo singer had felt his brother Michael has great interest in Islamic books. He was impressed by the tolerant spirit of Islam in his dealing with Arab and Muslim personalities for long years. The most prominent among those figures is Prince Al Waleed bin Talal and the Bahraini royal family.
#4
The proposed mosque would be designated..... with a secret labyrinth of over 500 interconnecting, soundproof rooms, each with it's own library, water-park & shower, mini-zoo, merry-go-round, and king sized bed. A 10,000 man unic guard force recruited from the US based Nation of Islam will provide security.
This has ocurred before and was covered here. Islamic or not, this is low-level terror and it's criminal; if this is islamic (but I may be a bigot in presuming that), then it could be compared to the low-level guerilla targeting the infrastructures of the perceived ennemy in many countries where there are significant muslim minorities (cf. big rocks being put on roadrails or thrown from road passovers onto cars, trains or bus being regularly stoned,.. in France, or ocurrance of gratuitous firebombs attacks on transportation systems in northern Europe, as reported in one entry by Fjordman).LOS ANGELES - There's growing concern about lasers being aimed at commercial jetliners, lasers that could blind the pilot. Officials are saying very little. However, there were apparently two incidents last night.
Pilots will tell you the two most vulnerable times during a flight is takeoff and landing because they're flying so slow and flying very low to the ground. Somebody took advantage of that last night and aimed two laser beams or several laser beaming -- beams at planes flying into lax.
One pilot says any distraction in the cockpit can be dangerous, but laser beams have several potential hazards that can put the crew and passengers at serious risk.
"The main problem is that the pilot's losing his eyesight for a few second seconds, which is very important scanning the instruments, sanction other air traffic and complying with the air traffic controller's instructions in order to maintain the safety of the flight," said pilot Andy Bagyuj.
The FBI confirms two different pilots landing at LAX Wednesday night encountered laser light aimed right at their plane. The pilots said they saw three bright green flashes aimed at an American Airlines jet 19 miles out from LAX and a United 757, 7 miles outside of the Santa Monica Airport.
This isn't the first time someone has aimed lasers at a plane. Last January a laser beam was pointed at a jet line out of Burbank and in December of 2004 it happened four times in six days.
The lasers did not hurt the pilots and the planes did land safely. However, the FBI is now investigating to confirm whether or not those beams were lasers and more importantly where they came from.
#6
Green Helium-Neon lasers (543 nm) are cheap. He-Ne lasers also come in red, yellow and orange. More likely, the shit was using a green diode pumped laser (532nm) pointer (<5mW). You can buy one for less than $100, and one in the 100mW class for less than a $1000.
Posted by: ed ||
01/09/2006 17:52
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#7
US pilots were lazed back in the 90's in the Balkans. The cockpit glows from the light refracting form the thick glass, red, green, and yellow/green was reported. It can cause perminant damage to the retina and temp blindness. This has to be something stronger than a penlight to really get ones attention. It has to be industrial or military grade to light up a cockpit like I'm hearing.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/09/2006 17:56
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#8
ahem ... it doesn't take that much... 100mw to 2 watts will do a real number... esp if aimed with a scope.
To see what I mean... take a laser and a light bulb or other globe. Turn off the lights.
Hit the globe with the laser beam.
Watch the whole globe glow and imagine you are inside.
Now... the globe matches best with a bubble type copter... but any curved glass will do.
BTW... not all UFO's are... some might just be lasers...
#9
We used small hand helds to laze targets from our aircraft. The light is a red line when looked at under goggles, but too weak to illuminate a cockpit. Ya, I know, we we not supposed to laze each other. Then we aquired some high powered ones. They were a different story. They would light up a cockpit with the glow 3dc is talking about and reach target a mile away. But at 3,000 to 5,000 feet it would have to take more than a simple pen or CD laser. Being a lowly aviator I can only assume it would have to have some level of sophistication meaning this is either a serious prankster or terrorist harassing/targeting. So how tough would it be to home build something strong enough to reach a mile out.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/09/2006 22:19
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#10
Could it be for rangefinding purposes, you know, to find out where to fire your black market Blowpipe or SA-14?
6 months old, but I couldn't leave such a lurid title alone; how come fungus can have wild and sweaty sex while I'm not getting any action theses days? Is it because they are svelter and have a more interesting personality than me? Damn, this is depressing, I think I'll go lay down a moment... alone.
#1
Is this where a Spemble posts something about fungal nano-condoms or BC pills made by tiny robots? Or tiny robot cops raiding all the favorite fungal Lovers Lane locales in my bronchial tree?
I'm visualizing making sausage... it seems, well, slightly less off-putting... Lol.
Fatah gunmen on Saturday threatened to shut the offices of the pan-Arab Al-Arabiyah satellite TV station in the West Bank and Gaza Strip after accusing it of "defaming" Palestinian female suicide bombers and their families.
Leaflets distributed by Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, demanded that the Dubai-based station apologize to the families in particular and the Palestinians in general within 24 hours or else its offices would be closed.
"At a time when the Muslims and Islam are facing a political, intellectual, economic and social offensive by all the forces of evil in the world, Al-Arabiya has aired a scandalous and despicable film that is completely biased in favor of the executioner at the expense of the victims of occupation," the leaflets charged.
"This film depicts female suicide bombers as a group of women suffering from psychological problems and who are under pressure from males. It claims that in order to rid themselves of these problems, these women are prepared to kill themselves. They also claimed that these women were ill- behaved." The group hailed female suicide bombers for their role in "defending the people and the land," saying they had brought honor to Islam and Muslims worldwide.
The Aksa Martyrs Brigades strongly condemned the documentary and demanded an investigation to find out who had financed it and who was behind it. "If Al-Arabiya does not apologize within 24 hours, we will have to close down their offices in the West Bank and Gaza Strip," the group warned.
The controversial film tells the story of female suicide bombers in Iraq, Russia, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories.
One of the women interviewed for the film is Nawal El Saadawi, a leading Egyptian feminist, sociologist, medical doctor and militant writer on Arab women's problems.
Since she began to write over 25 years ago, El Saadawi's books have all focused on Arab women, their sexuality and legal status. From the start, her writings were considered controversial and dangerous for the society, and were banned in Egypt.
In 1977, she published her most famous work, The Hidden Face of Eve, which covered a host of topics relative to Arab women such as aggression against female children and female genital mutilation, prostitution, sexual relationships, marriage and divorce and Islamic fundamentalism.
Journalists working for Al-Arabiya expressed deep concern over the threats made by the Aksa Martyrs Brigades. "We were not involved in the film," one of them told The Jerusalem Post. "The film was produced by a foreign company and purchased by Al-Arabiya."
Saif Eddin Shaheen, a correspondent in the Gaza Strip for Al- Arabiya, was attacked in 2004 by Fatah gunmen for reporting on the power struggle in Fatah.
Five masked gunmen attacked Shaheen as he was driving to his Gaza City office. During the attack, which lasted about 10 minutes, he was beaten and his assailants fired shots in the air. One of his attackers, who identified himself as a Fatah member, said he would "teach him a lesson in journalism."
Four months earlier, on September 13, 2003 a group of armed men ransacked the offices of the same television station in Ramallah. The Palestinian Authority publicly condemned the incidents and announced the opening of an investigation, but no one was arrested.
#1
Once upon a time Fatah was the armed wing of the PLO. But I s'pose they've all grown too old now to hold their weapons firmly, and have degenerated to talking about the good old days while the young whippersnappers of the A.A.Martyr Brigades do their job for them.
#2
Has Al-A TV hired hard-nosed ex-IDF guards for their station? A couple of well-placed LMG teams would sure cut down on the "gunnie factor", I think.
#4
I agree with mojo. The way to get around thugs is to hire worse thugs. Not directly, but indirectly, let it be known that anyone who bothers you will be just thrashed later. Unexpected time, unexpected place, with no warning and no appeal.
It's especially good if your thugs have a trademark, such as cutting off a toe of the left foot. Again, nothing with meaning, but to send a message.
While recuperating, the bad thugs will compare notes and figure out who not to mess with in the future--and who to let their friends know not to mess with.
#6
If messages such as this weren't so important to kickstart even the least degree of introspection amongst Islamist Arabs, it would merely be hilarious to see this sort of rife internal dissension. Instead, the usual strident alarm is sounded regarding just what sort of blinkering we can look forward to in a world run according to sharia law.
Not sure how many of you have seen or heard about this and if itâs a repeat I apologize. Sgt Seavey who recently returned from a deployment gave Moran and Murtha an earful. The response from Moran/moron is a classic of not wanting to hear the truth or anything off their talking points. Seems the Town Hall meeting didnât get scripted like the wanted. This was too good to not share with my Rantburg family.
Nothing like a major bitch-slap at a staged BS event to wake up a few of the bobble-heads. Too bad it will only get coverage in half of the blogosphere.
Mebbe Sgt Seavey will have a go at NaziFartus, and let him know he doesn' think the Doom & Gloom he's peddling is quite accurate. I'll wager, like 90% of the other troops, he'd have a bit to say about that BDS condition, too.
They, the troops, get it. They get it in spades. I look forward, eagerly, to the time these people begin doing more than just voting overwhelmingly for Bush and those who are trying to change the world for the better - I look forward to the day I can vote for them, too.
Posted by: Grans Unaiger4040 ||
01/09/2006 12:27
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#4
"Many of those at yesterday's forum were Iraq veterans who support Murtha and detailed their frustration with botched missions and shared flak jackets."
The Washington Post
So, i guess Sgt.Seavey and his supporters would say that these Iraq veterans, in support of Con. Murtha are liars, or maybe they just dont "get it"?
#6
Further comments from Iraqi War veterans against the Bush administration policy on Iraq at the Murtha/Moran Town Hall Meeting:
January 06, 2006
Murtha reaffirms opposition to war
By Laura M. Colarusso
Times staff writer
"Murtha was not the only former service member at the town hall meeting to speak out against the Bush administration. A handful of former soldiers who fought in Iraq also protested Americaâs current policy there.
John Bruhns, a former sergeant with the 1st Armored Division, said the White House has not been honest about the lead-up to the war and what has happened in Iraq since the invasion.
âEverything the Bush administration has told us about [this invasion] is absolutely incorrect,â said Bruhns, who has not been able to find a job since he left the military in March 2005 with an honorable discharge.
He implored Murtha âto keep doing what youâre doing.â
In an interview after the forum, Bruhns said Bush and his advisors must be held accountable for âwhat they did to our countryâ and because they âeither misled us or made an inept decision to lead us to war.â
Like Bruhns, Garett Reppenhagen, a former specialist with the 1st Infantry Division, wants answers for why America invaded Iraq.
âThe truth of the matter is, a lot of us feel betrayed and feel there should be an investigation of the administration,â said Reppenhagen, who left the Army in May. He was a sniper in Iraq from February 2004 to February 2005.
âIt didnât seem like we were really bringing democracyâ to Iraq, he said. âWe were really at a loss [as to] what we were doing there.â
He said anyone who looks at the numbers of ongoing attacks by insurgents and the resulting casualties among both U.S. and Iraqi personnel âcan tell ⦠things arenât getting better.â
I suppose these Iraq military veterans didnt "get it" either?
#7
"Many of those at yesterday's forum were Iraq veterans who support Murtha and detailed their frustration with botched missions and shared flak jackets."
Cassini, having the honored of serving my country for some twenty years I can assure of two thing: 1) You can ALWAYS find someone bitching about soemthing and 2) There NEVER is enough of everything. Given that I doubt the shared flak jacket story because it is an issued item for everyone. I was stationed in California (far away from any action) and I had my deployment bag with my flak vest, web gear, and helmet. Some flak vest are newer or more comfortable and they may have shared them for that reason, but I doubt that any soldier, Sailor, Airman, or Marine was deployed to Iraq with one each flak vest, helmet, and web gear.
#8
Assholeini,
Frustration is normal in combat ops. SNAFU is the military term. In a perfect world, us vets want:
*Forcefields that block all harm, but do not impede movement.
*Clear and consice objectives
*Vehicles that can withstand a nuke hit and are still fast and agile
*Perfect intel about the enemy
*Everyone to love us
*Teleporters so we can spend time with loved ones
However, this is not a perfect world and combat is the complete lack of order.
There is never enough material to go around.
Body armor is too heavy and not protective enough.
Objectives are never very clear, other than "Kill the enemy, but don't level Iraq doing it. Oh and try to find the enemy hidden in the civilian population, but don't piss them off. Oh and make sure a convoy that may or may not be in your area isn't ambushed."
Vehicles are never ready for your operation straight from the factory. Heavy modding is a must.
The enemy never lets you know what you they are doing.
Most people are indifferant to us and dipshits back home like Murtha hate us and stab us in the back.
We are away from people who truely mean a lot to us and care for us.
In short, despite all the crap that is thrown at us, we fullfill the mission despite turdburglers like Murth and you. Please fuck off and die.
Granted, what you say may be true, but I dont think these soldiers are lying. Furthermore the way this article was posted, it would seem that they believe that Sgt. Seavey speaks for all the military over in Iraq. From what I am reading there most assuredly are dissenting opinions within the military over President Bush's Iraq policy.
YOU dont "get it". There are soldiers over in Iraq fighting because they were ORDERED to do it.
NOT because they support the Bush administration blindly as your Sgt. Seavey. That's the point.
#11
Ass-ini, YOU don't get it. We are volunteers. We signed up for the shit. We know what we are in for and are re-upping in record numbers. Are we ordered to Iraq, yes. Just like we were ordered into Kosovo, Saudi, and any other shithole that whatever administration is in power wants us to go to. We do not blindly follow anyone. We support Bush, since we agree with him on Iraq. If we didn't, we would still go there and do our damnedest to get it done and grumble about it. Soldiers grumble all the time, even in the best of deployments. I have severe issues with some of how the occupation was waged. But the State Department had their dick beaters in that one.
Almost all soldiers do not have a "Blind" support for an administration. We do what we signed up for. We do our job. We do not hold blindly to the "official" line the government spews, unlike you with your (D)talkingpoints that you parrot.
"Arrr. Bush's fault! Quagmire!"
#12
I don't think they are "lying" either, I just think you are getting half a story. If I had a chance to wear the newer kevlar flak vest on a patrol thatn the bulky Vietnam era flak vest I would swa with a buddy who wasn't going out. Does that mean there is a shortage or just guys swapping newer gear for older ones? BTW I think they both worked the same one just fits better and is less bulky (looks sexy too!). But hey don't take my word for it, join up and see which fits you better.
Density of the brain is your specialty I see.
Reread the comments in post#6. Then read the original post. The article Cyber Sarge is posting gives the impression that Sgt. Seavey speaks for everyone in the military and that they are all pro-Bush on Iraq. Word Up-They are not.
Obviously, you are a fucking moron. No one is claiming that the Sgt. is speaking for everyone, while you think that Murtha is. Pot kills brain cells, and you have lost most of yours, I see. You think that the soldiers are all poor piss ants that march lock step to the orders of Bush and get bent when someone steps out of line. We get bent when someone makes untrue comments about us and our experiances to score political points and put our lives at risk, which is what Murtha is doing. There is a time and a place to have a drawn out argument over strategy. It is not in front of the media cameras while being a media whore. It emboldens the enemy and causes more people to die.
Please stop wasting our oxygen and do something useful. Like push up daisys.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
01/09/2006 15:50
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#16
M. Murry.
Thanks for evenMore Ass-inine comments.
Murtha is doing nothing of what you are saying ,which reveals that you are dense. youre just repeating the same bs every republican is saying because Murtha blew the cover over off of Bush's wagon exposing it for anyone with common sense who isnt brainwashed to see.
what is it with this "our" (as in "our time") stuff? are you speaking for yourself or for your group?are you all part of a brainless robotic rnc "collective" or do any of you have the capacity to speak independently? I feel like I'm speaking to "The Borg"..lmao
#18
What does lmao mean?
Is it a killer comeback?
Can I use it?
lmao. How was that?
Posted by: Saint Alphonso ||
01/09/2006 16:47
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#19
I do not belong to the Republican party. I speak from my experiance as a combat vet and am using the "US" as 99% of vets have the same opinions as the ones I stated. BTW, what "Talking points" have I used? I agree with Bush on taking out Saddam, but I think he is a spineless wimp when standing up to the state department and others in Washington. Is that a "Talking Point"? Give me actual proof from experiance to back up what you say is correct from Murtha. Have you been in the desert? Have you served with the line units? Are they broken and low moral? No. If they were, the major fact would be that the military wouldn't have the 110% retention rate they do now. Soldiers that have spent 2 years in Iraq are re-upping to do it again. And this in a booming economy that they would make a hell of a lot more money in the civilian world. You call me brainwashed and refuse to argue facts. You just post what you see in liberal publications. I know it is hard work doing that from your mother's basement, but try to move your fat, pastey ass off the chair and get out into the world. Sunlight might do you good. Or melt you into the quivering puddle of goo. Either way, the world is better off.
#20
Cassini, while I donât like to feed trolls this much I feel you need to look at what your are saying. Nobody (including myself) has said this one soldier speaks for EVERY soldier. He does appear to speak for A unit that JUST came back from Iraq and IS (supposedly) Represented by Congressman Moran. The fact that Congressman DID NOT get his anti-Bush stories from his own constituents led me to believe he is NO LONGER representative of his district. While Sgt Seavey may not represent all members of the Armed Forces, the same is definitely true of those who (for some unknown reason) lack body armor in a combat zone. The vast majority seems to be well supplied and highly motivated. If that werenât the case re-enlistment numbers would not be above 90%. Like I said earlier you can ALWAYS find someone to bitch and I have done some of that myself. Also, I encourage to visit your local Armed Forces recruiter, enlist, investigate the matter from the inside, and prove us all wrong by finding a vast anti-Bush climate among the Armed Forces.
Personally, I dont who the hell you are. This is the internet, You can say or be anybody you want to be. I think you are a phony misrepresenting yourself to be someone you are not.
On Murtha, you're doing nothing but repeating rnc talking points..they and you are pissed that he exposed Bush's phony Iraq war to be exactly what it is:
A tremendous waste of time, money and u.s. military lives.
If Al Qaeda decides to unleash a domestic attack on the U.S. tommorow or in the near future, tell me how in the hell is anything going on in Iraq going to stop it. You and people that think like you dont use common sense.
I have refrained from calling you names because I am trying to remain civil with you.
I did a internet search after this town hall meeting and repubs/con networks are trumpeting
Sgt. Seavey's comments as if he was "the story"
at the meeting.
What I have done is to post written comments to show that he absolutely wasnt and that there are
those within the military that definitely disagree with him and President Bush on Iraq.
If you cant understand that then there isnt really much more i can say.
#23
Hey I just figured it out! Ok gang if you were part of a combat unit deploying to Iraq and they didnât give you body armor what would you think? I am guessing that maybe they wanted to get rid of a few of the malcontents through attrition? I am just spit balling here so let me know what you all think. Like if Cassini joined up and bitched, bitched, bitched, and bitched every day about it being Bushes War, Oil, Haliburton, Cheney, Gitmo, and Rove. Now you find yourself going to Iraq with this malcontent and you are in charge of passing out body armor to the troops, sorry Pvt Cassini youâll just have to keep your head down until the next shipment comes. Now it all makes sense!
#24
The way I see it M Murray has one hand on a rifle and the other on his keyboard to protect the rights of Assini who can have both hands down his pants while his mom types.
#25
How is it a waste? For the first time in history, a democratic Iraq is taking shape. Hell, even if it only buys 10 years worth of stability in the region, it is worth it. We are fighting to make people free. To allow themselves to decide their OWN fate. So, according to your logic, the Civil War that America fought was a waste since it freed the slaves.
Iraq is an experiment, and it could very well head south in a hurry. But if it succeeds, we will have an Islamic nation with freedom of speech, religion and tolerance. The same things which brought Japan such prosperity. (Yes I know Japan is still slightly Xenophobic, but they are improving and are a hell of a lot better than 60 years ago). The Middle East could actually contribute to the world ideas and economic growth instead of trying to tear down everything that the rest of the world has made. This is why we are there. This is why people like my brothers and sisters are sacrificing their lives, bodies and time away from families. It is something that you will obviously never understand or appreciate in your hate filled, prejudice soul. We are fighting for the prospect of a good future. It is too bad you and the rest of your ilk are stuck in the rancid past.
As I said before, do us a favor and go push up some daisies. You are not contributing anything good to the world, just sucking up resources like a parasite.
JOHANNESBURG: Five Zimbabweans were killed on Wednesday in clashes between South Africans and foreigners at a squatter settlement in the capital Pretoria, police said. Mounted Police reinforcements were sent to the Olivienhoutbosch (<--- can't believe they've not Zuluized that name yet) area after renewed violence erupted between South Africans and foreigners returning home after they fled an earlier outbreak of fighting there last week, police spokeswoman Katlego Mogale said.
