Tuesday, December 31, 2002

Kofi Annan Says No Reason For War In Iraq



Because Hussein has said he has no weapons and the UN has been in there a few weeks and hasn't found any yet ... so therefore he must not have them. Isn't this the same UN that insisted anti-Israeli politicians should go to Jenin in order to confirm there wasn't a massacre? And to keep looking until they found one?

Annan has become the great appeaser ... he makes Neville Chamberlain look absolutely visionary.

Article Here

Monday, December 30, 2002

Canada Lets In More Terrorists



Further proof that we need to stop the free border with Canada or require that they maintain some kind of standard for immigration. Up to 19 men of Islamic background have entered the United States illegally in the last few days on a possible terror mission ... reaching the United States by using phony IDs to travel through Britain and then Canada. Once they get into Canada ... and anyone can, it seems ... they just took their chances crossing the border.

Thanks again, Canada. Next time be sure to give them Canadian citizenship on their way through so you can complain when we ship them back to their actual Muslim country of origin rather than Canada ... where they can simply sneak in all over again.

Article Here

Iraq Says There's A Double Standard For North Korea



They're right ... and as usual, you will start to hear the same arguments from the American left wing as you do from racist, mysogynist dictators so get ready. The reason why there has to be a double standard? Because the politics of appeasement in N. Korea by Mr. Clinton specifically led to the problems there. Clinton understood that he could lie at will but found it unlikely that an evil dictator in N. Korea would.

It may be too late to do anything about N. Korea without sacrificing a lot of S. Korean lives. In addition, both China and Russia recognize that N. Korean eyes may always look toward the south ... especially when there's fertile land for a poor country in the northern territories. Thus they have some interest in keeping N. Korea quiet, and since China llacks any concern for the will of its people or the value of their lives, they may be inclined to handle the problem without American involvement.

Iraq should be attacked for this reason: Because American policy was a failure in Korea does not mean we should allow policy in Iraq to fail also.

Article Here

Saturday, December 28, 2002

Hamas Calls for More Attacks on Israel



There's a surprise.
Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin told 30,000 supporters Friday that the group will keep carrying out suicide bombings and shootings in Israel, despite talks between the Islamic militant group and Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction on suspending such attacks.

Well-meaning anti-Israelis in the west meanwhile continue to believe that if Israel would just pull back from the Arab territory they occupy, this problem would all go away. It won't go away, unless the Israeli pullback is into the sea ... followed shortly thereafter by the rest of the non-Muslim world.

href='http://apnews.excite.com/article/20021227/D7O65GUO0.html'>Article Here

Jordan Mulls Post-Saddam Iraq



Like every other dictator in the region, they're scared of another democracy in the mid-east ... but what they say they're scared of is a multi-ethnic civil war. Kurds and Iraqis squaring off on each other. To be sure, Jordan should be concerned. Anyone who seeks to oppress people is going to be afraid of anything that puts the notion of freedom in the hands of the people.

Article Here

Thousands Head To Gulf



Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain, among other locations. Thousands of troops, two aircraft carrier battle groups and scores of combat aircraft.

Article Here

Saudi Arabia's Off Again On Again Ally Status



The latest indications are that they will now allow us to use Arabian bases for support during the Iraq war. Peace loving follower of Islam Osama Bin Laden cited infidel presence during the Gulf War as the key reason for declaring jihad on the US. It will be interesting to see which in the new breed of terrorists will use that as the basis for anti-Christian hatred.

Article Here

Saturday, December 21, 2002

U.S. Vetoes Resolution Condemning Israel for Three UN Worker Deaths



This is a judgment call. Since this is an Arab backed resolution ... and we're the only country that backs Israel, it doesn't seem out of place that the US would stand for its own when the Arab League does the same thing. These were UN workers that were killed so the Arab League felt they could slip something through on sympathy, or make the US veto it and show favoritism.

Well, okay, favoritism shown ... but UN workers can also be a little smarter. Don't have Palestinians with guns hiding in your building and don't hold your cell phone in your hand anywhere near them when you do it. These are soldiers, after all, in a place where everyone wants to kill them.

The Arab resolution demanded that Israel "refrain from the excessive and disproportionate use of force in the Occupied Palestinian territories." Force would be completely unnecessary if they would simply stop funding the Palestinian culture of death.

