January 18, 2003

Germans Were Tracking Sept. 11 Conspirators as Early as 1998, Documents Disclose

Three years before the Sept. 11 attacks, Germany's domestic intelligence service was tracking prominent members of the Hamburg terrorist cell that planned and executed the aircraft hijackings, according to newly obtained documents.

The documents, including intelligence reports, surveillance logs and transcripts of intercepted telephone calls, appear to contradict public claims by the German authorities that they knew little about the members of the Hamburg cell before the attacks.

As early as 1998, the records show, the Germans monitored a meeting between men suspected of plotting the attacks. The surveillance would lead a year later to the Hamburg apartment where Mohamed Atta and other main plotters were living while attending universities.
[...] In the days immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Hamburg emerged as the focal point of the American and German investigation. Three of the four suicide pilots, including Mr. Atta, had lived in Hamburg as students and three other suspected plotters had fled Hamburg shortly before the attacks.

A German federal prosecutor's summary of the interrogation concludes, "In his refusal to give further testimony, Mr. Zammar [another member of the Hamburg cell] says that he has always been badly treated as a Muslim in Germany and that America has not been punished for the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

Caveat: Yes, I know this is from the NYSlimes, but it's a news story, so let's hope for the best.
If even partially true, it's sick-making to think that the (even German) authorities were onto these murderers and could possibly have caught them in time.

And so the 9/11 killers were punishing the people who worked at the WTC and the Pentagon and those who just happened to be on Flight 93 for the American bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima...
Do these Islamists smoke hashhish like the original Hassassin (an 11th Century secret society of Muslims who killed Christian Crusaders and used hash) or did Osama cook up this plan of "divine" revenge for American "crimes" all by himself?
Bastards.
And Germans, you could atone for your many failings or at least make an effort...and get with the program!
"You're either with us or you're with the terrorists."

If A.N.S.W.E.R. is the answer, what is the question?
Could it be, "What's an idiot to do on a Saturday?"
But as least protest organizers and certainly ANSWER, the biggest organizer of today's Kumbaya fest, thinks they're useful idiots.
The L.A. Weekly has the 4-1-1 on who's behind ANSWER and the other Liberal forces of influence behind the protests: no surprises here, it's basically the Communist Party International in its latest incarnation.
Here's an excerpt (Warning: this piece is written with a zillion typos and is somewhat hard to read, but do read it all!) LA Weekly: News: Behind the Placards

This was no accident, for the demonstration was essentially organized by the Workers World Party, a small political sect that years ago split from the Socialist Workers Party to support the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956. The party advocates socialist revolution and abolishing private property. It is a fan of Fidel Castro's regime in Cuba, and it hails North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il for preserving his country's "socialist system," which, according to the party's newspaper, has kept North Korea "from falling under the sway of the transnational banks and corporations that dictate to most of the world." The WWP has campaigned against the war-crimes trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. A recent Workers World editorial declared, "Iraq has done absolutely nothing wrong."

Too bad we can "let" these peaceniks try to hold these protests in the lands they hold dear--North Korea, Cuba or Iraq--and see how far they'd get in assembling freely, much less saying whatever they wanted against their government in public.
Maybe then they might notice what a great thing we've got going here and what our fine young men and women in the U.S. military are putting their lives on the line to protect and defend!
Of course, none of these Lefties seem to remember 9/11 and the 3,000 Americans who were killed on American soil...or the fact that our Islamist enemies are gladly planning future attacks that would make 9/11 look like a picnic.

Screw A.N.S.W.E.R. Give us ANWAR!

BBC NEWS | News Front Page | World Edition
Today, in Iraq, UN weapons inspectors find 3,000 pages of hidden documents.
More soon.

January 17, 2003

Rice: Race Can Be Factor In College Admissions

National security adviser Condoleezza Rice announced yesterday that she believes race can be used as a factor in college admissions, going much further than President Bush has on a central question in his affirmative action policy.

Rice issued a statement saying that she supports the president's decision to challenge race-conscious admissions as administered by the University of Michigan and that race-neutral means are preferable. But she said there are occasions when "it is appropriate to use race as one factor among others in achieving a diverse student body."

Bush stopped short of that view in briefs the administration filed Thursday night asking the Supreme Court to overturn an admissions system at the university that gives preferences to minorities. The administration, which limited its legal briefs to the case before the court and made no broad statements about affirmative action, said Michigan officials "cannot justify the express consideration of race in their admissions policy."

