Iran dug tunnel for military nuclear work-magazine
Wow! Al Reuters is reporting on a German magazine article about Iran cheating on nuclear agreements. Will wonders never cease?
BERLIN, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Iran is working on a secret nuclear programme for military purposes despite promising the European Union it would halt all activities related to uranium enrichment, the news magazine Der Spiegel said on Saturday.
The magazine said it had obtained documents from an unnamed intelligence agency showing that Iran had dug a secret tunnel near an Isfahan facility preparing raw uranium for enrichment, even though operations there had been stopped.
Iran, which has repeatedly denied trying to develop nuclear weapons, promised the European Union on Nov. 14 it would halt all activities related to uranium enrichment, a process that creates atomic fuel for power plants or weapons.
It then demanded an exemption for some 20 enrichment centrifuges for research purposes, a move Western diplomats argued could torpedo the whole deal. They said Iranian officials in Vienna dropped the demand on Friday, but were waiting for a final decision from Tehran.
Der Spiegel, in an advance release of a report due to appear on Monday, said the secret underground facility near Isfahan could soon be ready to produce large amounts of uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6). Centrifuges that spin at supersonic speed can produce enriched uranium from UF6.
The magazine said that according to the intelligence documents, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei personally issued a directive at the start of October to build the secret tunnel.
Of course this is no surprise to anyone except the UN.
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Saturday, November 27, 2004
Mainstream British media discover blogs
Finally, finally! The London Times discovers bloggers!
What is...Pajamahadeen?
LAST WEEK the veteran American news anchorman Dan Rather stepped down from his post at CBS. Though the demotion was sweetened by his resuming a reporting role, few doubted the sequence of events. During the election campaign, CBS had reported allegations about President Bush's military service that turned out to be based on fraudulent documents, easily identified as such. Rather had defended the veracity of the report with an indignation touched by hubris.
The denouement was hastened by a varied group of conservative bloggers. A blog (a contraction of weblog) is a running commentary posted on the internet about whatever takes the author's interest. It is a valuable medium for those with a cause to ventilate, and who fancy that the print and broadcast media are biased against them.
["hastened"??? it would not have happened if not for the bloggers!!!...ed]
An uncomfortable Rather had denounced his blogging nemeses as "partisan political operatives", but it was left to another television executive, Jonathan Klein, to inspire a resonant image appropriate to this series on buzzwords. Surveying the bloggers, he declared: "You couldn't have a starker contrast between the multiple layers of checks and balances (in television news) and a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas writing."
[a "resonant image appropriate"...I'd bet Rather doesn't see it that way now...ed]
Given a sense of history, Klein might have realized that a considered and satisfying sneer is infuriatingly liable to be appropriated with pride by its target. Methodism and neoconservatism both started life as terms of abuse. The guys in pajamas likewise speedily adopted for themselves the felicitous collective term "Pajamahadeen".
It is high time we took back the press.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finally, finally! The London Times discovers bloggers!
What is...Pajamahadeen?
LAST WEEK the veteran American news anchorman Dan Rather stepped down from his post at CBS. Though the demotion was sweetened by his resuming a reporting role, few doubted the sequence of events. During the election campaign, CBS had reported allegations about President Bush's military service that turned out to be based on fraudulent documents, easily identified as such. Rather had defended the veracity of the report with an indignation touched by hubris.
The denouement was hastened by a varied group of conservative bloggers. A blog (a contraction of weblog) is a running commentary posted on the internet about whatever takes the author's interest. It is a valuable medium for those with a cause to ventilate, and who fancy that the print and broadcast media are biased against them.
["hastened"??? it would not have happened if not for the bloggers!!!...ed]
An uncomfortable Rather had denounced his blogging nemeses as "partisan political operatives", but it was left to another television executive, Jonathan Klein, to inspire a resonant image appropriate to this series on buzzwords. Surveying the bloggers, he declared: "You couldn't have a starker contrast between the multiple layers of checks and balances (in television news) and a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas writing."
[a "resonant image appropriate"...I'd bet Rather doesn't see it that way now...ed]
Given a sense of history, Klein might have realized that a considered and satisfying sneer is infuriatingly liable to be appropriated with pride by its target. Methodism and neoconservatism both started life as terms of abuse. The guys in pajamas likewise speedily adopted for themselves the felicitous collective term "Pajamahadeen".
It is high time we took back the press.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 'blog' revolution sweeps across China
Remember the old saying, you can fool some of the people some of the time, and you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all the people all the time.
The New Scientist reports on "The 'blog' revolution sweeps across China".
It took a chance online encounter between a software engineer from Shanghai and a teacher in a remote province of China to start shaking up the power balance between the people and the government of the world’s most populous nation.
Try as they might Chinese censors are no match for bloggers.
Blog services are now sprouting all over China. By the end of October 2004, China had more than 45 large blog-hosting services. A Google search for bo ke will return more than two million results, from blogs for football fans to blogs for Christians.
And while the larger hosting companies have become subject to censorship regulations, smaller companies and individuals do not face the same pressures. Any tech-savvy user can download and install blogging software themselves, bypassing the controls.
They have even discovered "moblogging".
Meanwhile blogging seems set to grow as a national hobby for the younger generation. Providers of China’s 300 million mobile phones are beginning to provide “moblogging” services, with which users can send text and photos directly from their phones to their blogs. For now, most blogs are personal, but their potential for building networks of people and disseminating news cannot be underestimated.
The original inventors (and that does not include Al Gore), had no idea they would so totally revolutionize the world let alone communications.
Hat tip InstaPundit
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Remember the old saying, you can fool some of the people some of the time, and you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all the people all the time.
The New Scientist reports on "The 'blog' revolution sweeps across China".
It took a chance online encounter between a software engineer from Shanghai and a teacher in a remote province of China to start shaking up the power balance between the people and the government of the world’s most populous nation.
Try as they might Chinese censors are no match for bloggers.
Blog services are now sprouting all over China. By the end of October 2004, China had more than 45 large blog-hosting services. A Google search for bo ke will return more than two million results, from blogs for football fans to blogs for Christians.
And while the larger hosting companies have become subject to censorship regulations, smaller companies and individuals do not face the same pressures. Any tech-savvy user can download and install blogging software themselves, bypassing the controls.
They have even discovered "moblogging".
Meanwhile blogging seems set to grow as a national hobby for the younger generation. Providers of China’s 300 million mobile phones are beginning to provide “moblogging” services, with which users can send text and photos directly from their phones to their blogs. For now, most blogs are personal, but their potential for building networks of people and disseminating news cannot be underestimated.
The original inventors (and that does not include Al Gore), had no idea they would so totally revolutionize the world let alone communications.
Hat tip InstaPundit
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Islamic Recruiters Target Potential Jihadees
I recently posted a link to a The New York Post article about Europe's coming civil war with Muslim extremists. That article said in part:
"ON Nov. 2, Van Gogh, a grandnephew of the painter, was shot as he cycled to work. He managed to get up and stagger across the street to his building where he collapsed. The assailant followed him and slit his throat before pinning to his chest with a knife a five-page manifesto that called on Muslims to rise against the "infidel enemies" in the West"
And
Hundreds of thousands of young Muslims in Europe are potential jihadis, according to European intelligence chiefs speaking not for publication. They have been warning their political masters about the tinderboxes that many Muslim communities have become. Jihadi volunteers are known to have left for Iraq from a number of Muslim slums on the outskirts of major European cities.
The Asia Times then reported "...most European Muslim organizations declined to disavow the murder of van Gogh" and "In Germany, most of the country's Muslim groups refused to take part in this past Sunday's Muslim demonstration in Cologne against terrorism and violence. ..."
Fox News reports on "Islamic Recruiters Target Potential Jihadees".
PARIS In a Paris suburb, four young men watch a video where a man is about to get his throat cut.
It takes his killers two minutes and five seconds to saw off his head. In the small, dark living room where it's being watched, no one even flinches.
This is a recruitment video screened by a French convert to Islam (search) who is looking to bring holy warriors into the fold.
It's a scene increasingly common across Europe young Muslims being tapped to fight U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq, a secretive process that can take months. [...]
In France, with more Muslims (search) than any other European nation nearly 6 million that recruitment often starts in the mosque and the ethnic ghettos that ring the capital.
The battle over Islam, some scholars say, will not be fought in Iraq or Ramallah but right here, in the suburbs of London or Paris. And the failure to integrate second-generation immigrations into European society could have deadly consequences. [...]
On Fridays before prayers, the Imam trolls the housing projects, looking for followers among the weak who may some day be ready to kill in the name of jihad.
A commenter took offense at my earlier post where I pointed out that the left leaning liberal press is starting to recognize the threat.
To that commenter I would say, read the articles I linked to and note "...most European Muslim organizations declined to disavow the murder of van Gogh", German Muslims refused to join a "...demonstration in Cologne against terrorism and violence" and notice how the recruitment starts in the Mosques by the Imams.
To that commenter note that all over Iraq mosques are being used for terrorists recruitment, arms dumps, staging places for attacks on coalition forces and sniper positions.
additionally, Mosques all over the world are being used to recruit Islamic terrorists while so called moderate Muslims stand by and do nothing.
I would also point out two excellent sites that follow the threat, Jihad Watch and Daniel Pipes.
UPDATE: Oh, and read this.
She inspires both admiration and rage, and has become one of the most familiar faces on the backbench of Holland’s parliament.
Now, women’s rights advocate Ayaan Hirsi Ali has gone into hiding after a death threat against her was pinned to the body of murdered filmmaker Theo van Gogh.
Hirsi Ali’s path from Somalia to parliament has been marked by a willingness to say and do things others never dared. But she has also incurred the wrath of many Muslims insulted by her message.
She describes herself as a “lapsed” Muslim, and says Islamic culture needs to become more modern.
“Mohammed says that a woman must stay inside, wear a veil, not do certain kinds of work, not have the same inheritance rights as her husband, and should be stoned if she commits adultery,” she said in a 2003 interview with newspaper Trouw.
Ah, the religion of peace.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I recently posted a link to a The New York Post article about Europe's coming civil war with Muslim extremists. That article said in part:
"ON Nov. 2, Van Gogh, a grandnephew of the painter, was shot as he cycled to work. He managed to get up and stagger across the street to his building where he collapsed. The assailant followed him and slit his throat before pinning to his chest with a knife a five-page manifesto that called on Muslims to rise against the "infidel enemies" in the West"
And
Hundreds of thousands of young Muslims in Europe are potential jihadis, according to European intelligence chiefs speaking not for publication. They have been warning their political masters about the tinderboxes that many Muslim communities have become. Jihadi volunteers are known to have left for Iraq from a number of Muslim slums on the outskirts of major European cities.
The Asia Times then reported "...most European Muslim organizations declined to disavow the murder of van Gogh" and "In Germany, most of the country's Muslim groups refused to take part in this past Sunday's Muslim demonstration in Cologne against terrorism and violence. ..."
Fox News reports on "Islamic Recruiters Target Potential Jihadees".
PARIS In a Paris suburb, four young men watch a video where a man is about to get his throat cut.
It takes his killers two minutes and five seconds to saw off his head. In the small, dark living room where it's being watched, no one even flinches.
This is a recruitment video screened by a French convert to Islam (search) who is looking to bring holy warriors into the fold.
It's a scene increasingly common across Europe young Muslims being tapped to fight U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq, a secretive process that can take months. [...]
In France, with more Muslims (search) than any other European nation nearly 6 million that recruitment often starts in the mosque and the ethnic ghettos that ring the capital.
The battle over Islam, some scholars say, will not be fought in Iraq or Ramallah but right here, in the suburbs of London or Paris. And the failure to integrate second-generation immigrations into European society could have deadly consequences. [...]
On Fridays before prayers, the Imam trolls the housing projects, looking for followers among the weak who may some day be ready to kill in the name of jihad.
A commenter took offense at my earlier post where I pointed out that the left leaning liberal press is starting to recognize the threat.
To that commenter I would say, read the articles I linked to and note "...most European Muslim organizations declined to disavow the murder of van Gogh", German Muslims refused to join a "...demonstration in Cologne against terrorism and violence" and notice how the recruitment starts in the Mosques by the Imams.
To that commenter note that all over Iraq mosques are being used for terrorists recruitment, arms dumps, staging places for attacks on coalition forces and sniper positions.
additionally, Mosques all over the world are being used to recruit Islamic terrorists while so called moderate Muslims stand by and do nothing.
I would also point out two excellent sites that follow the threat, Jihad Watch and Daniel Pipes.
UPDATE: Oh, and read this.
She inspires both admiration and rage, and has become one of the most familiar faces on the backbench of Holland’s parliament.
Now, women’s rights advocate Ayaan Hirsi Ali has gone into hiding after a death threat against her was pinned to the body of murdered filmmaker Theo van Gogh.
Hirsi Ali’s path from Somalia to parliament has been marked by a willingness to say and do things others never dared. But she has also incurred the wrath of many Muslims insulted by her message.
She describes herself as a “lapsed” Muslim, and says Islamic culture needs to become more modern.
“Mohammed says that a woman must stay inside, wear a veil, not do certain kinds of work, not have the same inheritance rights as her husband, and should be stoned if she commits adultery,” she said in a 2003 interview with newspaper Trouw.
Ah, the religion of peace.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zarqawi network appeals for help in first signals of defeat
The World Tribune is reporting the terrorists are facing defeat.
BAGHDAD — Sunni insurgents backing Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi have expressed alarm at the prospect of a defeat by the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.
An audio tape said to be from Al Zarqawi charged Muslim clerics with letting down the insurgency "because of your silence."
On Wednesday, Al Zarqawi, with a $25 million bounty on his head, was the target of a major manhunt in the Sunni Triangle, Middle East Newsline reported. Iraqi military sources said Al Zarqawi was said to have been seen in an area south of Fallujah.
Islamic sources said that for the first time in more than a year the Tawhid and Jihad group led by Al Zarqawi appears to have lost control over many of its insurgents in the Sunni Triangle.
The sources said Iraqi and U.S. assaults on major insurgency strongholds in such cities as Baghdad, Fallujah, Mosul, Ramadi and Samara have resulted in heavy insurgency casualties and a break in the command and control structure.
Over the last few days, Al Zarqawi supporters have appealed for help from Al Qaida and related groups. The sources said Al Qaida's allies, including the Salafist Brigade for Combat and Call, have sought to increase recruitment of Muslim volunteers to fight the coalition.
The Internet has also reflected the growing concern that Islamic insurgents would be routed in Iraq. A message posted on an Islamic website appealed for help from Islamic insurgents in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Pakistan and the Palestinian Authority.
Hey, it worked against Sadr.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The World Tribune is reporting the terrorists are facing defeat.
BAGHDAD — Sunni insurgents backing Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi have expressed alarm at the prospect of a defeat by the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.
An audio tape said to be from Al Zarqawi charged Muslim clerics with letting down the insurgency "because of your silence."
On Wednesday, Al Zarqawi, with a $25 million bounty on his head, was the target of a major manhunt in the Sunni Triangle, Middle East Newsline reported. Iraqi military sources said Al Zarqawi was said to have been seen in an area south of Fallujah.
Islamic sources said that for the first time in more than a year the Tawhid and Jihad group led by Al Zarqawi appears to have lost control over many of its insurgents in the Sunni Triangle.
The sources said Iraqi and U.S. assaults on major insurgency strongholds in such cities as Baghdad, Fallujah, Mosul, Ramadi and Samara have resulted in heavy insurgency casualties and a break in the command and control structure.