Article Here

Wednesday, December 18, 2002

Dutch Court Releases Suspected Terrorists



A Rotterdam court found French national Jerome Courtailler and Algerian Abdelghani Rabia not guilty of hatching a plot to attack the U.S. embassy in the heart of the French capital.

When their home was raided, police found videos featuring al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden along with fake passports, fake driving licenses and false credit cards.

Judge Stephaan van Klaveren said the prosecution did not have enough proof at the time to make the arrests and conduct the raids. But even if the evidence obtained had been valid, it was still insufficient to condemn the defendants, he said.

The defendants received the verdict silently. Ibrahim, wearing a blue Nike tracksuit, smiled when a reporter congratulated him, and Courtallier's lawyer, Ingeborg Saey, said: "He's surprised. He can go now and is very happy."

Of course he is surprised. He KNOWS he's a terrorist! He's surprised that the Dutch don't.

Article Here

US To Charge Hamas Leader



And his wife, in the US, and his four brothers, in the US ... because surprisingly, the Muslim charity they ran was actually a front for funnelling money to terrorists.

Additional charges include export violations, making false statements, dealing in the property of a designated terrorist, conspiracy and money-laundering.

The vice president, Ghassan Elashi, is also the chairman of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, the nation's largest Muslim charity that the U.S. government has designated a terrorist group and shut down in 2001.

The Vice President of INFOCOM Corp, Richardson, Texas, where they all are employed, Ghassan Elashi, is also the chairman of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, the nation's largest Muslim charity that the U.S. government has designated a terrorist group and shut down in 2001.

Article Here

Hamas Resurgent



In kindergartens run by the Islamic charities every little seat is taken.

Here the teachers pass on a controversial vision of a Palestine that stretches from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River, a Palestine that denies Israel's right to exist.

"Who is trying to take away your land?" the teacher asks a class of four-year-olds crowded around low round tables.

"The Jews," they shout. "Will you let them?" she asks. "No," they respond.

This is a school funded and run by Hamas, the organization Arafat claims to control, yet which is increasingly spiralling out of his influence. If Arafat can't even speak for the group he fronts, how can he negotiate for all Palestinians?

Article Here

Roman Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem Calls On Both Sides To Quit If Peace Isn't Achieved



Patriarch Michel Sabbah is Palestinian by birth so he naturally saved his strongest barbs for the Israelis, calling on Christians to "turn checkpoints into places of worship" if Israel does not ease travel restrictions on Palestinians over the Christmas period. He also urged Israel to work towards ending its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Now why would Muslim Palestinians need fewer travel restrictions during a Christian holiday? That sounds like a recipe for trouble.

Patriarch Michel has been a supporter of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and a stern critic of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The one concession he did make in his latest statement was to retract support for the latest Intifada, at least to the media.

"If Palestinians had resisted Israeli tanks with an olive branch, they would have neutralised Sharon's military machine," the cleric told journalists after his public address.

Article Here

Saturday, December 14, 2002

Arafat Tells A Dead Man To Stop Exploiting Palestinians



Arafat vs. Bin Laden ... I'd pay to see those two tough-guy wanna-be's square off with each other ... how much money could they throw at other people to kill each other? Recession ended!

Anyway, Arafat gave an interview after a purported al Qaeda statement was posted on the Islamist Web site www.azfalrasa.com, claiming responsibility for last month's bomb attacks on an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, that killed 16 people.

"Why is bin Laden talking about Palestine now? ...He never helped us. He was working in another, completely different area and against our interests," Arafat told the paper.

"I'm telling him directly not to hide behind the Palestinian cause," Arafat said.

If Arafat wants the Palestinians to stop being exploited, he could start with the Arab League. They're the ones who whisper in his ear and tell him never to have peace with Israel unless all of the Palestinians ever born can move into Israel. All it keeps costing him, and them, is Palestinian blood. The Arab League doesn't care about Palestinians ... but Arafat should.

Article Here

Friday, December 13, 2002

Norwegians Protest Carter Nobel Prize



Let's establish something ... he got this award because the Norwegians wanted to send a message to Bush. They didn't give it to him for his work in 1979 or in the 23 years since.

Yet not all Norwegians agree. If you're an Iranian expatriate who left in 1979, you don't like Carter at all. You see, Carter knew that the Shah was losing it yet he remained attached to him. He knew about the human rights abuses and could have backed the moderate insurgents ... instead, he paved the way for the radical fringe to take control.

