Monday, June 13, 2005

Guantanamo - Interrogation Techniques Exposed

That's it?!? That's all there is to it? Time Magazine's "exclusive" inside look at the interrogation techniques used on "Mohammed al Qahtani, who is widely believed to be the so-called 20th hijacker" reveals - not much.

One would have thought the US would have pulled out all the stops to get this guy to talk. To Time's credit, the word torture is not used once in their article. But try as they might, Time just can't get the dirt on America they want. Witness "the darker reaches of intelligence gathering".

Winter 2002-03 – Additional Techniques Approved: Despite the information gaps, the log offers a rare glimpse into the darker reaches of intelligence gathering, in which teams that specialize in extracting information by almost any means match wits and wills with men who are trained to keep quiet at almost any cost. It spans 50 days in the winter of 2002-03, from November to early January, a critical period at Gitmo, during which 16 additional interrogation techniques were approved by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for use on a select few detainees, including al-Qahtani, TIME reports.


Now we're talking! The "architect of torture", as Amnesty International calls Rumsfeld, has approved specialists, trained to extract information "by any means", the use of "16 additional interrogation techniques". Man, this ought to do it! What's it gona be, eh? I know, I know, electric shocks to the nuts! No, no, a cattle prod up the rectum! No, wait, both at the same time!!

More Muscular Strategies: Al-Qahtani’s resilience under pressure in the fall of 2002 led top officials at Gitmo to petition Washington for more muscular “counter resistance strategies.” On Dec. 2, Rumsfeld approved 16 of 19 stronger coercive methods. Now the interrogators could use stress strategies like standing for prolonged periods, isolation for as long as 30 days, removal of clothing, forced shaving of facial hair, playing on “individual phobias” (such as dogs) and “mild, non-injurious physical contact such as grabbing, poking in the chest with the finger and light pushing.” According to the log, al-Qahtani experienced several of those over the next five weeks. The techniques Rumsfeld balked at included “use of a wet towel or dripping water to induce the misperception of suffocation.” “Our Armed Forces are trained,” a Pentagon memo on the changes read, “to a standard of interrogation that reflects a tradition of restraint.” Nevertheless, the log shows that interrogators poured bottles of water on al-Qahtani’s head when he refused to drink. Interrogators called this game “Drink Water or Wear It.”


Rumsfeld you pansy!! Balking at using torture! Way to go man, you just made a liar out of Amnesty International. I hope your proud of yourself!

And what happens when this guy develops a medical condition? Why these sadistic tortures from hell have the nerve to provide top of the line medical care.

Then the lawyers get involved and "Rumsfeld’s harsher measures are revoked after military lawyers in Washington raised questions about their use and efficacy, TIME reports."

Well gooly gee, if "Rumsfeld's harsher measures are revoked", one can only imagine the horrible torture this poor fellow is going through now. Torture like having to clean his cell. If that doesn't work, he should be made to stay in his room till he shows some respect. If that still doesn't work, he should be made to write 100 times "I am a bad boy". That'll make AI and their ilk mad as hell, but it'll be worth it to get some good intelligence out of this guy.
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Sunday, June 12, 2005

Iraq - Death Throes of the Terrorists

Jack Kelly starts his piece with a little walk down memory lane for those on the left.

Without a hint of irony, Edith Lederer of The Associated Press reported June 3 that "U.N. satellite imagery experts have determined that material that could be used to make biological or chemical weapons and banned long-range missiles has been removed from 109 sites in Iraq."

We've been told repeatedly by those on the Left -- which includes most journalists -- that Bush Lied! when he gave the danger posed by Saddam's WMD programs as one of the reasons for going to war with Iraq. Did the United Nations lie, too? Is it lying now? When did Karl Rove go to work for Kofi Annan?


He finishes with this:

By going after ever softer targets, Iraq's kamikazes have racked up an impressive body count, but are failing in their strategic purpose.

Amir Taheri notes the terrorists began with targeted attacks on American troops. But this failed to dislodge the Americans, and resulted in many insurgent deaths.

Then the terrorists attacked the Iraqi police and army, but these failed to stem recruitment or slow deployment of new units.

So the terrorists began indiscriminate attacks on Shiite civilians. But these failed to provoke a civil war.

Now they are attacking Sunni Arabs, obliterating in the process their base of support.

"The insurgents know how to kill, but they no longer know who to kill," Taheri said.


Which is why they are looking for a way out.
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America - Kerry's Records Released?

Maybe, maybe not.

Thomas Lipscomb has questions and so do I.
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Germany - Fighting for Jackson. Seems the Germans are willing to fight for Michael Jackson but not the Iraqi people. Hat tip: http://eurabiaupdate.blogspot.com/ Posted by Hello

America - Newsweek Shills for Terrorists

Newsweek just can't seem to stop shilling for the terrorists.

Let's set the scene shall we?

When 20-year-old Hamid Hayat left his home in California a little more than two years ago, he was like a lot of young Americans"aimless and a bit unsure about his future. Rail-thin and addicted to videogames, he lived with his parents in Lodi, Calif., a small farming town south of Sacramento.


See? He's just a good ole American boy.

An amiable ice-cream vendor, his father, Umer Hayat, was known around the neighborhood as Homer, after the "Simpsons" sticker on the back of his truck. But the younger Hayat had trouble finding steady work.


Aw, come on man, you don't get any more American than good old Homey, do you?

But all is not as it seems.

He [Hamid] was no stranger to Pakistan. Though born in California, he'd spent his teen years in Behboodi and Rawalpindi, living with relatives and attending religious schools.


Uh oh. Religious schools as in Madrass no doubt.

Don't worry, Newsweek is quick to put the blame for all of this back on the FBI.

The arrest of the Hayats, followed the next day with the arrests of two local imams on immigration charges, was portrayed by the FBI as a demonstration of how far the bureau's efforts to thwart domestic terror have come since September 11. It didn't hurt that the success was announced the same week that the Justice Department released a damning report detailing the FBI's failed attempts to catch the 9/11 hijackers. The FBI clearly hopes the Hayat case will help reassure the public that things at the bureau have changed.


Ah, so even though in an earlier paragraph we are told by Newsweek, that these arrests are "...the first arrests in what officials called a long-running investigation into a suspected terror network in the area" and Hamid was arrested on his return from Pakistan, Newsweek would have us believe it's all a PR stunt! In fact, as Newsweek tells you, but buried in the story on page two, is that the investigation has been ongoing for two years!

Now that Newsweek has planted the seed of doubt, they move in to cement the idea.

Yet last week there were already questions about how strong the case against Hamid Hayat really is, especially after the Justice Department mistakenly released a draft of the affidavit in the case, only to change it a few hours later. The original document contained alarming allegations: that Hayat had admitted that "hundreds of attendees" from around the world had been at the camp, and that he had been trained to attack "hospitals and large food stores" in the United States. In the new affidavit presented at a press conference last Wednesday, those details had been removed. FBI Special Agent John Cauthen says the reference to "hundreds of attendees" was not deemed to be "relevant" to the Feds' case. As for the hospitals and food stores, Cauthen says the agent who interviewed the younger Hayat wasn't "comfortable" that there was any "specific threat" against such targets.


Questions by whom? Newsweek does not tell us. How many attended the camp is not relevant to the case and in light of any specific target the FBI downplays the hospitals and food stores reference. So what?

Now that you are firmly in doubt about the FBI's case, let's turn the tables and make it look like the FBI are up to no good. And what better way to do that than use the Newsweeks tried and tested weapon - the anonymous source!
Despite the early snafus, the case against Hayat cannot be easily dismissed. FBI officials said the probe began two years ago with suspicions about a radical presence in the Islamic community around Lodi. One former law-enforcement official, who asked not be identified because the case is still underway, said the Lodi probe was an early test of the FBI's post-9/11 focus on suspected radical mosques,a practice that caused controversy three years ago, when federal agents were given more leeway to work undercover in religious institutions.