Over the last few days, Al Zarqawi supporters have appealed for help from Al Qaida and related groups. The sources said Al Qaida's allies, including the Salafist Brigade for Combat and Call, have sought to increase recruitment of Muslim volunteers to fight the coalition.
The Internet has also reflected the growing concern that Islamic insurgents would be routed in Iraq. A message posted on an Islamic website appealed for help from Islamic insurgents in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Pakistan and the Palestinian Authority.
Hey, it worked against Sadr.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UN scandal update: Annan's Son Took Payments Through 2004
The New York Sun reports "Annan's Son Took Payments Through 2004"
BY CLAUDIA ROSETT - Special to the Sun
November 26, 2004
One of the next big chapters in the United Nations oil-for-food scandal will involve the family of the secretary-general, Kofi Annan, whose son turns out to have been receiving payments as recently as early this year from a key contractor in the oil-for-food program.
The secretary-general's son, Kojo Annan, was previously reported to have worked for a Swiss-based company called Cotecna Inspection Services SA, which from 1998-2003 held a lucrative contract with the U.N. to monitor goods arriving in Saddam Hussein's Iraq under the oil-for-food program. But investigators are now looking into new information suggesting that the younger Annan received far more money over a much longer period, even after his compensation from Cotecna had reportedly ended.
The importance of this story involves not only undisclosed conflicts of interest, but the question of the role of the secretary-general himself, at a time when talk is starting to be heard around the U.N. that it is time for him to resign, and the staff labor union is in open rebellion against "senior management."
"What other bombshells are out there being hidden from the public and U.N. member governments?" asked an investigator on Rep. Henry Hyde's International Relations Committee, which has held hearings on oil-for-food.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The New York Sun reports "Annan's Son Took Payments Through 2004"
BY CLAUDIA ROSETT - Special to the Sun
November 26, 2004
One of the next big chapters in the United Nations oil-for-food scandal will involve the family of the secretary-general, Kofi Annan, whose son turns out to have been receiving payments as recently as early this year from a key contractor in the oil-for-food program.
The secretary-general's son, Kojo Annan, was previously reported to have worked for a Swiss-based company called Cotecna Inspection Services SA, which from 1998-2003 held a lucrative contract with the U.N. to monitor goods arriving in Saddam Hussein's Iraq under the oil-for-food program. But investigators are now looking into new information suggesting that the younger Annan received far more money over a much longer period, even after his compensation from Cotecna had reportedly ended.
The importance of this story involves not only undisclosed conflicts of interest, but the question of the role of the secretary-general himself, at a time when talk is starting to be heard around the U.N. that it is time for him to resign, and the staff labor union is in open rebellion against "senior management."
"What other bombshells are out there being hidden from the public and U.N. member governments?" asked an investigator on Rep. Henry Hyde's International Relations Committee, which has held hearings on oil-for-food.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, November 26, 2004
Iraq and Misplaced Metaphors
Victor Davis Hanson on why the current metaphors the left use about Iraq are misplaced.
Here is just a sample, be sure to read the whole thing.
One of the more curious aspects of the commentary on this war has not been the bias of the mainstream media but the cynical punditry that somehow ends up as the conventional wisdom among our New York and Washington elites. Here is a small sample of misplaced metaphors, allusions, and conventional wisdom of the last three years.
THE POTTERY BARN RULE
"You break it, you bought it" — so we were told ad nauseam throughout the war in Iraq. Bush and his Team America posse supposedly barged into an upscale store, rashly knocked over items, and now, quite startled, must stay on and pay the tab for the mess they made. How deep.
In truth, it was the wrong metaphor even before becoming hackneyed. The Pottery Barn image doesn't work for a variety of reasons. First, Saddam's Iraq was not a pristine, upscale shop. It was, rather, a trash heap of broken shards — its power, water, sewage, and garbage all fractured and scattered in pieces; its people both brutalized and often brutalizers as a result of three decades of institutionalized mass murder; its leadership a choice between Soviet-era killers and Dark Age jihadists.
Second, unlike the naïve buyer who takes umbrage that he must pay for something he inadvertently knocked over, we went into Iraq with the explicit intention of fixing things. Indeed, we announced quite openly that we did not want a repeat of Lebanon, Afghanistan of the 1980s, Mogadishu, or the first Gulf War, when we let the locals murder and bomb after we pulled out.
Third, the peeved naïf of the metaphor is left shelling out money for something that is permanently ruined. But we are mending the ware that others smashed, hoping to ensure that what we leave behind is far better than what was there when we arrived.
A final, darker thought: I don't think when Sherman went into Georgia, or Patton crossed the Rhine, or the Marines hit the caves of Okinawa, our elites warned them — or they would have much cared to hear — "Be careful folks: You break Georgia, Germany, or Japan, you buy it."
Victor Davis Hanson on why the current metaphors the left use about Iraq are misplaced.
Here is just a sample, be sure to read the whole thing.
One of the more curious aspects of the commentary on this war has not been the bias of the mainstream media but the cynical punditry that somehow ends up as the conventional wisdom among our New York and Washington elites. Here is a small sample of misplaced metaphors, allusions, and conventional wisdom of the last three years.
THE POTTERY BARN RULE
"You break it, you bought it" — so we were told ad nauseam throughout the war in Iraq. Bush and his Team America posse supposedly barged into an upscale store, rashly knocked over items, and now, quite startled, must stay on and pay the tab for the mess they made. How deep.
In truth, it was the wrong metaphor even before becoming hackneyed. The Pottery Barn image doesn't work for a variety of reasons. First, Saddam's Iraq was not a pristine, upscale shop. It was, rather, a trash heap of broken shards — its power, water, sewage, and garbage all fractured and scattered in pieces; its people both brutalized and often brutalizers as a result of three decades of institutionalized mass murder; its leadership a choice between Soviet-era killers and Dark Age jihadists.
Second, unlike the naïve buyer who takes umbrage that he must pay for something he inadvertently knocked over, we went into Iraq with the explicit intention of fixing things. Indeed, we announced quite openly that we did not want a repeat of Lebanon, Afghanistan of the 1980s, Mogadishu, or the first Gulf War, when we let the locals murder and bomb after we pulled out.
Third, the peeved naïf of the metaphor is left shelling out money for something that is permanently ruined. But we are mending the ware that others smashed, hoping to ensure that what we leave behind is far better than what was there when we arrived.
A final, darker thought: I don't think when Sherman went into Georgia, or Patton crossed the Rhine, or the Marines hit the caves of Okinawa, our elites warned them — or they would have much cared to hear — "Be careful folks: You break Georgia, Germany, or Japan, you buy it."
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Palestinian economy in decline - update
After complaining the BBC did some stealth editing.
In an earlier post on this subject I quoted the BBC thusly,
According to the report, Intifada, Closures and Palestinian Economic Crisis: An Assessment, there is a close link between the number of border closures and Palestinian economic problems.
I pointed out that the report the BBC cite actually says the opposite of what the BBC said.
[Actually the report says the opposite, "While any short-term recovery will depend on the lifting of closures, this will not suffice to put the Palestinian economy onto a sustainable growth path." ed.]
In response to my email complaint the BBC maintained their position. Yet for some strange reason they felt the need to stealth edit the webpage thusly,
According to the report, Intifada, Closures and Palestinian Economic Crisis: An Assessment, there is a close link between the number of closures - both border closures and internal closures between cities - and Palestinian economic problems.
The closures arranged by Israel restrict the movement of Palestinian people and goods, slowing down trade.
I've bolded the changes. Notice how in the second paragraph they specifically cite Israel and the Palestinians, as if to bolster their case.
The cache copy of the original article is here.
The new stealth edited webpage I referred to in my original post is here.
After complaining the BBC did some stealth editing.
In an earlier post on this subject I quoted the BBC thusly,
According to the report, Intifada, Closures and Palestinian Economic Crisis: An Assessment, there is a close link between the number of border closures and Palestinian economic problems.
I pointed out that the report the BBC cite actually says the opposite of what the BBC said.
[Actually the report says the opposite, "While any short-term recovery will depend on the lifting of closures, this will not suffice to put the Palestinian economy onto a sustainable growth path." ed.]
In response to my email complaint the BBC maintained their position. Yet for some strange reason they felt the need to stealth edit the webpage thusly,
According to the report, Intifada, Closures and Palestinian Economic Crisis: An Assessment, there is a close link between the number of closures - both border closures and internal closures between cities - and Palestinian economic problems.
The closures arranged by Israel restrict the movement of Palestinian people and goods, slowing down trade.
I've bolded the changes. Notice how in the second paragraph they specifically cite Israel and the Palestinians, as if to bolster their case.
The cache copy of the original article is here.
The new stealth edited webpage I referred to in my original post is here.
The Muslim threat - the world wakes up
The left leaning liberal press is starting to recognize the threat.
The New York Post recently wrote about Europe's coming civil war.
The International Herald Tribune reports "Europe pays the price for cultural naïveté ".
People around the world are hopefully starting to wake up as well. In Indonesia, Megawati was replaced by a more hardline candidate, Australia reelected John Howard and America reelected George Bush. It looks like Tony Blair will be reelected in the UK. While Pakistan has been cracking down on Islamic terrorists and forging closer links with the US.
The liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq will further halt the spread of Islamic terrorists.
It will not be easy and it will take years.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The left leaning liberal press is starting to recognize the threat.
The New York Post recently wrote about Europe's coming civil war.
The International Herald Tribune reports "Europe pays the price for cultural naïveté ".
People around the world are hopefully starting to wake up as well. In Indonesia, Megawati was replaced by a more hardline candidate, Australia reelected John Howard and America reelected George Bush. It looks like Tony Blair will be reelected in the UK. While Pakistan has been cracking down on Islamic terrorists and forging closer links with the US.
The liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq will further halt the spread of Islamic terrorists.
It will not be easy and it will take years.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Falluja secrets revealed
The Belmont Club is a must read blog. Just start at the top and scroll down.
Here is just one insight into Falluja and what really goes on in mosques in Iraq.
The New York Times' Robert Worth has a fascinating article on the battlefield archaeology of Fallujah centering on the contents of a mosque just to the north of the main east-west road through the city, Highway 10. (Hat tip: FreeRepublic) The murdered Blackwater contractors must have driven just yards from it on their way to the bridge.
The mosque, in a residential area just north of the main east-west artery known as Highway 10, included at least a dozen brick outbuildings packed with bombs, guns, rocket-propelled grenades, and ammunition. The diversity of the weapons surprised the officers here: in the street outside, a ship mine stood in a puddle. Just inside the mosque compound was an aluminum shed full of mortars and TNT. Like many weapons depots in Falluja, it had been wired to explode, and had to be carefully dismantled by an American explosives team. Inside the compound was a document explaining how to destroy tanks using rocket-propelled grenades. General Natonski picked up a white pilot's helmet among the mortars and gazed wonderingly at it. "Did you find any Darth Vader helmets?" he asked the marine captain next to him.
One of the more interesting artifacts was a very special kind of ice-cream truck, probably driven by a laughing, mustachoied gentleman of the sort one would never suspect.
In the back of the compound was an ice cream truck, its sides colorfully decorated with orange, red and blue popsicles. Inside it was packed with rocket-propelled grenades and bomb-making materials. "This was probably a traveling I.E.D. factory," General Natonski said, using the military term for improvised explosive devices, or homemade bombs.
I hope the troops over there are "thinking outside the box" and are checking things like ice cream trucks, hearses and any other unlikely vehicle for explosives.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Belmont Club is a must read blog. Just start at the top and scroll down.
Here is just one insight into Falluja and what really goes on in mosques in Iraq.
The New York Times' Robert Worth has a fascinating article on the battlefield archaeology of Fallujah centering on the contents of a mosque just to the north of the main east-west road through the city, Highway 10. (Hat tip: FreeRepublic) The murdered Blackwater contractors must have driven just yards from it on their way to the bridge.
The mosque, in a residential area just north of the main east-west artery known as Highway 10, included at least a dozen brick outbuildings packed with bombs, guns, rocket-propelled grenades, and ammunition. The diversity of the weapons surprised the officers here: in the street outside, a ship mine stood in a puddle. Just inside the mosque compound was an aluminum shed full of mortars and TNT. Like many weapons depots in Falluja, it had been wired to explode, and had to be carefully dismantled by an American explosives team. Inside the compound was a document explaining how to destroy tanks using rocket-propelled grenades. General Natonski picked up a white pilot's helmet among the mortars and gazed wonderingly at it. "Did you find any Darth Vader helmets?" he asked the marine captain next to him.
One of the more interesting artifacts was a very special kind of ice-cream truck, probably driven by a laughing, mustachoied gentleman of the sort one would never suspect.
In the back of the compound was an ice cream truck, its sides colorfully decorated with orange, red and blue popsicles. Inside it was packed with rocket-propelled grenades and bomb-making materials. "This was probably a traveling I.E.D. factory," General Natonski said, using the military term for improvised explosive devices, or homemade bombs.
I hope the troops over there are "thinking outside the box" and are checking things like ice cream trucks, hearses and any other unlikely vehicle for explosives.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Falluja's atrocities in pictures
Here is a slide show of the horrors of Falluja.
Pictures of Mosques used for ammo dumps and firing positions, torture chambers, torture victims and ammo dumps are included.
Graphic warning.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is a slide show of the horrors of Falluja.
Pictures of Mosques used for ammo dumps and firing positions, torture chambers, torture victims and ammo dumps are included.
Graphic warning.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help the troops in Iraq
If you would like to help the troops in Iraq there are several ways.
Support a Squaddie - if you would like to support a British soldier.
Books for Soldiers - you can support a British or American soldier here.
There are many more and I'll update this list soon.
UPDATE
Operation AC - Started out sending air conditioners to the solders but now sends just about anything and has an Adopt-A-Soldier program.
UPDATE II:
InstaPundit has a great roundup of sites where you can support the troops.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you would like to help the troops in Iraq there are several ways.
Support a Squaddie - if you would like to support a British soldier.
Books for Soldiers - you can support a British or American soldier here.
There are many more and I'll update this list soon.
UPDATE
Operation AC - Started out sending air conditioners to the solders but now sends just about anything and has an Adopt-A-Soldier program.
UPDATE II:
InstaPundit has a great roundup of sites where you can support the troops.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
100,000 Iraqis have died since the war - False
finally, the media reports what bloggers have reported ever since the report came out.
The Herald Sun reports "A recent claim that 100,000 Iraqis have died since the war in Iraq, mostly at the hands of Americans, is misleading, statistical junk."
Note the timed release of the study.
JUST days before Americans voted for a president, Britain's Lancet medical journal rushed out a survey with the best bad news from Iraq any activist could want.
Hmm, we had CBS use forged documents to smear Bush, CBS and The New York Times collaborated on a mythical missing explosives in Iraq story, The UK's Guardian newspaper tries to influence Ohio's voters to vote for Kerry and Britain's Lancet releases a bogus survey, just before the election and still Bush wins by a huge margin. And let us not forget Moore's smear movie.
While the Bush attack was underway, main stream media were busy covering up for John Kerry and the UN. The Swift Boat Veterans were dismissed, Kerry never did release all of his Navy records, and the UN oil for food scandal went unreported.
One can only wonder at how much greater Bush's margin of victory would have been if none of this had happened.
If you have heard or read the 100,000 deaths in Iraq bull, you owe it to yourself to read the Herald's repudiation.
The Lancet owes America and the world an apology.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
finally, the media reports what bloggers have reported ever since the report came out.