So there were only 40 people shouting "Shame on the Nobel Committee" and "Shame on Carter" as they demonstrated outside Norway's National Theater but they're a reminder that Carter can be remembered for many things, but success in the mid-east is not among them.

Article Here

Thursday, December 12, 2002

Carter Offers To Mediate The Mid-East



Yes, President Carter ... the guy who got the Nobel Prize because the Swedes don't like Bush and want him to do what Carter did ... namely, kill the economy and let us look stupid everywhere from Moscow to Managua.

Somehow he seems qualified because the press has painted him as a great President ... yet the only thing they list as his accomplishment is peace between Israel and Egypt. It took billion dollar bribes to get Egypt to sign, it seems ... yet this is a country that had their heads handed to them over and over by the Israelis. American taxpayers have to cough up money for that every year? They should have been begging for peace. If we had let Israel keep 1/10th of the land they could have kept in any of those victories, Egypt would have signed a peace treaty for free.

So this is the guy who can bring peace in our time? How much will this cost us? Here's what he will do, since he does not realize he is dealing with Arabs. He will take Israel's last negotiated position and the last position the Arabs adopted after they saw the most Israel was willing to give ... and insist they split the difference. This is what it always comes down to ... he should work for the UN, since that's the solution they always have as well. Not splitting the difference between what they have now and what the Palestinians want, splitting the difference between the old agreement Israel accepted and what Arafat later demanded.

Mr. Carter should stick to building houses ... better yet, he could pretend to be allied to the hardliners in Iran ... that sure got their government overthrown last time.

For the record, no one actually asked him to get involved ... he simply offered that he was willing to become involved. He doesn't seem to realize just why and how he got his Nobel prize ... he thinks it's actually about him.

Article Here

OPEC To Cut Oil -- Or So They Say



Since many of these oil producing nations have the GDP of somewhere around the level of Cuba, they don't have many other ways to generate currency.

Who's the leader of this increase in prices? Our friends the Saud family, of course.

It seems one part of the family is not talking to the other. With tanks going into the mid-east every day it 's a bad time to give the western democracies further incentive to go into Iraq.

Combining the removal of an evil despot with freeing the Iraqi people with removal of sanctions in Iraq and cheaper oil is a recipe for intervention. Clearly the Saud family is only giving lip service to hesitating about Iraq to keep themselves from being bombed ... and I'm sure Hussein wishes they had picked a different time to make this announcement.

Article Here

Canada Takes A Moral Stand



Finally ... after Hezbollah leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah repeatedly encouraged the Palestinians to carry out suicide operations as the only way to end the Israeli occupation, Canada finally issued a complete ban on the organization.

It's no secret the Canadians are angry that we will export Canadian 'citizens' who originated from Middle East countries and happen to be terrorists, back to those countries rather than Canada. That's because Canada will let virtually anyone in and have a far easier process to become a citizen. So if Canada wants to continue to enjoy unfettered access to the US, they need to straighten up their immigration.

Continuing to allow Hezbollah easy access, with then only a random chance of being caught at the Canadian border, would only cause increased friction with the US. Canada can claim to be morally superior, but that's only because they stand in the shadow of a very big brother.

Article Here

West Bank Crime Wave -- Fatah Insurgents Hired As 'Police' Turn To Robbing



It's never a good idea to tell criminals they are the cops. Arafat gets millions from the US, Europe and Israel and pays thousands of his friends to fund terrorism ... so some of the 'police' haven't been paid in months. Naturally the only areas in this crime spree are those goverrned by the PA. It's not like Arafat has the moral authority to stop them. Palestinians are now buying guard dogs to help protect them from the people supposedly protecting them.

Article Here

Wednesday, December 11, 2002

Yemen Wants Their Missiles Back



You remember, the ones they said they would never buy from North Korea again after the last time they were caught, a few months ago? Well, surprise, they bought them again ... only this time the Spanish caught them en route and turned them over to the US.

Yemen now insists the seizure is a violation of 'international law.' For you uninformed, 'international law' means pretty much whatever you want it to ... it's most often used by European countries angry when the US won't honor treaties that Europeans passed and we never signed.

Article Here

Mujahedeen Wants To Be Taken Off Terror List



Their reasoning? They're the opposition to the hard-liners in Iran, not a threat to anyone else. The Iranian Resistance Movement accused the British government of appeasing the Iranian government by keeping the Mujahedeen on the list of individuals and organizations whose assets are frozen.