Why, those bumbling, sneaky FBI agents. How dare they? Well, actually they were tipped off but never mind the small details.

But the case took on new urgency at the end of last month, when Hamid Hayat, now 22, decided to return home from Pakistan. According to his cousin Ismail, Hayat had married and wanted to raise a family back in California.


Now hang on just a cotton picking darn minute there, Newsweek. You told us on page one that "... the younger Hayat had trouble finding steady work." You mind telling us how increasing the size of his family was going to help his unemployment situation? Isn't it more likely that a married Muslim with a family wouldn't arouse as much suspicion as a young single male Pakistani Muslim?

The Newsweek article goes on to detail their confessions including how "he and others at the camp were being trained on how to kill Americans," and he "specifically requested to come back to the United States to carry out his jihadi mission,". But none of that means anything to Newsweek and they close schilling for the terrorists.

For now, the Hayats sit in a California jail. The FBI knows that the case, and the bureau's credibility, will be under scrutiny. Since 9/11, the FBI has chased "an incredible number of allegations," says Dennis Lormel, a senior FBI counterterrorism official until December 2003. Yet Lormel says he's "not aware of any specific [Qaeda] cells" that have been found, only individual operatives. Now it's up to the Feds to prove that Hamid Hayat was a would-be Qaeda killer, and not just another unwitting bumbler tangled in the dragnet.


Under scrutiny by whom? And isn't it always up to the prosecution to prove guilt?

Proving someone is a member of a cell is extremely difficult. By definition they remain asleep until activated. In other words, they won't get their targeting orders until just prior to execution of their plan. It's much easier to get them to cop to a plea of supplying material support to terrorists. Here is a look at the problem.

But do you see? Despite the fact that he confessed, Hayat is just "another unwitting bumbler" tangled in the FBI's dragnet.
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Iraq - Terrorists Looking for Way Out

Not long ago the left, anti-war types and Democrats, were looking for a way out of Iraq. Now it looks like the terrorists are looking for a way out.

"Many have been trying to open channels to talk in recent weeks," Kubba said. "Some were calling directly, saying 'We did not kill any Iraqis but took up arms to resist the occupation and want to participate in the political process."

"To those who have not carried out any killings of Iraqis and who are willing to give up violence and intend to take part in the political process, the door is open."


Note the "in recent weeks". Seems operation Matador and Lighting are having the desired effect.

This comes on the heels of the Islamic Army in Iraq and the Mujahideen Army saying they are ready to lay down arms.

The effects of operation Lighting have been dramatic with car bombings dropping sharply since its launch.

And with the combination ofordinary Iraqis turning on the terrorists and coalition forces making offers they can't refuse, the terrorists are being squeezed from every direction.

No wonder they are looking for a way out.
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Islam - bin Laden and the "Golden Chain"

Nice to see this article in Der Spiegel.

The Bin Laden family disowned black sheep Osama in 1994. But have they really broken with the mega-terrorist? Recently revealed classified documents seem to suggest otherwise. Osama's violent career has been made possible in part by the generosity of his family -- and by his contacts with the Saudi royals.


Read the whole thing and see who continues to fund the terrorists.
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Africa - Where the Aid Money Goes

The Scotsman reports "Mugabes' £1m party as millions face starvation".

ROBERT Mugabe and his wife Grace are this weekend preparing for a lavish wedding anniversary celebration by approving a guest list that includes the names of African leaders seeking massive debt relief for their impoverished countries.

"It will be a classy, royal-like occasion," a government source said in Harare. "The Mugabes will be driven from a church service at Kutama Mission outside Harare where they were married in August 1996 in an open Rolls-Royce with horses in front. That's how they want it."

The wedding anniversary party will reportedly cost close to £1m. It will be preceded by a Mugabe family trip to an as yet unnamed country with close ties to Zimbabwe - possibly Libya.

Plans for the lavish celebrations in August have been confirmed as millions of Zimbabweans face starvation. This year the country was forced to import millions of tons of grain, most of it corn from neighbouring countries.

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Kuwait - First Female Cabinet Minister

In another sign that the changes George Bush set in motion are moving in the right direction, Kuwait has appointed its first female cabinet member.

KUWAIT has appointed its first female cabinet member, naming veteran women's rights activist Massouma al-Mubarak as planning minister, the state news agency KUNA said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah "announced the appointment of Dr Massouma Mubarak as planning minister and minister of state for administrative development affairs," KUNA reported.

Mubarak, a columnist and political science professor at Kuwait University, said she had been offered the post, and said she was honoured to be the first woman minister in the Gulf Arab state's history.


Good for her!
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Iraq - Progress

Winds of Change reports on the steady progress being made in Iraq.

Read the whole thing including the links but here is a snippet:

Operation Thunder has temporarily put a dent in the car bombings in Baghdad. Mohammed from Iraq the Model provides a situation report based on the local Iraqi media, and states "The last 24 hours or so resulted in arresting some 300 terrorists and suspects in addition to confiscating amounts of weapons." The number of arrests stemming from Thunder is well over a thousand. The insurgency appears to have pulled up shop and moved north, executing a series of four attacks directed at Iraqi security forces. The Coalition is conducting an offensive in Tal Afar, and as mentioned last weekend, an additional 4,000 US troops have deployed to the Mosul – Tal Afar region. This is twice the amount of men used in Matador and New Market combined.
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Iran - US Aids Spread of Democracy

Did you know that the vast majority of Iranians beleive the US presence in the Middle East aids the spread of democracy?

- Historic Survey Finds Plurality of Iranians Uneasy if Regime Were to Develop WMD's

A recent public opinion survey of Iranians, conducted by The Tarrance Group, surprisingly found that a vast majority (74%) of Iranians feel America's
presence in the Middle East will increase the probability of democracy
in their own country. The survey, which was the first of its kind, found two-thirds of Iranians believe that regime change in Iraq has been a positive for both neighboring countries: with 66% believing that it served Iran's national interests, while 65% believed the Iraqi people will, in the long-run, be better off.

Commissioned by the Iran Institute for Democracy, the survey discovered that a
solid majority (65%) of Iranian adults consider fundamental change in Iran's
system of government, especially its Constitution, a must to bring freedom and
more opportunities to their homeland.

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America - Outpost of Islam?

That's a curious way for The Boston Globe to describe a mosque.

Now, with unease rising because of an FBI terrorist inquiry that thrust the town into the national spotlight last week, civic leaders are again trying to reassure a community that considers itself under siege.


Notice how the Globe shifts the blame to the FBI despite the fact that the "suspects" have already confessed. And notice how Muslims are portrayed as the victims "under siege". Amazing how fast some forget 9/11.

And the Globe is happy to be a mouthpiece for Muslims.

''I'm tired of people blaming Middle Eastern people for everything," said Mohammad, who was born in Afghanistan.

''We don't know what the truth is. But all we've been hearing is lies. People talk about terrorists and Al Qaeda being here. Why would they come to Lodi?"


Well, if you "don't know what the truth is" how do you know that "all we've been hearing is lies"?

As for why terrorists would want to come to Lodi you have to ask the terrorists but here is a clue for you.

Attracted by the area's wealth of agricultural jobs, immigrants from Pakistan began arriving in Lodi almost a century ago. In recent years, immigrants from Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern countries have settled in the city, which is flanked by vineyards and fruit orchards.


And it's not that people are "blaming Middle Eastern people for everything", they are blaming Muslims for terrorism. All the terrorists so far have been Muslims. And a recent march by Muslims against terrorism, held in Washington DC, attracted only about 50 people; including the press and onlookers.

Of course, there are those in denial.

''It doesn't seem to me that we have a terrorist cell working out of Lodi. I don't see any evidence of that," said the mayor, John Beckman.


May I suggest you read their confessions Mr. Mayor?

But a day later, the affidavit states, Hayat, who was born in the United States, admitted in a voluntary polygraph examination that he did in fact attend such a camp for six months in 2003 and 2004; at the camp he received training ''on how to kill Americans," the affidavit says.