The Herald Sun reports "A recent claim that 100,000 Iraqis have died since the war in Iraq, mostly at the hands of Americans, is misleading, statistical junk."
Note the timed release of the study.
JUST days before Americans voted for a president, Britain's Lancet medical journal rushed out a survey with the best bad news from Iraq any activist could want.
Hmm, we had CBS use forged documents to smear Bush, CBS and The New York Times collaborated on a mythical missing explosives in Iraq story, The UK's Guardian newspaper tries to influence Ohio's voters to vote for Kerry and Britain's Lancet releases a bogus survey, just before the election and still Bush wins by a huge margin. And let us not forget Moore's smear movie.
While the Bush attack was underway, main stream media were busy covering up for John Kerry and the UN. The Swift Boat Veterans were dismissed, Kerry never did release all of his Navy records, and the UN oil for food scandal went unreported.
One can only wonder at how much greater Bush's margin of victory would have been if none of this had happened.
If you have heard or read the 100,000 deaths in Iraq bull, you owe it to yourself to read the Herald's repudiation.
The Lancet owes America and the world an apology.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
China, Korea visit Cuba on the same day
Coincidence?
Chinese president meets with Castro
HAVANA -- Chinese President Hu Jintao met with Fidel Castro Monday for talks focusing on the broadening ties between Cuba and China, which has become the island's third-largest trading partner.
Hmmm, so what does China get out of the deal?
Listening post in Cuba still crucial to Kremlin
HAVANA — Just south of the Cuban capital’s Jose Marti airport—and clearly visible to passengers on final approach—is a little known Russian military base, one without weapons systems but with scores of antennas and satellite dishes straining to hear some of America’s closest held secrets.
NEARLY 28 miles square, Russia’s “Radio-Electronic Station/Cuba” near the abandoned Cuban village of Lourdes is the largest and most productive spy station the Russians ever built, a base that specializes in “telephone espionage.” It is the last and most valuable jewel in their electronic crown, the Russian version of “Echelon,” a worldwide spy network that includes bases inside Russia and overseas — a network that is reportedly called “Dozor.”
Now that the Soviets have lost the cold war, maybe time for some new clients for all that intelligence.
Anyone else interested?
North Korea's top military officer visits Cuba
The North Korean delegation will also visit Cuban military units on the Caribbean island.
Seems Cuba is getting a lot of attention lately.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coincidence?
Chinese president meets with Castro
HAVANA -- Chinese President Hu Jintao met with Fidel Castro Monday for talks focusing on the broadening ties between Cuba and China, which has become the island's third-largest trading partner.
Hmmm, so what does China get out of the deal?
Listening post in Cuba still crucial to Kremlin
HAVANA — Just south of the Cuban capital’s Jose Marti airport—and clearly visible to passengers on final approach—is a little known Russian military base, one without weapons systems but with scores of antennas and satellite dishes straining to hear some of America’s closest held secrets.
NEARLY 28 miles square, Russia’s “Radio-Electronic Station/Cuba” near the abandoned Cuban village of Lourdes is the largest and most productive spy station the Russians ever built, a base that specializes in “telephone espionage.” It is the last and most valuable jewel in their electronic crown, the Russian version of “Echelon,” a worldwide spy network that includes bases inside Russia and overseas — a network that is reportedly called “Dozor.”
Now that the Soviets have lost the cold war, maybe time for some new clients for all that intelligence.
Anyone else interested?
North Korea's top military officer visits Cuba
The North Korean delegation will also visit Cuban military units on the Caribbean island.
Seems Cuba is getting a lot of attention lately.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Palestinian economy in decline
And the BBC puts the blame squarely on Israel despite the fact that the very report they cite finds the exact opposite. Side note, the link to the report on the BBC's webpage does not work, wonder why? I've provided another one.
The BBC reports "Unemployment stood at 25%, compared with 10% before the uprising against Israeli occupation four years ago."
There is a picture of some Palestinian children with this caption "Nearly half of Palestinians live below the poverty line"
While Arafat's kid will live like a queen for the rest of her life.
Suha to receive $ 22m. a year from PA
$22 million a year would help a lot of Palestinian children.
Meanwhile, the US gives direct aid to the Palestinians.
Charging the Palestinian Authority led by Yasser Arafat was corrupt, the Bush administration this year used the United Nations and other private aid groups to direct $127 million in U.S. assistance to the Palestinians.
Last year the Bush administration gave $20 million directly to the Palestinian Authority under former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, which was "fully accounted for and used in the way it was intended."
So what is the cause of all this bad economic news?
According to the report, Intifada, Closures and Palestinian Economic Crisis: An Assessment, there is a close link between the number of border closures and Palestinian economic problems.
[Actually the report says the opposite, "While any short-term recovery will depend on the lifting of closures, this will not suffice to put the Palestinian economy onto a sustainable growth path." ed.]
Border closures restrict the movement of people and goods, slowing down trade.
Closures hit trade
"Closures are a key factor behind today's economic crisis in the West Bank," said Nigel Roberts, World Bank country director for the West Bank and Gaza.
The BBC fails to point out that there is also a "close link between the number of border closures" and the significant drop in suicide bombings. Further "Border closures restrict the movement of people and" suicide bombers. Likewise, "Closures are a key factor behind today's" dramatic drop in suicide bombings.
The BBC also fails to mention that this same report by The World Bank reports:
While any short-term recovery will depend on the lifting of closures, this will not suffice to put the Palestinian economy onto a sustainable growth path. The Paris Protocol, which formalized the de facto customs union with Israel that has existed since 1967, has proven extremely costly -- and not only because of the closures that interfered with its implementation. In a structural sense, the long-term growth potential of the Palestinian economy has been stunted by the upward pressure on domestic Palestinian wages created by wages paid to Palestinian workers in Israel. Domestic wage increases have exceeded any underlying growth in productivity, and have undermined Palestinians’ ability to export competitively-priced goods to the rest of the world. Bank analysis shows that a proactive policy of export development, in which a more open and less discriminatory trade regime is adopted, would result in higher incomes by 2010 than a return to previous levels of employment in Israel.
Interesting how the BBC focused on the "closure" aspect of the report while the World Bank concluded that lifting closures "will not suffice to put the Palestinian economy onto a sustainable growth path".
Feel free to use the BBC complaint form on the left under the blog roll.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
And the BBC puts the blame squarely on Israel despite the fact that the very report they cite finds the exact opposite. Side note, the link to the report on the BBC's webpage does not work, wonder why? I've provided another one.
The BBC reports "Unemployment stood at 25%, compared with 10% before the uprising against Israeli occupation four years ago."
There is a picture of some Palestinian children with this caption "Nearly half of Palestinians live below the poverty line"
While Arafat's kid will live like a queen for the rest of her life.
Suha to receive $ 22m. a year from PA
$22 million a year would help a lot of Palestinian children.
Meanwhile, the US gives direct aid to the Palestinians.
Charging the Palestinian Authority led by Yasser Arafat was corrupt, the Bush administration this year used the United Nations and other private aid groups to direct $127 million in U.S. assistance to the Palestinians.
Last year the Bush administration gave $20 million directly to the Palestinian Authority under former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, which was "fully accounted for and used in the way it was intended."
So what is the cause of all this bad economic news?
According to the report, Intifada, Closures and Palestinian Economic Crisis: An Assessment, there is a close link between the number of border closures and Palestinian economic problems.
[Actually the report says the opposite, "While any short-term recovery will depend on the lifting of closures, this will not suffice to put the Palestinian economy onto a sustainable growth path." ed.]
Border closures restrict the movement of people and goods, slowing down trade.
Closures hit trade
"Closures are a key factor behind today's economic crisis in the West Bank," said Nigel Roberts, World Bank country director for the West Bank and Gaza.
The BBC fails to point out that there is also a "close link between the number of border closures" and the significant drop in suicide bombings. Further "Border closures restrict the movement of people and" suicide bombers. Likewise, "Closures are a key factor behind today's" dramatic drop in suicide bombings.
The BBC also fails to mention that this same report by The World Bank reports:
While any short-term recovery will depend on the lifting of closures, this will not suffice to put the Palestinian economy onto a sustainable growth path. The Paris Protocol, which formalized the de facto customs union with Israel that has existed since 1967, has proven extremely costly -- and not only because of the closures that interfered with its implementation. In a structural sense, the long-term growth potential of the Palestinian economy has been stunted by the upward pressure on domestic Palestinian wages created by wages paid to Palestinian workers in Israel. Domestic wage increases have exceeded any underlying growth in productivity, and have undermined Palestinians’ ability to export competitively-priced goods to the rest of the world. Bank analysis shows that a proactive policy of export development, in which a more open and less discriminatory trade regime is adopted, would result in higher incomes by 2010 than a return to previous levels of employment in Israel.
Interesting how the BBC focused on the "closure" aspect of the report while the World Bank concluded that lifting closures "will not suffice to put the Palestinian economy onto a sustainable growth path".
Feel free to use the BBC complaint form on the left under the blog roll.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hunt for Zarqawi focuses north of Baghdad
Middle East Online is reporting "National guard officer says there is concrete information Iraq's most wanted man is heading to Baquba."
KIRKUK, Iraq - Security forces were Tuesday focusing their hunt for Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, on an area in north-central Iraq after receiving a tip-off, an Iraqi national guard officer said.
"We received concrete information from very reliable sources that Zarqawi was transferred today to Tuz Khormatu and is heading to Baquba," Staff Brigadier General Anwar Hamad Ameed, the national guard chief in the northern city of Kirkuk, said.
Let's hope we get him.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Middle East Online is reporting "National guard officer says there is concrete information Iraq's most wanted man is heading to Baquba."
KIRKUK, Iraq - Security forces were Tuesday focusing their hunt for Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, on an area in north-central Iraq after receiving a tip-off, an Iraqi national guard officer said.
"We received concrete information from very reliable sources that Zarqawi was transferred today to Tuz Khormatu and is heading to Baquba," Staff Brigadier General Anwar Hamad Ameed, the national guard chief in the northern city of Kirkuk, said.
Let's hope we get him.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
150 Sex Abuse Charges against UN Congo Peacekeepers
Compare that headline with the one used by Al Reuters.
UN: 150 Sex Abuse Charges in Congo Peacekeeping
Note the subtle difference? Note the use of the "UN:", as if the UN are reporting the story. Also note the "in Congo Peacekeeping", Al Reuters is doing its' best to minimize the UN involvement, in the headline at least.
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations (news - web sites) is investigating about 150 allegations of sexual abuse by U.N. civilian staff and soldiers in the Congo, some of them recorded on videotape, a senior U.N. official said on Monday.
Great, just great, the UN is once again investigating itself. No doubt they will be as swift and thorough as they have been so far in their Iraqi oil for food scandal.
In May the United Nations reported some 30 cases of abuse among peacekeepers in the northeastern town of Bunia, where half of the more than 10,000 soldiers are stationed.
Oh well, guess not.
The accusations include pedophilia, rape and prostitution, said Jane Holl Lute, an assistant secretary-general in the peacekeeping department.
Lute, an American, said there was photographic and video evidence for some of the allegations and most of the charges came to light since the spring.
Hmmm, and the importance of pointing out Lute's nationality is?
But surely this is an isolated case. No?
The revelations of peacekeeping abuses is usually kept quiet at the United Nations until reporters or individual countries disclose the news, as happened in Cambodia in the early 1990s and later in Somalia, Bosnia and Ethiopia. But in this case the world body released some details.
No.
About that keeping quiet bit, is that what happened in the UN oil for food scandal?
Annan on Friday expressed outrage at the abuse, saying, "I am afraid there is clear evidence that acts of gross misconduct have taken place."
Then why didn't you stop it all the other times, Annan?
"I have long made it clear that my attitude to sexual exploitation and abuse is one of zero tolerance, without exception, and I am determined to implement this policy in the most transparent manner," Annan said.
Can you say bullshit with a capital B?? How do you explain UN staff to vote on no-confidence motion against Annan?
Staffers said the trigger for the no-confidence measure was an announcement this week that Annan had pardoned the UN's top oversight official, who was facing allegations of favouritism and sexual harassment.
The union had requested a formal probe into the official, Dileep Nair, after employees accused him of harassing staff and violating UN rules on the hiring and promotion of workers.
But surely there was an investigation.
Top UN spokesman Fred Eckhard announced on Tuesday that Nair had been exonerated by Annan "after a thorough review" by the UN's senior official in charge of management, Catherine Bertini.
Oh, right, I forgot only the UN investigates the UN. But they only use top officials to investigate, right?
They noted that Riza, UN undersecretary general for information Shashi Tharoor and other top officials had served directly under Annan at least since 1994, when he was head of UN peacekeeping operations.
At the time, the United Nations was widely criticized for failing to stop the Rwanda genocide that left 800,000 people dead, even though UN peacekeepers were on the ground -- a catastrophe for which Annan has publicly apologized.
Man, what's that smell?
"Kofi Annan is surrounded by corruption, a gang of criminals responsible for some of the worst things that happened to mankind in the 20th century," said one angry staffer, referring to the Rwanda massacres.
Yeah, that's what I thought I smelled.
Genocide ignored, sexual harassment at the UN, rape by UN peacekeepers in the field, and the biggest financial scam in the history of the world by the UN, time for Annan to go and time for major changes at the UN.
UPDATE: More here.
The lawyer for a United Nations staff member who brought sexual harassment charges against Ruud Lubbers, the high commissioner for refugees, said Friday that Secretary General Kofi Annan's admission that he had overruled his own investigators in clearing Mr. Lubbers would support an appeal against the ...
So, even when they investigate and find something, Annan covers it up, just like the oil for food scandal.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Compare that headline with the one used by Al Reuters.
UN: 150 Sex Abuse Charges in Congo Peacekeeping
Note the subtle difference? Note the use of the "UN:", as if the UN are reporting the story. Also note the "in Congo Peacekeeping", Al Reuters is doing its' best to minimize the UN involvement, in the headline at least.
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations (news - web sites) is investigating about 150 allegations of sexual abuse by U.N. civilian staff and soldiers in the Congo, some of them recorded on videotape, a senior U.N. official said on Monday.
Great, just great, the UN is once again investigating itself. No doubt they will be as swift and thorough as they have been so far in their Iraqi oil for food scandal.
In May the United Nations reported some 30 cases of abuse among peacekeepers in the northeastern town of Bunia, where half of the more than 10,000 soldiers are stationed.
Oh well, guess not.
The accusations include pedophilia, rape and prostitution, said Jane Holl Lute, an assistant secretary-general in the peacekeeping department.
Lute, an American, said there was photographic and video evidence for some of the allegations and most of the charges came to light since the spring.
Hmmm, and the importance of pointing out Lute's nationality is?
But surely this is an isolated case. No?
The revelations of peacekeeping abuses is usually kept quiet at the United Nations until reporters or individual countries disclose the news, as happened in Cambodia in the early 1990s and later in Somalia, Bosnia and Ethiopia. But in this case the world body released some details.
No.
About that keeping quiet bit, is that what happened in the UN oil for food scandal?
Annan on Friday expressed outrage at the abuse, saying, "I am afraid there is clear evidence that acts of gross misconduct have taken place."
Then why didn't you stop it all the other times, Annan?
"I have long made it clear that my attitude to sexual exploitation and abuse is one of zero tolerance, without exception, and I am determined to implement this policy in the most transparent manner," Annan said.
Can you say bullshit with a capital B?? How do you explain UN staff to vote on no-confidence motion against Annan?