"A group of foreign nationals returned to the settlement after the Dec. 26 incident and were met with resistance from the locals. A fight erupted," Mogale said in a statement. "We have confirmed 5 dead and 11 seriously injured," she told Reuters by telephone from Pretoria. Public broadcaster SABC radio said Zimbabwean and Mozambique nationals were involved in the fighting against South Africans in the squatter settlement.
It was not immediately clear how many people were involved in the violence, possibly a boatlaod, but calm had been restored and police patrols had been beefed up and sjamboks issued, Mogale said. More than a million Mozambicans and Zimbabweans have fled poverty in their own countries for South Africa, attracted by a booming economy and the prospect of jobs. Hundreds of thousands of others-from across Africa and countries such as Pakistan and India, have also found their way to Africaâs wealthiest nation.
Many of the immigrants, without work or residency permits (geez, ID cards????? Wat?), are forced into a life of squalor in settlements where local South Africans resent their presence, accusing them of taking scarce jobs and depressing wages, fomenting crime, hate and discontent, etc.
This headline could have read January 9, 1983 easily enough.
#3
Reading the article, I find that part of the reason for the leak was the "hope to influence the 2004 Presidential election" - hoping to defeat Bush and elect Kerry. They need to be visited late at night by a dozen Scottish ghosts of the Battle of Culloden (or at least a dozen Marines wearing appropriate makeup and costumes). I don't know who "decided" it was appropriate for foreign nationals to interfere in our presidential elections, but the capital of the next nation that does it needs to have a nuclear sunrise some night around midnight.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/09/2006 14:14
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#4
I don't know who "decided" it was appropriate for foreign nationals to interfere in our presidential elections, but the capital of the next nation that does it needs to have a nuclear sunrise some night around midnight.
Go ahead. Nuke the United Kingdom. I double-dog-dare you.
Though strangely enough, I don't think you'd consider it justified if people got to nuke Washington D.C. for the interference America has had on national politics worldwide, some it much more forceful than mere "leaks".
Posted by: Red Dod ||
01/09/2006 16:55
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#6
Aris, let me let you in on a secret: OP was using byperbole. Since I learned yesterday that you don't do research on the internet, I decided to provide an example of it.
I went to http://dictionary.com and looked up 'hyperbole' (see below). And guess what? It is a Greek in origin, so you might know it.
hy·per·bo·le P Pronunciation Key (h-pûrb-l)
n.
A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect, as in I could sleep for a year or This book weighs a ton.
[Latin hyperbol, from Greek huperbol, excess, from huperballein, to exceed : huper, beyond; see hyper- + ballein, to throw; see gwel- in Indo-European Roots.]
So, you see, OP didn't really mean he wants to nuke the UK (your suggestion), but wanted to emphasize how displeased he (and RBers, I'd say in general) was with foreigners surreptiously interfering with US elections.
Now to the RANT.
The reason OP is upset is because US Presidental elections are important, for Americans and the rest of the world too. Unlike in Europe, where the government (EU) ignores the people's vote (Phrancistan) and just "keeps on keepin' on" as if it never happened. The "People" spoke? Huh? There have been revolutions for less.
But, what can the European sheeple do? Nothing. Bupkus. Zilch. Nil. Collectively, Europe has decided they'd rather live in a 'protected PC camp'. They have dropped their arms, removed their cajones and bent over, hoping they will be last or maybe even survive. As a famous European once said: War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.John Stuart Mill English economist & philosopher (1806 - 1873)
Every time I read this, I think of the EU. And you, Aris. Sitting in your ivory tower, pouting about those eevil Americans running roughshod over the world. While WE (Americans) fight, struggle, and fund this war for all of humanity.
In fact, the 'better men' Mr. Mill speaks of are Americans, Aris. It is Americans who are 'manning the watchtowers', spilling blood and facing off with an incredible Evil. An evil which would destroy the most advanced and benevolent civilization ever known, with the worst sort of barbarity ever seen in recorded history. However, Aris, no need to pout. Americans do know how to fight and crush barbarians (see Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany).
American has been fighting this war with one hand tied behind our back, all of the fingers of the other hand bound together and wearing shackles.
However, you should we suffer a mass-casualty attack, our enemies should read about a man named 'Sherman' and a place called 'Atlanta' to learn how we can wage war, total war. God might have mercy upon our enemies, but we will not.
#8
Brett> And people accuse *me* of being long-winded.
I indeed do research on the internet (notoriously so) -- to answer the questions *I* have, not as your slave for the questions *you* demanded of me, your majesty. But given *your* shown unwillingness to research *your own* questions, I have probably done more research on the internet this past week than you've done your whole life.
So, you see, OP didn't really mean he wants to nuke the UK (your suggestion), but wanted to emphasize how displeased he (and RBers, I'd say in general) was with foreigners surreptiously interfering with US elections.
That's cool. If I say "I hope Washington gets nuked" the next time something the Bush administration does displeases me, I hope y'all see the hyperbole behind the comment.
And yes I do indeed know the word hyperbole, since it's modern Greek as well, meaning "exaggeration".
Forgive me if I avoid to read the even more tedious anti-European blah-blah, that I now see follows the etymological blah-blah.
#9
A last sidenote -- having just finally taken the trouble to skim the rant comments of Brett with all the unoriginal "God take mercy on our opponents because we won't" cliches...
... Brett, just for your education: it's the macho posturing that I found contemptuous, both in Old Patriot's comment and now in yours.
If I had thought OP had *meant* the nuking comments, then he'd have gotten words from me that accused him of being a genocidal murderer at heart. He got a mere "double-dog-dare" because his nuking "hyperbole" just made him a posturing macho buffoon instead, same as with many people whose words don't match their actual opinions. And posturing buffoons need to be told to put their money where their mouth is.
Your own posturing, with unoriginal cliches in addition, doesn't make you any better.
When you slip and fall on stage, just get on with the play. Don't try to work the fall in and convince the audience that it's what you meant to do.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2006 18:58
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#11
Steve White, I honestly do think that OP's words don't reveal a hateful genocidal mania but a macho buffoonery that takes pride in its own arrogance instead.
I don't really care if you don't believe me. There's too many times you people have thought that I've failed to understand the existence of sarcasm when I was merely objecting to its target, and too many times when my failure to laugh has made you think that I failed to catch the intended humour.
But if you opt to think I "slipped and fell", have it your way.
#15
Ditto what SPoD said. This neurotic asshole was banned last year for his disruptive behavior, and he should have STAYED banned. Why the hell he wasn't, is beyond me. GET RID OF THE DAMNED JERK!!!!
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/09/2006 19:12
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#16
I honestly do think that OP's words don't reveal a hateful genocidal mania but a macho buffoonery that takes pride in its own arrogance instead.
You misread him. OP's words reveal the anger of a man who gave of himself in many ways to oppose tyranny and sees some dismiss or scorn the sacrifices he and others made on behalf of many -- Greece included.
He gave his service, in uniform for 26 years; his opportunity to live a settled and perhaps more prosperous life; and even aspects of his health in that service.
And before you dismiss his opinions too smugly, IIRC that service included daily use of fluent Arabic and direct familiarity with many of the issues and players in the region today.
#17
Quite the contrast with the downy-cheeked child who's having his first actual experience in The Big World - yet still lectures at large on every topic, lotp. ;-)
#19
And btw, Dave I have to say that I was banned NOT for general "disruptive behaviour" but for expressing the hope that Frank drops dead. Or atleast I was banned so soon after doing so that it seems the most likely immediate cause.
Aris, Aris, Aris. I sure hope Fred doesn't ban you. Now to your comments on my comments....
1. I love being called a "macho posturer". That is sooo hot! I might get my
2. Is there any other kind of cliche other than "unoriginial". it can't be a cliche (yet) if I just created it.
3. Awwww. come on and be my slave, Aris. I have this nice collar you could wear.....
Aris, did you read Steyn's masterpiece on Demographics in Europe? You should read it, 'fisk' it and put the results here. She us what you have. Create a logical argument as to why you are correct. Then, we can snipe comment, just like you do.
#24
Brett - I concur with IP and GC (#8) - solid truth to finger-wagging vapor. That you have to say what is blatantly obvious and then be sniped by Mr Snippy, well, there's an RB MoH and PH due. Fred? Lol. It rocked, bro.
Now about this in #1 of comment #25:
"I might get my "
Um, heh, wanna complete that thought? Lol. Just wondering. Something about your dancing shoes, maybe?
#26
Lol - I knew about Utah beach from readings and a little research some time back, but: a) didn't know he'd been in Patton's 3rd and b) had forgotten about his time in Korea. Google is my friend, er sometimes, lol. Made to 100. That's amazing...
No I'm honored - and I'm jealous, y'know - I wish I had posted it, lol. Hell I wish I had the calm and crystal clarity you demonstrated.
#28
Well, stand back and be educated! My knowledge comes from a fascination with the Korean War (and I can name 'Rivers and Regiments') where Van Fleet followed Ridgway.
Before James van Fleet went to Korea, he was running the American effort to save Greece from Yugoslav-backed Greek Communists. From what I have read, Van Fleet trained and ran the Greek Army, defeating the Commies and saving Greece to continue as part of Western Civilization. One should consider James Van Fleet the father of the modern Greek state. Heh.
A segue to the one of my favorite quotes from the Korean War. During the battle of Chipyong, the 23rd Regiment was attacked by an estimated 2 CCF Divisions. The CCF used their 'human wave' tactics against American firepower. The best weapons were the tracked "quad-.50" (http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/50quad.htm) and napalm. After the CCF formation were broken, Corsairs dropped napalm on them. When Ridgway visited, the Commander showed him the burned chinese bodies and called them "Chink Fricase". I love the visual.
#29
Thanks, phil_b. It is one of my favorite quotes.
Aris, please come back! I am looking for your fisking of Steyn's piece. Go for it. Maybe even take a day or two and do some of that excellent internet research you do and blow him away. If you do, I am sure the RBers will respond positively, errr, well let's just say respond.
As millions of Beninois and others prepare for the annual voodoo festival of offering prayers and animal sacrifices, do we really understand what voodoo is? .... or care?
Once banned, voodoo is now an official religion in Benin, where the practice was born. About 60% of the country's 7 million people practise the religion. Forms of voodoo also exist in Togo, Ghana, Haiti and Brazil, and New Orleans.
Followers believe in a generally pissed off supreme God, dolls and pins, and spirits who link the human with the divine.
Spirits are thought to exist in many things - from the earth, wind, thunder, giant baobab trees and pythons, and pints of Guinness. But for centuries the religion has been associated with black magic used for evil purposes and based on animal and human sacrifices.
Is voodoo a force for good or evil? Is there a place for voodoo in modern Africa? Does voodoo play an important part in your family? Do you have any UNCLAS voodoo stories to tell us?
"good" .... as in human sacrifices? BBC please explain.
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan has protested to the U.S. military in Afghanistan over firing at a Pakistani village near the Afghan border that killed eight people, the Foreign Ministry said Monday.
Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said cross-border firing from Afghanistan killed the people in Saidgi village in the tribal region of North Waziristan early Saturday, but added that Pakistan was still trying to determine whether U.S. helicopters landed there as claimed by local elders. "We have protested to the coalition forces because they are responsible for security on the other side," Aslam told a news conference in the capital, Islamabad. "The Americans did not enter our territory. We did receive fire from across the border," said Aslam, without elaborating. "The Americans have denied their troops were involved in this attack, but we have initiated an inquiry into what exactly happened."
In Kabul, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Mike Cody said he would look into the alleged incident. On Saturday, he said he had no reports of U.S. forces firing on a village in Pakistan. About 20,000 U.S. troops are in Afghanistan. But neighboring Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in its war on terrorism, says they aren't allowed to operate on its side of the rugged, sometimes poorly defined border.
Residents said the firing came before dawn Saturday at cleric Maulana Noor Mohammad's home, killing eight and wounding nine, including women and children and baby ducks.
Momin Khan, a tribal elder, said he and other tribal elders complained to the area's top commander, Maj. Gen. Akram Sahi, that U.S. helicopters launched the attack, landed and took away five tribesmen, then flew toward Afghanistan. He said Sahi had assured the elders that Pakistan's military was investigating.
About an hour after Saturday's blast, suspected Islamic militants raided a checkpoint on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border 30 miles away, killing eight Pakistani security forces deployed to stop militants from entering or leaving Afghanistan. On Monday, assailants also fired rockets at a security checkpoint along the border and exchanged fire with troops west of Miran Shah, wounding three soldiers.
The area is a known hide-out for alleged al-Qaida and Taliban sympathizers and extremists, and Pakistan has deployed around 70,000 military personnel to hunt them down. Last month, a senior al-Qaida suspect from Egypt, Hamza Rabia, was killed in the area. Pakistan denied residents' claims that he died in a U.S. missile strike.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/09/2006
08:07 ||
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#1
U.S. helicopters launched the attack, landed and took away five tribesmen, then flew toward Afghanistan. He said Sahi had assured the elders that Pakistan's military was investigating.
#2
Spot-on, B-man... Did they say the choppers were black? Heh, I musta missed that bit.
Presuming this isn't some disinfo or fantasy... When Pervy and the ISI get on the same page, and that page is the blueprint to end the reign of IslamoNutz in PakiWakiLand, then we'll worry more about their sensitivities regards territory. This, coming from a "country" that has little or no control (civil or asshat) over much of its claimed territory is rather priceless, IMHO.
Palestinian weapons experts who have undergone training in Lebanon, Syria and possibly Iran have recently entered the Gaza Strip. According to the official, several Palestinians who were trained by the Lebanon based Hezbollah party and the Iranians, have entered the Gaza Strip recently, apparently from the Sinai. Haaretz quoted a security official claiming that, in the past, vast technological knowledge has been transmitted via the Internet or via memory chips used in laptop computers.
In a few cases, the Shin Bet security service has managed to keep Palestinian and Israeli Arab countries from smuggling instructions for manufacturing weapons into the territories. The official added that even when instructions to manufacture weapons and explosives became available to the Palestinian fighters, they decided to use the help of weapon experts. "Most of the experts are Hamas members who specialize in making explosive devices and improving high-trajectory weapons - specifically, building warheads and improving the rockets' aerodynamics", the official claimed.
The Israeli intelligence believes that Hamas is primarily concerned with upgrading its operational ability ahead of a possible renewed confrontation with Israel. Yet, Hamas has been urging the Palestinian factions to maintain calm in the Palestinian territories since the truce was declared February last year.
Also, Israeli military intelligence officials said that they received unconfirmed reports stating that improved Katyusha rockets have been smuggles into the Gaza Strip; the rockets have 20-kilomter range and 6.3 kilogram warhead. Israel claims that Hezbollah party has initiated most of the attacks in the occupied territories in 2003 and 2004 by funding several organizations and handing them general instructions for the attacks which were mainly carried by Fateh and the Islamic Jihad, according to Israeli security officials.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/09/2006
08:03 ||
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PHOENIX - M. Zuhdi Jasser still gets worked up when he recalls what some Muslim Americans said after the Sept. 11 attacks. "Their criticism of America was just unbelievable," said Jasser, an internist who describes himself as a pious Muslim. Jasser saw it differently. He grew up in Wisconsin, where his parents settled after escaping Syria's dictatorship. He was raised an observant Muslim, and he prays five times daily. He served 11 years in the U.S. Navy. He has a Bush-Cheney bumper sticker on his black Corvette convertible. "I cannot sit idly silent," said Jasser, 37. "I have an obligation to do what I can to create a world where my children can grow up, and there's no conflict in their hearts between being American and being Muslim."
Two years ago, Jasser and a few like-minded Muslims in Arizona founded the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. This Phoenix organization was one of the first created by Muslims to promote a tolerant form of Islam compatible with a secular, democratic nation. The leaders of the new organizations say the established national Islamic groups promote a political strain of Islam that creates sympathy for the extremists - a charge the national groups deny. "Until we as Muslims admit we have some illness in our religion that needs to be cured, we won't go anywhere," said Ali Homsi, a civil engineer who joined the Phoenix organization's board.
Daniel Pipes, executive director of Philadelphia's Middle East Forum and a foe of radical Islam, says the new voices are shifting the debate within the faith. "I see the emergence of these new groups as vital to present an alternative view to Muslims," said Pipes, who last year helped create a think tank opposed to militant Islamists, the Center for Islamic Pluralism, in Washington.
The struggle in Phoenix is typical of the worldwide battle among Muslims over their faith. In the Middle East, the battle is waged on television, where several miniseries are presenting radical Islam for the first time in an unflattering light. In Britain, still stunned by the July suicide bombings in London's transit system, the battle plays out over the "moderate" credentials of the nation's most prominent Islamic organization, the Muslim Council of Britain, whose knighted leader endorsed the 1989 fatwa, or edict, against Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses."
"There is a civil war going on within Islam," Jasser said. The leaders of the new organizations acknowledge that their ranks are small. When Jasser's group put together a Muslim antiterrorism march, about 400 people showed up. The majority were non-Muslims. But the new groups have gained some legitimacy. Their calls on Muslims to alienate terrorists have resonated particularly with non-Muslims. Jasser was invited to write a column for the Arizona Republic in Phoenix.
"Zuhdi seems to be that moderate Muslim voice that people have been waiting to hear," said Phil Boas, the Republic's assistant editorial-page editor.
The reformists are also getting the ear of Washington's leaders. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last spring named Kamal Nawash, president of the Washington-based Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism, to a delegation that attended an international conference in Spain on intolerance. "We grew very quickly and were recognized by the administration," said Nawash, a lawyer.
In the United States, critics have long complained that Islamists have propagated their point of view through advocacy groups and mosques that relied upon financing and radical literature from Saudi Arabia and Iran.
"In the '90s, we witnessed the takeover of power in America by elements of the Wahhabi trend, though they don't claim that publicly," said Walid Phares, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington. "They isolated dissenters to the margins."
The national Muslim organizations deny that they are under the sway of extremists. Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which calls itself the main defender of Muslim Americans, said the council would invariably clash with the government over civil liberties. He said dissent should not be confused with support for terrorism. "It's the nature of civil rights work to challenge authority," he said.
Nevertheless, Muslims are under great pressure to take sides with other Muslims. "For a believing Muslim, asking what if anything went wrong with the Islamic faith is an uncomfortable question," Islamic scholar Khaled Abou El Fadl writes in his book, "The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam From the Extremists." "A Muslim cannot help but feel that he or she is somehow playing into the hands of Islam's enemies." Indeed, Hooper said criticism from Muslims such as Jasser was "providing others with an opportunity to advance an agenda that is hostile to the American Muslim community."
Marwan Ahmad, publisher of the Muslim Voice newspaper in Phoenix, said Jasser was putting his allegiance to the dominant culture ahead of his faith. Last month, his newspaper printed a cartoon depicting Jasser as the Arizona Republic's attack dog, mauling other Muslims. "Jasser is saying what they want to hear, and they publish it," he said. "I can tell you from history in this country, with African Americans and Japanese, that there are always small groups that want to associate with the dominant group and stand against their own," Ahmad said. "Eventually, the people who stand for their own will win, and the small group doesn't have any respect in the end."
Jasser bristles at the suggestion that he is pandering. "So is their point that I'm contriving this, that I'm lying about my religious beliefs?" he said. "These are beliefs I've held since I was a youth."
Jasser acknowledges that he is living an American dream inaccessible to many more recent Muslim immigrants, who are more likely to be impoverished and resentful. Jasser's parents had the skills to flourish in the United States; his mother is a pharmacist, and his father is a cardiologist. The Navy put him through medical school, and his last assignment was to provide medical care to members of Congress and U.S. Supreme Court justices. His Navy uniform still hangs on his office door, beneath a lab coat. "I have more freedom to practice my faith here in America than anywhere else in the world," he said. "I didn't bring with me baggage from the Middle East."
Growing up in the United States, Jasser became a "Jeffersonian Muslim," a believer in a clear separation of religion and state. His belief in secularism - that the mosque should devote less time to politics and more to spiritual discussions about relationships with God - causes perhaps the greatest disagreement with the established Muslim groups.
"These individuals want to convert Muslims in general to secularism," said Ahmad, the Muslim Voice publisher. "Islam is not a secular society. They want us to separate religion from daily life and politics. They want to take everything but religion out of the mosque. That's not something Muslims stand for."
Jasser said he did not want Muslims to separate religion from their daily lives. He said his faith governed everything he did - his treatment of patients, his respect for people of other faiths, his diet, his prayer schedule. But he does not believe his is a faith that can be imposed upon others. "I believe in the end, God is going to judge me by what I did when faced with this challenge," he said. "Did I stand up and try to preserve that harmony between Islam and America? Or did I actually go asleep and let the radicals ... speak for my faith?"