Hayat's father is also accused of having lied to the FBI. The affidavit said the elder Hayat, who was born in Pakistan but is a naturalized US citizen, had financed his son's trip to attend the jihadi training camp.


Now, here is where the left jumps in and says "Aha!" but they haven't been charged with terrorists acts.

Neither of the men has been charged with terrorist activity, and authorities said they did not uncover evidence of an imminent terrorist attack. Both were being held in Sacramento without bail.


It remains to be seen what charges they will face but it's important to bear in mind what Hamid admits his intended targets were to be.

Hamid allegedly received terrorist training and funding from the father, an ice cream truck driver, so he could carry out attacks on hospitals and large food stores in the United States. But FBI officials on Wednesday backed away from specific information regarding any type of planned attacks.


Here again we are faced with a catch 22 situation. Do you wait until and attack is imminent or do you break up the cell at an earlier stage?
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Iraq - Car Bombs Decrease Dramatically

The Kuwaiti News Agency reports:

BAGHDAD, June 11 (KUNA) -- Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr Sulagh said on Saturday that insurgent attacks in Baghdad have dramatically decreased since launching Operation Al-Barq, asserting that Iraqi security forces will establish full security in Baghdad within the next six months.

In a press conference in Baghdad, the minister said that the number of car-bomb attacks in Baghdad have decreased from 14 attacks a day to one or two attacks only, while the number of arrested insurgents increased from 10 to 85 a day, noting that Operation Al-Barq has a 90 percent success rate.


Anybody see this reported in the Western press? Thought not.
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Britain - "Hoodiegans" Rampage on Train

First it was football hooligans, now it's "hoodiegans".

A TRAIN passenger has been scarred for life by a gang of hooded yobs chanting: "We're banned from wearing hoodies."

Engineer Dan Bauer, 22, needed six stitches in his face after one kicked in a train door window.

Mr Bauer, of Exeter, Devon, said yesterday: "There was glass everywhere. I ducked but a piece flew into my face.".

He was visiting friends in South Wales when he was caught up in the late-night attack last week.

Dressed in hoodies and baseball caps, the gang boarded the packed train at Cardiff and laughed as they stampeded through the carriages, terrorising passengers.

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China - Bloggers Fight Crackdown

And here is how we can all help by adopting a Chinese blogger. Isn't technology great?

How can people outside of China help Chinese bloggers who want to retain their ability to speak more freely? Adopt a Chinese blog on your server. In order to do this, you need to have a blog on your own server space, not one hosted on Typepad, Blogger, or similar. Interestingly, rather than having a centralized website that will broker and match up interested volunteers with Chinese bloggers in need of help, they’re doing the matching through Technorati tagging. So Isaac says: if you’re interested in helping Chinese bloggers, write a post on your blog expressing your willingness to help and tag it as “” with this code:


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America - Google the Democrat?

Google continues its support of the Democrats.

How much stock does Soros own?

A conservative book publisher says the search engine giant Google rejected his ad for a book critical of Bill and Hillary Clinton while continuing to accept anti-Bush themes.


Now why would they do that?

As WorldNetDaily reported, 98 percent of all political donations by Google employees went to support Democrats.

CEO Eric Schmidt gave the maximum legal limit of donations to Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry and to primary candidate Howard Dean.

Schmidt also contributed the maximum amount to Sen. Clinton, whose role in helping her husband intimidate his female accusers is addressed in the new book.


Google even supports the communist Chinese.

Also, Google has agreed to allow the communist Chinese government to have the search engine block "objectionable" search terms such as "democracy."


Now that Google is publicly traded, what do the share holders think of their companies political bias and support of communist China?
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Iraq - Giving the Nod to Terrorists

The BBC reports "Iraq raids 'kill 40 insurgents' "

The rebels are said to have set up roadblocks near Karabila, about 300km west of Baghdad.


Now that Iraq has an elected government, the Sunnis have joined the political process as well as the Military and police forces, thereby ending any chance of a civil war, the locals are turning on the terrorists, thereby ending any chance of a grass roots "rebellion", and since the BBC itself reports that Iraq is a magnet for terrorists from all over the world, isn't it time the BBC started calling them terrorists instead of "rebels"?
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Saturday, June 11, 2005

Islam - Mark Steyn's Thoughts

Mark Styen at his usual best.

Read the whole thing but here is the conclusion.

In the Middle East, as Baby Assad’s pitiful ‘State of the Union’ speech underlined, free Iraq is a more potent force than all the stagnant dictatorships. In Afghanistan the other day, 600 clerics participated in a ceremony stripping Mullah Omar of his religious authority. And, if it’s Koranic desecration you’re after, how about this under-reported news item from the original Islamic republic a few weeks back? In Iran, revellers marked Tchahr Shanbe Souri, the traditional Persian fire festival, by chanting ‘Down with the Islamic Republic!’ and hurling Islamic texts, including the Koran, into the bonfires. The politicised Islam promoted by the Ayatollah, Osama and the Taleban is already on the wane. It was in essence a parasite leeching on to Western decadence and lack of will. And that’s always been the real issue, as the bogus Guantanamo furore demonstrates only too well.

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Britain - Guardian Hypcorisy

The American Expatriate points out the Guardian notices Bush is not stupid...

Bush's results appear to counter the image portrayed of him in the media as being intellectually inferior. Cartoon sketches, films and books like Stupid White Men, by Michael Moore, have all picked on his supposed dimness, pointing to his at times slow speaking style and use of mid-American vernacular.


...while the Guardian's own cartoonist Steve Bell portrays him as a chimp.

What a schizoid newspaper.
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America - Media Priorities

At a time when the public's confidence in the media is plummeting, look where the media's priorities are.

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (June 10) - About 2,200 members of the media received credentials to cover Michael Jackson's trial - more than the O.J. Simpson and Scott Peterson murder trials combined and enough to form a vast, humming tent city outside the modest courthouse.

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America - Confidence In Media plummets

A Gallup poll shows America trusts its Military, Police and religious leaders far more than they trust the media.

And why not? The public are fed up with the lying liberal press attacking those who protects us, attacks like Newspaper Guild President Linda Foley's, unsubstantiated and slanderous claim that US troops target journalists. A similar unsubstantiated slanderous claim that cost Eason Jordon his job at CNN. The media learned from that debacle - learned to be silent on Foley.

Just take a look at this snapshot of the lying liberal press put together by Michelle Malkin.

Sy Hersh's fudge
AP: The hearings that hadn't started yet
AP and the crowd that didn't boo
Mitch Albom wasn't there
CBS: Rathergate, Obitgate
New Republic: Stephen Glass made it up
USA Today: Jack Kelley made it up
Boston Globe: Fake GI rape photos
Boston Globe again: Patricia Smith made it up; Mike Barnicle made it up
NYT: Jayson Blair wasn't there
WaPo: Janet Cooke wasn't there
And more:LATimes: The Local Liberty blog points to another possible Jayson Blairin Los Angeles.
LATimes again: Robert Scheer made it up

Let's not forget the Mirror's fake Iraq Pictures

And if that isn't enough to convince you MSM have a credibility problem, Reuters admits it has "terrible quality problems" and the BBC admits its reports are 'littered with errors'.

Sadly, they show little sign of changing their ways.

Witness the complicity of The Boston Globe and LA Times in supporting, failed presidential candidate, John Kerry's attempts to cover up his military records.

The public demand the truth, the real truth, not the media's version of it.

Reporter fakes 43 sources in 12 years.

New York Times and AP caught faking it - again.

Media lies of 2005

New York Times phony Abu Ghraib story

More bogus stories from the New York Times including Abu Ghraib, Katrina and Iraq.

Fauxtography

Reuters fakes missle hit on reporters.

New York Times and AP caught lying in Rumsfeld report.

Lebanon: Ambulance bombing hoax.