Staffers said the trigger for the no-confidence measure was an announcement this week that Annan had pardoned the UN's top oversight official, who was facing allegations of favouritism and sexual harassment.
The union had requested a formal probe into the official, Dileep Nair, after employees accused him of harassing staff and violating UN rules on the hiring and promotion of workers.
But surely there was an investigation.
Top UN spokesman Fred Eckhard announced on Tuesday that Nair had been exonerated by Annan "after a thorough review" by the UN's senior official in charge of management, Catherine Bertini.
Oh, right, I forgot only the UN investigates the UN. But they only use top officials to investigate, right?
They noted that Riza, UN undersecretary general for information Shashi Tharoor and other top officials had served directly under Annan at least since 1994, when he was head of UN peacekeeping operations.
At the time, the United Nations was widely criticized for failing to stop the Rwanda genocide that left 800,000 people dead, even though UN peacekeepers were on the ground -- a catastrophe for which Annan has publicly apologized.
Man, what's that smell?
"Kofi Annan is surrounded by corruption, a gang of criminals responsible for some of the worst things that happened to mankind in the 20th century," said one angry staffer, referring to the Rwanda massacres.
Yeah, that's what I thought I smelled.
Genocide ignored, sexual harassment at the UN, rape by UN peacekeepers in the field, and the biggest financial scam in the history of the world by the UN, time for Annan to go and time for major changes at the UN.
UPDATE: More here.
The lawyer for a United Nations staff member who brought sexual harassment charges against Ruud Lubbers, the high commissioner for refugees, said Friday that Secretary General Kofi Annan's admission that he had overruled his own investigators in clearing Mr. Lubbers would support an appeal against the ...
So, even when they investigate and find something, Annan covers it up, just like the oil for food scandal.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, November 22, 2004
Nations Back Fight Against Iraq Insurgents
That's the good news, the shocking news is that this report is being reported by The Guardian!! Someone must be asleep over at the Guardian.
SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt (AP) - Leaders meeting on Iraq's future plan to give strong backing to the interim government's war against insurgents, but won't set a deadline for withdrawing U.S.-led forces from Iraq - despite a push by France and some Arab countries.
The draft communique for the conference that began Monday, obtained by The Associated Press, also says the interim Iraqi government should meet with its opponents to try to persuade them to take part in the general elections scheduled for January.
It was the Sunni's who walked out in protest over Falluja, and now we know why. Heh, who knows, after a good ass kicking Sadr seems to have got the message.
Quite a diverse group that's putting out this communique.
The meeting brought together Iraq's six neighbors - Iran, Syria, Turkey, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia - as well as Egypt and several other Arab countries, China and regional bodies such as the Group of Eight, the United Nations, the European Union, the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
Which had some interestng things to say about the terrorists in Iraq.
For all its bloodshed, the insurgency enjoys a certain support in the Arab world, where many regard the U.S. and other troops as occupiers.
In a clear rebuff to such sympathies, the draft communique says the participants condemn ``all acts of terrorism in Iraq'' and call for ``the immediate cessation of all such acts in order to alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people.''
Maybe we could call this the Falluja Effect.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's the good news, the shocking news is that this report is being reported by The Guardian!! Someone must be asleep over at the Guardian.
SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt (AP) - Leaders meeting on Iraq's future plan to give strong backing to the interim government's war against insurgents, but won't set a deadline for withdrawing U.S.-led forces from Iraq - despite a push by France and some Arab countries.
The draft communique for the conference that began Monday, obtained by The Associated Press, also says the interim Iraqi government should meet with its opponents to try to persuade them to take part in the general elections scheduled for January.
It was the Sunni's who walked out in protest over Falluja, and now we know why. Heh, who knows, after a good ass kicking Sadr seems to have got the message.
Quite a diverse group that's putting out this communique.
The meeting brought together Iraq's six neighbors - Iran, Syria, Turkey, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia - as well as Egypt and several other Arab countries, China and regional bodies such as the Group of Eight, the United Nations, the European Union, the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
Which had some interestng things to say about the terrorists in Iraq.
For all its bloodshed, the insurgency enjoys a certain support in the Arab world, where many regard the U.S. and other troops as occupiers.
In a clear rebuff to such sympathies, the draft communique says the participants condemn ``all acts of terrorism in Iraq'' and call for ``the immediate cessation of all such acts in order to alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people.''
Maybe we could call this the Falluja Effect.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saudis, Arabs Funneled Millions to President Clinton's Library
Excuse me, Mr. Moore, Mr. Moore, did you confuse Bush with Clinton? Sir? Sir, I can't understand you with that double bacon cheeseburger, tomato, lettuce, onions, bacon (yeah, more (hehe) bacon, he asked for extra bacon!), ketchsup, mustard and extra, extra bacon, in your mouth.
The New York Sun reports "President Clinton's new $165 million library here was funded in part by gifts of $1 million or more each from the Saudi royal family and three Saudi businessmen."
The governments of Dubai, Kuwait, and Qatar and the deputy prime minister of Lebanon all also appear to have donated $1 million or more for the archive and museum that opened last week.
Democrats spent much of the presidential campaign this year accusing President Bush of improperly close ties to Saudi Arabia. The case was made in Michael Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11," in a bestselling book by Craig Unger titled "House of Bush, House of Saud," and by the Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Kerry."This administration delayed pressuring the Saudis," Mr. Kerry said on October 20. "I will insist that the Saudis crack down on charities that funnel funds to terrorists... and on anti-American and anti-Israel hate speech."The Media Fund, a Democratic group whose president is a former Clinton White House aide, Harold Ickes, spent millions airing television commercials in swing states with scripts such as, "The Saudi royal family...wealthy...powerful...corrupt. And close Bush family friends."
Perhaps as a result, the Saudi donations to the Clinton library are raising some eyebrows. Mr. Unger said he suspects that the Saudi support may have something to do with a possible presidential bid by Senator Clinton in 2008.
I bet the Republicans are already making the commericals.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Excuse me, Mr. Moore, Mr. Moore, did you confuse Bush with Clinton? Sir? Sir, I can't understand you with that double bacon cheeseburger, tomato, lettuce, onions, bacon (yeah, more (hehe) bacon, he asked for extra bacon!), ketchsup, mustard and extra, extra bacon, in your mouth.
The New York Sun reports "President Clinton's new $165 million library here was funded in part by gifts of $1 million or more each from the Saudi royal family and three Saudi businessmen."
The governments of Dubai, Kuwait, and Qatar and the deputy prime minister of Lebanon all also appear to have donated $1 million or more for the archive and museum that opened last week.
Democrats spent much of the presidential campaign this year accusing President Bush of improperly close ties to Saudi Arabia. The case was made in Michael Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11," in a bestselling book by Craig Unger titled "House of Bush, House of Saud," and by the Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Kerry."This administration delayed pressuring the Saudis," Mr. Kerry said on October 20. "I will insist that the Saudis crack down on charities that funnel funds to terrorists... and on anti-American and anti-Israel hate speech."The Media Fund, a Democratic group whose president is a former Clinton White House aide, Harold Ickes, spent millions airing television commercials in swing states with scripts such as, "The Saudi royal family...wealthy...powerful...corrupt. And close Bush family friends."
Perhaps as a result, the Saudi donations to the Clinton library are raising some eyebrows. Mr. Unger said he suspects that the Saudi support may have something to do with a possible presidential bid by Senator Clinton in 2008.
I bet the Republicans are already making the commericals.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EUROPE'S CIVIL WAR?
While Europe was busy fighting America fighting Islamic terrorists, Islamic terrorists were busy building a new home in Europe.
Will Europe wake up in time? The New York Post doesn't sound hopeful.
But for years the government was in denial about Islamist extremism in what is otherwise a well-managed society. Dutch Muslims, repelled by the freewheeling lifestyle, sought solace with radical imams in the mosques. There men outnumber women. And women are relegated to a part of the mosque where they can be neither seen nor heard.
What Dutch filmmaker and columnist Theo Van Gogh saw as the shabby treatment of females throughout the Muslim community led him to produce documentaries that portrayed Muslim men as tormentors of women, especially their wives. One recent scathingly critical Van Gogh film carried the message that Islam promotes violence against women.
ON Nov. 2, Van Gogh, a grandnephew of the painter, was shot as he cycled to work. He managed to get up and stagger across the street to his building where he collapsed. The assailant followed him and slit his throat before pinning to his chest with a knife a five-page manifesto that called on Muslims to rise against the "infidel enemies" in the West. [...]
COULD the Netherlands be a curtain- raiser for a wider clash of civiliza tions in the old continent?
Hundreds of thousands of young Muslims in Europe are potential jihadis, according to European intelligence chiefs speaking not for publication. They have been warning their political masters about the tinderboxes that many Muslim communities have become. Jihadi volunteers are known to have left for Iraq from a number of Muslim slums on the outskirts of major European cities.
Recruitment posters come on regular European and Arabic news programs — from the Abu Ghraib prison pictures to the battle of Fallujah.
UPDATE: From Asia Times via Roger Simon
As a matter of record, most European Muslim organizations declined to disavow the murder of van Gogh. During a November 19 radio interview, for example, Zahid Mukhtar, head of the Islamic Council of Norway, refused to condemn van Gogh's murder, creating a scandal out of proportion to Norway's small Muslim population. A Moroccan-born member of the Belgian Senate, Mimount Bousakla, received death threats after remonstrating with the umbrella organization of Belgian Muslims for its refusal to denounce the van Gogh murder. She since has gone into hiding.
In Germany, most of the country's Muslim groups refused to take part in this past Sunday's Muslim demonstration in Cologne against terrorism and violence. In fact, the Turkish government organized the 20,000-person demonstration without support from local Muslim organizations. Its sole sponsor was DITIB, the Turkish government's Muslim association headed by an appointee from Ankara. DITIB "already had tried in vain to organize a common declaration by all German Muslims against Islamist terrorism", noted Der Spiegel Online on November 19.
Seems The New York Post has good reason to be skeptical.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While Europe was busy fighting America fighting Islamic terrorists, Islamic terrorists were busy building a new home in Europe.
Will Europe wake up in time? The New York Post doesn't sound hopeful.
But for years the government was in denial about Islamist extremism in what is otherwise a well-managed society. Dutch Muslims, repelled by the freewheeling lifestyle, sought solace with radical imams in the mosques. There men outnumber women. And women are relegated to a part of the mosque where they can be neither seen nor heard.
What Dutch filmmaker and columnist Theo Van Gogh saw as the shabby treatment of females throughout the Muslim community led him to produce documentaries that portrayed Muslim men as tormentors of women, especially their wives. One recent scathingly critical Van Gogh film carried the message that Islam promotes violence against women.
ON Nov. 2, Van Gogh, a grandnephew of the painter, was shot as he cycled to work. He managed to get up and stagger across the street to his building where he collapsed. The assailant followed him and slit his throat before pinning to his chest with a knife a five-page manifesto that called on Muslims to rise against the "infidel enemies" in the West. [...]
COULD the Netherlands be a curtain- raiser for a wider clash of civiliza tions in the old continent?
Hundreds of thousands of young Muslims in Europe are potential jihadis, according to European intelligence chiefs speaking not for publication. They have been warning their political masters about the tinderboxes that many Muslim communities have become. Jihadi volunteers are known to have left for Iraq from a number of Muslim slums on the outskirts of major European cities.
Recruitment posters come on regular European and Arabic news programs — from the Abu Ghraib prison pictures to the battle of Fallujah.
UPDATE: From Asia Times via Roger Simon
As a matter of record, most European Muslim organizations declined to disavow the murder of van Gogh. During a November 19 radio interview, for example, Zahid Mukhtar, head of the Islamic Council of Norway, refused to condemn van Gogh's murder, creating a scandal out of proportion to Norway's small Muslim population. A Moroccan-born member of the Belgian Senate, Mimount Bousakla, received death threats after remonstrating with the umbrella organization of Belgian Muslims for its refusal to denounce the van Gogh murder. She since has gone into hiding.
In Germany, most of the country's Muslim groups refused to take part in this past Sunday's Muslim demonstration in Cologne against terrorism and violence. In fact, the Turkish government organized the 20,000-person demonstration without support from local Muslim organizations. Its sole sponsor was DITIB, the Turkish government's Muslim association headed by an appointee from Ankara. DITIB "already had tried in vain to organize a common declaration by all German Muslims against Islamist terrorism", noted Der Spiegel Online on November 19.
Seems The New York Post has good reason to be skeptical.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What's Next For Fallujah?
Here is a report from someone who was on the ground during the rebuilding of Mosul.
If you want more good news from Iraq, scroll down to my link to Chrenkoff's Good News Iraq Part 15.
Once it became obvious that this operation was working, Division Headquarters decided to step things up. We were soon authorized to draw $250,000 at a time (usually about one draw every two weeks- and the maximum withdrawal amount continued to grow), and spend up to $10,000 on a single purchase (more if we obtained the CG's approval).
MG Petraeus (the CG) then decided to split up responsibilities, to avoid duplicating our efforts. My brigade (the 159th AVN BDE) was told to focus on the University, since we had already built up a habitual relationship with them. Our umbrella of responsibility soon began to include all Higher Education through out Mosul (the University, 3 technical schools, and 1 private school). My brand new Brigade Commander, COL Harrison, arrived at about this time (mid-June). At COL Harrison's in brief, the CG told him that Higher Education in Mosul was our #1 priority, not flying helicopters (we had 102 Black Hawks and 34 Chinooks). COL H ordered me to put together about 30 teams, each led by officers from within the brigade, to increase the work effort. Each team had a specific responsibility, i.e. one team was in charge of the Medical College, another was in charge of the Library, another took on the College of Science, etc.
Each team would go out twice a week, arrange projects with their Iraqi counterpart (usually a Dean or a professor), and I would make the payments as required. We held weekly meetings where teams would submit their project requests, and I would prioritize them and approve them based on the amount of money I had left to spend. When I drew more money, I'd approve more projects, get bids on the contracts, hire labor forces, etc. We continued on like this until we left in January of '04. Other units within the 101st did the same thing, but within their own areas of responsibility. The Artillery BDE was in charge of rebuilding security, the Support Brigade was in charge of Lower Education (schools for kids), the 2nd Infantry Brigade was in charge of rebuilding buildings and industries within the City of Mosul, etc. This is how we implemented what came to be known as the Commander's Emergency Response Program (CERP).
There's lots more.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is a report from someone who was on the ground during the rebuilding of Mosul.
If you want more good news from Iraq, scroll down to my link to Chrenkoff's Good News Iraq Part 15.
Once it became obvious that this operation was working, Division Headquarters decided to step things up. We were soon authorized to draw $250,000 at a time (usually about one draw every two weeks- and the maximum withdrawal amount continued to grow), and spend up to $10,000 on a single purchase (more if we obtained the CG's approval).
MG Petraeus (the CG) then decided to split up responsibilities, to avoid duplicating our efforts. My brigade (the 159th AVN BDE) was told to focus on the University, since we had already built up a habitual relationship with them. Our umbrella of responsibility soon began to include all Higher Education through out Mosul (the University, 3 technical schools, and 1 private school). My brand new Brigade Commander, COL Harrison, arrived at about this time (mid-June). At COL Harrison's in brief, the CG told him that Higher Education in Mosul was our #1 priority, not flying helicopters (we had 102 Black Hawks and 34 Chinooks). COL H ordered me to put together about 30 teams, each led by officers from within the brigade, to increase the work effort. Each team had a specific responsibility, i.e. one team was in charge of the Medical College, another was in charge of the Library, another took on the College of Science, etc.