Rice's announcement was an unusual case of a member of Bush's inner circle taking a different public stand on a major issue. In a sign of the sensitivity of the issue and her close relationship with Bush, aides reported that the statement was made with his blessing.

The Bush Administration isn't a dictatorship (thank you!) and President Bush quite clearly respects Dr. Rice's experience and expertise as a person of color, a woman and a university official as well as her expertise and qualifications as a Cabinet member and a personal friend.
Thanks for making your opinions on this clear, Condi! It takes guts to stand up for your views no matter who one's boss may be and it's good to see that each fine member of the Bush Cabinet isn't marching in lockstep but was chosen and is appreciated and listened to for their important individual contributions!

You know, I could be wrong about this, but for the first time in our history, we have people of color like Dr. Rice and Colin Powell (who has also given his opinion of the U of Mich. case) in positions of power who can affect and inject their valuable input into policy making about racial issues.
We're making progress, America, but as Dr. Rice points out also, we're not done yet!
[Hat tip to Carl Heppenstall for the Heads Up on this development!]

Rice Helped Shape Bush Decision on Admissions

National security adviser Condoleezza Rice took a rare central role in a domestic debate within the White House and helped persuade President Bush to publicly condemn race-conscious admissions policies at the University of Michigan, administration officials said yesterday.

The officials said Rice, in a series of lengthy one-on-one meetings with Bush, drew on her experience as provost at Stanford University to help convince him that favoring minorities was not an effective way of improving diversity on college campuses.

Rice, the first female national security adviser, told Bush that she worked to increase the number of African American faculty members at Stanford but that she was "absolutely opposed to quotas," a senior administration official said. A Stanford official said that under Rice, who served from 1993 to 1999 and was the university's first nonwhite provost, the number of black faculty members increased from 36 to 44.

Go, Condi, go!
Between counseling the President on this important issue, which Dr. Rice can do so well both because she is black, a woman and has been a college administrator, and woodshedding Hans Blix in New York, Condaleeza Rice has given her best to her country this week particularly!

Powell: We'll Prove Iraq's Lack of Cooperation

Iraq will have been proven to be not cooperating with U.N. weapons inspectors by the end of January, Colin Powell said in a newspaper interview published Friday.

We believe a persuasive case will be there at the end of the month that Iraq is not cooperating," the American secretary of state said to a gathering of German journalists, according to State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.

In the interview, Powell downplayed the contention of some Security Council members that a new resolution might be needed to authorize the use of force in Iraq.

The U.S. has argued that Resolution 1441, passed in November, contains language authorizing military action if necessary, as well as mandating the current round of weapons inspections.

"We have always made clear that the U.N. will act without a second resolution," Powell was translated by Reuters as saying, "if we are of the firm opinion that Iraq still has weapons of mass destruction or wants to produce new ones."
[...]
The officials, at the White House Friday for a briefing from the U.N. teams, also said the discovery was no surprise, even though the inspectors had not been acting on the basis of new intelligence provided by the United States.

Weapons inspectors found the empty chemical warheads in a storage area 75 miles south of Baghdad on Thursday. Iraq said the warheads are old, were never used for chemical weapons and were reported to the United Nations as part of a required declaration.

Nonetheless, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said in his briefing Friday that the warheads were definitely not in the weapons declaration due last month.

"The chemical warheads found by the inspectors were not ? not ? on the declared list of weapons that Iraq issued just one month ago," he said. "The fact that Iraq is in possession of undeclared chemical warheads, which the United Nations says are in excellent condition, is troubling and serious."

Fleischer added that had they been included in the declaration, they would have raised concerns and been noticed.

And there you have it: we've got the proof--if it's not these warheads, I'm sure we have proof of more they haven't "found"-- and we ain't going back to the U.N. to get their imprimatur on our Iraq attack!

Iraq, Russia sign three oil contracts

Iraq and Russia on Friday signed three oil accords to explore and develop oil fields in southern and western Iraq.

The accords were signed at the Oil Ministry in Baghdad between Iraqi Oil Ministry undersecretary Hussein Suleiman al-Hadithi and Ivan Matlashov, Russia's first deputy energy minister.

Have the Russians lost their minds?!?
Why in the world they would sign contracts with a régime that is not only thoroughly evil, but about to be seriously changed very soon, I have no idea...except to declare which "side" (meaning the side of the IslamoFascist terrorists) they're on to the U.S. and Britain!
Is President Bush sure that he saw into Putin's soul?
Because it looks as if "Pooty Poot" has sold it to the Devil!
Maybe this Mephistophelian deal is a recent development...
Hope Russia isn't disappointed when these deals fall through, as they inevitably will.