Editor of Editor and Publisher caught faking story.

Time caught lying in reporting Lebanon war.

America - Foleygate Update

I finally received a reply to my email to several people on the Guild's contact list, asking what they plan to do about Newspaper Guild President Linda Foley's, unsubstantiated and slanderous claim that US troops target journalists.

Mike Hoyt executive editor of the Columbia Journalism Review, sent me this email.

Marc,

Thank you again for the tip. It turned out to be useful, and as of now we're planning to comment on Foley's remarks in our editorial in the next CJR, which goes into the mail in July. If you'll remind me a few days after July 4th I'll send you a link.

regards,
Mike Hoyt
CJR


This short email raises several questions.

First, note Mr. Hoyt begins by thanking be for the tip. This would indicate he was unaware of Foley's comments. If we take him at his word, does this not indicate the level of success the media are having in suppressing this story?

Second, Hoyt says the tip turned out to be useful, an interesting phrase to use. Useful in what way? His email is careful to remain neutral. Is he planning on attacking Foley, supporting her or spinning the story?

Third, Hoyt says that as of now they are planning to comment on Foley's remarks. This sounds to me like Hoyt is giving himself room in case the story doesn't run. Or is he just trying to get me off his back?

I guess for now we will have to give him the benefit of the doubt. But, I've marked 6 July on my calendar to email him back.

Still no reply from the many others I emailed; the silence is deafening.
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Friday, June 10, 2005

America - Anonymous Newsweek Sources

Remember how, after the Newsweek Koran debacle, Newsweek promised to review its anonymous sources policy? Well, it seems Howard Fineman didn't get the memo.


I'm sitting here with a gloomy letter from Iraq, written by a high-ranking officer I cannot name in a branch of service I cannot name in a part of the country I cannot name. But trust me, because I trust him. Iraqis, he says, have no feel for or belief in the democracy we want to create, and our occupation is making them less, not more, capable of self-government.


Yeah, right, we should trust you?

Which prompted Trey Jackson to write:

Fineman (which he is not), and his fellow liberals have become so disjointed by hate, so frustrated by being wrong, and so anti-American, that being right about Iraq -- or more important: Bush being wrong -- is more important to them than us succeeding and the Iraqi's living in freedom and democracy.


So, why don't we e-mail editor Mark Whitaker at Newsweek (mark.whitaker-at-newsweek.com)and ask him why Fineman didn't get the memo on anonymous sources at Newsweek?
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Ireland - JIHAD IN DUBLIN

What the hell is going on in Ireland?


THE blazing afternoon sun is beating down and youngsters with kaffirs wrapped round their heads mimic Palestinian terrorists, drawing on the full power of their small voices to scream anti-Israel slogans.

"Victory to the intifada," shouts one, perched on his father's shoulders as a megaphone is thrust into his face. Another clutching a "death to Israel" placard, is encouraged to join in with the chanting hundreds.

Slowly it forms into a sea of Palestinian flags and banners; the baying crowd's animosity towards the Jewish State is unequivocal.

Incitement to hatred? Not to the police, who turn a blind eye and happily offer consent to the protesters venting their venomous spleens.

It's an all-too-familiar scene frequently played out across the Middle East. Yet these aren't the dusty streets of Ramallah or refugee camps in Gaza. Welcome to the embodiment of liberal harmonisation: 21st century Europe and one afternoon on the streets of the Irish capital.

What had been promoted as a political protest against Israeli government policy turned out to be a furious demonstration of vitriol against the State - and anyone Jewish who caught the protesters' gaze.

The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign pledged it would be peaceful, but the evidence on the streets revealed far more disturbing manifestations. The timing was meticulous, coming just hours before Israel challenged Ireland at Lansdowne Road for a World Cup spot.


And check out this unholly alliance.

And worse was to follow. Initially the Socialist Workers, Sinn Fein activists and Muslims reserved their condemnation for the "occupation of the Territories" and the Israeli military.


And the police response?

An officer monitoring the protests told me: "We've been told to remove Israeli flags and banners. I don't want to be here, but I'm only doing my job."


Again, what the hell is going on in Ireland? Knowing how passionate people are about football and knowing Israel was one of the teams playing, why did the police allow this protest march in the first place. What does this tell us about the Irish police and Irish government?
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Iraq - Citizens Turn on Terrorists

Seems this factory owner has had enough of the terrorists.

The stockpile consisted of over 1,000 sub-munitions and 56,000 fuses.

It was discovered after the owner of the factory met with a Coalition forces government support team, and told them that he wanted to open his factory but needed a pile of explosives removed from it first.


That's a whole lot a ordiance out of terrorists hands.
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Iraq - insurgents 'ready to disarm'

Well let's hope there's something to this.

A prominent Iraqi Sunni politician has said that two insurgent groups are ready to disarm and begin talks with the Iraqi government.

Former minister Ayham al-Samarie said the Islamic Army in Iraq and the Mujahideen Army represented more than 50% of the resistance.

He said he began contacting the groups' political leaders five months ago.

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Korea - Mr. Roh Comes to Washington

Anyone reading this BBC article would get the impression that the tension over North Korea's nukes is Bush's fault. Actually, according to the BBC everything that's wrong in the world is Bush's fault.

There have been tensions in the alliance, with South Korea arguing for a more conciliatory approach.


BBC speak for appeasement.

North Korea repeated this week that it has nuclear weapons and is building more. [...]

US officials say more coercive measures will be needed if North Korea does not return to the negotiating table.

But South Korea, along with China, opposes any talk of sanctions. It has been calling for more flexibility from the United States.


Oh, I get it. Because the US is so inflexible, North Korea builds even more nukes.

The left-leaning government of Roh Moo-hyun is wary of the Bush administration's intentions and worries about hostile rhetoric directed at the North Korean leadership.


Instead of being worried about hostile nukes directed at South Korea.

Public sentiment also remains suspicious of the United States, with many South Koreans blaming the US for provoking the confrontation.


Come again? North Korea, in violation of previous agreements, announces it has nukes and is building even more of them but the US provoked the confrontation?

All this has a lot more to do with China than anything else. China needs North Korea to counter US presence in the region. And China needs South Korea to keep the Dear Leader to the north, propted up.

As for the tensions and cracks in the US/South Korean alliance, they go way back and are deeper than this current crisis. The American Thinker has a must read article to put things into perspective.
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America - BBC: Cox sucks

A new American blogger living in Britain has decided enough is enough and is taking on the British media over their spin and bias.

Take this post about how "the BBC disapproves of Bush's new nominee to head the SEC."

Note the constant use of the passive tense. The SEC "is expected to..." Expected by who? The BBC doesn't say. Doubts have been raised. Who has these doubts? The BBC doesn't say. Mr. Cox is "seen as" close to the finance industry. Seen by who? The BBC doesn't say. Even when the passive voice is abandoned, the actors are vague and unknown. Anonymous "experts" say this and "some commentators" say that. Hell, search the internet long enough and you can find "some commentator" saying virtually anything.


No need to search the internet Scott. The BBC commentators will and do say virtually anything - especially anything anti-American. Just check out my Case Against the BBC.
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Britain - More UK Media Watchers

Welcome to The American Expatriate Blog, which is written by Scott Callahan, an American living in London, who, like me is dedicated to countering the misinformation about America being spread by the British media - especially the BBC.

You can read Scott's Mission Statement here. Here is a snippet.

My primary aim with this site is to document and counter the misinformation about America that regularly flows forth from the British media. The quotation at the top of this site is a perfect illustration not only of the caricatured picture of America that elite British journalists themselves maintain, but also of how unabashed they are in pushing that caricature on to their audience. Americans are often presumed by foreigners to be provincial and uninterested in the rest of the world, which is supposed to contrast with a much more curious and much better informed British public. I don't know if they are particularly more curious, but better informed they certainly are not, at least not if they are relying on the British media, and in particular the state-funded BBC, for their knowledge about America. Hopefully I can demonstrate why that is the case.