Each team would go out twice a week, arrange projects with their Iraqi counterpart (usually a Dean or a professor), and I would make the payments as required. We held weekly meetings where teams would submit their project requests, and I would prioritize them and approve them based on the amount of money I had left to spend. When I drew more money, I'd approve more projects, get bids on the contracts, hire labor forces, etc. We continued on like this until we left in January of '04. Other units within the 101st did the same thing, but within their own areas of responsibility. The Artillery BDE was in charge of rebuilding security, the Support Brigade was in charge of Lower Education (schools for kids), the 2nd Infantry Brigade was in charge of rebuilding buildings and industries within the City of Mosul, etc. This is how we implemented what came to be known as the Commander's Emergency Response Program (CERP).
There's lots more.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UK troops trap hundreds of rebels
The UK's Daily Star reports "Hundreds of pro-Saddam rebels holed up in the Iraqi Triangle Of Death have been cornered by British troops."
Which was what their controversial role was and they are doing splendidly.
The Black Watch and Queen's Dragoon Guards based at Camp Dogwood have trapped a "hornet's nest" of militants trying to flee the Fallujah battle-zone.
Military Intelligence officers now believe this is the reason for the ferocious attacks on the Dogwood-based Brits who have suffered daily rocket and mortar attacks.
A British intelligence officer in Central Iraq revealed last night: "We have been surprised by the ferocity of the attacks but we are now able to fight back.
"The force based at Dogwood has effectively closed the back door on ex-Ba'athists and rebel insurgents trying to escape the American assault on Fallujah.
"What has happened has proven the value of the Black Watch and Queen's Dragoon Guards being there - there is nowhere for the rebels to go.
"We have blocked off their escape route and that is why the attacks have been so desperate. They were trying to punch through us and haven't done so."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The UK's Daily Star reports "Hundreds of pro-Saddam rebels holed up in the Iraqi Triangle Of Death have been cornered by British troops."
Which was what their controversial role was and they are doing splendidly.
The Black Watch and Queen's Dragoon Guards based at Camp Dogwood have trapped a "hornet's nest" of militants trying to flee the Fallujah battle-zone.
Military Intelligence officers now believe this is the reason for the ferocious attacks on the Dogwood-based Brits who have suffered daily rocket and mortar attacks.
A British intelligence officer in Central Iraq revealed last night: "We have been surprised by the ferocity of the attacks but we are now able to fight back.
"The force based at Dogwood has effectively closed the back door on ex-Ba'athists and rebel insurgents trying to escape the American assault on Fallujah.
"What has happened has proven the value of the Black Watch and Queen's Dragoon Guards being there - there is nowhere for the rebels to go.
"We have blocked off their escape route and that is why the attacks have been so desperate. They were trying to punch through us and haven't done so."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Climate of hate rocks Columbia University
As you read this article, keep in mind these people are teaching our children.
In the world of Hamid Dabashi, supporters of Israel are "warmongers" and "Gestapo apparatchiks."
The Jewish homeland is "nothing more than a military base for the rising predatory empire of the United States."
It's a capital of "thuggery" - a "ghastly state of racism and apartheid" - and it "must be dismantled."
A voice from America's crackpot fringe? Actually, Dabashi is a tenured professor and department chairman at Columbia University. And his views have resonated and been echoed in other areas of the university.
Columbia is at risk of becoming a poison Ivy, some critics claim, and tensions are high.
Sadly, as the article points out, Dabashi is not the only professor of hate at Columbia.
Hat tip Instapundit
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you read this article, keep in mind these people are teaching our children.
In the world of Hamid Dabashi, supporters of Israel are "warmongers" and "Gestapo apparatchiks."
The Jewish homeland is "nothing more than a military base for the rising predatory empire of the United States."
It's a capital of "thuggery" - a "ghastly state of racism and apartheid" - and it "must be dismantled."
A voice from America's crackpot fringe? Actually, Dabashi is a tenured professor and department chairman at Columbia University. And his views have resonated and been echoed in other areas of the university.
Columbia is at risk of becoming a poison Ivy, some critics claim, and tensions are high.
Sadly, as the article points out, Dabashi is not the only professor of hate at Columbia.
Hat tip Instapundit
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Try this very soon, before someone forces Google to
fix its site:
1) Go to www.google.com
2) Type in: weapons of mass destruction (DO NOT hit
return button!)
3) Hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button, NOT the "Google
search"
4) Read the "error message" carefully.
5) Click on 'all' the links & follow them through
Someone at Google has a sense of humour.
And will probably be fired soon...
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Good news from Iraq, Part 15
Doing main stream media's job for them, Chrenkoff reports on all the good news in Iraq.
As most Iraqi bloggers and Chrenkoff point out, the "sky is falling" in Iraq as reported by main stream media, bears little resemblance to the "real", emerging success that is Iraq.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doing main stream media's job for them, Chrenkoff reports on all the good news in Iraq.
As most Iraqi bloggers and Chrenkoff point out, the "sky is falling" in Iraq as reported by main stream media, bears little resemblance to the "real", emerging success that is Iraq.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More good news from Iraq
And surprise, surprise, reported by The BBC
Iraq's economy is set to grow more than 50% this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says.
But the BBC reports that the key to this growth is "Help with Iraq's estimated $124.9bn in foreign debt...".
Thankfully, in another surprise good news reporting from Iraq,the BBC has this to report.
Iraq owes about $40bn in debt and interest repayments to the Paris Club of creditor nations which includes the US, Russia, Japan and European nations.
Under the agreement 80% of that may be written-off.
For a complete roundup of good news from Iraq, Afghanistan and other places, visit Chrenkoff and check out his blog roll.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And surprise, surprise, reported by The BBC
Iraq's economy is set to grow more than 50% this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says.
But the BBC reports that the key to this growth is "Help with Iraq's estimated $124.9bn in foreign debt...".
Thankfully, in another surprise good news reporting from Iraq,the BBC has this to report.
Iraq owes about $40bn in debt and interest repayments to the Paris Club of creditor nations which includes the US, Russia, Japan and European nations.
Under the agreement 80% of that may be written-off.
For a complete roundup of good news from Iraq, Afghanistan and other places, visit Chrenkoff and check out his blog roll.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, November 20, 2004
BBC "discovers" UN oil for food scam, blames US
Al Jazeera, er The BBC, after more than a year of reporting in the US, claims their own investigation has uncovered the UN oil for food scandal. The BBC needs to read its' own website, since they reported on the US investigation four days ago!
Amazingly the BBC takes credit for uncovering what the rest of the world has known for more than a year. I even wrote months ago to the BBC to complain about their lack of reporting on the UN oil for food scandal.
The BBC has found evidence of corruption by companies around the world doing business with Iraq while it was under the sanctions regime.
And who does the suddenly clued in BBC blame for the biggest scandal in the history of the world? Mainly the US with some bureaucratic bungling from the UN.
Splits among the diplomats on the UN security council and flaws in the design of the oil-for-food programme played at least as much a part in what happened as negligence by UN officials or collusion in corruption by foreign firms trading with Iraq.
"Splits among the diplomats"? How about France, Russia and China were bribed with UN oil for food money? No wonder they were against the invasion, they stood to lose billions from Saddam. Billions that were suppose to go to the suffering Iraqis, remember them BBC?
"Flaws in the design of the oil-for-food programme"? That would be the UN designed oil for food scam programme.
"Negligence by UN officials"? They were running the scam!!!
So, according to the BBC, there was a little bumbling by the UN, but most of the blame rests squarely with the US. Natch.
And it is often forgotten that most of Saddam Hussein's illicit income came from oil smuggling, not kickbacks on UN contracts.
Dealing with smuggling was mainly the job of the American navy, not the UN.
Nice huh? And how was the US suppose to stop oil smuggling along Iraq's borders with Iran, Syria, Jordan and Turkey? Iraq had an illegal oil pipeline to Syria which was shut down after the invasion. Very little was smuggled via ships.
And what about this charge that "most of Saddam Hussein's illicit income came from oil smuggling, not kickbacks on UN contracts"? Well, the BBC contradicts this statement on their own website from four days ago. Here is the break down as reported by the BBC quoting the US Senate investigation.
Out of a total of $21.3bn, $17.3bn came from abuses during the oil-for-food programme. Within this:
$9.7bn from oil smuggling
$4.4bn in kickbacks from contracts for humanitarian goods
$2.1bn from substituting low-quality goods for high-quality ones
$403m from overseas investment of illicitly earned funds
$241m from surcharges on oil sales
$9 billion for oil smuggling and over $7 billion from other scams. Don't forget this is what we know so far. The more the Senate investigates the more it finds, in fact the BBC itself reports on how the scandal has grown.
According to US senate investigators, Saddam Hussein embezzled $21bn by evading UN sanctions over a period of years.
That figure released earlier this week is double previous estimates.
All of this has been discovered by the US despite stonewalling by the UN, who refuse to cooperate or hand over documents.
The BBC wants to gloss over the fact that administering the UN oil for food program was, as they put it, "mainly the job of the" UN and not the US.
If you want to know what is really going on with the UN oil for food scandal and who is really to blame (hint Koffi Annan) here are some links to get you started.
U.N. deserted leads in oil-for-food investigation
Come Clean, Kofi
Here is a website set up two years ago to follow the UN oil for food scam.
Hell, here is a Google search with hundreds of links to a world of information the bumbling BBC seems oblivious to.
The BBC are acting like chicken little in reverse. The sky really is falling but the BBC doesn't notice until a chunk hits them on the head. Even then it is due to splits between the gods, a bad sky design by the gods and besides, it's all Americas fault anyway.
If you want to complain to the bumbling BBC, the link is on the left. Use it often, I do.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Al Jazeera, er The BBC, after more than a year of reporting in the US, claims their own investigation has uncovered the UN oil for food scandal. The BBC needs to read its' own website, since they reported on the US investigation four days ago!
Amazingly the BBC takes credit for uncovering what the rest of the world has known for more than a year. I even wrote months ago to the BBC to complain about their lack of reporting on the UN oil for food scandal.
The BBC has found evidence of corruption by companies around the world doing business with Iraq while it was under the sanctions regime.
And who does the suddenly clued in BBC blame for the biggest scandal in the history of the world? Mainly the US with some bureaucratic bungling from the UN.
Splits among the diplomats on the UN security council and flaws in the design of the oil-for-food programme played at least as much a part in what happened as negligence by UN officials or collusion in corruption by foreign firms trading with Iraq.
"Splits among the diplomats"? How about France, Russia and China were bribed with UN oil for food money? No wonder they were against the invasion, they stood to lose billions from Saddam. Billions that were suppose to go to the suffering Iraqis, remember them BBC?
"Flaws in the design of the oil-for-food programme"? That would be the UN designed oil for food scam programme.
"Negligence by UN officials"? They were running the scam!!!
So, according to the BBC, there was a little bumbling by the UN, but most of the blame rests squarely with the US. Natch.
And it is often forgotten that most of Saddam Hussein's illicit income came from oil smuggling, not kickbacks on UN contracts.
Dealing with smuggling was mainly the job of the American navy, not the UN.
Nice huh? And how was the US suppose to stop oil smuggling along Iraq's borders with Iran, Syria, Jordan and Turkey? Iraq had an illegal oil pipeline to Syria which was shut down after the invasion. Very little was smuggled via ships.
And what about this charge that "most of Saddam Hussein's illicit income came from oil smuggling, not kickbacks on UN contracts"? Well, the BBC contradicts this statement on their own website from four days ago. Here is the break down as reported by the BBC quoting the US Senate investigation.
Out of a total of $21.3bn, $17.3bn came from abuses during the oil-for-food programme. Within this:
$9.7bn from oil smuggling
$4.4bn in kickbacks from contracts for humanitarian goods
$2.1bn from substituting low-quality goods for high-quality ones
$403m from overseas investment of illicitly earned funds
$241m from surcharges on oil sales
$9 billion for oil smuggling and over $7 billion from other scams. Don't forget this is what we know so far. The more the Senate investigates the more it finds, in fact the BBC itself reports on how the scandal has grown.
According to US senate investigators, Saddam Hussein embezzled $21bn by evading UN sanctions over a period of years.
That figure released earlier this week is double previous estimates.
All of this has been discovered by the US despite stonewalling by the UN, who refuse to cooperate or hand over documents.
The BBC wants to gloss over the fact that administering the UN oil for food program was, as they put it, "mainly the job of the" UN and not the US.
If you want to know what is really going on with the UN oil for food scandal and who is really to blame (hint Koffi Annan) here are some links to get you started.
U.N. deserted leads in oil-for-food investigation
Come Clean, Kofi
Here is a website set up two years ago to follow the UN oil for food scam.
Hell, here is a Google search with hundreds of links to a world of information the bumbling BBC seems oblivious to.
The BBC are acting like chicken little in reverse. The sky really is falling but the BBC doesn't notice until a chunk hits them on the head. Even then it is due to splits between the gods, a bad sky design by the gods and besides, it's all Americas fault anyway.
If you want to complain to the bumbling BBC, the link is on the left. Use it often, I do.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
US will never win in Iraq, they said that about Afghanistan
Victor Davis Hanson has some thoughts.
In September and early October 2001 we were warned that an invasion of Afghanistan was impossible — peaks too high, winter and Ramadan on the way, weak and perfidious allies as bad as the Islamists — and thus that the invasion would result in tens of thousands killed and millions of refugees. Where have all these subversive ankle-biters gone? Apparently into thin air — or to the same refuge of silence as all the Reagan-haters of the 1980s who swore that a nuclear freeze was the only humane policy of dealing with Soviet expansionism.
After the seven-week defeat of the Taliban, these deer-in-the-headlights critics paused, and then declared the victory hollow. They said the country had descended into rule by warlords, and called the very idea of scheduled voting a laughable notion. We endured them for almost two years. Yet after the recent and mostly smooth elections, Afghanistan has slowly disappeared from the maelstrom of domestic politics, as all those who felt our efforts were not merely impossible but absurd retreated to the shadows to gnash their teeth that Kabul is not yet Carmel. Western feminists, homosexual-rights advocates, and liberal reformists have never in any definitive way expressed appreciation for the Afghan revolution now ongoing in the lives of 26 million formerly captive people. They never will. Instead, Westerners simply now assume that there was never any controversy, but rather a general consensus that Afghanistan is a "good thing" — as if the Taliban went into voluntarily exile due to occasional censure from The New York Review of Books.
The more ambitious effort to achieve similar results in Iraq is following the same script, despite even more daunting challenges. Fascistic neighbors rightly see elections in Iraq as near fatal to their own bankrupt regimes. Some have oil; others have terrorists; still more, like Iran and Saudi Arabia, have both. Unlike Afghanistan, there is no neutral India or Russia nearby to keep Islamists wary, only the provinces of the ancient caliphate to supply plenty of jihadists to continue the work of September 11. Our mistakes in the reconstruction of Iraq were never properly critiqued as naïve and too magnanimous, but rather they were decried by the Left as cruel and punitive — as if being too lax was proof of being harsh.
Yet, thanks to the brilliance of the U.S. military and despite the rocky reconstruction and our own election hysteria, there is a good chance that the January elections can begin a cycle similar to what we see in Afghanistan. And at that point things should get very, very interesting.
There's lots more, read the whole article.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Victor Davis Hanson has some thoughts.