White House: Iraqi warheads 'troubling and serious'

The White House on Friday said President Bush found it "troubling and serious" that United Nations inspectors found 11 empty chemical warheads inside Iraq.
"It is prohibited for Iraq to possess chemical warheads," White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said.
"The president views this as troubling and serious," Fleischer told reporters a day after the discovery. Noting that a senior Iraqi official said Iraq forgot it had the warheads, Fleischer said the United States wondered "what other mental lapses they are having."

I'm sure these 12 warheads are only the tip of the iceberg!
On the other side of the Big Pond, gormless UN kibuki dancer and weapons avoider Hans Blix was channeling Mad Magazine cover boy Alfred E. Neumann:
Blix 'Not Worried' About Warheads Found
Blixie has done much better after his trip to the woodshed the other day with Dr. Condi Rice, the most powerful woman in the free world, but he may need a second trip!

Between Christopher Hitchens in this piece:Wake Up, Peaceniks!
"The swelling protests against war on Iraq forget that the US was impelled into war by an attack on its territory, against enemies that target innocents and include the worst human rights violators on the planet. For whom is this insufficient justification to choose sides?"
and Steven Den Beste in this one, which he calls "U.S.S. Grouchy.", these 2 word warriors make short work of the deluded, irritating "anti-war movement."
Both are Must Reads and they will also make you feel good all over about the régime change that America and her allies are getting ready to effect militarily in Iraq!

Judge Upholds Bail Denial of Four Alleged Buffalo-Area Terrorist Cell

A federal judge upheld a ruling Thursday to deny bail to four of the six Buffalo-area men accused of attending a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan months before the Sept. 11 attacks.
[...]
[U.S. District Court Judge William] Skretny denied the motions, saying the defendants are flight risks and are dangerous because of the training they received.

A fifth defendant, Faysal Galab, 26, pleaded guilty last week to a lesser charge of willfully and illegally contributing support to Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden and his terrorist organization by attending the camp. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Sahim Alwan, 30, was the only one of the six men from the Buffalo suburb of Lackawanna to be granted bail following their September arrests. He is awaiting release on $600,000.

Skretny agreed this week to reconsider a federal magistrate's decision to grant Alwan bail. Prosecutors say Alwan should remain behind bars in light of new allegations against him contained in Galab's plea agreement.

Skretny has granted the government's request for an order preventing Alwan's release until his case can be argued again, Jan. 24.

Whoo-hoo, Judge Skretny!
You da man!
Now, if only these guys can get the "Jeff Dahmer" treatment when they're convicted: put in general population in jail to receive that warm reception that is surely waiting for them!

Israel's astronaut carries nation's dreams

As poster boys for the Israel Space Agency go, it does not come much better than Colonel Ilan Ramon.

As the son of an Auschwitz survivor, who grew up to become a fighter pilot in the Israeli air force and fought in the 1973 Arab-Israeli War - his personal history is intertwined with that of his nation.

When he blasts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida Ramon will become the first Israeli in space and make Israel the 30th nation to have a citizen fly in orbit.

His flight has become a welcome distraction for Israelis troubled by the ongoing violence in the Middle East and a source of national pride.
[...]"As an Israeli and a Jew I asked Nasa if it would be possible to supply kosher food for my menu in space," Ramon said.

"I was surprised and overwhelmed with the effort Nasa put in to trying to accommodate my request," he added.

Among the few personal possessions he will take with him on his 16-day voyage will be mezuzahs - small cases that are hung on door frames of Jewish homes and contain inscriptions from the Bible.

He is also taking a book of Psalms which was given to him by Israel's President Moshe Katsav - the microfiche of the Bible is the size of a credit card.

But probably of greatest resonance is a picture drawn by a 14-year-old Jewish boy name Peter Ginz before he was killed in Auschwitz in 1944.
[...]
The pencil drawing, entitled Moon Landscape, shows a view of the earth from the surface of the moon, as imagined by the boy.

Caption: "Moon Landscape" by Petr Ginz, 1944

[...]
"I was born in Israel and I'm kind of the proof for my parents and their generation that whatever we've been fighting for in the last century is becoming true.,"[Ramon said.]
[...]
As a representative of the Jewish nation Ramon did face one difficulty though - how to mark the Sabbath in space when a sunset and sunrise occurs every 90 minutes?

Time permitting, Ramon says he wants to observe the Jewish day of rest as "an act of solidarity with the Jewish tradition".