Welcome aboard, Scott. We need all the help we can get.

Scott's blog is blogrolled on the left under "UK Media Watch". Pay him a visit, he already has several good posts up and he's only been posting a week!

Good luck Scott.
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America - Annan: "Give More"

Koffi Annan seems to think that throwing money at world poverty will solve the problem. What Annan, and a good many others, fail to understand, is that poverty is not the problem; poverty is a symptom of despotic regimes. Until those countries have free and fair elections, transparent media and free trade, they will continue in poverty.

I agree with Rantburg.

That bleat's starting to wear pretty thin by now. Rich countries have been "helping" poor countries since I was a tad. Some of those same poor countries — war-shattered Japan and Korea, idyllic, agrarian Thailand, steamy, rubber plantation Malaysia — are now in a position to do some helping of their own. The starving children in India are now starting to get plump and happy. Others countries, starting from similar or worse circumstances, shackled themselves to Marxism, "third way" National Socialism, Islam, or outright kleptocracy, and they're stuck right where they were. Places like Zim-Bob-We have actually regressed.

I was a toddler when the Marshal Plan was implemented. I was in junior high when the colonial powers left most of Africa. How the hell old are my grandkids going to be before the continuous demand for money for kleptocrats finally ends? Or will it? Why is it our responsibility to clean up the mess left by Emperor Freddie, Idi Amin, Mobuto Sese Seko, Kwame Nkruma, Samuel Doe, Charles Taylor, Sane Abacha, Jonas Savimbi, and the rest of the host of dear departed or absconded whose relatives send me spam every day, begging my help in secreting their hard-won millions? At what point do the inhabitants of those countries stop either killing each other or hollering "Death to America" and actually start living humdrum lives with families, jobs, and civic responsibilities?


I, like most people, want to alleviate suffering in the world, but this gravy train has been going on since before I was born, and I'm 52. America and other countries around the world have been throwing tax dollars as well as public contributions at this problem with little or no success. We've been putting a band aid on a cancer; it's high time for some invasive surgery.

Why is it that people in Hollywood, the left, anti-war types and the likes of people like Geldof, demonstrate, protest and remonstrate over third world poverty and yet say not a peep about the despots who rule these countries? Why no protests in front of those countries embassies that are causing all the suffering?

I'll tell you why. Because that would result in action, you know actually doing something about it. Better to keep throwing tons of money at the problem and hope that some of it finds its way into some poor starving persons hand, than to lift a hand, and remove the boot from the poor buggers head.

UPDATE

American Expatriate points out America's aid contribution is far more than what the media would have you believe.
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Qatar - Women Get Equal Rights

This sounds promising but we'll have to wait and see how it is implemented.

DUBAI, 10 June 2005 — Qatar took its first step toward greater democracy yesterday, officially adopting a constitution that grants women equal rights and paves the way for the emirate’s first parliamentary elections.

Under the new constitution, the first since Qatar gained independence from Britain in 1971, power effectively remains with the emir, Sheikh Hamad ibn Khalifa Al Thani, but citizens get a greater say in how the country is run. Qatar says that the new charter draws on various sources, including Shariah.

The constitution “states that Shariah is one of the fundamental sources of the legislation, which means it is not the only one, according to Jamal Yahya, an Egyptian expert who helped formulate the charter.


“Qatar is an independent and sovereign Arab country,” the constitution states, adding that “Its religion is Islam and Shariah is the main source of legislation. Its regime is democratic and its official language is Arabic.”

This comes as Syria lifts its 40 year old state of emergency and after they pulled out of Lebanon.

Bush's dominoes just keep falling as democracy sweeps the Middle East. More work needs to be done, especially in Egypt and Iran, but it seems the times they are a changing.
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Britain - Religious Hate Law

I wonder if this would qualify under Britains proposed Religious Hate Law?

Abd Al-Aziz: "The decision to impose one religion over the entire world was made in the Second Vatican Council in 1965."

Host: "Huh?"

Abd Al-Aziz: "Yes. A long time ago."

Host: "They decided to Christianize the world?"

Abd Al-Aziz: "Yes. The decisions of the 1965 Vatican Council included, first of all, absolving the Jews of the blood of Christ. This decision is well known and was the basis for the recognition of the occupying Zionist entity - Israel. The second decision was to eradicate the left in the eighties. I believe we've all witnessed this. The third decision was to eradicate Islam, so that the world would be Christianized by the third millennium."

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Syria - State of Emergency Lifted

Sort of.

Syria's ruling Baath party has voted to ease a state of emergency that has been in force for more than 40 years.

The four-day congress also decided to allow new political parties to be formed, but parties based on religion or ethnicity are expected to be banned.

The congress has also adopted a "social market economy", which seems a first step towards a free market economy.

Recommendations must be approved by parliament and it may take more than a year before they come into force.


As usual, the BBC fail to give credit where credit is due.

The BBC correspondent in Damascus says the reforms, which came at a time of huge international pressure on Syria, were certainly not the great leap forward promised by President Bashar al-Assad - an opinion shared by Syrian pundits.


The BBC just can't bring themselves to give Bush the credit for the changing face of the Middle East. There's a long way to go to be sure, but there is no doubt if not for Bush, the Middle East today would be status quo.
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America - Kerry Still Covering Up

Kerry claims to have released all his military records. But as THOMAS H. LIPSCOMB points out it depends on how you fill out Form 180.

This last part is telling.

Now that the Boston Globe has in its possession what it claims are Kerry's "full military and medical records," is the Globe ready to make these records available to the public? Wilkinson replied, "It is my understanding that Kerry will release these papers to anyone else now that he has signed the Form 180. The Boston Globe is not going to make available the papers we have received."


Can anyone get a copy of Kerry's Form 180 under a Freedom of Information Act request?

UPDATE

My suspcions were right. Kerry did not authorize release of his full military records to everyone.

The new release was prompted by a privacy waiver form, known as an SF-180, that Mr. Kerry signed on May 20, according a spokesman for the senator, David Wade.

A Navy spokesman, Lieutenant Commander Daniel Hernandez, said the waiver applied only to the Boston Globe and did not authorize release of Mr. Kerry's records to the public.

"Kerry controls the release of his records," Commander Hernandez said yesterday. "You have to talk to his office."

The senator also agreed to allow the Los Angeles Times to see his full record, Mr. Wade said yesterday. The spokesman did not respond to a question about why Mr. Kerry did not execute a broader release to all press organizations and the public. Asked whether the senator would permit release of the records to The New York Sun, Mr. Wade said, "The issue is over."


You wish it were over Mr. Wade.

Once again Kerry is caught lying. And notice how he only released his records to two newspapers who support him.

Mr. Nuance is hoping the public are unaware of the nuances of Form 180. By claiming he has finally released his full military records, Kerry now hopes to play the victim card. He also hopes to wear everyone down over the issue. But, as his want, Mr. Nuance is wrong again.

So, the new question becomes, "Senator, when will you release your full military records to the American public?"
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Thursday, June 09, 2005

Blog changes

I've made a few changes to the blog and added a few more books for suggested reading.
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Iraq - Sunnis: Offer They Can't Refuse

Earlier I posted about "Iraq's new government plans to hold its first official meeting as early as tomorrow with members of the Sunni resistance in an effort to end the brutal violence that has left hundreds of civilians dead across the country. "

Here is the kind of offer their going to get.