Article Here

Tuesday, December 10, 2002

Arafat Takes Responsibility For Arms Shipment To the PA



Not personal responsibility, but as head of the PA. But the question is, when will he simply stop buying the weapons they have said they will not buy? It's great that he takes responsibility for it ... since nothing will happen to him and he won't rat out whomever is responsibile ... but when will actions follow the words?

The ship in question, stopped in January, was carrying 50 tonnes of Iranian- made weapons, including Katyusha rockets, ammunition and explosives.

Article Here

Iraq Complains Because The US Gets A Copy Of Their Weapons Declaration



For some reason they would have been perfectly content if only Norway had seen it. Instead, they're complaining that the US ( but apparently not as concerned that the other four members also got it ) got the dossier through "an unprecedented blackmail operation."

Whatever that means. The Iraqi Foreign Ministry then went on to warn that the US would use the document as a pretext for war. Why would we do that? Iraq is not lying now nor never has lied about their secret weapons manufacturing. Unless the Iraqis are concerned that we do have evidence that contradicts what their disclosure says.

Hmmmm ... an evil dictator in charge of a repressive regime wouldn't lie about such a thing.

Syria and Norway, two temporary members of the Security Council, had voted against giving out copies. They were considered, they said, because they didn't want the document getting out until it was filtered for information that might aid other countries seeking to make weapons.

So, Norway, you're worried that the US, China, France, Britain and Russia will need an Iraqi document to make weapons?

Article Here

Saturday, December 07, 2002

Saddam Apologizes For Attacking Kuwait -- Sort Of



It was more like, 'I'm sorry you gave me no choice but to attack.'

He contends now that Kuwait and the US were conspiring to attack him and that Kuwait was siphoning off on oil on the border that was Iraq's. Presumably all of the oil buried underground in Kuwait belongs to him as well.

He said that in 1989, he had tried to reach a peaceful settlement of Iraq's dispute with Kuwait, but that the neighboring Gulf country's officials were not interested in negotiating.

"There was no hope in solving issues by diplomatic means," he said.

Article Here

Canadians Go To Iraq To Be Human Shields



Because evil, mysogynist dictators developing chemical weapons are always going to be better than the US. What the Canadians don't understand is that Hussein already has plenty of native human shields ... all they are doing by making such a spectacle of themselves is ensuring that they'll be on the front lines so they can make good PR for Iraq.

Article Here

Thursday, December 05, 2002

Yes, The PA Is A Terrorist Organization But...



It's as vexing to me as it is to various allies and 'patriotic dissenters' looking for any reason to call GWB a hypocrite.

In a memo to Mr. Powell he suspended the action scheduled to be implemented in the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2003.

President George Bush determined that the Palstinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization were in violation of commitments to the United States to halt attacks against Israel. Bush authorized that sanctions be imposed on the PA and PLO for 180 days. His latest statement suspends that ....errr ... suspension.

I understand not trying to put out too many fires but the American people and the world expect the US to have a consistent vision and lumping the PA rightfully in among their terrorist brethren and punishing them accordingly was the right thing to do.

Article Here

Expatriate Iraqis Meet To Discuss Post-Saddam Iraq



A group of 32 expatriate Iraqis representing opposition political trends in their country, have been meeting in London to finalise a 79-page document which intends to shape the future of post-Saddam Hussain Iraq.

From the outset, the draft report makes certain assumptions for its ideas to become feasible, and these include:

* That the U.S. administration actually proceeds with its stated policy of democratic change in Iraq.

* Unseating of Saddam's regime does not take place at the cost of largescale civilian casualties which could introduce considerable volatility and unpredictability into the political situation.

* Actual approval of the report by a genuinely representative conference of the Iraqi opposition.

* U.S. government, as the partner of the Iraqi people in liberating the country, itself agrees to support the guiding framework of this report following its adoption by the opposition.

* The international community, including the U.S. government, through a treaty with a duly constituted Iraqi government, undertakes to guarantee the territorial integrity of the nation.

They make an assumption in their draft I can disagree with; namely that largescale civilians casualties will undermine US presence in the region. Clearly if there are large-scale civilian casualties it will be because Saddam Hussein is hiding soldiers behind children and anti-aircraft artillery among people's homes. It's unlikely the Iraqi people will feel that there is some other way to get rid of the guy.

Article Here

Human Rights Groups Complains That Hussein's Son Tortures Iraqi Athletes



I'll say it again ... the best reason to attack Iraq is to get Hussein out of power before his children can take control.