In September and early October 2001 we were warned that an invasion of Afghanistan was impossible — peaks too high, winter and Ramadan on the way, weak and perfidious allies as bad as the Islamists — and thus that the invasion would result in tens of thousands killed and millions of refugees. Where have all these subversive ankle-biters gone? Apparently into thin air — or to the same refuge of silence as all the Reagan-haters of the 1980s who swore that a nuclear freeze was the only humane policy of dealing with Soviet expansionism.
After the seven-week defeat of the Taliban, these deer-in-the-headlights critics paused, and then declared the victory hollow. They said the country had descended into rule by warlords, and called the very idea of scheduled voting a laughable notion. We endured them for almost two years. Yet after the recent and mostly smooth elections, Afghanistan has slowly disappeared from the maelstrom of domestic politics, as all those who felt our efforts were not merely impossible but absurd retreated to the shadows to gnash their teeth that Kabul is not yet Carmel. Western feminists, homosexual-rights advocates, and liberal reformists have never in any definitive way expressed appreciation for the Afghan revolution now ongoing in the lives of 26 million formerly captive people. They never will. Instead, Westerners simply now assume that there was never any controversy, but rather a general consensus that Afghanistan is a "good thing" — as if the Taliban went into voluntarily exile due to occasional censure from The New York Review of Books.
The more ambitious effort to achieve similar results in Iraq is following the same script, despite even more daunting challenges. Fascistic neighbors rightly see elections in Iraq as near fatal to their own bankrupt regimes. Some have oil; others have terrorists; still more, like Iran and Saudi Arabia, have both. Unlike Afghanistan, there is no neutral India or Russia nearby to keep Islamists wary, only the provinces of the ancient caliphate to supply plenty of jihadists to continue the work of September 11. Our mistakes in the reconstruction of Iraq were never properly critiqued as naïve and too magnanimous, but rather they were decried by the Left as cruel and punitive — as if being too lax was proof of being harsh.
Yet, thanks to the brilliance of the U.S. military and despite the rocky reconstruction and our own election hysteria, there is a good chance that the January elections can begin a cycle similar to what we see in Afghanistan. And at that point things should get very, very interesting.
There's lots more, read the whole article.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fallujah yields up weapons, videos
On patrol Tuesday, marines find largest arms cache yet, hid in a nondescript building.
Those finds - along with that of a vast weapons cache and safe house operating under the cover of an Islamic medical charity, which contained flags of Al Qaeda affiliate Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - are one reason US marine commanders want to keep pushing the offensive.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On patrol Tuesday, marines find largest arms cache yet, hid in a nondescript building.
Those finds - along with that of a vast weapons cache and safe house operating under the cover of an Islamic medical charity, which contained flags of Al Qaeda affiliate Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - are one reason US marine commanders want to keep pushing the offensive.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Chirac questions US-led Iraq war and France in UN scandal
The BBC reports "Chirac questions US-led Iraq war".
In a BBC interview Mr Chirac suggests the situation in Iraq has helped to prompt an increase in terrorism.
While buried in the business section we learn, " Iraq oil corruption 'tops $21bn' "
But about $4.4bn was earned through kickbacks on humanitarian goods supplied through the UN's oil-for-food (OFF) programme, they said.
Previous reports such as the CIA's - produced by a 1,200-strong team led by Charles Duelfer, one of four witnesses testifying - have alleged that firms, government ministers and senior UN officials benefited from the corruption.
Among them are the former head of the oil-for-food programme, Benon Sevan, and a number of French politicians and companies. They have denied the allegations.
And where did some of this money end up Mr. Chirac?
Probe: Oil-for-Food Money Went to Palestinian Bombers' Families
Nice to see the BBC paying some attention to the UN oil for food scandal, even if it is buried in the business section. Curious place to put it, no?
More on the UN's cover up attempts here and here.
And here is a website dedicated to following the biggest financial scandal in the world.
Interesting how Old Media is ignoring the scandal, eh?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The BBC reports "Chirac questions US-led Iraq war".
In a BBC interview Mr Chirac suggests the situation in Iraq has helped to prompt an increase in terrorism.
While buried in the business section we learn, " Iraq oil corruption 'tops $21bn' "
But about $4.4bn was earned through kickbacks on humanitarian goods supplied through the UN's oil-for-food (OFF) programme, they said.
Previous reports such as the CIA's - produced by a 1,200-strong team led by Charles Duelfer, one of four witnesses testifying - have alleged that firms, government ministers and senior UN officials benefited from the corruption.
Among them are the former head of the oil-for-food programme, Benon Sevan, and a number of French politicians and companies. They have denied the allegations.
And where did some of this money end up Mr. Chirac?
Probe: Oil-for-Food Money Went to Palestinian Bombers' Families
Nice to see the BBC paying some attention to the UN oil for food scandal, even if it is buried in the business section. Curious place to put it, no?
More on the UN's cover up attempts here and here.
And here is a website dedicated to following the biggest financial scandal in the world.
Interesting how Old Media is ignoring the scandal, eh?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iraqis voice revulsion over Margaret Hassan killing
The BBC report on how some Iraqis in Baghdad feel about Ms. Hassan's murder by terrorists.
The BBC throw in this odd bit of information at the end of the article.
But amid the sorrow here, some people also wanted to remind us of the daily death toll of innocent Iraqi civilians caught up in the fighting and bombings across the country.
Thousands have died since the invasion in March last year, but their deaths largely go unreported by the international media.
Oh, come now, your being too modest BBC.
Just do a Google search using this as a search input - bbc+iraq+civilian deaths - and you will find tons and tons of reporting by international media, with the BBC right up front.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The BBC report on how some Iraqis in Baghdad feel about Ms. Hassan's murder by terrorists.
The BBC throw in this odd bit of information at the end of the article.
But amid the sorrow here, some people also wanted to remind us of the daily death toll of innocent Iraqi civilians caught up in the fighting and bombings across the country.
Thousands have died since the invasion in March last year, but their deaths largely go unreported by the international media.
Oh, come now, your being too modest BBC.
Just do a Google search using this as a search input - bbc+iraq+civilian deaths - and you will find tons and tons of reporting by international media, with the BBC right up front.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Monday, November 15, 2004
Why Falluja is a success
RALPH PETERS writes in the New York Post on the tide turning against the terrorists in Iraq.
Writing about the battle of Falluja Peters says,
There was no outpouring of rage in the Arab world. Iraq's Shi'as remained quiet. The terrorists' attempts to shift the fight to other Iraqi cities didn't find much of an echo. Even Sunni Arabs complained of the threat posed to their homes — they didn't want their cities turned into little Fallujahs.
Terror has begun to defeat itself. ...
And the leaders of the region are starting to grasp the wider implications of Iraq and Falluja.
Meanwhile, the Middle East's political leaders, who had gloated over every blow against the occupation of Iraq, began to see events from a different angle. The daylight attacks on Iraqi politicians and professionals, on policemen and military recruits, sent chills through the leadership cliques of states where popular discontent is barely contained.
As the terrorists shifted their strikes to focus on unarmed Iraqis and the country's infrastructure, the Saudi royal family, Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and even Syria's Baby Assad began to grasp that the madness in Iraq might be a preview of their own national futures. If terrorists triumphed, the Americans could go home. But the Arabs are home already. A victory for terror would replicate itself across the region, creating chaos.
So, they lose either way.
If the terrorists win in Iraq, uprisings could spread to their countries. Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia already have problems.
If the US wins in Iraq as it did in Afghanistan, democracy will spread further in the region.
The handwriting is on the wall and they know it. That is why Iran is in such a hurry to develop nuclear weapons, if they haven't already.
I like this bit near the end.
The struggle will be long. Blows against America will still be cheered. Al-Jazeera and the BBC will continue to broadcast lies. But more and more Muslims will recognize that "Islamic" terror violates the fundamental teachings of Mohammed.
Finally, Al-Jazeera and the BBC linked and exposed by a major US newspaper.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RALPH PETERS writes in the New York Post on the tide turning against the terrorists in Iraq.
Writing about the battle of Falluja Peters says,
There was no outpouring of rage in the Arab world. Iraq's Shi'as remained quiet. The terrorists' attempts to shift the fight to other Iraqi cities didn't find much of an echo. Even Sunni Arabs complained of the threat posed to their homes — they didn't want their cities turned into little Fallujahs.
Terror has begun to defeat itself. ...
And the leaders of the region are starting to grasp the wider implications of Iraq and Falluja.
Meanwhile, the Middle East's political leaders, who had gloated over every blow against the occupation of Iraq, began to see events from a different angle. The daylight attacks on Iraqi politicians and professionals, on policemen and military recruits, sent chills through the leadership cliques of states where popular discontent is barely contained.
As the terrorists shifted their strikes to focus on unarmed Iraqis and the country's infrastructure, the Saudi royal family, Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and even Syria's Baby Assad began to grasp that the madness in Iraq might be a preview of their own national futures. If terrorists triumphed, the Americans could go home. But the Arabs are home already. A victory for terror would replicate itself across the region, creating chaos.
So, they lose either way.
If the terrorists win in Iraq, uprisings could spread to their countries. Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia already have problems.
If the US wins in Iraq as it did in Afghanistan, democracy will spread further in the region.
The handwriting is on the wall and they know it. That is why Iran is in such a hurry to develop nuclear weapons, if they haven't already.
I like this bit near the end.
The struggle will be long. Blows against America will still be cheered. Al-Jazeera and the BBC will continue to broadcast lies. But more and more Muslims will recognize that "Islamic" terror violates the fundamental teachings of Mohammed.
Finally, Al-Jazeera and the BBC linked and exposed by a major US newspaper.
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BBC stealth edits Falluja reports
Fellow blogger Expat Yank took issue with some of the BBC's coverage of Falluja.
Here is what he had to say in part:
Well, the BBC is probably just being thorough, waiting for "confirmation". However, in contrast, the BBC continues to provide a platform for "reports" from this "journalist":
. . . reports give differing accounts of the extent of control being exercised by US and Iraqi troops in the city. Fadhil Badrani, a journalist operating independently in the city, told the BBC Arabic service on Sunday that US-led forces fully controlled only the northern districts.
More on Badrani in a moment.
If you follow Expat Yank's link to the BBC webpage you will not find the above quote. The BBC stealth edited it out.
Here is a link to a google search on the headline. If you click on the cache link you will find the original story posted 10 hours earlier with Badrani's comments.
Notice how the BBC portray Badrani as "a journalist operating independently in the city". No doubt the "operating independently" is meant to lend credibility to Badrani's story.
Mr. Badrani must be a curious fellow indeed. How is he able to operate so freely? He is not imbedded with the US forces and doesn't appear to be imbedded with the terrorists. With both of those two groups shooting at almost anything that moves it's a miracle he has not been killed yet. Which makes one wonder if he is even in Falluja. He calls his reports into the BBC on a mobile phone and that can be done from anywhere.
Almost all of his reporting is anti-American and is usually wrong. Take the statement above in which he said "told the BBC Arabic service on Sunday that US-led forces fully controlled only the northern districts". We know this is not true from all the other news services reporting otherwise. But the BBC is quite happy to use Mr. Badrani's rants even though their stealth update deletes his comments and uses this contradictory statement from their own reporter.
US troops, backed by Iraqi soldiers have pushed the insurgents to the southern edge of Falluja, beyond which the desert and more US troops await them, says our correspondent, who is with the US marines.
The BBC, busted again.
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Fellow blogger Expat Yank took issue with some of the BBC's coverage of Falluja.
Here is what he had to say in part:
Well, the BBC is probably just being thorough, waiting for "confirmation". However, in contrast, the BBC continues to provide a platform for "reports" from this "journalist":
. . . reports give differing accounts of the extent of control being exercised by US and Iraqi troops in the city. Fadhil Badrani, a journalist operating independently in the city, told the BBC Arabic service on Sunday that US-led forces fully controlled only the northern districts.
More on Badrani in a moment.
If you follow Expat Yank's link to the BBC webpage you will not find the above quote. The BBC stealth edited it out.
Here is a link to a google search on the headline. If you click on the cache link you will find the original story posted 10 hours earlier with Badrani's comments.
Notice how the BBC portray Badrani as "a journalist operating independently in the city". No doubt the "operating independently" is meant to lend credibility to Badrani's story.
Mr. Badrani must be a curious fellow indeed. How is he able to operate so freely? He is not imbedded with the US forces and doesn't appear to be imbedded with the terrorists. With both of those two groups shooting at almost anything that moves it's a miracle he has not been killed yet. Which makes one wonder if he is even in Falluja. He calls his reports into the BBC on a mobile phone and that can be done from anywhere.
Almost all of his reporting is anti-American and is usually wrong. Take the statement above in which he said "told the BBC Arabic service on Sunday that US-led forces fully controlled only the northern districts". We know this is not true from all the other news services reporting otherwise. But the BBC is quite happy to use Mr. Badrani's rants even though their stealth update deletes his comments and uses this contradictory statement from their own reporter.
US troops, backed by Iraqi soldiers have pushed the insurgents to the southern edge of Falluja, beyond which the desert and more US troops await them, says our correspondent, who is with the US marines.
The BBC, busted again.
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Mujahidin terrorised Fallujah, residents say
To all those who condemned US actions in Fallujah, read what the residents think.
The Times Online (UK) reports on Fallujah.
Mutilated bodies dumped on Fallujah's bombed out streets today painted a harrowing picture of eight months of rebel rule.
As US and Iraqi troops mopped up the last vestiges of resistance in the city after a week of bombardment and fighting, residents who stayed on through last week's offensive were emerging and telling harrowing tales of the brutality they endured. ...
Such is the fear that the heavily armed militants held over Fallujah that many of the residents who emerged from the ruins welcomed the US marines, despite the massive destruction their firepower had inflicted on their city.
A man in his sixties, half-naked and his underwear stained with blood from shrapnel wounds from a US munition, cursed the insurgents as he greeted the advancing marines on Saturday night.
"I wish the Americans had come here the very first day and not waited eight months," he said, trembling. Nearby, a mosque courtyard had been used as a weapons store by the militants. ...
"It was horrible," he told an AFP reporter."We suffered from the bombings. Innocent people died or were wounded by the bombings.
"But we were happy you did what you did because Fallujah had been suffocated by the Mujahidin. Anyone considered suspicious would be slaughtered. We would see unknown corpses around the city all the time."
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To all those who condemned US actions in Fallujah, read what the residents think.
The Times Online (UK) reports on Fallujah.
Mutilated bodies dumped on Fallujah's bombed out streets today painted a harrowing picture of eight months of rebel rule.
As US and Iraqi troops mopped up the last vestiges of resistance in the city after a week of bombardment and fighting, residents who stayed on through last week's offensive were emerging and telling harrowing tales of the brutality they endured. ...
Such is the fear that the heavily armed militants held over Fallujah that many of the residents who emerged from the ruins welcomed the US marines, despite the massive destruction their firepower had inflicted on their city.
A man in his sixties, half-naked and his underwear stained with blood from shrapnel wounds from a US munition, cursed the insurgents as he greeted the advancing marines on Saturday night.
"I wish the Americans had come here the very first day and not waited eight months," he said, trembling. Nearby, a mosque courtyard had been used as a weapons store by the militants. ...
"It was horrible," he told an AFP reporter."We suffered from the bombings. Innocent people died or were wounded by the bombings.
"But we were happy you did what you did because Fallujah had been suffocated by the Mujahidin. Anyone considered suspicious would be slaughtered. We would see unknown corpses around the city all the time."