June 9, 2005: More towns in Iraqi's "wild west" are being pacified. The usual drill is not another Fallujah, but a government official meeting with local tribal and religious leaders, where an offer is made. Iraqi and American troops are coming. Neighborhoods that support the government will see little or no fighting as a search is made for weapons, bombs and the like. Neighborhoods that wish to resist will be hit hard. By now, everyone knows how smart bombs work. Increasingly, Sunni Arab leaders are being told, by their followers, that all this violence is not worth it. After Saddam fell, Sunni Arabs continued to believe in fantasies. For the last two years, the collective delusion was that the Americans had no stomach for guerilla war, and the Kurds and Shia Arabs could never get a government together. Today, Sunni Arabs who can get away on a little vacation, go north to the Kurdish north, or south to Shia Basra. In both places you can sit in an outdoor cafe without fear of a suicide bomb going off down the street. The Kurds and Shia have more jobs, more reconstruction and less crime. The Sunni Arabs don't want to live in their own mess any more. They don't want to live in a combat zone, especially while the Kurds and Shia are not.


Things are improving so much that the EU leaders are visiting.
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Iraq - Battlefield robots saving lives

Interesting.

Reconnaissance robots, such as the backpackable Dragon Runner developed by Carnegie Mellon University, and those that dispose of unexploded mines and bombs have shown that they save soldiers' lives, Hudson said yesterday during a break in the Joint Robotics Program Working Group meeting at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel Pittsburgh.

The success with small ground robots, as well as with unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, has bolstered confidence as the armed forces move toward larger vehicles, such as Carnegie Mellon's 1-ton Gladiator recon robot, which will have longer range and, eventually, operate autonomously.


RoboGI?
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Iraq - Galloway: War Was Over My Fire Engine

I kid you not. George Galloway is a raving lunatic.

In a search for information, I interrupt my brief sabbatical. The Guardian reports today:

MP George Galloway today warned fire chiefs that plans to remove a fire engine from his east London constituency would have to be carried out "over the bodies" of demonstrators.... The MP, who was expelled from the Labour party over his opposition to the war on Iraq, said the fight for the fire engine was of a piece with his anti-war stance.

"The same people killing Iraqis are taking our fire engine away, and they're doing both for the same reason," he said.

I have thought a lot about this. I am familiar with the arguments that run, respectively "the Iraq War was launched by Bush to avenge his daddy", "the Iraq War was launched by Bush for oil" and (my own assessment) "the Iraq War was launched by Saddam with his annexation of Kuwait in 1990, who then failed to adhere to the ceasefire requirements embodied in UN Security Council Resolutions 678 and 687, and therefore was liable to the rightful and necessary exercise of force by the US-led Coalition". But I cannot recall ever having heard before the argument "the Iraq War was launched by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority in order to redeploy a fire appliance to Enfield".


Bwahahahahah
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Iraq - EU leaders visit

More signs Iraq is not the quagmire the left want it to be.

The EU delegation included its foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the External Relations Commissioner, and Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister. Luxembourg currently holds the EU’s rotating six-month presidency, a post that will taken over by Britain in three weeks' time.

They met President Jalal Talabani and were to hold meetings with Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and other members of his Shia-led government.

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Zimbabwe - Approaching End Game?

The Belmont Club has a great round up of the coming crisis in Zimbabwe.
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US - No Hamas Talks

Melanie Phillips notes the New York Times report on the US denial that it is talking to Hamas. The Times article is a subscription but Melanie has most of the article.

'The Bush administration, rebuffing the suggestions of some European officials, will continue to refuse to have contact with the militant group Hamas and its leaders even if some of those leaders win elections in Palestinian areas, a senior administration official said Monday.The official said that a ban on contacts with Hamas was required because the group was listed by the United States as a terrorist organization, and that the United States would not follow a practice of some European countries of engaging with the group's political wing even if it also had an armed wing carrying out attacks on civilians."The president has said that Hamas is on the terrorism list, and it's there for a reason," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We don't recognize that you have changed your behavior just because a group is running candidates as well as suicide bombers."

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America - al Qaeda On Our Shores

Yesterday I posted about the alleged al Qaeda terror cell the FBI broke up in Lodi. I say alleged because those involved have not been convicted yet. However, it's important to point out what one of them has allegedly confessed to.

An FBI affidavit says Hamid Hayat first denied any link to terror camps, but then told agents he attended an Al Qaeda camp in Pakistan for six months. [...]

"Hamid advised that he specifically requested to come to the United States to carry out his jihadi mission," according to the affidavit. "Potential targets for attack would include hospitals and large food stores."


Of course it remains to be seen if he retracts his confession when it goes to trial.

This post prompted this comment:

Marc, can you point me in the direction of ANY evidence that any sleeper cells have been found? I mean real evidence here......not wingbat nonsense from NewsMax or similar right wing tabloid site. You know, criminal convictions or the like.

Odds on that absolutely nothing will come of the arrests you link to.


I presume he means post 9/11 as most people do. But why do people use 9/11 as the starting point for al Qaeda sleeper cells and why just focus on sleeper cells? It's as if nothing happened before 9/11 and the only evidence that al Qaeda wants to attack America on American soil, would be convicted members of sleeper cells. That is naive and dangerous.

The first World Trade Center bombing was carried out by an al Qaeda sleeper cell, headed by Ramzi Yousef, a Kuwaiti who entered the US on a fake Iraqi passport and began planning the attack in 1991, on February 26, 1993. The attack killed 6 and injured over 1000. Several members of the sleeper cell were convicted and remain in prison.

This tells us several things. First al Qaeda has long wanted to attack the US on American soil. Second, they are prepared to plan and wait - for years if need be.

The second attack was carried out by an al Qaeda sleeper cell in 2001. We know the results of that.

Then there is the case of the "Lackawanna six" or "Buffalo six" convictions. They confessed and were convicted of supplying material support to terrorists and not of being a sleeper cell. The left point to this as an "aha" case and proclaim they were not a sleeper cell. Well, by definition the cell "sleeps" till activated.

Let's look at the Buffalo six's recruitment, training and preparation.

The main recruiter of the Lackawanna Six, a Saudi born in Buffalo named Kamal Derwish, was killed in November 2002 by a CIA-launched Predator missile attack on al Qaeda operatives in Yemen.

A Derwish friend and al Qaeda recruiter who preached the religious obligation of training for jihad at the Lackawanna mosque, Juma al-Dosari, has been in custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since his capture by U.S. forces near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.


These men were recruited by al Qaeda and trained by al Qaeda.

Al-Bakri and five other men in custody flew to Pakistan and drove to Afghanistan in the spring of 2001. During their six-week stay, they were instructed in the use of Kalashnikov and M-16 automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, and taught to assemble explosives at Al Farooq camp near Kandahar.

The recruits heard al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden speak in person just a few months before he ordered the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States.


So, before September 11, 2001, these men received arms and explosives training at an al Qaeda training camp and received guidance from bin Laden personally. If their role was merely to provide material support to al Qaeda why the training in arms and explosives? Remember, these me were recruited, trained and instructed that waging jihad was there "religious obligation" and they returned to the US after their training.

Then there is the case of Earnest James Ujaama who was indicted "on charges of conspiring to set up an al Qaeda terrorist training camp in rural Oregon in an attempt to further promote "violent jihad" against the United States." Note the charges date back to 1999, six years after the first trade center bombing and two years before 9/11.

Ujaama plea bargained, confessed to a lesser charge and was given some liency in exchange for his cooperating with authorities.

What's also interesting about Ujaama is that he studied at London's Finsbury Mosque, the same Mosque attended by confessed shoebomber Richard Reid and would be shoebomber Saajid Badat.

Finsbury Mosque is also where the so called "millennium bomber", so named for trying to blow up LAX airport in 1999, Ahmed Ressam studied.

Al Qaeda did and still has a determination to blow up aircraft due to the mass fear it spreads around the world.

What does all this tell us? That al Qaeda is dedicated to attacking America by any means necessary - including sleeper cells. To argue otherwise is naive and dangerous. Why would al Qaeda use every other means to attack the US and not employ sleeper cells? Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, as they say.

Both attacks on the Trade center were carried out by al Qaeda sleeper cells - 8 years apart. Are we to seriously believe that al Qaeda gave up on a plan, using sleeper cells to attack America, that worked so spectacularly?
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Iraq - Terrorists Splitting?