What a wonderful thing for Jews and Israelis this is!
Mazeltov, Mr. Ramon, and have a safe trip!
It must feel "out of this world" to be born up to Heaven, not only by American NASA technology but by the joyous souls of over 6 million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust and of the 6 million men, women and children now living in Israel.
All in all, it's a great day for the race-- the human race!
[Aside: They now need to remake the comedy "Spaceballs" and instead of Jews in space, lampoon Islamists in space. Mel Brooks, call your studio!]
Update: Ramon, interestingly enough, also flew the Israeli Air Force mission in 1981 that took out the Osirik nuclear reactor in Iraq...Good work then and now!
Picture link from the Yad Vashem site thanks to LittleGreenFootballs.

Muslim cleric faces expulsion

Muslim cleric Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri is facing expulsion by the Charity Commission from his position at a London mosque.

Mr Hamza has been told he may be removed on Monday from the Finsbury Park mosque if he does not answer complaints that he has abused his position.

The mosque is run by the North London Central Mosque Trust and Hamza is an officer of the charity.

He is accused of bypassing the trustees by taking over the mosque and using it for political ends.

The commission, which regulates charities under its own rules, has sent Hamza a Provisional Removal Order telling him he must leave the mosque.

A spokeswoman for the Commission said: "This is not politically motivated. It is a very sensitive time and we have to consider very carefully what to do. It is not the sort of action we take lightly."

The controversial cleric was suspended from the post in April because of "inflammatory statements" he made, but he continued to preach there.

Sounds like the Brits woke up with the murder of that policeman in Manchester and the ricin scare!
This dude--Abu Hamza--is the Number One agitator and instigator for jihad and Islamist murder in Britain and I think the world.
He's bound to be among Osama's inner circle and a key cleric in the Wahhabist movement.
Why the British didn't lock him up and try him for Treason long ago, even long before 9/11, I have no idea!
He's been preaching the violent overthrow of Western governments towards the end of setting up shari'a and establishing Dar al-Islam, a solely Islamic world in which non-Muslims either have been killed or made slaves, for years!
This expulsion from the mosque is great news and robs him of this platform, but I won't be happy until the Brits either lock him up or deport him back to Yemen where he'll be "taken care of."
[Note: Abu lost his eye and that hand in previous IslamoFascist terrorist bombings, of course! And a son or two, as well. But they're proud of stuff like that.]

Saddam defiant after warheads find
Saddam Vows to Defend Iraq, Defeat Enemies in Speech

In a scathing speech honoring the 12th anniversary of the Gulf War on Friday, President Saddam Hussein defiantly vowed to defeat his enemies and also remarked that any attempt to conquer Iraq will fail.

Enjoy whatever's left of your life, Saddam!
If it's bluff and bluster that make you happy, go for it...
Because we're coming.
You and your evil régime will soon be in "history's unmarked grave of discarded lies."

January 15, 2003

Analysis: War on terror steps up a gear

"Suddenly, the anti-terrorist stakes have got even higher.

After the dramatic discovery of the lethal poison, ricin, at a flat in North London, the alert against an al-Qaeda attack had moved up a gear.

But the killing of a police constable during an anti-terrorist operation has shocked the security agencies.

The analysis will have to take in several factors. Chiefly, there is the utter unpredictability of some of the Islamic suspects being targeted by the police and M15.

When the security service took over responsibility for combating republican terrorism [this means the IRA to we "Yanks"--J.T.], it had a sound base of knowledge on which to build.

As a senior source puts it: "We knew everything about the Provos, which school they had been to, even their dietary habits."

If an active cell was discovered, the security agencies were generally comfortable about building up as much intelligence as possible before deciding when to make arrests.

The post-11 September picture looks very different.

The Islamic suspects in Britain, many of them from North Africa, are described as "an amorphous target".
The majority are previously unknown to the authorities - though a number have trained in the al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.
And their goal is mass casualties in which their own survival is irrelevant so the timing of an attack is virtually impossible to predict.
This explains why one series of arrests has swiftly followed another in the 10 days since the raid on a Wood Green flat and disruption of an alleged ricin plot.
It is unlikely that the police expected to find ricin at the Manchester address.
More probable that the name of the man being targeted had arisen during police investigations into the North London group.

This was the explanation for the arrest of six people in Bournemouth earlier this week.

None has been charged with a terrorist offence but the action sends out a strong message that the security agencies are in an aggressively pro-active mood after being subjected to some, legitimate, criticism that they had under-estimated the threat to the UK, especially from Algerian dissidents. [Note: Even when one of their police has been murdered innocently performing his job, the Beeb still won't call them terrorists! Unbelievable.
--Jen]

It has been said, erroneously, that it was a tip-off from the French which led to the Wood Green arrests.