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UN Iraq oil for food scandal grows
Saddam's illegal take was much larger than believed
The Associated Press
CAPITOL HILL Saddam Hussein's ability to circumvent the U-N's Oil for Food program brought him a lot more money than previously believed.
Congressional investigators put the illegal revenue at 21-point-three billion dollars, more than double the previous estimates.
Senate Investigations subcommittee chairman Norm Coleman says the investigation "is like an onion." He says "we just keep uncovering more layers and more layers."
The new estimate of Iraq's alleged surcharges, kickbacks and oil smuggling are based on new documents that the committee has reviewed.
They show how Iraqi officials, foreign companies and sometimes politicians allegedly contrived to allow the Iraqi government vast illicit gains.
Coleman says he's very angry that the U-N hasn't provided documents and access that investigators need.
He also says there's no answer yet on how much of the 21 billion is currently funding the insurgency in Iraq
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Saddam's illegal take was much larger than believed
The Associated Press
CAPITOL HILL Saddam Hussein's ability to circumvent the U-N's Oil for Food program brought him a lot more money than previously believed.
Congressional investigators put the illegal revenue at 21-point-three billion dollars, more than double the previous estimates.
Senate Investigations subcommittee chairman Norm Coleman says the investigation "is like an onion." He says "we just keep uncovering more layers and more layers."
The new estimate of Iraq's alleged surcharges, kickbacks and oil smuggling are based on new documents that the committee has reviewed.
They show how Iraqi officials, foreign companies and sometimes politicians allegedly contrived to allow the Iraqi government vast illicit gains.
Coleman says he's very angry that the U-N hasn't provided documents and access that investigators need.
He also says there's no answer yet on how much of the 21 billion is currently funding the insurgency in Iraq
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US bombs gut Iraqi insurgent bunker complex
The Boston Globe reports "FALLUJAH, Iraq -- US forces dropped a pair of 2,000-pound bombs early yesterday morning on a bunker complex believed to be an insurgent training facility on the southern edge of this city, where the most dedicated and best trained rebel fighters are making a last stand."
The bombs shook the ground of the former insurgent stronghold and set off secondary explosions that went on for 45 minutes but could not be seen above ground, persuading officers of the Army's First Infantry Division that there were large stockpiles of weapons underground.
Maybe that's where the missing explosives went.
There's more...
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The Boston Globe reports "FALLUJAH, Iraq -- US forces dropped a pair of 2,000-pound bombs early yesterday morning on a bunker complex believed to be an insurgent training facility on the southern edge of this city, where the most dedicated and best trained rebel fighters are making a last stand."
The bombs shook the ground of the former insurgent stronghold and set off secondary explosions that went on for 45 minutes but could not be seen above ground, persuading officers of the Army's First Infantry Division that there were large stockpiles of weapons underground.
Maybe that's where the missing explosives went.
There's more...
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Media's failed attempt to elect Kerry ended their monopoly
Michael Barone reports on the end of main stream media's monopoly on the news.
Not so today. The ratings of the nightly newscasts have been on a downward trajectory since the 1980 campaign, as voters have been presented with other means of following the news. New Media has emerged: talk radio, Fox News Channel, the proliferation of Internet weblogs, which together make up the blogosphere. The left liberalism that is the political faith of practically all the personnel of Old Media is now being challenged by the various political faiths of New Media. Old Media no longer controls the agenda. ...
Kerry would have been better served, it turned out, by apologizing early on for his 1971 testimony that besmirched all troops in Vietnam. He could have done so in the spring when questioned by Tim Russert on "Meet the Press," but decided not to. Memo to future Democratic nominees: You can no longer rely on Old Media to hush up stories that hurt your cause. Your friends in Old Media don't have a monopoly any more.
Old media still don't get it though.
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Michael Barone reports on the end of main stream media's monopoly on the news.
Not so today. The ratings of the nightly newscasts have been on a downward trajectory since the 1980 campaign, as voters have been presented with other means of following the news. New Media has emerged: talk radio, Fox News Channel, the proliferation of Internet weblogs, which together make up the blogosphere. The left liberalism that is the political faith of practically all the personnel of Old Media is now being challenged by the various political faiths of New Media. Old Media no longer controls the agenda. ...
Kerry would have been better served, it turned out, by apologizing early on for his 1971 testimony that besmirched all troops in Vietnam. He could have done so in the spring when questioned by Tim Russert on "Meet the Press," but decided not to. Memo to future Democratic nominees: You can no longer rely on Old Media to hush up stories that hurt your cause. Your friends in Old Media don't have a monopoly any more.
Old media still don't get it though.
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Saturday, November 13, 2004
Good news from Afghanistan, Part 6
Chrenkoff's lates round up of good news from Afghanistan is up.
While you are there, be sure to read the good news from Iraq as well.
Lots of good news from both countries that legacy media fails to report on.
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Chrenkoff's lates round up of good news from Afghanistan is up.
While you are there, be sure to read the good news from Iraq as well.
Lots of good news from both countries that legacy media fails to report on.
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Suha Arafat cashes in
Next time you hear someone crying for the poor Palestinians, point this little tidbit out to them.
November 12, 2004 -- Suha Arafat, who jealously guarded her husband's bedside during his final hours, brought his body home from France yesterday for burial — after sealing a deal that will make her a very rich widow.
Suha agreed to a settlement with the Palestinian Authority that will reportedly pay her as much as $22 million a year for divulging the secrets of her husband's fortune.
The 41-year-old wife of Arafat had been demanding half his billions in hidden assets and threatening to withhold details about where to find them from the new Palestinian leadership, according to newspapers in Italy and Israel.
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Next time you hear someone crying for the poor Palestinians, point this little tidbit out to them.
November 12, 2004 -- Suha Arafat, who jealously guarded her husband's bedside during his final hours, brought his body home from France yesterday for burial — after sealing a deal that will make her a very rich widow.
Suha agreed to a settlement with the Palestinian Authority that will reportedly pay her as much as $22 million a year for divulging the secrets of her husband's fortune.
The 41-year-old wife of Arafat had been demanding half his billions in hidden assets and threatening to withhold details about where to find them from the new Palestinian leadership, according to newspapers in Italy and Israel.
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Iraqi Soldiers with the 303rd Iraqi National Guard Battalion, with support from the 45th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, raid the Um Kabul mosque in Baghdad, Iraq, searching for weapons, Nov. 11, 2004. Iraqi soldiers arrested the mosque's imam, along with 15 other individuals, after 5 rocket propelled grenade (RPG) launchers, 10 RPG rounds, and 10 AK-47s were found in the mosque.
Iraq mosques used as weapons stores
Iraqi Soldiers with the 303rd Iraqi National Guard Battalion, with support from the 45th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, raid the Um Kabul mosque in Baghdad, Iraq, searching for weapons, Nov. 11, 2004.
Iraqi soldiers arrested the mosque's imam, along with 15 other individuals, after 5 rocket propelled grenade (RPG) launchers, 10 RPG rounds, and 10 AK-47s were found in the mosque.
Check out the photographs.
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Iraqi Soldiers with the 303rd Iraqi National Guard Battalion, with support from the 45th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, raid the Um Kabul mosque in Baghdad, Iraq, searching for weapons, Nov. 11, 2004.
Iraqi soldiers arrested the mosque's imam, along with 15 other individuals, after 5 rocket propelled grenade (RPG) launchers, 10 RPG rounds, and 10 AK-47s were found in the mosque.
Check out the photographs.
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Foreign fighters now reviled by Fallujah residents
Here is another side of the Iraq story you won't find in main stream media.
SAKHLAWIYA, Iraq - The fighters came to Fallujah last year with piles of cash, strange accents and a militant vision of Islam that was at once foreign and fearsome to residents emerging from nearly 30 years of Saddam Hussein's secular regime.
Yet out of custom and necessity, tribal locals offered their Arab guests sanctuary and were repaid with promises to help keep American forces out of the town. This week, with U.S. troops battling their way through the Sunni Muslim stronghold, several Fallujah residents said it had been a grave mistake to trust the foreigners who turned their humble stand against foreign occupation into a sophisticated terror campaign.
Well worth reading.
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Here is another side of the Iraq story you won't find in main stream media.
SAKHLAWIYA, Iraq - The fighters came to Fallujah last year with piles of cash, strange accents and a militant vision of Islam that was at once foreign and fearsome to residents emerging from nearly 30 years of Saddam Hussein's secular regime.
Yet out of custom and necessity, tribal locals offered their Arab guests sanctuary and were repaid with promises to help keep American forces out of the town. This week, with U.S. troops battling their way through the Sunni Muslim stronghold, several Fallujah residents said it had been a grave mistake to trust the foreigners who turned their humble stand against foreign occupation into a sophisticated terror campaign.
Well worth reading.
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Thursday, November 11, 2004
Yasir Arafat and Terrorism
Before anyone starts crying for this terrorist, you might want to brush up on Arafat's past terror strikes.
This site is a good starting point.
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Before anyone starts crying for this terrorist, you might want to brush up on Arafat's past terror strikes.
This site is a good starting point.
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The Watchdogs of Fallujah
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle or UAV's are just one reason the terrorists in Falluja don't have a chance.
"The raiding party wants us to scan across the river," Cpl. Robert Daniels said, reading a chat-room message that had popped up on his computer monitor. "Someone's firing."
"Take us east," Neumann said over his shoulder. "Shift from white-hot to black-hot."
Behind him, the pilot of the UAV adjusted the flight path as his partner tightened the zoom on the plane's camera. The images on the screen jumped slightly and focused on two black spots hopping from place to place behind an earthen berm.
"I confirm weapons," said Sg. Jenifer Forman, an imagery analyst. "Watch their right arms when they run. They're shooting across the river."
When the black spots bobbed together, the screen suddenly bloomed white, then settled back into focus, showing a thick gray cloud and a scattering of small black spots, like someone in the cloud had thrown out a handful of rocks.
"Tank gun got them," Neumann said. "Picked them up on their thermals. They're scratched. Scan up the street."
There's more!
UPDATE: Here is another reason.
THE green video screen in the back of a Bradley fighting vehicle is the ultimate in reality television and that is how we watched the battle of Fallujah unfold as our 30-tonne steel beast advanced into the district of Jolan, a rebel bastion, in the small hours of yesterday.
Outside, in the bomb-blasted streets, up to 5000 diehard insurgents were out to kill. Inside, on a screen accurate enough to show rats scavenging on the rubbish piles, the battle between luminous green tanks and luminous green gunmen seemed almost abstract. [...]
Watching the green screen was nerve-racking. With buildings wrecked and streets churned up, there were potential booby traps everywhere. Then, as the column lumbered down a main road, the guerillas appeared.
They emerged from gates, alleyways and rooftops, alone or in small groups. Wherever they faced an armoured vehicle, they died where they stood.
The resistance was determined, but hardly the apocalyptic showdown the guerillas had pledged. They had threatened to throw hundreds of suicide bombers at the Americans. But in the darkness they were at a disadvantage, stumbling blind while the US gunners could see clearly.
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Unmanned Aerial Vehicle or UAV's are just one reason the terrorists in Falluja don't have a chance.
"The raiding party wants us to scan across the river," Cpl. Robert Daniels said, reading a chat-room message that had popped up on his computer monitor. "Someone's firing."
"Take us east," Neumann said over his shoulder. "Shift from white-hot to black-hot."
Behind him, the pilot of the UAV adjusted the flight path as his partner tightened the zoom on the plane's camera. The images on the screen jumped slightly and focused on two black spots hopping from place to place behind an earthen berm.
"I confirm weapons," said Sg. Jenifer Forman, an imagery analyst. "Watch their right arms when they run. They're shooting across the river."
When the black spots bobbed together, the screen suddenly bloomed white, then settled back into focus, showing a thick gray cloud and a scattering of small black spots, like someone in the cloud had thrown out a handful of rocks.
"Tank gun got them," Neumann said. "Picked them up on their thermals. They're scratched. Scan up the street."
There's more!
UPDATE: Here is another reason.
THE green video screen in the back of a Bradley fighting vehicle is the ultimate in reality television and that is how we watched the battle of Fallujah unfold as our 30-tonne steel beast advanced into the district of Jolan, a rebel bastion, in the small hours of yesterday.
Outside, in the bomb-blasted streets, up to 5000 diehard insurgents were out to kill. Inside, on a screen accurate enough to show rats scavenging on the rubbish piles, the battle between luminous green tanks and luminous green gunmen seemed almost abstract. [...]
Watching the green screen was nerve-racking. With buildings wrecked and streets churned up, there were potential booby traps everywhere. Then, as the column lumbered down a main road, the guerillas appeared.
They emerged from gates, alleyways and rooftops, alone or in small groups. Wherever they faced an armoured vehicle, they died where they stood.
The resistance was determined, but hardly the apocalyptic showdown the guerillas had pledged. They had threatened to throw hundreds of suicide bombers at the Americans. But in the darkness they were at a disadvantage, stumbling blind while the US gunners could see clearly.
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Wednesday, November 10, 2004
The BBC campaigns against the US in Falluja
The BBC continues its' campaign against the US in Falluja.
Recently I wrote about the BBC's use of a Falluja resident to "report" on what is happening in Falluja. Turns out the "resident of Falluja" is really a "stringer" for Reuters and the BBC in Iraq.
From Last Night's BBC News we learn more about the BBC's anti-US campaign.
Mr al-Badrani files stories for Reuters and the BBC's Arabic World Service. But to call what he does "reporting" (in any meaningful Western sense of the word) is absurd. If Mr al-Badrani didn't say what the "irregulars," as Jeremy Paxman has taken to calling them (or head-hackers in Mark Steyn's terminology), wanted him to say, he would have been killed or run out of town a long time ago.Yet the BBC fails to explain any of this -- not on its website, where Mr al-Badrani's stories are prominently displayed (see here, here, and here), and not on the Ten O'Clock News or Newsnight. Mr Badrani, whether he really wants to be or not, is a propagandist for the "enemy." We should be told as much.
" Mr Badrani, whether he really wants to be or not, is a propagandist for the "enemy." Indeed, and so is the BBC.
Last Night's BBC news has more, just keep scrolling.
The BBC continues its' campaign against the US in Falluja.
Recently I wrote about the BBC's use of a Falluja resident to "report" on what is happening in Falluja. Turns out the "resident of Falluja" is really a "stringer" for Reuters and the BBC in Iraq.
From Last Night's BBC News we learn more about the BBC's anti-US campaign.
Mr al-Badrani files stories for Reuters and the BBC's Arabic World Service. But to call what he does "reporting" (in any meaningful Western sense of the word) is absurd. If Mr al-Badrani didn't say what the "irregulars," as Jeremy Paxman has taken to calling them (or head-hackers in Mark Steyn's terminology), wanted him to say, he would have been killed or run out of town a long time ago.Yet the BBC fails to explain any of this -- not on its website, where Mr al-Badrani's stories are prominently displayed (see here, here, and here), and not on the Ten O'Clock News or Newsnight. Mr Badrani, whether he really wants to be or not, is a propagandist for the "enemy." We should be told as much.
" Mr Badrani, whether he really wants to be or not, is a propagandist for the "enemy." Indeed, and so is the BBC.
Last Night's BBC news has more, just keep scrolling.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Good News Iraq - Chrenkoff's Part 14
Chrenkoff's Good News Iraq - Part 14 is up.
His report contains tons of good news from Iraq that the main stream media do not want you to know about. Take this Iraqi poll taken on 25 Oct 2004 for example. I bet you can't find this in MSM anywhere.