Is this another sign the terrorists in Iraq are starting to split from one another?

Iraq's new government plans to hold its first official meeting as early as tomorrow with members of the Sunni resistance in an effort to end the brutal violence that has left hundreds of civilians dead across the country.

Representatives of Sunni insurgent forces from the restive western al-Anbar province plan to sit down with members of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's government tomorrow or Saturday, an Iraqi official said on the condition of anonymity.


Remember, Zarqawi says anyone who co-operates with the government is an infidel and a legitimate target.
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Iran - Freedoms? What Freedoms?

Reuters would have you believe Iran is a virtual democracy.

Political debate is freer, ordinary people are less afraid to speak out and demand more from their leaders, the judiciary and Intelligence Ministry are more accountable and women play a more active role in society and the economy.


That's not how Michael Ledeen sees it.

The cheerless creatures who rule the Islamic republic of Iran have developed a particularly wicked use of torture. Not only do they use the full panoply of physical and psychological horrors on their captives, but they then send the victims back into their homes and neighborhoods for brief periods of “parole” or “medical leave,” so that their friends and families can see with their own eyes the brutal effects of the torture. The clear intent of this practice is to intimidate the population at large, to break the will of would-be dissenters and opponents, and to maximize the effects of the victims themselves, for the brief respite from the pain of the prisons is mercilessly accompanied by the certainty that the agony will soon resume.


And

The mullahs are greatly annoyed at the uppity behavior of the people, and have insisted that everyone vote. They badly want to be able to tell the world that they are a legitimate government (or better yet, in the infamous words of former Deputy of State Armitage, “a democracy”), and a low turnout would give the lie to that claim. A few days ago, the administrators of the Free Islamic College in Roudan (near the capital) offered free rice and kebabs to anyone who showed up for a rally for Hashemi Rafsanjani, the man who would be president again. But very few attended, and no students or professors came at all. The regime has intensified its jamming of foreign broadcasts, and the major cities are now blanketed with microwave transmissions the mullahs hope will prevent the people hearing calls from the diaspora to stay away from the voting booths on election day.

Meanwhile, six political prisoners in Karaj Prison have started their second week on hunger strikes, and eight others have joined them. Three other political prisoners — Taghi Rahmani, Mehdi Saber, and Reza-Ali Jani — smuggled a letter out of prison, addressed to outgoing “reformist” President Khatami, declaring that they have been savagely tortured. Rahmani said he had been held in solitary confinement for 134 days, and the others described humiliations I do not care to repeat here.


No Amnesty outrage at this Abu Ghraib? No comparison to the Soviet Union? No colorful banner on their webpage proclaiming "Iran Betrays Human Rights"? No, just hypocrisy.
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America - Muslims desecrate American flag

World Net Daily reports "A group of American Muslims produced a video that shows its members on a New York City street corner declaring Islam's dominance over America as they tread on a U.S. flag and then rip it apart."

They also let us know where their loyalties lie.

The five-minute piece begins with a man speaking in clear English: "Just to show where our loyalty belongs to -- you see this flag here? It's going to go on the floor [sic]. And to us, our loyalty does not belong to this flag, our loyalty belongs to Allah ... ."


As Michelle says, watch the video, "Then e-mail editor Mark Whitaker at Newsweek (mark.whitaker-at-newsweek.com) and ask him when they'll be covering the story."

I notice they are described as "American Muslims", which would indicate they are American citizens. As citizens they are allowed to desecrate the American flag as a freedom of speech. But if they want to renounce their loyalty to America, I presume this means they want to renounce their citizenship. That being the case, round them up, ask them if they do indeed renounce their citizenship, those that say yes, deport them.
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Britain - Religious hatred bill

Here we go again, pandering to Muslims.

A new bill that would make incitement to religious hatred illegal is being unveiled by the government. [...]

The government says the legislation is a response to the concerns of faith groups, particularly Muslims, who feel they are not given the same protection under the law as others such as Christians or Jews.


Australia introduced just such a bill and the only ones in jail so far are Christians.

However, he added: "Followers of different religions will be allowed to criticise each other, but they will not be allowed to use insulting behaviour that is likely to stir up hatred."


Which is just perfect for Muslims because they consider the Koran to be the absolute word of God. To criticise Islam is insulting behaviour to Muslims.

Rowan Atkinson has warned that comedians like him were at risk of prosecution for lampooning religious figures.

But Home Office ministers pointed out that this was not the intention of the legislation.


Of course it is.

Contact your MP and tell him you are opposed to this threat to free speech.
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Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Africa - America The Cheap?

Yeah, we hear it all the time.

Most recently it was in regards to America's efforts in the tsunami disaster, which the BBC's Peter Marshall called "superfluous". This prompted a scathing rebuke from The Telegraph (UK).

Last week we were subjected to one of the most extraordinary examples of one-sided news management of modern times, as most of our media, led by the BBC, studiously ignored what was by far the most effective and dramatic response to Asia's tsunami disaster. A mighty task force of more than 20 US Navy ships, led by a vast nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Abraham Lincoln, and equipped with nearly 90 helicopters, landing craft and hovercraft, were carrying out a round-the-clock relief operation, providing food, water and medical supplies to hundreds of thousands of survivors.


There's lots more in that article, so be sure to read it all.

Now we're hearing it again over aid to Africa and once again The BBC puts the knife in.

All the president could stump up was a paltry $600m (£327m) for emergency famine relief in Ethiopia and Eritrea - welcome perhaps, but a drop in the ocean long-term.


I thought reporters were suppose to report the news not editorialize. Silly me. If the BBC reporter, James Landale, had done is job of reporting the facts, like Rosemary Bennett and Roland Watson did in this Times (UK) article, he would have known that "The money would be on top of $1.4 billion the US has already provided this year to help the UN to reach a goal of $4.5 billion".

So, instead of "a paltry $600m" as Landale puts it, the figure is actually $2 Billion.

The Times (UK) takes a different view.

Bush was firmly behind the pledges of more aid secured at the United Nations conference in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2002. There, he announced that the US would boost its aid by half over three years, a rise of $5 billion (£2.76 million) a year by 2006. The US's Millenium Challenge Account, giving grants to poor countries, has made good government a condition of the payments, helping to answer the growing criticism of wasted aid.


Which is what is really needed to end the poverty gripping Africa.

Even The Guardian does a better job than the BBC, even though they use a dire headline.

"...the US will stump up extra cash that in the long term will cancel $15bn (about £8.2bn) of accumulated debt."


Actually the US is going further than that.

On debt cancellation the Americans promised not merely 100% cancellation, but also additional funding to ensure that the World Bank does not lose out over cancelled interest payments.


Here's a suggestion for the BBC. Let's give half the TV license fee this year to Live 8 and your lame ass reporters can take a one year pay cut for not doing their jobs.
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Iraq - Chemical Weapons Found?

The Kuwaiti News Agency is reporting that during the arrest of two Zarqawi associates, "a quantity of chemicals used in the manufacture of banned weapons" was found.

ARBIL, June 8 (KUNA) -- Two aides of terrorist leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi have been arrested, said director of the Kurdish National Alliance operations' center in Mosul Asu Mamand.

In statements to the press on Wednesday, the Kurdish official named the two aides as Ibrahim Mohammed Khattab and Ali Abdullah, known as Ali Al-Zuhairi, adding that they were also aides to Zarqawi's right-hand man Mullah Mehdi who was arrested last week.

He went on to say that a large amount of weapons, equipment and documents were seized at their hideout, as well as a quantity of chemicals used in the manufacture of banned weapons.


No word on the "quantity" or what the chemicals were.

Were these left over from Saddam or is Zarqawi importing chemical weapons into Iraq?
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America - LA Times Shills for Kerry

Yesterday I raised several questions about the supposed release of Kerry's "entire" military record. Those included: Did he sign Part III of Form 180 granting anyone access to his records? Did Kerry use the section of Form 180 which allows you to restrict certain documents, like discharge papers?