"Iraq has violated every single provision of the IOC Code of Ethics,'' said Charles Forrest, chief executive of Indict. "The IOC should have investigated this on its own. Now I hope it will be forced to.''

The group formally demanded that the IOC expel Iraq's national Olympic committee because its chief -- Saddam Hussein's eldest son Uday -- tortured and jailed athletes who failed to please him. The group said it included witness statements from exiled former Iraqi athletes and United Nations reports to build its case.

Iraq was investigated in 1997 by FIFA, the international soccer governing body, following allegations that members of the Iraqi national team were tortured because they lost a key match.

Article Here

Wednesday, December 04, 2002

Sharon Proposes Palestinian State



Nothing new here other than putting Arab feet to the fire. It's no secret the other Arab nations have denied Palestinians the opportunity to negotiate peace in the past ... and denied them independence accorded by UN mandate in 1948 ... so offering to give them a state again in the framework already proposed is a way to keep negotiations going rather than an expectation they will finally take it.

In a more interesting development, the United States voted against the non-binding resolution which calls Israel’s declaration of Jerusalem as its eternal and indivisible capital “illegal and therefore null and void...”, something they had only abstained on in previous years.

Article Here

American Suspected of al Qaeda Links Held By Israel



Then released without charges after two weeks. The allegations were that Dr. Khaled Nazem Diab, 34, arrived in Israel on Nov. 14 on a mission for the Qatari Red Crescent and the University of Missouri Trauma Center to train Palestinian social workers. Israel said he was involved with suspected of funneling money to al- Qaida and other unidentified terror groups.

Diab worked with an Islamic charity group, al-Najda, which has been investigated and shut down in the United States, the statement said.

Israel claimed Diab lived in Afghanistan and was in close contact with groups that identify with the Taliban. The statement also said Diab had contacts with activists connected to Hamas, the militant group which has carried out many of the suicide bombings in Israel.

Israel did not provide evidence to support any of the claims.

Article Here

Tuesday, December 03, 2002

Arabia Concerned About Post-Saddam Democracy In Iraq



"The Saudi efforts want to ensure that no major Arab country will plot against Riyad or any other regime targeted by the United States," a diplomatic source said. "While Washington opposed Iraq on the issue of weapons of mass destruction, the Saudis are worried that Washington will use the banner of democracy."

That means they are trying to talk other mid-east dictators into an alliance because they're supposedly worried about America turning the guns on them, in the interests of allowing democracy in Arabia. What it probably really means is that they don't want another democracy in the region. Democracy is always bad for countries where the place is named after the ruling family.

Article Here

UN Inspectors -- Competent, Aggressive Need Not Apply



It turns out they didn't want the best, most experienced inspectors for this mission ... Hans Blix bypassed "some experienced inspectors because they were opposed by Iraq as too aggressive in the earlier inspections."

Why is this an issue? The Washington Post reports that one of the inspectors who passed muster, Harvey John "Jack" McGeorge, is a 53-year-old Virginia man with no specialized scientific degree and a leadership role in sadomasochistic sex clubs.

The United Nations acknowledged yesterday that it did not conduct a background check on the inspectors chosen for the diplomatically sensitive mission, but got them from the State Department. The State Dept. says it merely forwarded names of personnel for consideration and had no part in who got chose.

McGeorge has no experience and no degree in one of the fields considered essential for the position. He has offered to resign if The Post ran the story. It's unlikely that Blix will look even more stupid by accepting the resignation.

Article Here

Monday, December 02, 2002

'Equipment missing' at Iraq arms site



Surprise. Tagged equipment from a missile factory four years ago is no longer there ... will this alarm UN weapons inspectors? Probably. Will it make the UN stand up to Iraq? Unthinkable.

Article Here

Sunday, December 01, 2002

EU Offers To Remove Hamas From Terrorist List



The catch? They have to stop suicide bombings. This seems to be the european way -- treat non-western people as if they were european. Pay them not to kill other people ... catch flies with honey and all of that.

Unfortunately they have no recourse if Hamas and its members get angry over some perceived slight or another. Then what will the EU do if the bombings start again? Put them back on the list? Big deal ... the EU is a monetary union, it has no teeth ... it is all reward and no risk for Hamas, but a lot of risk for Israel, who will fall under substantial pressure from Europe to deal with Hamas as a political entity.


Article Here

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