Posted by: Steve ||
01/09/2006
07:49 ||
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#1
"In the '90s, we witnessed the takeover of power in America by elements of the Wahhabi trend,
#3
My opinion has been for some time that progressive muslims would do more to change Islam by leaving it then by challenging the mainstream and that by leaving islam publically and noisily they might, maybe, do something good for their faith and for the millions of muslims who are abused by that faith.
#4
Indeed, Hooper said criticism from Muslims such as Jasser was "providing others with an opportunity to advance an agenda that is hostile to the American Muslim community."
Really?
Nice to know where Hooper and the rest of his fellow extremists stand on the subject of radical Islam.
#6
mhw: Reform in Islam is deceptive. As with everything else, the vast majority of people in any group are comfortable with moderation. But they can be swayed one way or another by a small group of extremists or moderates.
Just the existence of these moderates, their ability to survive and function without being supressed or killed, opens the door to huge numbers of other Moslems to just "not do", and not worry about "not doing". This cuts the legs from underneath the extremists.
That is why extremists of all stripes hate the moderates of their group even more than the official hated enemy. Moderates marginalize extremists.
#7
Check out a book called End of Faith. In it, author Harris suggests that moderates actually aid and abet religious radicals. If Islam could reform from within, that would be something to see, but I'll file that in with time travel. Maybe someday...
Jan 9, 2006 â BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside Iraq's Interior Ministry in Baghdad on Monday, killing at least seven people and wounding 35, police and ministry sources said. Police said they were trying to establish how one of the bombers managed to get through a series of checkpoints in the heavily guarded compound before detonating his explosives.
A ceremony celebrating the 84th anniversary of the formation of the Iraqi police force was taking place at the police academy next door to the ministry at the time of the blast. Among the dignitaries attending were the U.S. ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, and the Iraqi defense and interior ministers.
U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Johnson, who was at the ceremony, denied an Iraqi state television report that a mortar bomb had hit the parade ground. "The blast could be heard in the distance, but no mortar hit the parade ground," he told Reuters.
The ministry has been attacked by insurgents on several previous occasions, especially by Sunni Arab insurgents who accuse it of running Shi'ite militia who oppress the minority Sunni Arab community. The ministry denies such charges. In November, U.S. troops found a bunker run by the Interior Ministry containing 170 prisoners, mostly Sunni Arabs. Many showed signs of abuse and torture.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/09/2006
07:44 ||
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Researchers in India and Canada for the Lancet journal said prenatal selection and selective abortion was causing the loss of 500,000 girls a year, but the number of angry young males without work or nookie continues to rise.
Their research was based on a national survey of 1.1m households in 1998. The researchers said the "girl deficit" was more common among educated women but did not vary according to religion. Same would hold true here I suspect. What is it, they hate thier own kind?
The unusual gender balance in India has been known about for some time, And ignored. Where is the western, "progressive" outrage?
In most countries, women slightly outnumber men, but separate research for the year 2001 showed that for every 1,000 male babies born in India, there were just 933 girls.
Ultrasound, is not your friend.
The latest research is by Prabhat Jha of St Michael's Hospital at the University of Toronto, Canada, and Rajesh Kumar of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Research in Chandigarh, India.
They found that there was an increasing tendency to select boys when previous children had been girls. Who would want an inferior family member?
The sex ratio is so skewed in some states, men cannot find brides, duhhhhhhhhh
In cases where the preceding child was a girl, the ratio of girls to boys in the next birth was 759 to 1,000.
This fell even further when the two preceding children were both girls. Then the ratio for the third child born was just 719 girls to 1,000 boys.
However, for a child following the birth of a male child, the gender ratio was roughly equal. Gender selection, "choice" what lovely tools.Prabhat Jha said conservative estimates in the research suggested half a million girls were being lost each year.
"If this practice has been common for most of the past two decades since access to ultrasound became widespread, then a figure of 10m missing female births would not be unreasonable."
This just means that girls will be far more sought after in future Christian Tiburtius, Reading
Experts in India say female foeticide is mostly linked to socio-economic factors. The girl child has traditionally been considered inferior and a liability. How progressive.
It is an idea that many say carries over from the time India was a predominantly agrarian society where boys were considered an extra pair of hands on the farm.
Last year the well-known religious leader and social activist, Swami Agnivesh, began a campaign across five northern and western states against female foeticide.
"There's no other form of violence that's more painful, more abhorrent, more shameful," he said.
If there is any positives here I suppose it would be the fact they (unlike many in the west) are still at least having children, are somewhat concerned about their future, civilizaiton, prodigy, albeit primarily male only. Of course governments will always step in during times of population (and tax) decline, importing new constituents and taxpayers from abroad, displacing or distilling culture, heritage, and values, for which they care nothing.
#2
This has been discussed from another angle here.
Conclusion, the excess males of India, and the excess Males from China (Same selective male over female birth by selection process) will have a war shortly to thin out the "Extras".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2006 10:56
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#3
If 10% of the population is gay, then the universe is once again in balanced.
#4
India has had a number of cases of brides being killed by their in-laws for insufficient 'dowry' (aka bribes to the family of the groom from the family of the bride). I suspect this custom of bride dowry is about to change.
One would think that the exact opposite of dowry, a bride price, as in parts of Africa, would be soon required of men.
After all, if women are few, laws of supply and demand must have effect.
Even Nelson Mandela paid the family of his current wife, the widow of the former Mozambique president a price - in cattle - for her.
There is however the complication of caste.
Families are willing to pay dowry if their daughters can marry into a higher caste family.
This is sustainng the practice of dowry, which is actually illegal in India.
How soon the shortage of women will destroy both dowry and caste is not easy to predict. I think it is inevitable. Caste made some sort of sense in a rural economy where there was a caste of fishermen, of cowherders, etc, extreme specialization of labor.
The worker in a factory making automotive parts for Delphi has no traditional job caste. The engineer designing chips for Texas Instruments has no job caste. The entire system will collapase as industrialization and urbanization progress.
And a shortage of women will accelerate this. Some communities and some states are already importing brides from elsewhere (and paying the girl's families).
When you got no nookie, you don't care about caste and dowry.
Posted by: john ||
01/09/2006 19:24
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Redneck Jim, don't forget....China loses additional females to foreign adoption. They don't adopt out the male babies. That makes the final ratio even worse.
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Shi'ite clerics are recruiting young Iraqis to go to neighboring Iran for political indoctrination and militia training, said the uncle of one young man who recently returned from a one-month session.
Upon the return of the young man -- whose name has been withheld from this article to protect his family -- he was recruited into the armed wing of the pro-Iranian Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) political party, the uncle said.
The claim is consistent with remarks by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, who has repeatedly warned about Iranian meddling in Iraq's affairs.
............
But, Muhammad said, "They took them to a camp and gave them a briefing on what is happening in Iraq, and what Iran is trying to do: Support the Shi'ites and help them retain power. ...
"They trained them for militia purposes -- to go out on patrol, to get people out of their houses, execute them and leave them on the street," he said, adding that his nephew had boasted about his training to the family when he returned in early December. "He was brainwashed; he was very proud when he was talking to us. He told us all the details in order to try and make us afraid. He had an AK-47. He didn't say who arranged his passport, but he is getting his orders from one of the imams in the Badr office," Muhammad said.
A small military jet crashed in northwestern Iran on Monday, killing the commander of the ground forces of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards and at least 12 other people, state media said.
The plane, which belongs to the Revolutionary Guards, was attempting an emergency landing at Oroumieh, located 560 miles northwest of the capital, Tehran, near the Turkish border, state television reported.
Gen. Ahmad Kazemi, commander of the ground forces of the Revolutionary Guards, was among the 11 military officers killed in the crash, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported, quoting Guards spokesman Gen. Masoud Jazayeri.
State television said 11 passengers and two crew members were killed. However, state radio said the plane had a crew of three. The discrepancy could not be immediately explained.
There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash.
State television said the plane was a Falcon jet, which is the preferred aircraft of high-ranking military officers in Iran.
Iran has a history of aircraft accidents involving a heavy loss of life. The government has blamed the U.S. trade embargo which makes it impossible for Iran to buy parts for its old U.S.-built aircraft.
In December, 115 people were killed when a military transport plane crashed into a 10-story apartment building near Tehran's Mehrabad airport as the pilot was returning to the airport shortly after takeoff to make an emergency landing.
In 2003, a Russian-made Ilyushin-76 carrying members of the Revolutionary Guards crashed in the mountains of southeastern Iran, killing 302 people. That crash led to an intel coup on the al-Qaeda leadership in Iran. Be interesting to see if we learn anything notable from Kazemi's sorry carcass.
In 2002, a Russian-made Tupolev Tu-154 struck snow-covered mountains in western Iran, killing all 119 people on board.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/09/2006
04:36 ||
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#1
Interesting how "pilot error" is never mentioned as a potential cause.
#2
Any US made transport aircraft that Iran is flying are so old and popular that parts are avilable on the open market. Poor maintance and pilot error are to blame not any embargo.
#5
The Zionist Death Ray strikes again! Kudos to the Mossad for another success ('cause it couldn't possibly be American Special Forces fiddling with the fiddly bits at night in the hangers, or shining laser pointers into the pilots' eyes). ;-)
#11
Soooo...... Enquiring minds want to knnow....who is responsible? The possibilities are endless! Let's hope that what this wasn't, was an IRGC coup planned against Ahammadaboutjihad, that crashed and burned. AhNeedMeds is mad-hatter crazy and I can see that being a perfectly valid potential scenario. But who knows?
#12
BTW Dassault is mostly in the hands of the Dassault family and they have Jewish roots (Its creator Marcel Dassault formerly Marcel Bloch converted to catholicism during or after WWII, don't remember)
#14
When you have a country run by Mad Mullahs, what do you expect? THEY are in charge of the laws of physics through Allan. Take a look at the Bam earthquake disaster. Anyone that flies or maintains these aircraft are ultimately answerable to the MMs, so heroic maintenance and procurement is going against the will of the MMs, who have other priorities with the public purse. I am sure that this systemic weakness is being taken into consideration in our war planning. It damned well better be.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/09/2006 10:25
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#15
War planning, we don't do war planning.
The dhimmocrats would never allow it.
#18
One possible contribution to the aircraft safety problem in Iran is the replacement of competant people by ideologically pure people. It doesn't seem like this could actually trickle down to the mechanic level but it could easily trickle down to the ispection level.
#20
According this, Kazemihad been head of the IRGC Air Force until last August. Then there's this,
Another Guards commander...[replaced] in the reshuffle is Brigadier General Ahmad Kazemi, commander of the IRGC Air Force. Kazemi replaced Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf when the latter was appointed as the police chief in 2000, but Khamenei is said to want a more robust commander to lead the IRGC Air Force to achieve faster progress in the ballistic missile development under his command.
That last part doesn't exactly square with another take:
The Islamic regime is increasing its preparation for its last stand against the Iranian Nation and the world community. Several commanders of the regime's Pasdaran Corp. (Revolutionary Guards) have been changed on the Supreme Leader's instruction. Generals Mohammad-Ali Jaffari and Ahmad Kazemi have been nominated, today, to two key posts which will allow a better control of the Pasdaran Corp. by the clerical leadership.
#23
Is it too late to start the rumor that the CIA did it? It would be easy for the MM's⢠to believe it, whether we had a hand in it or not.
So if the Iranian secret intel service is googling this right now, THE CIA DID IT!
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2006 13:23
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#24
Well, it could have been the Mossad, too.
Posted by: Matt ||
01/09/2006 13:25
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#25
No big BOOM, no flames. From the photo, wreckage appeared to be pretty much in tact! Could have simply ran outta motion lotion. Pays to tap on the gauge now and then, just in case.
#26
As an aside.... I don't know if the more embarassing aviation accident cause is "fuel exhaustion" or "controlled flight into terrain." Both are pretty stupid.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
01/09/2006 14:16
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#27
interesting thread from Free Republic (old) I discovered when googling Pasdaran Corp. Wish I had time to read it all. link
US SF is all over this one, busy preparing the battle field.
Good work!
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/09/2006 14:49
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#29
I was kind of hoping Iran was right and the embargo had something to do with it, chalk one up for ol Condi and the State team. But the reality sets in, if France can get Nuclear equipment and materieal in well aircraft parts would be a no brainer. Unfortunately Poor maintenance and stupid pilots are more likely at fault here. "Fuel check? Allah be with us! We don't need no stinkin fuel check".
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/09/2006 15:26
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#30
I'd rather they think a dissident faction did a hit. Start the purges!
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2006 16:43
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#31
Jet turbines are touchy items, and require regular attention from well-trained individuals. Also, political commissars do NOT make the best inspectors on highly-involved mechanical work. Sabotage with a "modified" part would not be that difficult under such circumstances. Not excluding the fact that an "Inshallah" approach to basic maintenance can be deadly on aircraft.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/09/2006 17:49
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#34
My personal prayer in all of this is that what we are seeing now is an Iranian variation of the Night of the Long Knives : one of the power factions has cut a deal with the regular Army and Police to eliminate the IRGC leadership, in return for their support when their nut Prez crosses their Rubicon.
#35
Good lord, a civil war in the makings?? As unfortunate as it would be a civil was would set them back years in their quest for nukes and give us time on the Iraq rebuild.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/09/2006 19:39
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#36
Holy Extrapolation, Batman! Let's not get too excited. After all, it could have just been lack of airspeed, altitude, and ideas, all at the same time.
There is nothing more worthless than:
1. Altitude above you.
2. Runway behind you.
3. Fuel in the fuel truck.
Or it could be the fuel and altimeter aftermarket parts, like Seafarious sez. LOL, Sea!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/09/2006 21:20
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#37
...and one more AP,
4. and 1/2 second ago
Posted by: Rafael ||
01/09/2006 22:12
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#38
5. Some mad Mulla doing the QC on maitenance.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/09/2006 22:28
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#39
IM = Insh'allah Maintenance, lol.
I heard some excellent stories at the Dhahran AB in '92, lol. Terrified Saudi pilots were always a favorite topic, heh. I bought a truck which happened to have a gate pass, leaving it on was part of the deal, so I could go to the E & O Clubs, eat real food - even during prayer-time (gasp!) and hang out with regular people. Alas, I didn't have access in my later tour - and I think the US Mil had been wholly replaced by contractors, anyway.
#40
Lots of news today - REGIMECHANGE IRAN reports it believes Iran may have up to four nukes bombs already. Meanwhile our alleged good friends the Russians on PRAVDA are wondering whom killed off Kazemi and other incidents - read, Dubya and the USA. TERRADAILY.com reports that Chinese growth, espec in population and consumption, may eventually threaten the entire planet, which seemingly is in line with PRAVDA's "THE EARTH IS DEAD" artic which again is in line with Steven C Hoagland's belief on COASTTOCOASTAM show that Iran already has nukes, and that alleged "Global Gulag-ists", Socialists, Globalists, Governmentists and Poligarchs intend to PC "eliminate" approximately 5 1/2 BILLION persons, as many as necesary, for the sake of resources-control and Globalist/Global Utopia. Hoagland's "Global Gulag-ists" > America vv the WOT and 9-11 are fighting a PRE-SET, PRE-DETERMINED, PC/PDENIABLE alleged "MANUFACTURED WAR" for control of the world, or words to that effect. Both Hoagland and O'REILLY [vv ACLU and its agenda] believe that AMERICA'S SOVEREIGNTY AND ITS DESTRUCTION IS THE IMMEDIATE PRIORITY/OBJECTIVE OF BOTH [HOAGLAND'S] ALLEGED GLOBAL GULAGISTS AND [O'REILLY'S SUPER-LEFTY] "ACLU". STAY ARMED AND STAY VIGILANT, RANTERS.
The small Falcon executive jet came down near Oroumieh, 900 km north of Tehran, according to an announcement from Iranâs state news agency.
DEBKAfileâs Tehran sources note the high importance of the dead commander who was appointed only three months ago. Their first premise is that the crash was engineered by opposition factions to president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad within the regime in an effort to stem the increasing encroachments of state institutions by his backers, the fire-eating Revolutionary Guards.
The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards ground forces and 12 other officers have been killed in a plane crash in north-western Iran, says state media. The small Falcon jet came down near Oroumieh, 900 km (560 miles) north-west of the capital, Tehran. "Ahmad Kazemi was killed with 12 of his deputies and accompanying officers," said Ahmad Panahi of Iran's Emergency Centre, according to Fars news agency.
A military transport plane crashed in Tehran last month, killing 128 people. It had been attempting an emergency landing at Mehrabad airport when it came down in a residential district, hitting a 10-storey apartment building.
Mehr news agency said the latest crash was due to bad weather in Iran's snowbound north-west. State television said the plane - on a flight from Tehran - was attempting an emergency landing at Oroumiyeh, 900 kilometres (560 miles) north-west of the capital, when it crashed.
Posted by: Rory B. Bellows ||
01/09/2006
03:47 ||
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#1
I'd love to see whatever maintenance logs there are for the aircraft. Iran's incredibly crappy aviation track record is nothing short of heartwarming.
Seven people have been shot dead in separate attacks by suspected Islamic militants in Thailand's restive south.
Six people, including two police officers, were killed in three separate attacks in Yala province, one of three predominantly Muslim provinces in the south.
Another was shot dead in Pattani province.
In Narathiwat province, two Thai women and a Malaysian man were slightly injured when a bomb exploded at a tea shop.
The attacks came despite a call for peace from former prime minister Prem Tinsulanonda, who addressed some 2,000 civilians at an anti-violence meeting.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/09/2006
03:43 ||
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#1
Has anyone noticed, Thailand is slowly getting the same body count as Iraq.
President Hamid Karzai said that a few hundred Taleban fighters have reconciled with the government and suggested militant leader Mullah Omar should âget in touchâ if he wanted to talk peace. In the context of escalating violence, including suicide attacks, the remarks by Karzai in an interview Sunday with The Associated Press were seen as a softening of the governmentâs previous policy of not negotiating with top leaders of the hard-line militia. Despite the spike in bloodshed, the US-backed leader said the Talebanâs resistance was fading although he expected suicide attacks to continue in Afghanistan âfor a long time.â Karzai said a booming drug trade presented a greater threat to Afghanistan than terrorism and endangered its future.
Karzai, 48, who won a five-year term as the war-battered nationâs first democratically elected leader in 2004, invited all Afghans, âTaleban or non-Taleban,â to help rebuild the country, and said that includes Omar. âIf he wants to come, he should get in touch with us,â the president said, indicating he was open to the possibility of talks with the reclusive militia leader despite his most-wanted status. âBut I donât think he will come. He has so much on his hands against Afghanistan. We donât even know as to where he is hiding,â Karzai said. âHe has to first give us an account as to what heâs done.â
Karzai, who appeared upbeat during the interview at his heavily guarded palace in the snowy capital, Kabul, said hundreds of Taleban members who are ânot associated with terrorismâ already have participated in a government reconciliation program. He said the hunt for Omar and bin Laden, who are believed hiding in rugged mountains on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, would continue. âI am sure we will find them one day.â
The president said terrorism has been ârelegated to little more than a nuisanceâ when compared with the scourge of drugs facing the country. Afghanistan is the worldâs biggest producer of illegal narcotics, yielding enough opium to make about 450 tons of heroin last year - sparking warnings the country is fast becoming a ânarco-state.â The problem has criminalized the economy, tainted the countryâs image, hindered the development of strong government institutions and undermined young peopleâs lives, Karzai said. He claimed criminal gangs, including some from Europe, threaten to kill farmers if they donât cultivate poppies. âWe have reports of the mafia, from the rest of the world, coming and actively encouraging drugs in Afghanistan,â Karzai said. âThey are not only from Russia, they are in Europe, they are in Afghanistan, they are in the neighbors of Afghanistan, they are everywhere.â He said some senior Afghan officials were involved in the illegal trade, but he rejected criticism that he has not been tough enough in dealing with them. âWe have not been given any evidence so far against anyone,â Karzai said.
Separately, Karzai said NATO-led troops taking over security in southern Afghanistan must not use aggressive tactics, including air strikes or searches of peopleâs homes, without government permission. NATO is expanding its operations from the countryâs relatively stable north and west into the volatile south, where Taleban-led militants are active - a move that will allow the United States to reduce its troop presence in the region. âWe do not want bombing of our villages. We do not want searches of our homes,â Karzai said. âWe donât want our civilians harassed anymore.â
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/09/2006
03:13 ||
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The leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, criticised moderate Sunnis for taking part in electoral politics and called on them to join a holy war, according to a Web audio tape posted on Sunday.
The speaker, who sounded like Zarqawi, also denounced as US agents Arab states working for political reconciliation in Iraq. The tape, posted on a main Islamist Web site often used by insurgent groups in Iraq, could not be authenticated.
The speaker criticised the moderate Iraqi Islamic Party, viewed as the largest Sunni Arab party, for endorsing a new constitution, a move which boosted the Shiâite- and Kurdish-led government.