In fact, intelligence had come in from a number of foreign agencies including some in North Africa.

And information culled, controversially, from some of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, has also been fed back to M15 to help pinpoint suspects in Britain.

For the last year, the government [and the U.S. Government, too!--J.] has been under sporadic criticism for its decision to rush through emergency legislation which allows the detention of foreign nationals suspected of terrorist connections, who cannot be deported because of obligations under the European Human Rights Convention.
[ARGGGHHHHH! These whining EUroweenie Liberals are going to "human rights convention" all of you over there into getting killed, if you're not more mindful of your own human right to be alive!--Jen]

A number of these people are Algerian.

After the fatal stabbing in Manchester, some of this criticism may be more muted.

DO NOT let it escape your notice that British intelligence used and acted on information gotten from our detainees at Gitmo, especially given the hue and cry their own people, particularly Amnesty International, were making about our alledged mistreatment of those prisoners as lately as yesterday before this cop killing!
I think we "over here" wanted to believe that Britain "got it" on 9/11 and they seemed to, but then, no.
Now, they've had a senseless murder of a policeman just doing his job by an Islamist killer and the light begins to dawn?
We live in hope....
Let's hope it doesn't take a massive attack with scores of casualties like a 9/11, a Moscow theatre siege or a Bali blast for the Brits to really and truly "get it."
And like the Germans, the Brits, and the rest of the Western European countries, need to work on both their immigration laws and policies and the prosecution of tomorrow's terrorists who are planning to kill their citizens and bring down their governments!
Heads up, Britain, we're at War.
Churchill didn't bring you through the blood, sweat, tears and toil of the Second World War only to have you cave on him in the Third.
Shall you defend your island, even from those who live among you?

A German court on Tuesday dropped charges of membership in a terrorist organization against four Algerians on trial for allegedly plotting to blow up a French Christmas market, highlighting the problems investigators face in tackling the shifting networks of Islamic radicals.
The men on trial in Frankfurt could still face prison sentences of up to 15 years if convicted of plotting to plant explosives with the intent to kill, falsifying documents and violating weapons laws.

Prosecutor Volker Brinkmann said he wanted to speed the trial by dropping charges membership in a terror organization, which would have required calling more witnesses, including three men under investigation in France.
"This proposal is based purely on the length of the trial and the relationship of that to the sentencing," Brinkmann said.

But experts said the decision showed Western [I think this means EU-Western here--Jen] legal systems were ill-equipped to prove that suspects are part of the loose global network of Islamic extremists and called it a missed opportunity to explore how Al Qaeda works in Europe.
Prosecutors accused Aeroubi Beandalis, Salim Boukari, Lamine Maroni and Fouhad Sabour of belonging to a loosely organized group of predominantly North African extremists known as Nonaligned Mujahideen, with ties to the Al Qaeda terror network.

According to prosecutors, the group was planning to attack a market in Strasbourg over the 2000 Christmas holiday season.
The four were arrested in December 2000. Authorities found weapons, ammunition and chemicals for making homemade bombs during raids on two Frankfurt apartments the group allegedly used as their base.
Beandalis has said they planned to blow up a Strasbourg synagogue, maintaining a confiscated videotape showing the city's cathedral was due to bungled reconnaissance. The tape led to charges the four were planning to attack the Strasbourg Christmas market, held near the cathedral.
Authorities say the defendants are not believed to have been involved in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States or to have been in contact with the group of hijackers, including suspected ringleader Mohamed Atta, who lived in Hamburg, Germany.
But they are suspected of links to radicals elsewhere in Europe including Mohammed Bensakhria, an Algerian who was arrested in Spain in 2001 and extradited to France.
Bensakhria is suspected of being the Frankfurt group's leader and a top European operative of Usama bin Laden.
Experts called Tuesday's decision a blow to efforts to understand how international terrorists are recruited and trained.

Well, Deutschland, if you don't do something to remedy this and get Gerhard Schroeder to sing a different tune about Germany's military participation in the Allied attack on Iraq, you're not going to be any help at all in the War on Islamist Terrorism, so I guess that makes you "with the terrorists."

U.S. Military: N. Korea Increased Patrols in DMZ

North Korean soldiers have stepped up patrols in one area of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, but the move was not seen as alarming, the U.S. military said Wednesday.
(Lt. Col Matthew) Margotta said the North Koreans had increased patrols in the Joint Security Area, which encompasses Panmunjom. He said they had also occupied a guard tower on the northern side that hadn't been used in years.
"It's usually triggered by a heightening of tensions," Margotta said of the activity. He added that North Koreans took similar steps around the time of a June 29 naval clash between South and North Korean ships off the west coast of the peninsula.