Note this from the Times article:

"...and a perceived lag between Kerry's discharge from the Navy in 1970 and a later departure date in 1978."

There is nothing perceived about it.

I agree with O'Neill when he says:

"If he made a true universal release of his records and not through selective journalists, maybe we could get to the records that would answer some of these questions," O'Neill said. "If there were orders, for example, that sent him to Cambodia, they should be in his file."


I suggest the Swift Boat Vets issue a request for Kerry's records and see what they get.
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Africa - Hollywood: Love Reborn

The Telegraph (UK) reports on Hollywood's rekindled love with Africa. But this time it's not about Tarzan or big game hunters. Hollywood is finally paying attention to the greed and corruption that plaques Africa and is the root cause of poverty there and not the lack of aid.

First up is Idi Amin.

The big names of Hollywood have launched a new "scramble for Africa" using the dark continent as the backdrop for a series of major new movies.

The latest in a spate of films is The Last King of Scotland, the fictional story of a Scottish doctor who witnesses the murderous regime of Idi Amin.


More are planned.

Increasingly, the films do not simply exploit the continent's wildlife and landscapes as local colour. They also reflect the growing concern for the fate of its people - and the crimes of their rulers.

In Kenya last year Ralph Fiennes, Bill Nighy and Rachel Weisz appeared in The Constant Gardener, based on John le Carré's novel about African corruption and greedy western drug companies.

Nicole Kidman is about to star in Emma's War, about the British aid worker Emma McCune, infamous for marrying a rebel warlord during Sudan's civil war.

Hotel Rwanda led the African assault on Hollywood, with its portrayal of one man's courage during the 1994 genocide. The film was nominated in this year's Academy Awards.


Too bad these didn't come out before Geldof's Live 8 protest. That way, instead of marching on Edinburgh, they could march on the embassies of Mugabe and others.
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Britain - Ofcom: BBC Needs Radical Reform

That's something we've been saying for years.

The Guardian reports.

Ofcom has renewed its call for radical reform of the BBC board of governors, urging the government to stick with proposals for an independent body overseeing all public service broadcasting.

The media regulator has rejected proposals in the green paper to establish a "BBC Trust", the government proposal for a replacement body to the board of governors, saying the changes do not go far enough.

Government critics say the BBC Trust is just the board of governors by another name - and Ofcom has now firmly placed itself in this camp.


Good for them.
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America - Amnesty Shows Its True Colors

Powerline has the details along with a graphic.
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Iran - What's Behind the Veil?

The Big Pharaoh

"No, I went there on a business trip. We had a meeting with a number of Iranian businessmen who are going to import our products. My American colleague John (not his real name) came with me. Man, I was scared to death before going there. I mean here I am an Egyptian guy accompanied by an American on a trip to Iran. You sure know that relations between Egypt and Iran are not so good, not to mention the US!! I was also afraid lest I break some religious rule and regret it! Or we get arrested because of John" he said.

"So, tell me about it" I asked.

"Well, I stayed there for 5 days. I got drunk in the first 3! Man, there ain't a house or an office I entered that didn't have a mini bar in it full of smuggled booze from Smirnoff vodka to Heineken beer! I was shocked. Everyone drinks there. Their private life is the complete opposite of what you see on the street. We went up a mountain with a group of Iranians and had all the fun there. When they knew that John was American, they were like flies around him. They took his email, phone number, and stuff" he said.

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Syria - Supporting Terror in Iraq

This Guardian article begins with this mis-leading statement:

Islamist insurgents have turned the aftermath of the war in Iraq into a seemingly endless holy war, and are still pouring into the country to fight the 'American devil'. En route, many of them pass through Syria. Ghaith Abdul-Ahad visits the ancient city of Aleppo and hears one jihadi's story.


The Guardian continues the theme that the war in Iraq breeds more terrorists and made the world more unsafe. But as you read the article you will see the unholy war started long before the Iraq war, a war which only made the Americans more accessible.

Two weeks after September 11 they decided to have a celebration. They called it "the Festival of America the Wounded Wolf". They made a video of martial arts fighting, including hand-to-hand combat and training exercises in which they jumped off 8m-high walls. During this time, Abu Qaqaa was arrested by the Syrian authorities, but was released within hours. "We thought, 'Oh, how strong our sheikh is that they do not touch us,' " Abu Ibrahim remembers. "How stupid we were."

By 2002 they were organising anti-American "festivals" twice a week. Food and CDs of sermons were distributed freely and the group, now calling itself "the Strangers of Cham [the Levant]", grew more popular. One festival was called "the people of Cham will now defeat the Jews and kill them all".

"Officials used to come to these festivals, security chiefs, advisers to the Syrian president. We had Palestinian flags and scarves saying, 'Down America'. It was very well organised - we tried to inspire young men and encourage them. We even had a website." The group grew bigger and stronger, its reputation and CDs reached other Arab countries, and young men from Ramadi, Salahuddin and Mosul provinces in Iraq came to seek them out. Meanwhile, money started pouring in from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.


What this article shows is how more unsafe Syria and Saudi Arabia have made the world. It also shows how naive and mistaken the media are about what the unholy war's goals are. A mistake that may prove deadly.

Abu Ibrahim's goal is to re-establish the Islamic caliphate, and he sees the rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan as one of the few true Islamic governments since the time of the Prophet. He thinks the Qur'an is "a constitution, a law to govern the world". His views are severe, narrowly defined and impractical. But it is important to understand his anger and his contradictions, because Abu Ibrahim is as close to al-Qaida as it is possible to get.


That's what this unholy war is about - re-establishing the Islamic caliphate. America is merely an obstacle, a big obstacle to be sure, in their path to the goal.

Still, from the article you get a sense of how involved Syria and Saudi Arabia are in aiding this unholy war.
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Ships Store Now Open!

The USS Neverdock ship's store is now open! I'll be adding more products and designs in the future.

The link is on the top left of the page.

Thanks to all who support USS Neverdock!
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America - al Qaeda Sleeper Cells

The FBI has broken up an al Qaeda sleeper cell in California.

Federal officials believe they have broken up an al Qaeda terror cell operating in Lodi and have arrested two men and detained two others as part of a wide-ranging investigation, authorities said Tuesday.


But the FBI maintains that there are no al Qaeda sleeper cells in the US. How many more cells are they going to break up before they admit that such cells do indeed exist in the US?
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Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Canada - CBC anti-Americanism

Broadcaster Magazine reports on a study of Canada's Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that finds the broadcaster guilty of spreading anti-Americanism.

You can read the numbers but here is the conclusion.

In total, despite the relative short period of time atter the 9/11 attacks, the CBC's opinion statements of America during 2002 were overwhelmingly critical of American policy, American actions, and American purposes.

"CBC has certainly claimed an important agenda-setting role for itself. To the extent it deserves the reputation it covets, the corporation is at least partly responsible for enhancing and sustaining anti-Americanism in Canada following the 2001 terrorist attacks. CBC, in short, helped turn the joint outrage of Canada and the United States at the terrorists into mistrust and animosity between the two neighbours," Cooper concluded.


Ouch!
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Islam - Teaching Kids to Hate

LGF notes how Muslims teach their kids early on how to hate and kill Jews; complete with video.

Reporter: Abd Al-Sattar’s favorite game is “Jews and Arabs.”

Boy: The Arabs are in the street. The Jews stand over there and we shoot at them, and throw rocks and grenades at them.

Reporter: To win the game, the player must die.

Boy: Burn the tank!

Boy: Martyrdom for the sake of Allah is our greatest desire. Oh God! Don’t be afraid because fear hurts me. Don’t be sad because sadness frightens me. Don’t scream because screams kills me.

“Injured” boy: Shoot at them. Shoot at them!

Boy: We are all dead, mother, but don’t be sad. Mother, rejoice! Rejoice that I died a martyr’s death for the sake of Allah.

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Brain Bliss