âWe call on the Islamic Party to leave this path ... which leads to the destruction of the Sunnis,â the speaker said, urging it to abandon the electoral âgameâ.
âPutting out the flames of jihad (holy war) among the people ... is surrendering them to their enemy,â he said.
âWe had the power to disrupt the elections in most parts of Iraq but did not do it in order not to harm the Sunni masses,â the speaker said, referring to last monthâs parliamentary polls which were mostly peaceful.
âAnd what you hear from ... the White House about the situation constantly improving in Iraq, the Iraqi army assuming more responsibilities and extending its control over Baghdad and beyond in a complete lie.â
The speaker noted that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has called the US-led invasion of Iraq a ânew Crusade against the Islamic worldâ and called on Muslims to join the insurgents.
âO Muslim youths ... especially in (Iraqâs) neighbouring countries and Yemen, jihad is your duty.â
The speaker said insurgents had carried out about 800 suicide attacks in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Iraqi and US officials say Islamists from other Arab countries were behind many of the attacks.
The speaker rejected any compromise with the US-backed Baghdad government and sharply criticised Arab countries for seeking a reconciliation in Iraq.
âThe countries that met in Cairo ... were involved in destroying Iraq and cooperated with America by opening their land, air space and waters and offering intelligence to it,â said the speaker.
He was referring to an Arab League conference in November that tried to reconcile Iraqi political factions.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/09/2006
03:11 ||
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#1
See today's LA Times for Prof Aaron Belkin's prediction that strongman rule will be the result of Bush's quixotic $300 billion, democraticization scam. What part of the Muslimutt' sovereignty-belongs-to-allah dogma can you lego-nation-builders not understand? The West has a choice: total war on Islam now, or later. There is no workable compromise. We might as well be exporting sand to the Arabian Desert.
Says Belkin on :
...Niall Ferguson notes in his book "Colossus," the formal American occupations of Japan and West Germany lasted seven and 10 years, respectively, and it took nearly 40 years of American military presence in South Korea to nurture a genuine stable democracy there. The commitment of treasure and troops was massive.
And critically, in each of those cases, democratization achieved traction only after the cessation of violence, of which there is no end in sight in Iraq. Under warlike conditions, the country's social infrastructure can't develop â insurgency and counterinsurgency aren't the building blocks of civil society...
Let's talk nation-destruction, not building. It is time to put away the smart-bombs and dust off the nukes. Americans need to examine the national suicide mentality that followed 9-11. That event was a signal for wholesale slaughter. And the enemy that deserves it, has never been stronger.
Others here at RB have put forth rational and realistic plans, though PC-unacceptable at present, in less bandwidth than you consume with spew.
Lay it out. Be specific. Be focused. Be intelligent. Be rational. Be useful. Be constructive.
If all you come here for is therapy, you should be banned. This post qualifies you, IMHO, as yet another irrational Hater Without A Clueâ¢. Prove me wrong - and not by quoting Prof Ding Dong. BTW, just provide a fucking link, I'll look it up - if the rest of your comment warrants and commends it.
So let's hear it. Clean. Concise. Comprehensive. Within reality.
#3
.com, officially, props for laying it out. That alone is why I laugh at some of the more outlandish commentators here, and see that you get it.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
01/09/2006 6:48
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#4
Zarq boy still tring to forment a Civil War and faild nation that AQ can run rampant in next to SA. Iran has it's hands in the same pot so it can attempt to dominate the region. Lots of crap being flung.
#5
This would be the polysci professor Aaron Belkin who heads up the Center for Sexual Minorities in the Military, a think tank at the University of California at Santa Barbara, a man with Opinions. Such a clever man, who hasn't noticed that we still have occupying forces based in Japan and Germany. Were that not so, both countries would have succumbed to the Stalinist madness of 1968 and the years that followed.
.com, you pegged them both -- the good professor and CaziFarkus who quoted him. CF is clearly of the ilk which believe anything in print, having once chosen which newspaper's editors to do his thinking for him. Much like some people approch religion -- with unthinking, as opposed to thoughtful, faith.
#7
My position: if it won't work, don't try it. Bremer's new book is, apparently, field testimony against nation building without effective terror suppression. The Bushies believed Bernard Lewis' crap on Arab acquiesence to benign occupation.
Where to nuke (including use of nuclear blackmail)? Tora bora. Southern Saudi Arabia, where most of the 9-11 terrorists were rooted. Or anywhere where al-Qaeda elements - Islamic Jihad, Ikhwan Musulum, Jamaat-i-Islami, etc - had or have a stronghold, from which terror attacks are mounted. I would have used aid leverage to force the government of Egypt to liquidate (execute) the entire 19,000 Ikhwanis that they held in prisons on 9-11. A 500 mile jihadi - meaning Islamic Jihad, al-Fatah, Hizbollah, Hamas, etc - free zone would have been recognized and enforced around Israel. Ethnic cleansing of Manila's 800,000 Muslims would have been encouraged, and the terror infestations of Central and Southeast Asia, rendered. Threats of sanctions would have squelched Sharia adoption in Kosovo and Bosnia. Russia would have been given a free hand in Chechnya; and China with the Uighars.
All adherents of the Wahabi ideology should have been declared enemy combatants (the 85% of US mosques that were built by the Saudis would have been closed, and foreign born members deported en masse).
Given that Islam is primarily an Arabist enterprise, the deserved debasement of Arabs would have led to mass abandonment of the terror cult. Pakistan would have broken up by 2003. Punjabis would have turned against Jamaat-i-Islami. Most of the Maghreb would be Berber states. I would believe that a controlled cull of terrorists, on a global scale, would have resulted in about 3 million dead, with the bulk of the slaughter being carried out by other nationals.
Iran would have imploded by 2002. United Western troops - most forget that Bush invoked Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty after 9-11 - would effectively occupy the entire Middle East oil fields, which would not be subject to terror (Iraq oil production has been cut in half since the April liberation, because of worthless limited war means used against economic terrorists).
For the first time in history, the Americas, Central and Southern Africa, China, India, Russia, Europe would be somewhat united against the common enemy. As it is, the Bushies have written off China and Russia, as insufficiently deferential to the Saudi masters. Iran has unearned leverage over all the major oil users. Nuclear proliferation is escalating, with Bush reduced to mumbling solemn platitudes, which reveal his regime's unwillingness to project real power.
I took pictures of Brooklyn, from the WTC in 1990. If those who embrace the ideology that induced the slaughter of 3,000 persons on Sept. 11, 2001, are not allowed to be declared enemy combatants, then those who indulge that enemy are aiding and abetting terror. Pseudo-democratic nation building that facilitates the inevitable formation of Islamofascist tyrannies in Afghan and Iraq, is a poison pill. The West will either fight the mortal Muslim enemy now, or later. The enemy is not afraid to kill; we shouldn't be afraid to kill disproportionately, while we can.
I don't want Islamofascists to vote; I want them to die. I doubt that Fred or Dan Darling share the inclusivist - viz Bush's let them vote (once) - policies toward the enemy. I sense a desire for a revised CENTO for the Middle East, with pro-Western strongmen ruling ruthlessly, and permanent US bases limiting national or clerical options.
What have you got? Let them eat indulgence, and spit jihad back at us? That is all I hear.
#8
I'd call that a 10 IQ point advantage, grom. Still within room comfortable temperature range, however, when sampled with a reality gauge. MaGiK doesn't just happen cuz you feel like a nano-tantrum - which describes your posts perfectly.
#9
Maybe it's time for site registration. I'm getting real tired of the nuke the muslims trash talk. It's just as cowardly as the "let's surrender to the muslims" position that we so often attack and lampoon here.
I'm tired of extremists. The problem with extreme positions are that they are so easy. Nuke. Surrender. See? Just wave a white flag or push a button. No problem.
Like .com says, what's your plan? If you are in favor of nuking, at least tell us how you'd do it. Would you concentrate on the Arab core or all of Dar al Islam? Would you attack symbolic targets, or just get it over with and take out the top 200 population centers? And how, pray tell, would you secure our strategic flanks from Russia and China while this little genocidal exercise is going on?
And that's just the beginning. Do you have any thoughts on how we'd get control of the oil fields afterwards? How we'd keep the Strontium 90 out of the food chain and out of our kids bones? Replacing the warheads? Dealing with the inevitable Euro-whining afterwards? What's your plan?
#11
Well, there's the plan. I was writing at the same time CF was posting. See? It's all so easy. Liquidate, nuke, [fill in the blank]-free areas. Stalin would have loved it!
#13
That's a helluva MaGiK wAnD you've got there - no wonder grom was onboard.
First, you left out the Within Reality thingy.
Second, you made a hash of it, mixing and commingling all sorts of, um, stuff. Cleaned up, organized, timelined, etc. (I don't feel any obligation to do it for you), it would amount to a couple of good ideas, alot of bullshit that no one will authorize - and yeah, that matters cuz of that pesky Constitution thingy, mucho breat-beating, ankle-biting, and Ye Olde Standy, Bile.
11A5S knows his shit - backwards, forwards, and inside-out - answer him.
You really do sound like the same old shit we've had before under different nyms, IToldYouSo - SayDoom! - Rex - et al. Lots of typed shit, when a simple link would do, puffing up the post to look important, yadda³ -- very little actionable or reality-based content.
You win the Icantypemoreshitthananyoneelsealive Award for today.
grom - WTF cares? Why don't you tell me / us. Still stuck on cryptic, I see. Still ignorable.
#14
"seven and 10 years, respectively, and it took nearly 40 years of American military presence in South Korea to nurture a genuine stable democracy there."
In which time, did'nt we go from one of the most powerful nations in the world, to a super power. So are they saying we need to stay at least 3 to 6 more years in Iraq?
#15
I have to trump the let-em-vote-once pack. After WW2, the Allies implemented a de-Nazification program in Germany. Did that make sense to you? The record of the ideological suppression campaign reveals a massive shift to democratic politics in West Germany.
After the liberations of Afghanistan and Iraq, the Allies bent over backward to include Islamofascists within the pseudo democratic processes. At one point al-Sadr, led as many as 10,000 supporters - many armed - in marches through North Baghdad. In Afghanistan, so-called "moderate Taliban" have run for office. The architect of the destruction of the Buddhas was voted to office in last year's elections. In Iraq, the outgoing US military commander noted a state of near "civil war" between Sunni and Shiite Islamofascists. His predecessors at the Coalition Provisional Authority carried out as Order #1, the "de-Baathization" of Iraq, thereby effectively abolishing Secularism and leaving a political vacuum which the Islamofascists filled.
Problem: the wheel-spinners would both support de-Nazification in the WW2 context and de-Secularization of Iraq as a phase of counter-terror, yet oppose de-Islamofascization of Iraq and Afghanistan. And you find that logically consistent with the nominal Bush' policy of placing pro-American regimes in the liberated entities. And you would refer to political dispensations based on cleric-controlled voting as: freedom. You are trumped.
It's called democracy. It's imperfect and, in almost all cases, rank and illiberal on the first go.
How lucky we were to have the particular folks who constituted our Founding Fathers, how utterly unique they were - in their Masonic aprons and quoting Seneca, is little appreciated. To be honest, there just aren't enough Geo Washingtons (et al) to go around, methinks, and they seldom seem to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right credentials, to turn a corrupt shithole into an honest attempt at liberal democracy.
As for Afghanistan and Iraq -- You expected, um, what, exactly?
From your last posts it seems you're a BDS zoomer, full of books and bullshit and bongwater. What transpires doesn't suit you, so it's Bush's fault. Segments of Afghanistan and Iraq are still stuck on stupid, go figure - they've never known anything else, and it's Bush's fault. They didn't immediately form 4-H Clubs and build Disneyland so, yep, it's Bush's fault. They didn't drop Islam or tribalism in the dirt and follow the CaziFarkus Plan - so it's Bush's fault.
Sigh.
What is Bush's fault is that the Taliban and Saddam are sorta out of power, no matter what individual wankers you wish to present in the center ring. We have Kerry and Kennedy and Pelosi and Dean and (...) - are they any less fucked up as elected officials? Is it any less demented and moronic that people actually vote them into office?
I say No. Hell No.
Honestly, Bush had to try. He felt compelled to give them a shot. History will judge him for it - however things turn out. You get your shot to bash him than pulling a lever in the voting booth. Your screed is BDS.
You want perfection. You won't get it. Here or anywhere else on this mortal coil. You could kill yourself - or you could pull your head out of your ass and recognize that just about all emerging democracies begin as illiberal shouting matches full of ancient feuds and irrational customs. Certainly the Arabs prove the rule in spades, but that doesn't mean they won't eventually get past their tribal chiefs and imams. Time. It takes time for custom to be swept aside, if it can't survive alteration. It takes time for people to look to the nation instead of their clan or ethnicity. It is easy to draw parallels here in the US to a major portion of what pisses you off. You just don't have the horsepower or the patience to see it - and accept it.
There are no MaGiK wAnDs. Anywhere. Never have been.
If we allowed the Kurds to be unshackled from the Arabs, they'd do it right. No doubts at all about that. Mebbe an example next door would accelerate the process for the backward Arabs. Worth a try - and they deserve the shot anyway.
I don't want any more US, UK, Ozzie, or any other coalition partner to lose any more troops - in Iraq, Afghanistan, or anywhere else. When they train up sufficiently, we will draw down accordingly.
I don't want any more nation-building attempts, either. Too expensive in blood and treasure for my taste. But I do believe in asshat regime toppling. By remote control whenever possible. I've heard that it has never been done without boots on the ground and, yadda³, thus can't be done. Well, I'd say much has changed in a very short time, regards technology, so I'd like to give it a solid try before accepting the Conventional (out of date) Wisdom, thanks. The difference between Gulf War I & GW-II is mind-boggling, regards the tech available. I think we should give it a go next we desire to rid the world of an asshat regime. Iran looks prime to be our first test case.
I like the notion of toppling asshat regimes, as needed. They can try to rebuild. If they're still bad actors, then rinse and repeat.
Trumped. Sure thing, son. Go buy your book. Cherry-pick it for shit that fits your screed. Your sudden conversion to civil discourse didn't fool me - you're a Hate Junkie. Additionally, I see Other People's Wisdom being stolen and presented as your own. You get your miracles second or third hand - as Twain said, you're drunk on the smell of someone else's cork.
#18
This is the largest Sunni Arab party being told to stay away from the polls, something threats of bombs could not accomplish. Now they are trying to get them to stay home "for Jihad".
#20
If all you come here for is therapy, you should be banned. This post qualifies you, IMHO, as yet another irrational Hater Without A Clueâ¢. Prove me wrong...
#21
His predecessors at the Coalition Provisional Authority carried out as Order #1, the "de-Baathization" of Iraq, thereby effectively abolishing Secularism and leaving a political vacuum which the Islamofascists filled.
There is captured documentary evidence indicating that, in addition to sponsoring terror-training camps, the 'Secular Leader' and his ilk were quite willing to (and did) install Islamic fundamentalist precepts when it was conducive to maintaining power.
No rhetorical gas-baggery can change the fact: the Bush government is encouraging political participation of Islamofascists, notwithstanding the inherent danger to the US and its allies, of the inevitable state of affairs when that aggressive and genocidal ideology holds hundreds of millions in its sway and has WMD within its jihad logistics. De-Nazification policies altered political perceptions in West Germany; only De-Islamofascization will produce pro-US regimes in Islamania. The current US temper - as exemplified by Rantburg posters (who will change course 180 degrees) - is to place the value of exercise of freedom of religion by genocidal entities, above enjoyment of security of person: your own person. Angry (bordering on murderous) posters like .com will soon finally direct said anger at the Islamofascists. He will do it when Bush does the same when he realizes the ideological Frankenstein he has created in Iraq.
#25
Let's talk nation-destruction, not building. It is time to put away the smart-bombs and dust off the nukes. Americans need to examine the national suicide mentality that followed 9-11. That event was a signal for wholesale slaughter. And the enemy that deserves it, has never been stronger
First use of nuclear weapons? Are you stuck on stupid? All that would accomplish is making America an instant target for any and all nuclear terrorist attacks. Open season would be declared and America would have alienated every single sane ally we have. Stop breathing your own exhaust long enough to let some oxygen circulate. What you are suggesting would cause America to abdicate all moral authority and effectively dismantle over 200 years of progress towards a model democracy.
... recognize that just about all emerging democracies begin as illiberal shouting matches full of ancient feuds and irrational customs. Certainly the Arabs prove the rule in spades, but that doesn't mean they won't eventually get past their tribal chiefs and imams. Time. It takes time for custom to be swept aside, if it can't survive alteration. It takes time for people to look to the nation instead of their clan or ethnicity.
.com, my one single concern is that there simply isn't enough time to permit such a gentle transition that you are suggesting. Yes, it is the most peaceable (for the Arabs, at least), method of converting these tribal cesspits into functioning nations.
However, time is the one thing we do not have. The advent of WMDs has changed everything. Iran is the poster child for just how little time there really is. As you know already, some abrupt regime changes are required d@mn soon if we hope to avoid a huge escalation in terrorism.
There are some very heavy-handed moves needed to prevent the sort of insanely stupid scenarios that CF proposes.
#26
I enjoy the joking about nuking Iran, it is cathartic, and aside from being a little extreme it has the same end .com is after. My ânukeâ comments are mostly after toppling âasshatâ governments like most here want, albeit exaggerated. And for exaggerating I should apologize, should. Ha!
I do disagree with you .com in your statement about nation building. One of the failings in this war with Iraq was our lack of a âpost hostilities planâ. This lack of plan allowed for the insurgency to manifest while DOD built the plan. This is not Bush or Rummy bashing, this is an honest AAR of a very complicated war, âweâ missed it clean. I will also grant that in my speculating we will never know if a good plan would have worked or not, Iâm not that vain. Once you remove a government you must install an interim government and then build a permanent one. Otherwise anarchy will prevail and places like Somalia will be the norm. Cherry picking from Clausewitz, his book talks of both these issues. Unless, of course, you want to be a warring state all the time. To do this will always take boots on the ground. Boots on the ground will always win out over precision bombings, and nukes. Look at the postings on the Marines in Africa. They are nation building and removing threat. Not shooting and not bad for a warrior class who get it and are willing to do what it takes for peace. This is cheaper and easier in the long run and has proven to work.
Last point: Yes I do think we should be in Iraq for the next ten to twenty years. As we instill a peaceful government, like we did in Japan and Germany, we need to maintain a presence in the area to stabilize it. Then we must stay to defend it while it is weak, the reason we stayed in Germany for so many years after the war. And lastly to deter any other asshole government and to use it as a point of departure for our military in any future conflicts, like we did in Japan and the Philippines.
As for CF, La or whoever he calls himself, I tend to ignore, hoping they will go to another site.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/09/2006 19:34
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#27
I could not agree more, Zen.
"The advent of WMDs has changed everything."
There it is, in a nutshell, and as you point out NaziFartus would prove the point and leave you to explain it to your grandchildren. That would be harder than killing the jihadi next door.
I have no doubt that there will be (cumulatively) oceans of blood spilled and spent in the coming years to neuter / cauterize the pestilence of Islam. But the simple solutions - removing the means - seems to be a bridge too far in the PC-addled West.
Indeed, we have a convergence, a near-perfect shit storm, of Wahhabist oil-ticks - pockets full of ready cash and colons full of zeal, insane and intractable demographics in fodder-ridden shitholes run by dictators where Islam rules, Tranzi socialists with numerous sugar-daddy Moonbats who "matured" to run institutions and companies - but are still stuck on stupid in the 60's, the total victory of PCism over logic and reason in the Western institutions, the rise of distractions and soporific diversions because the social support net prevents the uncomfortable intrusion of reality, the utter abdication of the MSM and conversion to tools, and the advent and rise of the insane screechers, lost children cum conspiracists, and myopic and/or mercenary liars to "respectability" - instead of a padded cell and heavy doses of Thorazine.
Gonna be a tough row to hoe. We need many things to armor ourselves, prepare ourselves, steel ourselves for the decades-long struggle that has just begun.
Regards nation-building, hmmmm. To be honest I agree with you about post-war planning. The stutter-step where Bremer was installed being an example of winging it and second-guessing ruling the process.
Why I don't want any more of it is simple... the old conventional wisdom was that if you broke it, you owned it. I'm in favor of a new CW - you fuck it up and we'll break it - and you get to put it back together. And if we don't like it, we'll break that one, too. I do not want to lose people in half-baked plans. Sure, if we have an air-tight plan, then I'd change my mind... But...
I'll offer a heavy lump to think about: most comparisons between WW-II and now, much less the moronic Vietnam BS, do not take into account thesocietal norms prevalent in the places overthrown. Our "issues", for the most part, will be in the M.E. and will involve Islam and, mostly, Arabs. That is a whole nuther reality. There's more baggage there than in Nazism orRising Sun Empire. The similarities end with the ideology of world dominion, nihilistic rage against boogeymen, and perverse arrogance. Islam, and the Arab influence within, is a pure evil self-replicating pathogen. Everything about it is dedicated to its goals. No fat. No nirvana. No simple fervent nationalism or bouncing blue-eyed babies of the Master Race. No hope. For anyone. Imams rule, life sucks, and then you die.