And then there's this "happy" news:
New North Korean Missile Could Reach Alaska, Hawaii, Experts Say

 North Korea, which says it might resume missile tests, could be ready to test a two-stage rocket capable of reaching Alaska or Hawaii with a nuclear weapon-sized payload, according to U.S. defense analysts.

Which includes this even more "happy" news:

Communist technicians are believed to be working on the more advanced Taepodong-2. U.S. defense experts believe that the missile, if deployed, could deliver a payload of several hundred pounds as far as Alaska or Hawaii, and a lighter payload to the western half of the continental United States.
Technical difficulties and economic hardship have hampered North Korea's missile programs in recent years, and it is unclear whether the Taepodong-2 is ready for testing. If so, it could be done with relatively little warning.
[...]A large chunk of North Korea's foreign exchange earnings comes from the export of missiles and their technology and components, much of it to the Middle East. The U.S. military estimates that the North made $560 million from missiles sales in 2001.
[...]North Korea has also sold missile-related material to Iran, Libya, Syria and Egypt, according to CIA reports. Western media have said that Pakistan gave nuclear secrets to North Korea in return for missile technology. Pakistan denies it.

In talks with the Clinton administration, Pyongyang asked for $1 billion in aid each year for three years in return for stopping missile exports, but a deal was never signed.

My God...and I'm supposed to try and get some sleep after reading this...? As if!
Thanks a lot, Clinton.
They should be awarding you that Nobel Peace War Prize any time now--you'll fit in perfectly with the rest of the Mass Murderers and Appeasement Artists who've won it lately.
[The Dimocrats act as if we're wrong to blame Clinton and not the NorKs for their evil, but the U.S.A. is the only superpower on earth capable of making a smaller, weaker country halt its evil (as we are doing now with Iraq) and Clinton had 8 years to perfect and use his "window of opportunity" with the North Koreans, an advantage he squandered.
And now we pay the price--and President Bush must try to clean up the mess Clinton left as best he can, if he can.]

Anger at Japan PM's shrine visit

China and South Korea have reacted angrily after the Japanese Prime Minister visited a controversial war shrine that honours the country's war dead.

Junichiro Koizumi visited Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine on Tuesday for the third consecutive year.

China said the visit could "seriously damage" relations with Japan.

The shrine is dedicated to Japan's 2.5 million war dead, including wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, who was hanged for war crimes in 1948.

Just hours after Mr Koizumi's visit, China's foreign ministry summoned Japan's ambassador in Beijing and issued an angry protest.
[...]
"It has also hurt the feelings of Asian victims, including Chinese," she [Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Qiyue] said, referring to the tens of millions of Chinese killed during the 1937-45 war with Japan.
[...]Mr Koizumi said he went to the shrine "to meditate on peace with a clear mind and [Japan] never again causing a war".
[...]Last October, the Chinese President, Jiang Zemin, forcefully warned Mr Koizumi never to visit the shrine again.
[...]
Mr Koizumi has defended his visits to the Yasukuni shrine, saying they are not meant to glorify Japan's wartime role.
[...]Japan's reluctance to apologise for its wartime treatment of its neighbours continues to stand in the way of warmer regional relations.

I've always thought those Bill Clinton-esque "apologies" for things that happened decades or centuries ago were empty and meaningless, but maybe they count for something to these Orientals...(?).
And can you imagine being "ordered" not to visit your own country's war memorial as Zemin of China tried to do to Koziumi?
(Poor Koziumi! I think he is the world's most underestimated leader! I like him and I think President Bush does, too!)
Call it Schadenfreude again, if you must, but I'm glad to see the Chinese and South Koreans mad at someone else other than Uncle Sam!

Policeman killed during terror raid

Police are continuing to question three men after an officer was stabbed to death and four others injured during a counter terrorism operation in Manchester.

Officers were trying to arrest a man in a raid linked to the discovery of the deadly poison ricin in London last week when they were attacked.

Father-of-three Stephen Oake, a 40-year-old plain-clothed special branch officer, was stabbed in the chest and died soon afterwards in hospital.

Three suspects, believed to be of North African origin, were arrested at the upper floor flat in Crumpsall, in the north of the city, just before 1800 GMT on Tuesday.