"63% of Iraqis say that the withdrawal of American and allied forces will not be in the best interest of Iraq, it will undermine the work towards security and control of the country. 27% say that it would be in the best interest of Iraq. 9% had no opinion.
"58% say that terrorists do the kidnappings and assassination of police and soldiers. 9% say that patriots fighting for Iraq carry them out. 32% say ignorant Iraqis who have been brain washed & misled carry them out.
"89% said that the terrorism, kidnapping, beheadings and assassination of police and security forces do not help the freeing of Iraq and the building of a stable country. 6% said that it would help free Iraq and build stability. 4% had no opinion."
Read the whole thing to balance all the bad news MSM wants you to believe.
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Chrenkoff's Good News Iraq - Part 14 is up.
His report contains tons of good news from Iraq that the main stream media do not want you to know about. Take this Iraqi poll taken on 25 Oct 2004 for example. I bet you can't find this in MSM anywhere.
"63% of Iraqis say that the withdrawal of American and allied forces will not be in the best interest of Iraq, it will undermine the work towards security and control of the country. 27% say that it would be in the best interest of Iraq. 9% had no opinion.
"58% say that terrorists do the kidnappings and assassination of police and soldiers. 9% say that patriots fighting for Iraq carry them out. 32% say ignorant Iraqis who have been brain washed & misled carry them out.
"89% said that the terrorism, kidnapping, beheadings and assassination of police and security forces do not help the freeing of Iraq and the building of a stable country. 6% said that it would help free Iraq and build stability. 4% had no opinion."
Read the whole thing to balance all the bad news MSM wants you to believe.
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Saturday, November 06, 2004
Falluja, Iraq - why now?
Iraq to begin voter registration Monday, that's why.
January's national election will be a crucial step for Iraq, and on Monday officials begin registering voters to set in motion an electoral process that poses a huge security challenge for American military commanders given the task of ensuring the vote comes off.
How long will the battle last? Not long.
Six weeks will be spent registering voters and political parties.
My guess is they will get Falluja cleaned up pretty quick.
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Iraq to begin voter registration Monday, that's why.
January's national election will be a crucial step for Iraq, and on Monday officials begin registering voters to set in motion an electoral process that poses a huge security challenge for American military commanders given the task of ensuring the vote comes off.
How long will the battle last? Not long.
Six weeks will be spent registering voters and political parties.
My guess is they will get Falluja cleaned up pretty quick.
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500 criticise BBC 'I cried for Arafat' report
I bet they got a lot more than 500 complaints.
The Telegraph reports how the BBC was swamped with complaints about its' Middle East correspondent, Barbara Plett's on air admission that she cried when Arafat left for France.
"When the helicopter carrying the frail old man rose above his ruined compound, I started to cry . . . without warning," she said.
All too typical of the BBC. How can anyone trust this organization for fair and unbiased reporting?
I don't.
The BBC's response?
BBC sources said that senior editors had remonstrated with Plett over her words, adding that she too accepted that they had been "misjudged". A BBC spokesman said: "From Our Own Correspondent is one of the few programmes that offers listeners personal stories behind the headlines, a format which permits correspondents to write freely."
However, the fact that a Middle East correspondent has such sympathies will fuel claims that of BBC bias towards the Arabs.
Well, hiring the former editor in chief of Al Jazeera doesn't help either.
It is not enough that we in the blogsphere expose blatant media bias, we must take action to end such bias. That is why I added a media complaints section to my blogroll. Please use it to express your complaints to the BBC.
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I bet they got a lot more than 500 complaints.
The Telegraph reports how the BBC was swamped with complaints about its' Middle East correspondent, Barbara Plett's on air admission that she cried when Arafat left for France.
"When the helicopter carrying the frail old man rose above his ruined compound, I started to cry . . . without warning," she said.
All too typical of the BBC. How can anyone trust this organization for fair and unbiased reporting?
I don't.
The BBC's response?
BBC sources said that senior editors had remonstrated with Plett over her words, adding that she too accepted that they had been "misjudged". A BBC spokesman said: "From Our Own Correspondent is one of the few programmes that offers listeners personal stories behind the headlines, a format which permits correspondents to write freely."
However, the fact that a Middle East correspondent has such sympathies will fuel claims that of BBC bias towards the Arabs.
Well, hiring the former editor in chief of Al Jazeera doesn't help either.
It is not enough that we in the blogsphere expose blatant media bias, we must take action to end such bias. That is why I added a media complaints section to my blogroll. Please use it to express your complaints to the BBC.
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Biased BBC journalists
One of the reasons the BBC is so biased is due to the journalists, I use the term loosely, they continue to employ.
Hannah Bayman is a case in point. Hat tip to Biased BBC
Here is what Hannah thinks about the US election on the eve of voting.
There is only one question in this election: do you want Bush in or out of the White House?
Let's hope the US chooses a candidate who stands for international relationships, abortion rights, medical research, secular values and taxes on the richest...
...instead of a warmongering, oil-grubbing, vote-rigging, drink-driving - haven't you seen Fahrenheit 9/11? - weapons-of-mass-destruction-buying, Kyoto-smashing, bible-bashing, chimp.
Aw, come on Hannah, tell us what you really think.
UPDATE: I should have read more of Hannah's site before posting because she points us to more BBC bias.
Tune in to Clive Anderson's hilarious new show this evening at 10pm on BBC Radio Two and you will hear the delightful former royal correspondent Jenny Bond describe Bush as "looking like a chimp and talking like a baboon".
And we have to pay for this nonsense.
The BBC online complaint form is on the left.
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One of the reasons the BBC is so biased is due to the journalists, I use the term loosely, they continue to employ.
Hannah Bayman is a case in point. Hat tip to Biased BBC
Here is what Hannah thinks about the US election on the eve of voting.
There is only one question in this election: do you want Bush in or out of the White House?
Let's hope the US chooses a candidate who stands for international relationships, abortion rights, medical research, secular values and taxes on the richest...
...instead of a warmongering, oil-grubbing, vote-rigging, drink-driving - haven't you seen Fahrenheit 9/11? - weapons-of-mass-destruction-buying, Kyoto-smashing, bible-bashing, chimp.
Aw, come on Hannah, tell us what you really think.
UPDATE: I should have read more of Hannah's site before posting because she points us to more BBC bias.
Tune in to Clive Anderson's hilarious new show this evening at 10pm on BBC Radio Two and you will hear the delightful former royal correspondent Jenny Bond describe Bush as "looking like a chimp and talking like a baboon".
And we have to pay for this nonsense.
The BBC online complaint form is on the left.
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Friday, November 05, 2004
The BBC spreads another urban myth
Writing before the US Presidential election, BBC reporter Justin Webb falls for another urban myth.
George Bush's father lost the 1992 election because he went to a supermarket and plainly had not the slightest idea of what people did in supermarkets.
Snoopes busted that myth a long time ago.
Then the details of the story started to dribble out. Andrew Rosenthal of The New York Times hadn't even been present at the grocers' convention. He based his article on a two-paragraph report filed by the lone pool newspaperman allowed to cover the event, Gregg McDonald of the Houston Chronicle, who merely wrote that Bush had a "look of wonder" on his face and didn't find the event significant enough to mention in his own story. Moreover, Bush had good reason to express wonder: He wasn't being shown then-standard scanner technology, but a new type of scanner that could weigh groceries and read mangled and torn bar codes.
Besides, I'm sure Bush snr did not lose just because of this myth.
Justin goes on with the usual American voters are dumb routine. Remember this article was written before the election. He ends with this bit of information.
The US does have lessons to teach the world when it comes to democracy; lessons pertaining to freedom of speech and freedom of expression and openness.
But there is another lesson that might be added to the list: democracy is one heck of a mess.
Really, Justin? You prefer something else maybe?
What say you now Justin, now that the election is over?
The highest voter turn out in US history. I'm not sure of the exact number but I've seen 68% turn out quoted, Ohio alone had a 72% turnout.
I'd say democracy is doing just fine Justin, inspite of mainstream media.
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Writing before the US Presidential election, BBC reporter Justin Webb falls for another urban myth.
George Bush's father lost the 1992 election because he went to a supermarket and plainly had not the slightest idea of what people did in supermarkets.
Snoopes busted that myth a long time ago.
Then the details of the story started to dribble out. Andrew Rosenthal of The New York Times hadn't even been present at the grocers' convention. He based his article on a two-paragraph report filed by the lone pool newspaperman allowed to cover the event, Gregg McDonald of the Houston Chronicle, who merely wrote that Bush had a "look of wonder" on his face and didn't find the event significant enough to mention in his own story. Moreover, Bush had good reason to express wonder: He wasn't being shown then-standard scanner technology, but a new type of scanner that could weigh groceries and read mangled and torn bar codes.
Besides, I'm sure Bush snr did not lose just because of this myth.
Justin goes on with the usual American voters are dumb routine. Remember this article was written before the election. He ends with this bit of information.
The US does have lessons to teach the world when it comes to democracy; lessons pertaining to freedom of speech and freedom of expression and openness.
But there is another lesson that might be added to the list: democracy is one heck of a mess.
Really, Justin? You prefer something else maybe?
What say you now Justin, now that the election is over?
The highest voter turn out in US history. I'm not sure of the exact number but I've seen 68% turn out quoted, Ohio alone had a 72% turnout.
I'd say democracy is doing just fine Justin, inspite of mainstream media.
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BBC cries for terrorists in Falluja
The BBC once again shows its' support for the terrorists in Falluja.
Here is the lead paragraph.
The Iraqi city of Falluja is braced for an assault by US forces massed on its outskirts.
No mention of the fact that the assault is going to be led by Iraqi troops backed up by the US. No doubt that the US is the major player here but the BBC fails to tell its' readers about the Iraqi troops.
Notice the "The Iraqi city of Falluja is braced..."? The implication is that the US is about to assault the entire inhabitants of Falluja. Deep down in the article we are told,
"A lot of people have left Falluja. Mostly only men remain.
Food may soon run out because key roads to the city are closed
This used to be a city of 500,000 people.
Now, my guess is there are about 100,000 still here."
So, 400,000 have left and only about 100,000 remain and they are all men. Kinda puts things in a different light doesn't it?
But who is giving the BBC all this information?
The BBC News website spoke by phone to a reporter in Falluja, who described how people left in the city live on through siege and bombardment. He is not named for security reasons.
Ok, an unknown reporter from an unknown "news" organization. My reliability needle just went way down and with the next statement, hits bottom.
When I hear bombs falling around my neighbourhood, I keep thinking - any moment now, I could be killed.
Surprise, surprise, the BBC's inside reporter is a resident of Falluja. That explains why the BBC tried to dress this up as a report from a mainstream news organization. Maybe they have a Falluja Freepress newspaper.
The Falluja reporter goes on to tell about how frightening the bombing is but no where in the article are we told about the suffering the terrorists are inflicting on the Falluja residents. Nor are we told that the bombing is targeted at specific terrorist safehouses pointed out to the US by Falluja residents fed up with the terrorists.
One of the pictures of a Falluja resident shows a wound to his knee and has this caption.
US bombing raids cause fresh casualties every day
No mention of the US and Iraqi casualties caused by terrorists attacks emanating from Falluja, every day.
Usual BBC drivel, US bad - poor old terrorists.
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The BBC once again shows its' support for the terrorists in Falluja.
Here is the lead paragraph.
The Iraqi city of Falluja is braced for an assault by US forces massed on its outskirts.
No mention of the fact that the assault is going to be led by Iraqi troops backed up by the US. No doubt that the US is the major player here but the BBC fails to tell its' readers about the Iraqi troops.
Notice the "The Iraqi city of Falluja is braced..."? The implication is that the US is about to assault the entire inhabitants of Falluja. Deep down in the article we are told,
"A lot of people have left Falluja. Mostly only men remain.
Food may soon run out because key roads to the city are closed
This used to be a city of 500,000 people.
Now, my guess is there are about 100,000 still here."
So, 400,000 have left and only about 100,000 remain and they are all men. Kinda puts things in a different light doesn't it?
But who is giving the BBC all this information?
The BBC News website spoke by phone to a reporter in Falluja, who described how people left in the city live on through siege and bombardment. He is not named for security reasons.
Ok, an unknown reporter from an unknown "news" organization. My reliability needle just went way down and with the next statement, hits bottom.
When I hear bombs falling around my neighbourhood, I keep thinking - any moment now, I could be killed.
Surprise, surprise, the BBC's inside reporter is a resident of Falluja. That explains why the BBC tried to dress this up as a report from a mainstream news organization. Maybe they have a Falluja Freepress newspaper.
The Falluja reporter goes on to tell about how frightening the bombing is but no where in the article are we told about the suffering the terrorists are inflicting on the Falluja residents. Nor are we told that the bombing is targeted at specific terrorist safehouses pointed out to the US by Falluja residents fed up with the terrorists.
One of the pictures of a Falluja resident shows a wound to his knee and has this caption.
US bombing raids cause fresh casualties every day
No mention of the US and Iraqi casualties caused by terrorists attacks emanating from Falluja, every day.
Usual BBC drivel, US bad - poor old terrorists.
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Proof the Democrats control the media
As if we needed more proof. CBS using forged documents in an attempt to smear Bush, ABC wanting its' reporters to be more critical of Bush and Newsweek claiming they could deliver 15 points for Kerry.
Spin these events all you want but you will hard pressed to spin this one.
The New York Times, admittedly a liberal newspaper and in conjunction with CBS, tried to spring an election eve bombshell with the looted explosives non story, gives us this bombshell.
The critical moment came at 12:41 a.m. Wednesday, when, shortly after Florida had been painted red for Mr. Bush, Fox News declared that Ohio - and, very likely, the presidency - was in Republican hands.
Howard Wolfson, a strategist, burst into the "boiler room" in Washington where the brain trust was huddled and said, "we have 30 seconds" to stop the other networks from following suit.
The campaign's pollster, Mark Mellman, and the renowned organizer Michael Whouley quickly dialed ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC - and all but the last refrained from calling the race through the night. Then Mr. Wolfson banged out a simple, two-line statement expressing confidence that Mr. Kerry would win Ohio once the remaining ballots were counted.
The New York Times has documented how, at the request of the Democratic Party, ABC, CBS and CNN all refrained from calling Ohio for Bush. These networks were not afraid of a "Florida 2000", they were happy to oblige their Democrat masters.
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As if we needed more proof. CBS using forged documents in an attempt to smear Bush, ABC wanting its' reporters to be more critical of Bush and Newsweek claiming they could deliver 15 points for Kerry.
Spin these events all you want but you will hard pressed to spin this one.
The New York Times, admittedly a liberal newspaper and in conjunction with CBS, tried to spring an election eve bombshell with the looted explosives non story, gives us this bombshell.
The critical moment came at 12:41 a.m. Wednesday, when, shortly after Florida had been painted red for Mr. Bush, Fox News declared that Ohio - and, very likely, the presidency - was in Republican hands.
Howard Wolfson, a strategist, burst into the "boiler room" in Washington where the brain trust was huddled and said, "we have 30 seconds" to stop the other networks from following suit.
The campaign's pollster, Mark Mellman, and the renowned organizer Michael Whouley quickly dialed ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC - and all but the last refrained from calling the race through the night. Then Mr. Wolfson banged out a simple, two-line statement expressing confidence that Mr. Kerry would win Ohio once the remaining ballots were counted.
The New York Times has documented how, at the request of the Democratic Party, ABC, CBS and CNN all refrained from calling Ohio for Bush. These networks were not afraid of a "Florida 2000", they were happy to oblige their Democrat masters.
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