#31
SPo'D - does it have a titanium blade? It's all the rage today, y'know. Titanium silverware, bedsheets, condoms, food additives. Gotta be titanium or it's shit, nowadays, lol. ;-)
#32
Your CW is clean but it really condemns our kids to fighting these assholes over again. Now your making me think nukes ainât so bad, just kidding. For example, we helped in the ass kicking the Mujahidin (sp) gave the Russians in Afghanistan, and then we walked. Without a stabilizing presence Anarchy festered, Pakistan took the opportunity and helped the radical Taliban into power, and ten years later we have an international terrorist training ground and 9/11. Iâm not saying we bear any responsibility to Afghanistan or 9/11, we just missed a golden opportunity to influence the region. We help Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait, and the Saudiâs, all Muslim and difficult to deal with. But we are not maneuvering columns of tanks there and, albeit somewhat reluctant to help, they are supporting a Christian nation fight Muslims. I'm sure it's more for the oil money than their good worldly nature. But we need stability in the area to get the oil.
Islam in the Arab states is exactly as you say. Life sucks! They completely understand being dominated, crushing them when they get out of line is what they know and understand and we should give it to them. But I think it is much more complicated than just crushing them and leaving them to rebuild. If we do that then we will be back at my kids fighting them another time, and I have fought in wars for the last 25 years, as it seems most RBrs have, hoping my sons wonât have to. Iâm not naive but if you donât finish the war, I.E. Korea, DS 1, Kosovo, Somalia etc⦠you will eventually have to go back and fight it again. I would really like to see us crush them hard and then keep them down because you are right about the Arab perspective having nothing to do with western ideals, IE they will never learn. They have not matured as a people since they were crushed during the crusades and if we donât put them in a position where they can do no harm we will just be waiting out for the next attack.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/09/2006 21:07
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#33
49pan - You've described the dilemma very very well. I'll have to chew on it awhile. Reading Michael Yon, as well as serious posts from OS and others here, has made me very reluctant to try it again. You will enjoy Dave D's most excellent post, if you haven't already seen it. I refer to it rather frequently as new info comes in or new ideas are floated - just to see if they meet the reality to BS criteria.
I am boggled that some can't see that we had to try. I will say that what I saw and dealt with in Saudi strikes me as beyond redemption. Cutting off the means to export it (or, perhaps, even practice it) seems our best, least costly, path. I remain committed to the Republic of Eastern Arabia, heh.
I hold out serious hope that we will have tech advances that will, indeed, do what you don't agree can be done. I'll suggest that even if we don't occupy the ground we can deny it to the asshats, if we choose to do so, via tech. I'm hoping for much more capability than that, eventually.
Thanks for the thoughtful and fact-filled reply. Gotta go think about this nation-building stuff some more. :-)
#34
I don't think of it as nation building. I think of it more as civil engineering along the lines of fighting diseases by installing clean water systems and sewers.
Image: a swamp of standing water, where pathologies are breeding. Typhoid, cholara start spreading to the surrounding communities. Death toll rises and something must be done.
You can spray the swamp to try to kill mosquitos, bacteria ... but that's a monumental and pretty much futile approach. Or, you can drain the swamp. It's a pretty big swamp, so you look for a few places where the water is shallower or there's some foundation to build a dike on. And you start build it ... a long, hard, frustrating task. It stinks in that swamp, the waters keep trying to come back. But if you can get those first dikes up, and drain some fields, not only is there less disease breeding there, the fields might turn out to be fertile. At least, they can hold grasses and eventually trees that keep the soil in place and the swamp from re-emerging, especially if some care is given to ensure drainage.
A wierd analogy, I guess. But an awful lot of our modern way of life is built on clean water and functioning sewers .....
#35
and you can thank Snarky Civil Engineers⢠for that!
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2006 22:08
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#36
Lol, lotp - I like where you left it hanging - if intended as I read it, beaucoup snark, lol. Maybe it's just my twisted...
It's an apropos analogy... You were civil, but my twister responds with a slightly pointed menu of choices:
1) hand fill and teach the locals as we go
2) tell 'em to stand back and call in the Corriepillers D-9's
Recalling video of the Corpse of Eng in "action" in NO I'll add:
3) drop a coupla billion sacks of sand
4) drop a coupla billion sacks of Portland cement
5) drop all our toxic waste, medical stuff needle-down
#37
"I am boggled that some can't see that we had to try."
What I've been wondering lately, is whether it's already settled that our "Islamic Democratization" experiment is a one-shot deal. After what George W. has had to go through politically to get it this far, can you imagine another American president ever trying it again, somewhere else? I can't-- not even if our efforts in Iraq yield fruit far beyond today's most optimistic expectations.
Which means the next time the brown stuff hits the propeller, whoever's President then will reach for one of the other options. And I shudder to think which option he might choose in retaliation for a major terrorist attack, especially if that President is a Democrat-- gotta achieve a quick fix so as to get back to pandering, and all that...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/09/2006 22:43
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#38
On the serious side - I'm afraid you're right. Since this takes a loooong time - it's automatically going to become a quagmire⢠in the minds of the instant gratification / May fly attention-span krowd - and time may be a luxury we wouldn't have even without the ankle-biters and toolfools.
As for a Dhimmidonk Prez, well, you nailed it, heh. Image over content, style over substance - with the fate of Freedom in the balance - a pointless political farce.
#40
But the simple solutions - removing the means - seems to be a bridge too far in the PC-addled West.
Which is why I made such a hue and cry over that Pentagon reassessment concerning the political and ideological nature of Islam. If our military can somehow break free and finally understand the ideological nature of Islam, then appropriate action could be taken (domestically, at least) to begin containing Wahhabist radicalism and begin exporting deporting this excrement post haste.
#41
For whatever it may be worth, I added one option to The List.
I can't recollect which one of 'em's new right at the moment on account of the beer, but I do know that at some point the "Eight Options" became nine...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/09/2006 23:14
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#42
Both sides in this nuke non-nuke crush occupation nation something argument are too simplistic and show a lack of understanding of religous fevor. True understanding.
As a PK whose seen the underbelly of the Christian one from some practicioners... and can grok the muslim pray thingy...
Politicans and military types really don't grok what they are dealing with....
My mouth my say the Nuke word but my brain say neurons need blending and whipping - that implies Skinner and Pavlov and Lily and Leary and the greatful dead and meds in the water, meds in the food, meds in the tv shows == full metal jacket propagada sat tv.... done right and years of brain wipes...
Psych on steriods along with destruction of belief structures is on order -- BUT --- Remember that the desert trader is a Ferengi and a Ferengi without some religion to temper him is even more of a barbarian danger.
So his capitalist nature needs to be channeled in a benign way too. This will be very (maybe too) hard for a capitalist society like the US to accomplish.
just my random unwashed instant thoughts...
(I may see it differently tomorrow..)
A US helicopter with 12 passengers and crew members crashed in northern Iraq, killing all on board, the military command said yesterday. In addition, five Marines were reported killed in action, bringing to as many as 28 the number of American troops slain in Iraq since Thursday.
The crash of the UH-60 Black Hawk military copter late Saturday was the deadliest in Iraq since a Chinook transport helicopter went down last January near the Jordanian border, killing 30 Marines and a sailor.
A spokesman for US-led forces would not confirm the nationality or identity of those killed in the Black Hawk pending notification of next of kin. ''At this time we believe all the victims were US citizens," a spokesman said.
The cause of the crash was under investigation, and it was not immediately known whether the aircraft came under fire from insurgents. A military spokesman noted, however, that the Black Hawk went down amid high winds and heavy rainfall.
The Black Hawk helicopter was one of two on night operations Saturday and had lost radio contact with the other aircraft before crashing in a sparsely populated area about 8 miles east of Tal Afar, a city near Mosul.
The military often flies missions at night, including the transport of troops via helicopter. But aviation specialists say darkness can complicate making an emergency landing, difficult in a copter under the best of circumstances.
''Helicopters are fairly unstable vehicles that need constant pilot attention," said Peter Field, a Vietnam-era Marine colonel and former director of the Navy's test pilot school in Patuxent River, Md. ''Flying over the vacant desert at night would pose a little bit more of a task for the pilot."
Field, now serving as a civil aviation consultant based in St. Louis, said investigators can ascertain quickly whether a crash was caused by mechanical error or hostile fire once they reach the fuselage.
''If the aircraft were hit by a surface-to-air missile or rocket-propelled grenade, you'd be able to tell," he said. ''The crash site won't contain the whole vehicle. There will be parts that fell along the way."
Nearby Tal Afar has long been a site of insurgent activity.
In September, US planes bombed several houses in Tal Afar, which one military official referred to as a ''terrorist incubator," after the town's residents were urged to evacuate. Weapons caches and high-tech bomb factories were uncovered by US troops.
In ground action, three of the five Marines killed over the weekend were slain by small arms fire in separate engagements with enemy gunmen yesterday in Fallujah.
The US military also reported that two Marines riding in separate vehicles near Ferris and Karmah died when they were attacked by roadside bombs.
On Thursday, 11 US soldiers and Marines were killed around the country amid bombings and other insurgent attacks. About 2,200 US military personnel have died in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion.
In other violence, gunfights broke out yesterday between insurgents and Iraqi police in the al-Adel neighborhood of western Baghdad, leaving one officer killed and 13 wounded.
A suicide car bomb targeted the convoy of Mowaffak Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser, killing two and injuring five.
The official was unharmed.
US and Iraqi leaders have attempted to quell the insurgency by drawing Sunni Arabs into the government.
Adnan Dulaimi, a leader of the main Sunni Arab slate in last month's election, met yesterday with Jalal Talabani, interim president, and expressed willingness to bring his coalition into government ''so long as no side will dominate the government."
The leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, denounced Arab countries working for political reconciliation in Iraq as US agents, according to a Web audio tape posted yesterday, Reuters reported from Dubai.
''The countries that met in Cairo . . . were involved in destroying Iraq and cooperated with America by opening their land, airspace, and waters and offering intelligence to it," said the speaker on the tape, who sounded like Zarqawi.
He was referring to an Arab League conference in November that tried to reconcile Iraqi political factions.
The tape, posted on an Islamist website often used by insurgent groups in Iraq, could not be authenticated.
The speaker denounced the Iraqi Islamic Party, viewed as the largest Sunni Arab party, for endorsing a new constitution, a move that boosted the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led government.
''We call on the Islamic Party to leave this path . . . which leads to the destruction of the Sunnis," the speaker said.
''We had the power to disrupt the elections in most parts of Iraq but did not do it in order not to harm the Sunni masses," the speaker said, referring to last month's parliamentary polls, which were mostly peaceful.
Also yesterday, US-led forces raided the Umm Qura Mosque in Baghdad, headquarters of the Muslim Scholars Association, a hard-line group of clerics the US has accused of terrorist activities.
The clerics held a news conference to denounce the action, during which coalition forces broke down doors and rifled through files.
And under heavy security, Zalmay Khalilzad, US ambassador, yesterday visited a pediatric hospital in Baghdad whose renovation is one of 19 such projects the US government is financing in Iraq. He said the Americans are investing in children ''because they are the future of this country."
''The goal is to get Iraq on its feet, Iraqis looking after Iraqis," Khalilzad said at the hospital located in eastern Baghdad.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/09/2006
03:08 ||
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Al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said in an audio tape put onto the Internet that rockets had been fired at Israel from Lebanon last month "on the instructions" of the network's overall chief Osama bin Laden.
Al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said in an audio tape put onto the Internet that rockets had been fired at Israel from Lebanon last month "on the instructions" of the network's overall chief Osama bin Laden.
"This commendable feat came in application by the mujahedeen of the oath by fighter sheikh Osama bin Laden, emir of the Al-Qaeda network, may God preserve him," added the recording referring to repeated statements by Bin Laden that the Israelis should not enjoy security as long as Muslims were not safe.
Israel the previous day had carried out an air strike against a base of a Syrian-backed Palestinian group on the southern outskirts of Beirut in retaliation for cross-border Katyusha rocket attacks on northern Israel.
Zarqawi also said the guerrillas had carried out nearly 800 operations against "the crusader forces" since the occupation of Iraq, putting "crusader" casualties at around 40,000 soldiers.
"Since the start of mujahedeen operations after the fall of the Baathist regime and until today, nearly 800 martyr operations aimed at crusader targets and military convoys have been carried out (...). We estimate casualties among the adorers of the Cross in Iraq at no less than 40,000 soldiers," he declared.
"That's why they (the Americans) asked for help from the Arab League, represented by its secretary-general Amr Mussa, and called for the Cairo meeting," said Zarqawi, hitting out at member countries that took part in the November meeting dedicated to Iraq under Arab League auspices.
The Iraqi leaders who participated in the Cairo meeting agreed on a "road map" for national conciliation, calling for a calendar for withdrawal of foreign forces and the release of detainees who had not been charged.
Zarqawi hit out at the Sunni Muslim Iraqi Islamic Party for having taken part in the December 15 general elections, and called on it to renounce such actions.
"We call on the Islamic Party to abandon the road to perdition on which it has embarked and which threatened to cause the loss of the Sunni community," Zarqawi said, adding that the party "should have called the people to jihad (holy war)."
The Iraqi Al-Qaeda leader then laid down two conditions for giving up the jihad.
"First, chase out the invaders from our territory in Palestine, in Iraq and everywhere in Islamic land.
"Second, install sharia (Islamic law) on the entire Earth and spread Islamic justice there (...). The attacks will not cease until after the victory of Islam and the setting up of sharia," he swore.
Zarqawi concluded: "O young Muslims everywhere in the world, and in particular in the neighbouring countries (of Iraq) and in Yemen, I recommend jihad to you (...). O nation of Islam, America is today drawing its last breath."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/09/2006
03:06 ||
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#1
And I guess we can credit him with the disproportionate retaliation too.
Pointing to his computer screen, Maj. Gen. Timothy Ghormley sounds more like a Peace Corps volunteer showing off holiday photos than the shaven-headed US Marine entrusted with defeating Al Qaeda in East Africa.
"That's what it's about right there," he says, stabbing his eyeglasses at the pictures of African children celebrating as water gushes from a new well. "Look at those kids. They're gonna remember this. In 25 years they'll say, 'I remember the West - they were good.'"
In 2002, more than 1,500 US troops were sent to this former French colony in East Africa to hunt followers of Al Qaeda throughout the region. Now, under General Ghormley, their mission has evolved to preempt the broader growth of Islamic militancy among the area's largely Muslim population.
"We are trying to dry up the recruiting pool for Al Qaeda by showing people the way ahead. We are doing this one village, one person at a time," says Ghormley, commander of the joint task force based in Djibouti. "We're waging peace just as hard as we can."
Previously East Africa has hosted an array of Islamic militant groups. In 1998, Al Qaeda bombed the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing more than 220 people. The group has also tried to shoot down an Israeli airliner in Mombasa, Kenya, and sink oil tankers and US navy vessels in the Red Sea.
Now many analysts worry that trouble is again brewing as rising poverty combines with the anti-Western ideologies of hard-line Islamic missionaries in a region already dogged by porous borders, plentiful weapons, and poor governance.
"There aren't actually that many groups or individuals involved," says Matt Bryden, director of the Horn of Africa project for International Crisis Watch. "But there's a danger that if these groups are not contained it is just a matter of time before they strike at Western targets in Somalia or start reaching out to the region again."
"Some of them did have links with Al Qaeda but for the most part there doesn't seem to be an active Al Qaeda or even an Al Qaeda franchise," says Mr. Bryden. "But the US has discovered that there are actually much fewer targets than they expected."
Unable to find or strike at any visible Al Qaeda members, US forces based in Camp Lemonier - Djibouti's former French Foreign Legion base - have instead begun to work to tackle the factors that might contribute to the growth of extremism in the future.
Ghormley's men have so far built more than 30 schools and 25 clinics, as well as new wells and bridges. They are focusing particularly on the mainly Muslim areas close to the porous Somali border where poverty and dissatisfaction with pro-Western central governments might make many receptive to extremist teachings.
"Ungoverned spaces are vulnerable. The forces of law and order don't exist there," says Lt. Col. Richard Baillon, of Britain's Parachute Regiment. A small contingent of British troops are working with US forces in a coalition effort. "The people in these areas aren't getting government support."
Planners in Camp Lemonier say that their long-term strategy is to gradually move deeper into these poor and ungoverned areas.
"We're not likely to go where we're not wanted or where there's open hostility," says Baillon, tapping a wall-map like a schoolmaster. "But it's about pushing the boundaries of where we are wanted."
The Coalition's planners hope that by tackling localized dissatisfaction now, they can create long-term goodwill toward the US in the region. "A lot of times when we first show up there's a mixed reaction," says Sgt. Richard Crandall of the 96th Civil Affairs Battalion. "One place we went to they considered the US to be warmongers. But we built a school and when we left they said they considered us friends."
The military is taking time to adapt to its new humanitarian mission too - and this means that there have been some mistakes made along the way.
For example, the task force's military budget only covers the cost of constructing and renovating school buildings. Before the schools can open, soldiers have to pester nongovernmental organizations, charities, and friends back home for donated textbooks. In other cases there has been poor communication between the US and local people. Some villages, thinking that the Americans could only build schools, requested a new school when they needed wells and bridges instead. The mistake was realized too late.
Meanwhile, the US increasingly depends on local governments to use their cultural and linguistic knowledge to track and tackle Islamic extremists.
"The information sharing is not ideal; not up to the point that we would like," admits Nabeel Khoury, deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Sanaa, Yemen.
And although there are handfuls of up-armored Humvees parked alongside rusting French artillery pieces throughout Camp Lemonier, the US increasingly seeks to delegate its military operations.
"We're doing military-to-military training with five countries in the region," says Col. Doug Carroll, director of operations for the Horn of Africa task force. The US has trained Yemeni special forces in counter-terrorism while officers from Mauritius and the Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean have been taught how to train their own soldiers once they return home.
"In Ethiopia we've taught border security, we've taught basic counter-terrorism, what they call advanced map reading and also defensive operations," says Carroll, who denies that the training will upset the region's delicate balance of power. "We're not teaching them anything that would be applicable to the Ethiopian-Eritrean border war," he says of the training of Ethiopian border guards, while also denying that US-trained troops have been used to crush recent uprisings in Yemen. I'm not sure what Ethiopia has to do with Yemen, though if the US helped Saleh to put down al-Houthi I'd consider that a good day's work myself.
But although the lack of recent Al Qaeda attacks in the region points to the mission's success so far, there remains a clear blind spot at the heart of the US deployment.
"It's a bit of a paradox," says Bryden. "The threat that the US perceives in the region comes from Somalia, but that is the only place where they can't operate."
Senior officers in Djibouti refuse to even discuss Somalia, although one officer privately admitted having contact with high-level members of the government of Somaliland - a breakaway republic in the north of the war-torn country that recently arrested one Al Qaeda team linked to extremist groups in Mogadishu.
"The US has had to develop a much more nuanced approach and it shows that they are dealing with the problem," says Bryden. "They've had to discover the difference between terrorism and a domestic insurgency."
As the US gradually increases its understanding of the region there is no sign of the mission winding down. Instead, as more British troops also prepare to deploy to the region, the operation seems to have become entirely open-ended.
"It's important that we share what we have to allow all nations to advance," says General Ghormley. "We didn't earn being born in America - the Good Lord put us there and with that came responsibility."
Standing in his office, Ghormley, surrounded by maps where arrow-straight borders drawn by European colonialists cut across mountains, deserts, and complex ethnic groups, provides more than an echo of a Victorian soldier-missionary.
"You can win a heart and mind today and lose it tomorrow," Ghormley continues. "We see no spread of radical ideology. We see a lot of people who would like it to spread."
But with Camp Lemonier boasting less than 1 percent of the troops currently deployed in Iraq and responsible for an area five times larger, Ghormley is aware that there is a limit to what the US can achieve in the region.
"I could use more money, more people, but I've got the resources I need to carry on," he says, taking a last look at the pictures on his computer screen. "They're good people and it breaks your heart that you can't do more for them."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/09/2006
03:04 ||
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#1
Standing in his office, Ghormley, surrounded by maps where arrow-straight borders drawn by European colonialists cut across mountains, deserts, and complex ethnic groups, provides more than an echo of a Victorian soldier-missionary.
Denial is also a river in Africa. It (Victorian solution) worked for a time before, it can work again.
#2
"I could use more money, more people, but I've got the resources I need to carry on," he says, taking a last look at the pictures on his computer screen. "They're good people and it breaks your heart that you can't do more for them."