My sympathies go out to the family of Officer Oake--what a tragedy.
Meanwhile, to try and catch Islamist troublemakers and potential terrorists, the EU has done this:
EU starts fingerprinting foreigners

The European Union is launching its first centralised fingerprint database to prevent abuses of the asylum system.
[...]From now on, their fingerprints will be stored for up to 10 years in a centralised database, known as Eurodac.
[...]An independent body has already been set up to ensure the data will not be used by the police for other purposes and will not be passed on to the applicants' countries of origin.

Of course, they don't have the stones to admit what it's really for or the honesty to admit that immigrants from certain-- shall we say Middle Eastern?--countries are being targeted.
Immigration is the number one way IslamoFascists get into and stay in Western Europe.
This is yet another instance of the EU's schizophrenic "fight/abet the the war on terrorism" at the same time, thus assuring that they will be of little help to us or even to their own citizens at all.
On the mundate front, the EUro is showing more signs of strain only now into its 2nd year in general usage:
Why Italy is turning back to the lira

Everyone prefers to pay in lire because they know exactly how much they're worth," says Top Store's owner, Marco Pizzi.
"They're also suspicious that euro prices are higher than the old lira prices."
[...]
"I work in the fashion business so I know first-hand what's been going on," said a woman in a fur-trimmed suede jacket.
"Prices have gone up by between 20% and 30%."
Another shopper said: "The only thing that isn't going up is our wages. So, at the end of the month we have less and less."
According to a middle-aged man: "People have a big problem with the 1 and 2 euro coins.
"The lira coins were worth much, much less.
"So we are spending the euro coins without thinking, as if they were worth nothing."
The normally dull subject of inflation has become the focus of an animated national debate.
In bars and cafes across Italy it's one of the main topics of conversation.
Television talk shows and newspapers are obsessed by it.
At the centre of the debate is the question of how fast prices really are going up.

The Institute for National Statistics, Istat, says the inflation rate is 2.5% for the year, and 2.8% for December.
But an independent research group, Eurispes, says it is more like 29%.
Consumer organisations agree.
Consumer organisations agree.

"It's mainly the basics, like milk, foodstuff, public transport, bars and restaurants, that have gone up," according to Maria Agnino, a lawyer for Codacons, Italy's largest consumers' association.
"It's because the shopkeepers and the producers took advantage of people's confusion during the changeover.
"Now it's become a vicious circle.
"Some shops are raising prices because the producers are raising prices.
"Other shops are raising prices because they see everyone else doing it."

[...]They lament the fact that the euro, which was probably more popular in Italy than any of the other 11 countries in the single currency, has now become irrevocably tarnished.

Putting all this information together, I suppose we can assume that all EU countries are experiencing this phenomenon of inflation, since the EUro became the official currency on Jan. 1, 2002 and that this rate is quite possibly in the range of 20%-almost 30%. Wow. That's a lot of inflation.
So, the public confidence in the EUro has fallen in the country where it was the greatest--in Italy-- and meawhile in Germany, which was believed to be the strongest economy in the EU and therefore the one that would "carry" the currency's strength for the whole EU, their economy is starting to seriously falter.
All in all, bad news all around.
But they made this "bed" for themselves any way you want to look at it and now they're going to have to lie in it.
Schadenfreude can be a good thing, but how the mighty are fallen!
And they may not have stopped in their descent yet.

January 14, 2003

Sacre Coeur Basilica in Paris Evacuated After Explosive Device Found

Police said Tuesday they evacuated the Sacre Coeur basilica after an explosive device -- but no detonator -- was found inside.

The device, apparently homemade, was put together with gas bottles and flammable liquids, police said.

An official at the church said the landmark, which overlooks Paris, was evacuated after what she described as a "suspect package" was found Tuesday morning.

Europe-1 radio reported a tourist discovered a black plastic bag containing three bottles of natural gas, a gallon of gasoline and four containers of detergent at the church. Anti-terrorist police were leading the investigation, the radio station said.

Mon Dieu!
Good catch, though--next to Notre Dame, what could have been more horrible than blowing up Sacre Coeur?
Who else would want to blow up a famous and beautiful landmark Catholic Cathedral but the Islamists?
And you can see it from all over Paris, so it would have that "panorama effect" the IslamoFascists love, as with the Twin Towers in New York.
Sounds like the Shoe Bomber and his crew: in fact, they said this bomb could have been set up with a match also.
You must save France, fellow Christian and Jewish "infidels" and any moderate Muslims(?),too!
The terrorists are definitely among you now.

Yahoo! News - Russia's Putin to Send Envoy to North Korea

Russian President Vladimir Putin is to send a special envoy to Pyongyang, Beijing and Washington as part of moves to defuse North Korea's nuclear stand-off with the United States, Russia's defense minister said Tuesday.