In 1946, such men would go be a good candidate for state office or run for Congress upon retirement, and usually on the Democratic ticket. Now since that party has gone over the cliff in its hatred of the military and what it is doing, the bulk of those men and women won't even think a second of participating in their community aligned with such blackhearts. Now if there were an active 'Teddy Roosevelt' wing in the Rep's, their communities and country could still have such people available to follow these ideas and beliefs.
#3
Nowadays that is pure neo-con motivation: another facet of waging war is actively and effectively waging peace. The Democrats, unfortunately, are only interested in creating the realization that everyone is a member of some group victimized by the white, male oppressor. Idealistic youngsters who used to be drawn to the Democrats are end up voting Republican, and thinking of themselves as Conservatives, simply because they see so clearly the hatefulness and hypocrisy of those who call themselves Liberal Democrats.
#4
And, to actually answer Slugum Unolulet7181's point (sorry!), I strongly suspect returning troops will do the same. There is no room for them and their ideals in the military-hating Democratic Party, whereas they can join their parents and grandparents in the Republican Party.
#5
Aside from the easy slamming of our demwitted party, what these guys are quietly doing in Africa is outstanding. Removing sanctuary from our enemies is best done early and with food and brick. It worked on Basilan, PI, and will work on the upcomming mission on Jolo, PI. Even though they worried about funding, leveraging NGO's and local government and other doners is the best way to build the community and defeat AQ's ability to access an area. The Marines get it better than most who just want to llay waste to an area.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/09/2006 17:46
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Posted by: Phil ||
01/09/2006
00:27 ||
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#1
For the first time, homeowners here are learning what it means to have an upside-down mortgage â when the value of a home falls below the amount of debt on the property. Recent home buyers are suing to get their money back. Banks are fretting about a wave of default loans.
#2
If you read the whole article, you'll find that as in other things, there are plenty of Chinese lawyers standing by already. And presumably they can handle the lawsuits cheaper and better than American lawyers.
Posted by: Phil ||
01/09/2006 9:02
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#3
Internet chat rooms recently were abuzz with a story that a Taiwanese man had jumped from the 33rd floor of an apartment tower about 15 miles northeast of downtown.
#4
China doesn't have "purchases". Instead it has "75-year-leases", with codicils to dissuade speculation. For foreigners, anyway. Any smackdowns resulting from a downturn in the market simply represent people who are unable (or unwilling) to grease the appropriate government officials.
#5
I should also mention, as a point of fact, that any Chinese apartment/condo complex is uninhabitable when it is built. When you buy a place, you're buying BARE WALLS AND CONCRETE. No toilets, no fixtures, no nothing. It takes two years to move in. Seriously. If there is some miracle, and you can move in before two years, you will enjoy jackhammers, plumbers, and other noisy occupations plying their trade until all the other apartments adjacent to yours are completed. I, personally, have rejected two prospective living spaces based on these criteria. The apartment was great, but the complex was incomplete. I didn't fancy sharing the elevator (with no lights - dark inside) with contractors trying to finish other apartments.
#6
gromky: When you buy a place, you're buying BARE WALLS AND CONCRETE.
This doesn't always apply. The luxury condos being sold at relatively steep prices in Shanghai are probably finished. For expensive developments like those featured in the article, this is becoming more and more the trend. Purchases of existing condos (as opposed to new ones) often includes appliances and furniture.
Air crew on the only British airline that flies to Saudi Arabia have been told not to wear crucifixes or St Christopher medals on flights there so as not to offend the country's Muslims. Stewardesses at BMI have also been told to cover themselves in the long abaya robes...one unnamed BMI employee told a Sunday newspaper: "It's outrageous that we must respect their beliefs but they're not prepared to respect ours. BMI are asking too much of their staff on this one. "My gran gave me a crucifix shortly before she died and I wear it at all times..." [The airline's spokesman said, ] "There are certain sensitivities in operating in a country like Saudi Arabia,"
#7
British Midland is a UK scheduled airline. The carrier is a member of the Star Alliance group of airlines. Members of this alliance include Air Canada and United (North America), Air New Zealand (Australasia), All Nippon Airways (Far East), Singapore Airlines and Thai (South East Asia), Mexicana and Varig (Central and South America), Lauda Air, Lufthansa, SAS and Austrian. Note some BD flight numbers may be operated by other Star Alliance members. Check with your agent to see who you're actually flying with.
Heathrow is the airline's major hub (Domestic and European flights). Transatlantic services are currently only operated from Manchester.
BMI is a second-tier airline, which has been fighting for years to achieve first-tier status like British Air and Virgin Airlines. They took over the Riyadh flights when British Air gave them up, and a few years began direct flights to Mumbai (Bombay). Lufthansa owns a piece of them, fwiw.
#8
BMI is the only British carrier currently operating flights to Saudi.
Pity there is only one. There should be plenty, plenty carriers operating flights to Saudi: USS Eisenhower, USS Nimitz, USS John Fitzgerald Kennedy and many, many more
"Flights 93, 11, and 77, now departing San Diego and Norfolk, destination a bit west of the soon-to-be Republic of Eastern Arabia. Sortie arrival time, classified. Temperature at our destination is hot and bothered. Please fasten your jump seats and secure all personal items."
A scan of Ariel Sharon's brain showed improvement Sunday, and doctors will start bringing the Israeli prime minister out of his medically induced coma on Monday, a hospital official said. Hadassah Hospital director Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef said Sharon remained in critical condition, but his vital signs, including the pressure inside his skull, were normal. "His condition is still serious but stable, and there is improvement in the CT picture of the brain," he told reporters outside the hospital. Bringing Sharon out of the coma is an important step toward assessing the extent of brain damage he suffered from a massive stroke Wednesday. Doctors initially planned to halt the coma-inducing sedatives Sunday but decided to wait another day after performing the new scan.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006
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Swedish girls Malin and Amanda were on their way to a party on New Year's Eve when they were assaulted, raped and beaten half to death by four Somali immigrants. Sweden's largest newspaper has presented the perpetrators as "two men from Sweden, one from Finland and one from Somalia", a testimony as to how bad the informal censorship is in stories related to immigration in Sweden. Similar incidents are reported with shocking frequency, to the point where some observers fear that law and order is completely breaking down in the country. The number of rape charges in Sweden has tripled in just above twenty years. Rape cases involving children under the age of 15 are six - 6 - times as common today as they were a generation ago. Most other kinds of violent crime have rapidly increased, too. Instability is spreading to most urban and suburban areas.
According to a new study from the Crime Prevention Council, Brå, it is four times more likely that a known rapist is born abroad, compared to persons born in Sweden. Resident aliens from Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia dominate the group of rape suspects. According to these statistics, almost half of all perpetrators are immigrants. In Norway and Denmark, we know that non-Western immigrants, which frequently means Muslims, are grossly overrepresented on rape statistics. In Oslo, Norway, immigrants were involved in two out of three rape charges in 2001. The numbers in Denmark were the same, and even higher in the city of Copenhagen with three out of four rape charges. Sweden has a larger immigrant, including Muslim, population than any other country in northern Europe. The numbers there are likely to be at least as bad as with its Scandinavian neighbors. The actual number is thus probably even higher than what the authorities are reporting now, as it doesn't include second generation immigrants. Lawyer Ann Christine Hjelm, who has investigated violent crimes in Svea high court, found that 85 per cent of the convicted rapists were born on foreign soil or by foreign parents.
A group of Swedish teenage girls has designed a belt that requires two hands to remove and which they hope will deter would-be rapists. "It's like a reverse chastity belt," one of the creators, 19-year-old Nadja Björk, told AFP, meaning that the wearer is in control, instead of being controlled. Björk and one of her partners now plan to start a business to mass produce the belts and are currently in negotiations with potential partners. "But I'm not doing this for the money," she said. "I'm really passionate about stopping rape. I think it's terrible."
We in America also think rape is terrible, but we have a different solution.
In an online readers' poll from the newspaper Aftonbladet, 82% of the women expressed fear to go outside after dark. There are reports of rapes happening in broad daylight. 30 guests in a Swedish public bath watched as 17 girl was raped recently, and nobody did anything. The girl was first approached by 16-year-old boy. He and his friends followed her as she walked away to the grotto, and inside the grotto he got her blocked in the corner, ripped off her bikini and raped her, while his friend held her firm.
There are even reports of Swedish girls being attacked and cut with knives on the dance floor. A 21-year-old man who came to Sweden a couple of years ago admits that he has a low opinion of Swedish females âor âwhoresâ as he calls them. He is now prosecuted, suspecteded of cutting eight girls in several pubs. He is also charged with raping a girl at a private party, and with sexually harassing another girl in the apartment. Several witnesses claim that the 21 year old has said that he hates Swedish women. Read the rest at the source link.
#1
When is this type of offense going to spawn some retaliatory action? This goes to the most visceral level of human existence. If Sweden isn't willing to protect its females against these criminals, their country is truly lost and there is no more to be said on the subject.
Posted by: mac ||
01/09/2006 0:29
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I have a fear that the police would instantly punish those who tried to stop the rapes.
It looks as a few "Vanishings" of rapists is in order if the police will not take care of the problem.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2006 1:57
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#3
Every couple of months my local paper has a story of some Abdullah or Khalid being arrested for kidnapping and raping some local street girl. Usually groups of those pigs drag the girl into a van, and share the booty. Why not? Islamic sunna says they have to emulate the flea bag "prophet" who dreamed up their murder cult.
#4
CaziFarkus, I think it's time for the men in your community to take the safety of the local women more seriously. Think in terms of hanging out on the streets with a small group of your mates, just keeping an eye on things. And openly writing down the plate numbers of those vans, perhaps getting out your digital camera to take snaps of their occupants. Because Ahmed and Mohammed don't really differentiate between professional and amateur, they're just targetting the vulnerable. And I suppose the police couldn't object to a sudden fad for old-fashioned thorn walking sticks?
#9
One must wonder how long it will take the Scandinavian countries to finally just stop importing criminals. If a large proportion of the rapists are from "Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia", STOP ALLOWING ANY IMMIGRATION OF YOUNG MALES FROM THOSE COUNTRIES.
#10
Not just the young men (yoots). The young women have young boys who grow up to be yoots. No Muzzies, period. It's not like the Scandinavians every had muzzie colonies.
#11
a claw hammer will do fine in removing the tools of teh perpetrator. Do it for each one and in front of their neighbors. No need to involve the police.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2006 17:02
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#12
When I spent time in Sweden in the 70's, the girls there had fathers, brothers, cousins, and uncles all of whom would have taken serious umbrage at anyone laying hands on their kin. Sex was OK, but rape would get you seriously dead.
#13
So why isn't it happening now?
Change in morals?
Cowardace?
The old folks who fought in WW2 all die out?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2006 19:41
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#14
Same thing in france Redneck Jim,
20 muslim roughnecks hold 600 passengers on a train gripped in fear of their lives. While they plunder and rape and abuse the entire train, the staff lock themselves safely away in the engine compartment, too petrified by fear to even call the police.
#15
That's the difference between taking charge of your life and being a ward of the state. Americans are raised to roll up their sleeves, take charge, pull up their own bootstraps, etc. Europeans expect their government or the European Union to take care of them.
The French approach gets them Muslims burning 400 cars per night -- can you imagine that here in the U.S.? How many dead Muslims would be laying on the streets next to the cars the next morning? How many days would that continue?
#17
Trailing Wife's recomm are valid, but with all the conflicts occurring around the peripheries of the West/World-vital oil and trade routes between the Americas, the Malaccas, Persian Gulf and Red Sea for me the Spetzies are waging war in places and regions that were also invaluable and strategic to the Cold War USSR, Spetznatz commandoes-sappers, and the Commie Bloc in general. Better tell NATO and the USMC to start reviewing their Northern Area Warfare oper and tactical methodisms.
#20
The internationl standard punishment for rape should be hanging. Get DNA proof and hang them. Aiding someone to rape someone same as rape, hanging. Rape will dissappear over night.
The United Nations envoy to Burma, Razali Ismail, says he has quit his post after being refused entry for the past two years to the military-ruled country. Mr Razali, a former Malaysian diplomat who has been trying to break Burma's political impasse since 2000, says he will not renew his contract. "My contract lapsed after December 2005. It is clear they [the military junta] do not want me back," Mr Razali said. "I have not been allowed to visit the [Burma] leadership in [Rangoon] in the past 22 months." He says that the United Nations has accepted his decision to quit his role as secretary-general Kofi Annan's special envoy. "So it is time for me to make an exit," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006
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#1
So this fellow got paid for two years' work and did not even get to Burma? So what happens next? Give someone else a contract and have them wait it out? LOL!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/09/2006 10:49
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Can't make an exit if you never make an entrance.
The government of radical Islamist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to segregate Iranâs pedestrian walkways on gender basis, according to Fatemeh Alia, a deputy in Iranâs Majlis (Parliament) and one of Ahmadinejadâs closest allies.
Since Ahmadinejad took office as president, new measures have been enforced to, in his words, âreturn the Islamic Republic to the days of the [1979 Islamic] revolutionâ.
As part of the government plan called âIncrease the hejab (veil) culture and female chastityâ, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development has received orders to construct separate pedestrian walkways for men and women, according to Alia.
âThis plan is the most advanced and complete plan regarding the hejab. In the next two weeks its final considerations will be complete and it will start to be implementedâ.
Previously, when he was Mayor of Tehran, Ahmadinejad ordered all the buildings belonging to the municipality to have separate elevators for men and women.
âThe Ministry of Housing and Urban Development will have an obligation to construct apartments in a special way ⊠which would be in line with the culture and atmosphere of an Islamic society. The Ministry of Roads and Transport must pay special attention to the walkways, roads, railways, and transportation routes so that we no longer get reports of mal-veiling in these routesâ, the hard-line Majlis deputy said.
Alia added that special provisions also had to be made for tourists who travel to Iran so that they also adhere to Islamic regulations.
#1
"The more things change, the more they stay the same."
Coupled with
"Those who will not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it."
I'm old enough to remember segregated busses, bathrooms, diners, etc.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2006 11:01
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#2
I can kinda, sorta understand where ol' Almondinejihad is coming from. I mean, back in the 4th grade or so everyone knew you could get cooties just from standing next to girls in line. Perhaps Allan will grant to the Iranian Prez the wisdom and insight that most of us acquired around puberty.
#3
This will make life easier for the A-10 drivers. Just think, you could gun run the city and never hurt a single woman or child. Wish they would do it in every Islamic state.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/09/2006 18:38
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Just when you think these pathetic misogynistic losers can't get any more ridiculous ...
The trial of controversial preacher Abu Hamza Al-Masri, charged with soliciting the murder of non-Muslims and other alleged crimes, was to open in London today. Hamza, the former imam of Finsbury Park Mosque in north London, faces 16 charges, including 10 of "soliciting to murder", before a jury at the Old Bailey, London's main criminal court. He is charged also with using language aimed at stirring up racial hatred and the trial was expected to last three weeks. One of the 16 charges is under the Terrorism Act 2000 â which accuses him of possession of a document, "The Encyclopedia of the Afghani Jihad", which contained information "of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism".
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006
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#1
Western Civilization's courts are dhimmi paradises. Cap'n will get an al-Arian. Any society that values the life of Islamofascist garbage, is culturally poisoned. Our leaders are sick fucks.
#3
NaziFartus, you have all the sublety of an On/Off switch, but none of the utility - or sagacity. I suggest you just turn Off and stay that way, moron. You've got the SayDoom! and IToldYouSo all-or-nothing stupidity mastered. *golf clap* We've heard it, already. Fuck off.
#4
Now that the Brits have had their own taste of jihad, it remains to be seen if monster raving loons like Ken Livingstone and Galloway shall set the tone or whether actual justice will prevail. Britain can either send an unmistakable notice that terrorist activity will not be tolerated or cave in like so many of their country's other commercial and municipal institutions have done already.
#8
The problem with the UK Justice system is it is full of Livingstone's and Galloway's. This person will be luck and not serve a day more than he has already.
Three Western embassies in Jordan have closed for security reasons "until further notice," warning of a new threat of attacks on Western targets in the kingdom. The Canadian and Australian embassies yesterday followed Britain in announcing the closure of their missions in the Jordanian capital, Amman. The move comes two months after bomb attacks claimed by Al-Qaeda against three luxury hotels in Amman that killed 60 people plus three bombers and wounded about 100 more.
Australia warned travelers in a statement of the threat of new attacks on Western targets in the kingdom, a key US ally regarded as one of the most stable countries in the volatile Middle East. "Reports suggest terrorists may be in the final stages of planning attacks against Westerners and places frequented by Westerners in Jordan," the embassy said. "The Australian Embassy in Jordan will be closed until further notice due to the security situation."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006
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#1
Uh-Oh, it sounds like the warnings are out, next on the list is not Iran, it's Jordan.
Canada, Australia, and Britian, our three closest allies. My, My, My.
Odd, I thought the King was on our side?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2006 1:48
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#2
Australia, yes, Briton, si, but Canada ?
What was all that booing at the hockey game last week all about ? Canadians have some kind of problem ?
#3
wxjames, Canada was founded as a country on the proposition that American fingers had to be kept out of the various Provincial pies, lest, God Forbid, the peepul be polluted by such contact with their southern cousins. According to my immigrant Canadian friends, the attitude is incorporated at all levels of grammar school curricula.
#4
wxjames, Canada was founded as a country on the proposition that American fingers had to be kept out of the various Provincial pies, lest, God Forbid, the peepul be polluted by such contact with their southern cousins. According to my immigrant Canadian friends, the attitude is incorporated at all levels of grammar school curricula.
#5
wxjames, Canada was founded as a country on the proposition that American fingers had to be kept out of the various Provincial pies, lest, God Forbid, the peepul be polluted by such contact with their southern cousins. According to my immigrant Canadian friends, the attitude is incorporated at all levels of grammar school curricula.
#7
Thanks, I heard ya the first time. (just kidding)
My uncle joined the RCAF early in WW2 before Pearl Harbor was attacked, and he was shot down over Germany and spent the ballance of the war in a German prisoner of war camp. Thanks Canada for allowing my uncle a chance to die for your....
Never mind, fuck you Canada.
You'll likely be hearing orgasmic Democrats and the MSM crowing about this AP Ipsos poll which has the headline "Voters Seem More Ready To End GOP Control Of Congress". The poll shows the following:
Wrong Track - 65%/Right Track - 32%
Bush Approval Rating - 59% Disapprove/40% Approve
Who Do You Want To Control Congress - 49% - Democrats/36%- Republicans
Sounds bad, huh? Well, as we've said before you (and the GOP leaders) shouldn't use these polls as any kind of indicator as to what could happen in 2006, which is certainly how the MSM will spin it.
But here's what you won't see in the news stories. - the demography of the poll respondents
First, only 81% of respondents were even eligible to vote, and there's no indication of how many of them actually went to the polls in 2004..
1. Party Leanings - The poll is slanted 52-40% towards Democrats, even though the voters in the 2004 election were split evenly at 37% between Republicans and Democrats.
2. Religion - Next, a whopping 19% of respondents had "no" religion, while in 2004 only 10% of voters had "no" religion, and they voted overwhelmingly for Kerry (+36%).
3. Age of Respondents In this poll 31% of the respondents were between 18-34, even though the 18-29 year olds (a slightly smaller demo) only made up 17% of the electorate in the 2004 election. I think it's pretty safe to say that by including 30-34 year olds that number would still not have come close to the IPSOS sample.
4. Income Level of Respondents - This one is amazing. In this poll 15% of respondents made under $15,000 per year. In 2004, only 8% of voters were in this income bracket, and voted 63-36% for Kerry.
5. Marital Status - In this poll, only 56% of respondents are married. In 2004, 63% of voters were married, and voted 57-42% for Bush.
6. Geography - In this poll, only 17% of respondents were from "rural" areas. In 2004, 25% of voters were from rural areas, and voted 57-42% for Bush.
7. Race - In this poll, there were 71% white respondents and 12% Hispanic respondents. In 2004, 77% of voters were white, and only 8% Hispanic. Bush won the white vote 58-41% and Kerry the Hispanic vote 53-44%.
We're not saying the GOP is going to have an easy time in 2006, but when you read slanted polls like this you really wonder if the purpose of conducting it was to get good results, or push an agenda. Given the history of the AP/Ipsos poll, my bet is on the latter.
#1
OF course they don't include the 8' tall veil or curtain between the walkways - that might impede the rapist lions of Islam from doing their religious duties [of raping women who dare to show an ankle].
#3
Anon, I put very little stock in most poll except the one that is held every two years in November. I remember back in late November 2004 how the LLL was touting a poll that claimed the nation was on the wrong track. This was about two weeks from the election when the right/wrong track should have been decided. The LLL still cling to the exit polls of the 2004 election as proof that Kerry should have won even after the pollster denounced their own poll. No poll is perfect but it seems they (the MSM) go out of their way to create a slanted poll to further the lefts agenda. I hate to wave the conspiracy flag but I do believe they are trying to turn public opinion through tainted news and polls. The best example in almost all polls people think that economy is poor or very poor. This is contrary to any measurable economic standard used in the past 100 years that shows that the economy is both booming and on sound footing.
#4
The dems are really in trouble - cause all they seem to have left are bogus polls trying to hide the fact that their ship is sinking and the Democrats are bailing the ship.
I just love how the "progressives" stood up for Tookie, but don't give a damn about theses girls repeatedly being hanged for the crime of being part of the enslaved half of the ummah...
Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Jan. 07 â An Iranian court has sentenced a teenage rape victim to death by hanging after she weepingly confessed that she had unintentionally killed a man who had tried to rape both her and her niece.
The state-run daily Etemaad reported on Saturday that 18-year-old Nazanin confessed to stabbing one of three men who had attacked the pair along with their boyfriends while they were spending some time in a park west of the Iranian capital in March 2005.
Nazanin, who was 17 years old at the time of the incident, said that after the three men started to throw stones at them, the two girlsâ boyfriends quickly escaped on their motorbikes leaving the pair helpless.
She described how the three men pushed her and her 16-year-old niece Somayeh onto the ground and tried to rape them, and said that she took out a knife from her pocket and stabbed one of the men in the hand.
As the girls tried to escape, the men once again attacked them, and at this point, Nazanin said, she stabbed one of the men in the chest. The teenage girl, however, broke down in tears in court as she explained that she had no intention of killing the man but was merely defending herself and her younger niece from rape, the report said.
The court, however, issued on Tuesday a sentence for Nazanin to be hanged to death.
Last week, a court in the city of Rasht, northern Iran, sentenced Delara Darabi to death by hanging charged with murder when she was 17 years old. Darabi has denied the charges.
In August 2004, Iranâs Islamic penal system sentenced a 16-year-old girl, Atefeh Rajabi, to death after a sham trial, in which she was accused of committing âacts incompatible with chastityâ.
The teenage victim had no access to a lawyer at any stage and efforts by her family to retain one were to no avail. Atefeh personally defended herself and told the religious judge that he should punish those who force women into adultery, not the victims. She was eventually hanged in public in the northern town of Neka.
#2
at least she's entitled to an abortion first, LOTP - makes it all ok
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/08/2006 19:50
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Nazanin, who was 17 years old at the time of the incident, said that after the three men started to throw stones at them, the two girlsâ boyfriends quickly escaped on their motorbikes leaving the pair helpless.
Their boyfriends skedaddle leaving them to get raped? WTF?
#4
Each and every Muslim male is under absolute koranic ordenance to treat the testimony of a women as half that of men. And Condi works for democraticization of those pigs. I'm sure they love her dhimmism.
#6
Hmmm. Should we compare what Dr Rice has done for America and lay it beside the selfless accomplishments of NaziFartus and compare?
I'm just askin, since he feels free to slander her as she simply does what a SecState is supposed to do - not to mention being wildly off-topic in his reckless spew convulsion. Le petite mal?
#7
"Each and every Muslim male is under absolute koranic ordenance to treat the testimony of a women as half that of men. And Condi works for democraticization of those pigs. I'm sure they love her dhimmism."
Translation: It's Bush's fault. And probably Halliburton's, too.
Fart.
Posted by: no mo ruo ||
01/09/2006 7:00
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#8
Western city planners are to blame. Seperate sidewalks for the sexes will end this sort of thing.
#11
CF says: Each and every Muslim male is under absolute koranic ordenance to treat the testimony of a women as half that of men. And Condi works for democraticization of those pigs. I'm sure they love her dhimmism.
It never ceases to amaze me how much lower the hate Bush crowd can sink. So now the left is reduced to complaining that Bush is trying to give democracy to "those pigs". How progressive, multicultural and refined. It's a clever try, CF, on a thread of this emotional magnitude. It's ineffective, but clever in a blinded-by-hate sort of way.
#12
So now the left is reduced to complaining that Bush is trying to give democracy to "those pigs".
2b, can you explain to me why the bleeding hell you think that CF is a leftist?
Seems to me that CF's comments reflect things that the most right-wing Rantburgers have repeated in the past -- things like suggesting either the forced conversion of Muslims or genocidal extermination, things like that Muslim culture doesn't allow democratization, etc, etc.
But hey, 2b, construct whatever strawman you like. Now you are claiming that CF is a leftist -- but you can claim that the Sun is green for all the sense you make.
#13
One is obliged to wonder what will happen when over half this world's population finally wakes up and realizes that global sharia law would mean their unending abuse and degradation. We need to send Lorena Bobbit on a lecture tour in Arabia.
#14
Aris, 2b had no 'strawman' arguement. See below: straw man n. An argument or opponent set up so as to be easily refuted or defeated.
He specically made his opinions of the left known, but didn't create a straw man.
As for CF's comments, I only took issue to him calling Muslims Mohammedeans "pigs" when anyone can clearly see they are NOT pigs. They are misinformed human losers. Misinformed losers following the ravings of a murdering, illiterate, child-raping, robbing gold-digger.
#15
"the two girlsâ boyfriends quickly escaped on their motorbikes leaving the pair helpless."
Brave boys are they not? Cowards each and everyone. Of course what does one expect from the descendants of pedofiles? The more I read about the goat lovers the more I am sure.... I need to buy more ammo.
#17
Aris, 2b had no 'strawman' arguement. See below:
straw man n. An argument or opponent set up so as to be easily refuted or defeated.
He specically made his opinions of the left known, but didn't create a straw man
"http://www.fallacyfiles.org/strawman.html"
"The Straw Man is a type of Red Herring because the arguer is attempting to refute his opponent's position, and in the context is required to do so, but instead attacks a positionâthe "straw man"ânot held by his opponent."
In trying to attack the left, 2b attacked the positions that weren't held by the actual left, but instead he attacked CF's opinions.
That seemed to me pretty much the definition of a strawman attack.
#19
Good grief, Aris, have you gone off your meds? Last week you were so civil I found myself actually agreeing with you from time to time. But today you seem to be Arisifying threads at every turn.
A top leader of the outlawed Purba Banglar Communist Party (ML-Red Flag), was killed in an "encounter" between police and his accomplices on Saturday midnight on Tangail-Baghil Road at Laojan in Tangail Sadar upazila. On information that Sohel, 25, and his accomplices were preparing for a big criminal operation, Tangail sadar police raided Laojan Chilabari area at around 1:00am, police said, adding that some 15 outlaws opened fire on police, leading to a 15-minute shootout that left Sohel bullet-hit and dead.
They didn't bring Sohel with them? No arms cache? Definitely not up to RAB standards...
Sub-inspectors Fazlul Karim and Kamal Hossain and three police constables received bullet wounds during the gun battle while the other outlaws fled the scene. The injured policemen were undergoing treatment at Tangail Police Lines Hospital. Police recovered a rifle with three bullets, one large dagger, and some used shells from the spot.
No shutter guns?
The shutter gun is still locked up in the evidence vault back at RAB HQ.
Sohel, the chief of the notorious Sohel group, was an absconder accused in nine criminal cases including eight of murder in different police stations under the district, police said. Other sources, however, claimed that Tangail sadar police arrested Sohel three days before and no police members were injured in the incident.
No! Reeeeeally?
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006
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#1
Competition is good, let's have a running tally from now on just how many the RAB gets and how many the police get.
It's a win-win situation.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2006 1:42
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#2
This is the way of the Banga Lawman. All done by the numbers.
Israeli police are to authorise Palestinians to campaign under certain conditions in annexed east Jerusalem for this month's parliamentary elections, a police spokesman says. "On orders from the political echelon, police have authorised Palestinian candidates to campaign under conditions," Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben Rubi told AFP. He did not elaborate on the conditions, adding only that a meeting was expected to take place on Monday to discuss the matter with representatives of various lists participating in the election.
Last Tuesday, Israeli police stopped two leading candidates from canvassing in the occupied Arab quarter of the city on the first day of campaigning for the landmark election, scheduled for January 25. Israel is yet to announce a formal decision on whether to allow Arabs to vote in east Jerusalem, as was eventually allowed in a Palestinian presidential election last January and the previous legislative poll in 1996.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006
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#2
Bad idea. Now is the time for the government to show firm resolve in maintaining the positions Sharon staked out. Besides, it shows Abu Abbas, et al that if they fuss enough, they can get what they want.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2006 15:43
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#4
This is another good will effort that will result in a kick in the teeth. The entire world is starting to realize what the Paleos are. If this ends up another nail in the coffin, good.
NINGBO, China - In perhaps the most remarkable sign of the Sino-U.S. tug of war on energy, supertankers are making the costly 40- to 45-day journey to China from Venezuela, a traditional and consistent U.S. supplier. Woohoo! Dateline Ningbo! We're famous!
If the tankers were to offload at the U.S. Gulf Coast, it would take only a four-day sail. Venezuela's anti-American leader, Hugo Chavez, sharply raised exports to China this fall, boosting heavy crude and fuel oil exports by 170,000 barrels per day and pledging to reach 300,000 barrels per day by the end of 2006. "Everybody is competing to sell oil to China, and we won't be left behind," Venezuelan Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters in Caracas. Shipping costs add roughly $5 per barrel to the oil, but Venezuela insists it isn't subsidizing sales to China. Of course not...there's kickbacks in there.
China is returning the favor with new oil exploration capital, a $250 million plan for a telecommunications network and offers to launch a satellite for Venezuela. To the north, China is taking a strong interest in Canada's vast oil sands deposits, investing in a $2 billion oil pipeline project and taking bites of smaller private companies. "Every barrel that Canada sells to the Chinese is one less barrel it can sell to the United States," said energy analyst Gal Luft, noting that Western Hemisphere crude exports to China "will essentially make the United States more dependent on Middle East oil."
#1
Article: "Every barrel that Canada sells to the Chinese is one less barrel it can sell to the United States," said energy analyst Gal Luft, noting that Western Hemisphere crude exports to China "will essentially make the United States more dependent on Middle East oil."
This is pretty silly, because whether or not the US buys oil from Middle Eastern countries, it is dependent on Middle Eastern oil. The only way to not be dependent on Middle Eastern oil is not to consume oil*. There is just one global market for oil, a concept that seems foreign to this oil "analyst".
* Even if the US consumed less oil than it produced domestically, oil prices would be set based on how much Middle Eastern countries want to produce.
#2
Good.
China is the fastest growing economy and its thirst for oil has driven the prices high: if Venezuela produces more and more oil, the total oil in the market will increase and the prices decrease.
Subversives are stupid.
#3
I thought part of Chavez's problem was that he had driven out the knowledgable workers in the petroleum industry and replaced them with ignorant henchmen on the one hand, and refused to invest in maintenance on the other, thus significantly reducing Venezuela's petroleum output over recent years? If so, all he is doing is poking the U.S. in the eye while charging his faltering economy for the privilege of doing so. In the meantime, I have friends who are in the market for their second hybrid vehicle, and I'm hoping that if I talk fast enough Mr. Wife will lead with his heart and buy me a hybrid something when the transmission on the minivan gives up, as it seems to want to do. (He fell in love with the expensive Toyota something-or-other when he went looking at the RAV he wants to drive until trailing daughter #1 gets her licence (she got her learner's permit on Saturday -- and no, I'm not going to be involved in her training).)
#4
Ms. TW, good luck and my best wishes for Trailing Daughter #1, but I'm sure she'll do very well, she has a clever bunch of family folks to draw from, teaching or not, judging from your always pleasant and reasoned posts; anyway, the USA are a nation of drivers, endless roads, and big (preferably chromed) cars, or so it seems to me from that side of the pond, I can't see how she would do without a driver's license.
#5
No way for this to come out right... but, recommend she not drive and operate a phone simultaneously. "Guns don't kill people, women driving suvs while talking on cellulars do."
#6
..recommend she not drive and operate a phone simultaneously.
I have a better idea: she should learn to ride a motorcycle. Learn to spot the stupid people, their stupid habits/tendencies, and react/adjust accordingly. And that mindset does carry over into four-wheeled motoring.
#7
Agreed about driving while calling, Besoeker, although men can be just as bad... it's just that y'all tend not to multi-task as often. ;-)
a5089, merci beaucoup! You are kind. The reason I'm not involved in td#1's training is because I didn't actually get my own driver's licence until a few months before I married Mr. Wife -- my bicycle sufficed until his first business trip. ;-)
Bomb-a-rama, td#1 may learn to drive a motorcycle after getting her basic automobile licence. We don't own such a thing, and with Cincinnati's icy winters and extensive hills, that is a summer pleasure. However, I'm sure my sister would be pleased to teach her that skill when the time comes, and she already has the equipment (ahhh, the joys of not being penniless after a summer working at Los Alamos!).
#8
Whether you or Mr. Wife supervises the driver training, be sure to keep the radio off. You actually get some real conversation that way.
I took daughters #1 and 2 for driving lessons because I know the backroads well; and we enjoyed it.
Unidentified gunmen ambushed a Senegalese peacekeeping contingent in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, killing one Senegalese soldier and wounding nine more, an army spokesman said yesterday. The attack occurred Friday near the border with Chad, said Senegal Army spokesman Lt. Col. Antoine Wardini. The troops were traveling in a convoy between the towns of Tine and Kulbus "when they got ambushed," Wardini said. "We fired back and the attackers pulled back and ran." Wardini said peacekeeping reinforcements had been sent from Kulbus to secure the area. It was not known who carried out the attack, but an investigation was ongoing.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006
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#1
Arabs have never ceased referring to blacks as: abds (slaves). The fact that so many blacks embrace the slave cult of Islam, is testament to a vacuum of ideas in their countries. Not that I write off all Africa. Free Africa (non-Muslim) will pick up their boots after Nigeria is lost in the next 10 years.
A recorded voice believed to belong to the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, has denounced Arab countries working for political reconciliation in Iraq as US agents. "The countries that met in Cairo ... were involved in destroying Iraq and cooperated with America by opening their land, air space and waters and offering intelligence to it," the speaker said on a audio tape posted on the Internet.
The tape was referring to an Arab League conference in November that tried to reconcile Iraqi political factions. The tape could not be authenticated. The speaker denounced the Iraqi Islamic Party, viewed as the largest Sunni Arab party, for endorsing a new constitution, a move which boosted the Shiite and Kurdish-led government. "We call on the Islamic Party to leave this path ... which leads to the destruction of the Sunnis," the tape said. "We had the power to disrupt the elections in most parts of Iraq, but did not do it in order not to harm the Sunni masses."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006
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#1
"We had the power to disrupt the elections in most parts of Iraq, but did not do it in order not to harm the Sunni masses."
Just like he didnt want to harm the Sunni masses in Ramadi the other day to the tune of over a hundred dead??
We wouldn't understand all of the tiny nuances - such as whether one is beheaded in a left-to-right or right-to-left draw, Qu'uranic ramifications of wiping with Saudi Riyals or Iranian Rials, or the answer to the question: Just Who The FUCK Does That Old Clown In The Cave Zawahiri Think He IS, Anyway? sorta thing.
It's the little things, the confusing self-defeating things, the things that Westerners can't quite wrap their minds around, that makes a run-of-the-mill murdering swine-sucking asshole Jihadi into a True Jihadi, a creature so despicable and vile and barbaric and demented that it lies beneath snake shit at the bottom of the Marianas Trench, you know: a Lion of Islamâ¢.
In my Western muddle, all I can say is if Zarqi wants to put the hurt on The Arab League, well, the popcorn's on me.
#3
I'll take a bowl of that popcorn with thanks, .com. :-D And I'll pop into the kitchen in the moment to make a batch of brownies to go with it. Who woulda thunk al-Zarqawi would go Palestinian-stupid?
#5
If so many people weren't getting killed in the process, Zarqawi's bull-in-the-Arabic-China-shop routine would be downright hilarious. As it is, it's very difficult not to sit back and applaud while this demon shows what the logical extension of jihad actually is; Namely everybody dies.
The instant they had every infidel's head chopped off then would begin the internecine slaughter until they anihilated themselves in nuclear fury. These sick, twisted f&%ks cannot abide peace in any form. Only constant bloodshed and mayhem at all suits their tastes.
It is up to all sane people to bind these vile maggots to their barbaric lusts and kill them each and every one.
The US military has dropped charges against an army officer implicated in the deaths of two detainees in Afghanistan, saying there was not enough evidence to proceed with a court martial. "They could not substantiate the charges that he had failed in his duties to a degree where it would warrant a court martial," Jean Offutt, a public affairs officer at Fort Bliss in Texas, told AFP.
She says Captain Christopher Beiring has received a letter of reprimand that faults him for a lack of leadership. The letter can be appealed. Captain Beiring had been charged with abuse of prisoners and making false statements after two prisoners his military police company was guarding at a detention centre in Bagram died in 2002.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006
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US drops charges over Afghan jail deaths
good, now give him his reputation and career back. a$$holes
North Korea is demanding billions of dollars in compensation for alleged atrocities against its prisoners of war and spies formerly held in South Korea, a demand which has sparked outrage among politicians in Seoul. There was no official response from the government to the unprecedented demand. But the main opposition party Sunday highlighted the North's own rights record, which often comes in for strong international criticism.
The formal damages complaint was filed to the South's human rights commission through a border office Friday, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said. The complaint insisted Seoul compensate former North Korean long-term prisoners for their time in "nightmarish prisons" run by former authoritarian governments in the South. "The physical damage, except mental damage done to them, stands at one billion US dollars even according to a preliminary estimate made by specialists of the DPRK (North Korea) in line with international practice," the agency said on Saturday. "It would come to several billions of US dollars ... if the damage done to all those unconverted long-term prisoners killed in prisons is put together."
But the North Korean demand backfired across the border. The ruling Uri Party, which usually takes a conciliatory line with North Korea, denounced the complaint as "totally against common sense". The main opposition Grand National Party called it "ridiculous". "They should first raise voices for improving human rights conditions in North Korea when they like to talk about human rights," the opposition party said in a statement. A senior unification ministry official told AFP on condition of anonymity that "the North Korean complaint is not worth being given any serious consideration."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006
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#1
The Norks must be gettin jealous about how Iran has been getting to punk out the EU so much so they are goin to try to punk out the Snorks for some MORE money and tribute. Of course I fully expect the "outrage" to go away quickly and then follow in short order with more appeasment with no strings attached food aid and oil supplies all the while.
#6
Wonder what Madeline Halfbright thinks about this development? Surely her infinite wisdom vis-Ã -vis North Korea would be valuable in solving this latest political trauma. Personally, I would write a very angry letter to Kimmy and attach it to a JDAM dropped on the party HQ during a big gathering. Would send a clear message and offer a basis for further negotiations with whomever was left over. But then I am not a politician.
#7
The NORKS have a wonderful sense of humor. My next door neighboor was one of their 7,245 guests during that conflict, 2,806 of whom died in captivity.
I guess NORK is pissed off because their surviving POWs -- over 80,000 at one time -- are longing for the good old days when they were behind barbed wire, with 3 squares a day and all the protections of the International Red Cross.
#11
Like good CLintonians and dialectic policrats and poligarchs just because North Korea was the one that iniated war during Korean War 1 doesn't mean they have to pay anyone anyting - NK > "WE'RE COMMIES, D*** YOU, WE COMMIES RECEIVE TRIBUTE, WE DO NOT PAY OUT OR GIVE OUT ANYTHING TO ANYONE"!?
CAIRO - Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad flew to Egypt and Saudi Arabia on Sunday for talks on Lebanon, a day after diplomats said Assad had rejected a UN request to interview him about a former Lebanese prime ministerâs murder.
Wonder if Pencilneck spent any time asking for asylum, and how to move large quantities of gold from Syria?
Egyptâs official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Assad discussed developments in Syria and Lebanon at the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, but gave no further details.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal announced the Saudi-Syrian summit during a surprise visit to Damascus earlier. â(The king) affirmed the kingdomâs desire for stronger relations between Syria and Lebanon in all fields, so that the interests of both countries and security of the region are protected,â said a statement on the Saudi state news agency SPA, after a meeting and banquet in Jeddah. It gave no more details.
Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, said in November it had brokered a deal between Damascus and the United Nations to allow the questioning of five Syrian officials in Vienna. Adel Al-Harbi, political editor at the leading Saudi daily Al-Riyadh, said Saudi Arabia wanted to find a way for Assad to meet the UN team without harming Syriaâs sovereignty.
Just offer him asylum in southern Egypt and be done with it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2006
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So what kind of plane is Assad flying these days and who does the maintenance and security? *BWHAHAHAHAH*
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/09/2006 10:33
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The Pakistani Army yesterday extended a deadline for the handover of those who killed eight paramilitary soldiers in the North Waziristan tribal region. The move followed failure to make any progress in talks with tribal leaders. On Saturday, the army threatened to proceed against the Khasokhel tribe if they failed by yesterday afternoon to hand over militants who attacked a paramilitary post in the town of Mir Ali. More than a dozen paramilitary soldiers were reported missing after the ambush.
A tribal jirga attended by commanding officer, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Akram Sahi, unanimously agreed to meet again and discuss the issue on the fifth day of the Muslim festival expected Wednesday. Locals said tribal chiefs agreed to hand over 10 members of the Khasokhel clan to authorities as a guarantee. âWe are ready to support the government (in the operation against militants) as we did in the past,â Mateen Shah, a lawmaker from North Waziristan, told officials.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Suspected Taliban gunmen burned down a primary school in Afghanistan's main southern city Sunday, the latest in a spate of attacks against teachers and institutions that educate girls. No one was hurt in the pre-dawn attacks against the Qabail Primary School in Kandahar, said Hayabullah Rafiqi Othak, Kandahar province's education director. A group of men tied up two security guards and made bonfires of books and wooden desks that eventually razed the whole building, he said. The school, which was on a two-month vacation, taught some 700 boys and girls.
Dozens of schools have been burned since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001 for sheltering Osama bin Laden. Most of the attacks have come at night and have caused no deaths. On Tuesday, however, suspected rebels beheaded the headmaster of another coed school in the region. The Taliban maintains that educating girls is against Islam and also opposes government-funded schools for boys because they teach subjects besides religion.
Othak said reconstruction of the Qabail school would start immediately and some classes could resume when vacation ends in March. The attack came hours guards scared away arsonists who tried to set fire to another school in Kandahar, he said. Five suspects were arrested in the attempted attack, said deputy provincial police chief Abdul Hakim Hungar.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006
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Good, they can be made to talk, that will net us the murderers in short order.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2006 1:39
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#2
"educating girls is against Islam"
What's the point of this lunatic religion, again ?
#3
If you can memorize the Koran and you're a guy you get to wear a big turban and throw your weight around. If you can't meet both those prerequisites you get to labor for your betters and breed.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006 10:25
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#4
If you can memorize the Koran and you're a guy you get to wear a big turban and throw your weight around. If you can't meet both those prerequisites you get to labor for your betters and breed.
I'm listening. How about benefits ?
72 virgins in the afterlife, baby !
Hmm, that's okay as far as that goes, but don't plan on shuffling off this mortal coil any time soon. What else ya got ?
Free AK-47s at every mosque !
Kewl ! Never a bad time for some crazy Gun Sex ! What else ?
No alcohol, lots of fasting !
Whoa, deal killer right there...
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
01/09/2006 12:04
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#5
"The Taliban maintains that educating girls is against Islam and also opposes government-funded schools for boys because they teach subjects besides religion."
The Taliban are an offshoot of the Saudi mental disease called Wahhabism. If we could isolate these guys on some harmless little island in the middle of nowhere, fine. But the problem is that these Wahhabi-miseducated morons won't stay put. They cross borders, enter countries with the sole purpose of killing the infidel, i.e., you and I, and insist on imposing their way of life on the rest of us.
Seems every 50 or 60 years, some excremental waste of humanity rears its head from the cesspool and insists on imposing itself on the rest of us. Nazism, Fascism, Stalinism, Maoism, and Islamism.
#6
I was under the impression that the Taliban are an offshoot of the Deobandis, which I thought was a locally developed variation of Pakistani Islam. To my uneducated eye the result is the same (beating women in the street, locking them in the back room of the house under the thumb of their nearest male relative, making sure they aren't educated beyond that necessary to remain barefoot and pregnant), but I thought the path to get there was local rather than global.
I was under the impression that the Taliban are an offshoot of the Deobandis, which I thought was a locally developed variation of Pakistani Islam.
Both are tendrils of the same slime mold.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/09/2006 20:30
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#8
A lot of the Taliban behavior was motivated by Pashtun tribal culture, not islam per se.
Deoband is actually in India, 90 miles from New Delhi.
Following the Sepoy mutiny in 1857, muslim power was finally broken and the Mogul emperor exiled to Burma. The clerics set up three schools -
Darul-Ulum at Deoband , Nadawa al Ulama at Lucknow, and Darul-Ulum Manzar Islam at Bareilly.
The Wahabi influence has increased in Pakistan due to Saudi funding and the jihadis are influenced by a mix of Wahabi/Deobandi extremism.
Posted by: john ||
01/09/2006 20:43
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Afghan President Hamid Karzai says the drug trade is a greater threat to his country than terrorism. Mr Karzai says the heroin trade has criminalised Afghanistan's economy, tainted the country's image and hindered the development of strong government institutions. He has even gone as far as suggesting that it endangers Afghanistan's very existence as a nation state.
He says foreign criminal gangs are heavily involved in the cultivation of opium poppies from which the heroin is made. "We have reports of the mafia from the rest of the world, probably from the Western countries as well, coming and actively encouraging drugs in Afghanistan, forcing people to grow poppies in Afghanistan," he said. "We have to fight it on all fronts. Afghanistan has simply no option there but to do it."
Posted by: Fred ||
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And most importantly, Karzai doesn't gets his cut.
Syrian President Bashar Assad flew into Jeddah yesterday and held unscheduled talks with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. The two leaders discussed recent developments in the area and bilateral relations, the Saudi Press Agency said. King Abdullah and President Bashar also discussed the situation in occupied Palestine. They renewed their call for Israel to withdraw from all occupied Palestinian land and to grant Palestinians an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. The leaders also called for an immediate Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights and the Shebaa Farm in Lebanon, as stipulated under an Arab peace initiative approved in Beirut in 2002. They also called for the return of peace in Iraq and maintaining its unity.
King Abdullah stressed on the importance of strengthening Syrian-Lebanese relations to protect the interest of both countries and maintain the security of the region.
That's the official news release. We can guess that Pencilneck was trying to line up some sort of Soddy backing to keep his nether regions out of a sling. The tit he was trying to trade for the tat would be fanning the flames of anti-Zionism, which must be old hat even to the Sods by now. I don't think he has much of anything else to offer, unless he wants to sell Syria outright to the Sods, which'd cheese off the Iranians. But maybe so, since even a genius like Bashir can see the Iranians swarming toward the precipice.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A French engineer taken hostage in Iraq last month was pushed out of a car near a checkpoint in a Baghdad suburb, apparently freed by nervous captors who then fled, Iraqi police said Sunday. Bernard Planche was found Saturday night near the checkpoint in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib suburb, said Maj. Falah al-Mohammadawi.
France's presidential Elysee Palace said Planche would be received by its embassy in Baghdad and return to his home country. French President Jacques Chirac "is delighted by the happy outcome," the palace said. The president personally gave the news to Planche's daughter, Isabelle, and to his brother, Gilles.
Planche, who worked for a non-governmental organization called AACCESS, was kidnapped Dec. 5 on his way to work at a Baghdad water plant. Militants later released a video of him sitting between two armed men. Arab news channel Al-Arabiya, which broadcast an excerpt of the video, said the militants denounced the "illegal French presence" in Iraq and demanded the withdrawal of French troops from the country. France has not sent forces to Iraq. The name of a previously unknown militant group, called "Monitoring For Iraq," was shown in the corner of the footage.
Guess they've been monitoring but not paying much attention...
Posted by: Fred ||
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Frenbch del>/del>information radio France-Info (a continuous news radio a la CNN but radio not TV) reported it as having being freed by his captors thus giving the impression that it was a humatarian move from them. It was only when you listened to the detailed bulletin (not even sure it was in the short ones) that you learned they had stumbled on an American checkpoint and in their panic they had abandonned him.
#3
Such observant terrorists: not quite sure whihc nations are involved in ravishing Mother Iraq... and clearly not at all aware at which street intersections the ravishers hang out. The tens of thousands of casualties and arrests have clearly diminished the calibre of the average hard boy in that part of the world. Hurrah for Flypaper!!
#4
Iraqi and Ironhorse Soldiers rescue French hostage
BAGHDAD (Army News Service, Jan. 9, 2006) â Soldiers from 3rd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division and Task Force Ironhorse Soldiers liberated a French hostage Jan. 7 in the Abu Ghraib area of western Baghdad.
The Iraqi Army Soldiers were searching farm houses for weapons caches while U.S. Soldiers from Task Force Ironhorse manned a checkpoint as part of an outer cordon. As the Iraqi Army closed in on their location, the kidnappers fled from a nearby farmhouse and left the French hostage.
After the kidnappers fled, the hostage, Bernard Planche, a 52-year-old employee of a French non-governmental Organization, ran up to a checkpoint manned by Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 22 Infantry.
Planche was first reported kidnapped in western Baghdad on Dec 5.
Iraqi Army and Coalition forces are continuing to search the area for the kidnappers, officials said.
(Editorâs note: Information provided by 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs and Task Force Ironhorse.)
Posted by: ed ||
01/09/2006 21:57
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NEW DELHI â Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf accused India of arming and financing rebels in the Pakistani province of Balochistan, charges that could push back a peace process between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
"How's the other shoe feel, Perv?"
"It's tight!"
Pakistanâs army launched a crackdown against Balochistan militants after a Dec. 14 rocket attack while Musharraf was visiting the region. Baloch nationalists say 200 people have since been killed, but Pakistan has not commented on casualties. Though India and Pakistan are involved in a two-year peace process that has seen economic, sporting, cultural and transport links improve, tensions remain over Kashmir, their main dispute.
When asked whether India was backing armed Baloch rebels, Musharraf told TV channel CNN-IBN in an interview aired yesterday: âThere are lot of indications, yes indeed.â There is a âlot of financial support, support in kind being given to those who are anti-government, anti-me and to those feudal people who are anti-national,â the Pakistani leader said.
So much for the cricket match.
There's the key that he's lying. If the Indo's really were causing trouble in Baluchistan, it would be one tiny step short of war, and Perv would be positively North Korean in his spittle.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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I sure the hell hope that India is giving the Pakis some quid pro quo, given the Kashmir subversion run by the terrorist entity.
Police yesterday recovered two grenades from the house of a Jamaat leader on the outskirts of Satkhira town and arrested his son. During the raid on the house of Jamaat Rokan Moulana Yunus Ali at Dhalipara yesterday noon, they also seized some books on Jihad and Shibir. Yunus' son Abdullah Al Mamun, 21, is an activist of Islami Chhatra Shibir, student wing of ruling coalition partner Jamaat-e-Islami. Militant kingpin Asadullah-al-Galib, chief of a faction of Ahle Hadith Andolan, Bangladesh, also hails from the same area.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister (PM) Khaleda Zia's scheduled visit to Satkhira was cancelled as the government said the chopper carrying her could not land because of fog. But rumours of a planned bomb attack on her meeting venue were widely circulated in Satkhira. In Satkhira, as the news of the recovery spread, panic swept the audience at the meeting venue, 17 kilometres off the district headquarters. Earlier, the local administration and BNP had completed all preparations for different programmes including the rally. A huge number of people gathered at the playground of GKMK Pilot High for the meeting scheduled to start at 2:00pm. But soon rumours began to spread that a JMB suicide squad, which was already in the town for some time, had started for the venue. By this time, news came that the PM had cancelled her visit, fearing a bomb attack.
Officer-in-Charge of Satkhira Sadar Police Station Mohammad Shahjahan told reporters that they have recovered two grenade-like objects from the house of Moulana Yunus Ali, also a teacher of Srirampur Madrasa. Mamun, the arrestee, said the bomb-like objects were seized from under the barn of his uncle Razaul Islam and he does not know anything about it. Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Khulna Range Noor Mohammad told reporters that the objects were recovered following a tip-off from National Security Intelligence (NSI). He said the objects were stuffed full of crushed stones and wrapped in ropes.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006
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But surely such devices are commonly used in that part of the world for self-defence? ;-)
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.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that he would hold parliamentary elections on Jan. 25 as scheduled after he received U.S. assurances that Arab residents of east Jerusalem will be allowed to vote in the city.
Speaking at a mosque on the plain of Mount Arafat, 
In short, both demography and geopolitics make this an age of revolution, as President Bush seems to have understood. Rarely have there been so many opportunities for the advance of freedom, and rarely have the hard facts of life and death been so favorable to the spread of democratic revolution.
Fatah gunmen on Saturday threatened to shut the offices of the pan-Arab Al-Arabiyah satellite TV station in the West Bank and Gaza Strip after accusing it of "defaming" Palestinian female suicide bombers and their families. 
Seems the Town Hall meeting didnât get scripted like the wanted. This was too good to not share with my Rantburg family.
Palestinian weapons experts who have undergone training in Lebanon, Syria and possibly Iran have recently entered the Gaza Strip. According to the official, several Palestinians who were trained by the Lebanon based Hezbollah party and the Iranians, have entered the Gaza Strip recently, apparently from the Sinai. Haaretz quoted a security official claiming that, in the past, vast technological knowledge has been transmitted via the Internet or via memory chips used in laptop computers. 
The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards ground forces and 12 other officers have been killed in a plane crash in north-western Iran, says state media. The small Falcon jet came down near Oroumieh, 900 km (560 miles) north-west of the capital, Tehran. "Ahmad Kazemi was killed with 12 of his deputies and accompanying officers," said Ahmad Panahi of Iran's Emergency Centre, according to Fars news agency.
President Hamid Karzai said that a few hundred Taleban fighters have reconciled with the government and suggested militant leader Mullah Omar should âget in touchâ if he wanted to talk peace. In the context of escalating violence, including suicide attacks, the remarks by Karzai in an interview Sunday with The Associated Press were seen as a softening of the governmentâs previous policy of not negotiating with top leaders of the hard-line militia. Despite the spike in bloodshed, the US-backed leader said the Talebanâs resistance was fading although he expected suicide attacks to continue in Afghanistan âfor a long time.â Karzai said a booming drug trade presented a greater threat to Afghanistan than terrorism and endangered its future.
A scan of Ariel Sharon's brain showed improvement Sunday, and doctors will start bringing the Israeli prime minister out of his medically induced coma on Monday, a hospital official said. Hadassah Hospital director Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef said Sharon remained in critical condition, but his vital signs, including the pressure inside his skull, were normal. "His condition is still serious but stable, and there is improvement in the CT picture of the brain," he told reporters outside the hospital. Bringing Sharon out of the coma is an important step toward assessing the extent of brain damage he suffered from a massive stroke Wednesday. Doctors initially planned to halt the coma-inducing sedatives Sunday but decided to wait another day after performing the new scan.
Swedish girls Malin and Amanda were on their way to a party on New Year's Eve when they were assaulted, raped and beaten half to death by four Somali immigrants. Sweden's largest newspaper has presented the perpetrators as "two men from Sweden, one from Finland and one from Somalia", a testimony as to how bad the informal censorship is in stories related to immigration in Sweden. Similar incidents are reported with shocking frequency, to the point where some observers fear that law and order is completely breaking down in the country. The number of rape charges in Sweden has tripled in just above twenty years. Rape cases involving children under the age of 15 are six - 6 - times as common today as they were a generation ago. Most other kinds of violent crime have rapidly increased, too. Instability is spreading to most urban and suburban areas.
The United Nations envoy to Burma, Razali Ismail, says he has quit his post after being refused entry for the past two years to the military-ruled country. Mr Razali, a former Malaysian diplomat who has been trying to break Burma's political impasse since 2000, says he will not renew his contract. "My contract lapsed after December 2005. It is clear they [the military junta] do not want me back," Mr Razali said. "I have not been allowed to visit the [Burma] leadership in [Rangoon] in the past 22 months." He says that the United Nations has accepted his decision to quit his role as secretary-general Kofi Annan's special envoy. "So it is time for me to make an exit," he said.
The trial of controversial preacher Abu Hamza Al-Masri, charged with soliciting the murder of non-Muslims and other alleged crimes, was to open in London today. Hamza, the former imam of Finsbury Park Mosque in north London, faces 16 charges, including 10 of "soliciting to murder", before a jury at the Old Bailey, London's main criminal court. He is charged also with using language aimed at stirring up racial hatred and the trial was expected to last three weeks. One of the 16 charges is under the Terrorism Act 2000 â which accuses him of possession of a document, "The Encyclopedia of the Afghani Jihad", which contained information "of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism".
Three Western embassies in Jordan have closed for security reasons "until further notice," warning of a new threat of attacks on Western targets in the kingdom. The Canadian and Australian embassies yesterday followed Britain in announcing the closure of their missions in the Jordanian capital, Amman. The move comes two months after bomb attacks claimed by Al-Qaeda against three luxury hotels in Amman that killed 60 people plus three bombers and wounded about 100 more. 
A top leader of the outlawed Purba Banglar Communist Party (ML-Red Flag), was killed in an "encounter" between police and his accomplices on Saturday midnight on Tangail-Baghil Road at Laojan in Tangail Sadar upazila. On information that Sohel, 25, and his accomplices were preparing for a big criminal operation, Tangail sadar police raided Laojan Chilabari area at around 1:00am, police said, adding that some 15 outlaws opened fire on police, leading to a 15-minute shootout that left Sohel bullet-hit and dead.
NINGBO, China - In perhaps the most remarkable sign of the Sino-U.S. tug of war on energy, supertankers are making the costly 40- to 45-day journey to China from Venezuela, a traditional and consistent U.S. supplier.
Unidentified gunmen ambushed a Senegalese peacekeeping contingent in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, killing one Senegalese soldier and wounding nine more, an army spokesman said yesterday. The attack occurred Friday near the border with Chad, said Senegal Army spokesman Lt. Col. Antoine Wardini. The troops were traveling in a convoy between the towns of Tine and Kulbus "when they got ambushed," Wardini said. "We fired back and the attackers pulled back and ran." Wardini said peacekeeping reinforcements had been sent from Kulbus to secure the area. It was not known who carried out the attack, but an investigation was ongoing.
A recorded voice believed to belong to the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, has denounced Arab countries working for political reconciliation in Iraq as US agents. "The countries that met in Cairo ... were involved in destroying Iraq and cooperated with America by opening their land, air space and waters and offering intelligence to it," the speaker said on a audio tape posted on the Internet. 
North Korea is demanding billions of dollars in compensation for alleged atrocities against its prisoners of war and spies formerly held in South Korea, a demand which has sparked outrage among politicians in Seoul. There was no official response from the government to the unprecedented demand. But the main opposition party Sunday highlighted the North's own rights record, which often comes in for strong international criticism.
CAIRO - Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad flew to Egypt and Saudi Arabia on Sunday for talks on Lebanon, a day after diplomats said Assad had rejected a UN request to interview him about a former Lebanese prime ministerâs murder.
The Pakistani Army yesterday extended a deadline for the handover of those who killed eight paramilitary soldiers in the North Waziristan tribal region. The move followed failure to make any progress in talks with tribal leaders. On Saturday, the army threatened to proceed against the Khasokhel tribe if they failed by yesterday afternoon to hand over militants who attacked a paramilitary post in the town of Mir Ali. More than a dozen paramilitary soldiers were reported missing after the ambush.
Suspected Taliban gunmen burned down a primary school in Afghanistan's main southern city Sunday, the latest in a spate of attacks against teachers and institutions that educate girls. No one was hurt in the pre-dawn attacks against the Qabail Primary School in Kandahar, said Hayabullah Rafiqi Othak, Kandahar province's education director. A group of men tied up two security guards and made bonfires of books and wooden desks that eventually razed the whole building, he said. The school, which was on a two-month vacation, taught some 700 boys and girls.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai says the drug trade is a greater threat to his country than terrorism. Mr Karzai says the heroin trade has criminalised Afghanistan's economy, tainted the country's image and hindered the development of strong government institutions. He has even gone as far as suggesting that it endangers Afghanistan's very existence as a nation state. 
Syrian President Bashar Assad flew into Jeddah yesterday and held unscheduled talks with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. The two leaders discussed recent developments in the area and bilateral relations, the Saudi Press Agency said. King Abdullah and President Bashar also discussed the situation in occupied Palestine. They renewed their call for Israel to withdraw from all occupied Palestinian land and to grant Palestinians an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. The leaders also called for an immediate Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights and the Shebaa Farm in Lebanon, as stipulated under an Arab peace initiative approved in Beirut in 2002. They also called for the return of peace in Iraq and maintaining its unity.
A French engineer taken hostage in Iraq last month was pushed out of a car near a checkpoint in a Baghdad suburb, apparently freed by nervous captors who then fled, Iraqi police said Sunday. Bernard Planche was found Saturday night near the checkpoint in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib suburb, said Maj. Falah al-Mohammadawi.
NEW DELHI â Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf accused India of arming and financing rebels in the Pakistani province of Balochistan, charges that could push back a peace process between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Police yesterday recovered two grenades from the house of a Jamaat leader on the outskirts of Satkhira town and arrested his son. During the raid on the house of Jamaat Rokan 