Australian Officials Head to N.Korea for Talks

Australian officials passed through Beijing Tuesday en route to North Korea to express concern about the nuclear impasse and try to help resolve the potentially explosive problem.

China Offers to Host U.S.-N.Korea Talks

China offered Tuesday to host talks between the United States and North Korea over their nuclear standoff and Russia said it planned to send a top official to key capitals to help find a diplomatic solution.

Yes! Let China host it! They hate everybody!
Isn't it nice to have our "friends and allies" (no irony intended for Australia, BTW) join in to help the world with the NorK nuke crisis and not have it remain a NorK-U.S. problem?

Palestinians deliver reform agenda

Palestinian delegates have condemned suicide bombings in Israel as they promised key reforms by video link to a London summit.

They also criticised Israeli restrictions on the Palestinian territories during the talks.

The Palestinians joined the talks via the video link after being barred from going to London in the wake of the recent suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called the talks "constructive" and said the Palestinian delegates had promised a new draft of a Palestinian constitution within the next two weeks.
[I'll believe they'll deliver when I see it with my own eyes!--ed.]

Speaking as the conference broke up, Mr Straw said Israeli restrictions caused problems for the Palestinian administration, but this could not be used as an excuse for failure to reform.
[...]Mr Straw praised Palestinian progress on financial reforms but an independent judiciary was needed.

Well, one wonders what good came out of this wank-off...
The British don't have much say in this, really, and the "Palestinians" are operating at Israel's grace and favor, but it obviously makes both groups of folks feel better to go through the motions of pretending that they're now deciding their own fate, doesn't it?
Bravo, Sharon! And again kudos to President Bush for that June 24th speech on the Middle East--these Paleostinians clearly can't organize a 1-car funeral that doesn't include terrorism (Literally!).

Yahoo! News - U.S. Sending Huge Armadas to Persian Gulf

The Pentagon, preparing for possible war in Iraq, is dispatching an enormous array of naval combat power to the Persian Gulf region, including two seven-ship armadas carrying thousands of Marines.
The Navy also is prepared to put as many as six aircraft carriers within striking distance of Iraq. Two already are in position, two are prepared to sprint to the region and two are gearing up for possible deployment.

Caption:"The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson departs from Bremerton, Wash., Monday, Jan. 13, 2003. The carrier is scheduled for training, however the Vinson battle group commander Rear Admiral Marty Chanik, says he wouldn't be suprised to receive orders to deploy. The battle group includes the combat support ship Sacramento from Bremerton and the guided missile frigate Ingraham from Everett."
Wow! I just love the USS Carl Vinson! (You can get a better tour of this marvelous carrier in last year's movie "Behind Enemy Lines" with Gene Hackman and Owen Wilson, filmed on board the CV).
It must be the corny patriot in me, but the sight of our beautiful ships makes me swell with pride as an American!
God Speed to our fine men and women on these ships!
U.S.A.!!!

Defiant Blair says UN has no veto on war

PM ignores party critics, telling Saddam to disarm or face force

An uncompromising Tony Blair said yesterday he would refuse to allow the United Nations to veto military action to rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction.

The Prime Minister warned the public that Saddam Hussein's weapons posed a "direct threat" to Britain but angered his Labour critics by refusing to guarantee that any war in Iraq would have to win the approval of the UN.

Go, Tony! (I'll never call you "Poodle Boy" again!)
Those whining EUroweenies must be having fits over this!
The Special Relationship is stronger than ever.
Cheers, Britain!

January 13, 2003

Thanks to this brainy guy in Denmark--david blangstrup-- I can now use my Movable Type "Post to MT" bookmarklet on my Safari browser because he fixed the KHTML code!
Thanks, David! And thanks to my blog buddy Mike Hendrix of Cold Fury for the link!

Life is now close to perfect.

Saudis unveil surprise reform plans

Saudi Arabia says it has launched an initiative calling for major reforms in the Arab world.

The Saudi press has published details of the proposals, which advocate internal reform and developing political participation [notice they can't quite bring themselves to call it "democracy" because it won't be--ed.] in Arab countries.
The initiative also calls for a common Arab undertaking to reject what is described as any illegal aggression against an Arab country.

What's this? An Arab NATO?

The Saudi ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, says the proposals are now in the hands of Arab leaders.

He is hoping they will formally adopt his initiative at the next Arab summit in March.

The call for Arab political reform from Saudi Arabia will come as a surprise to many.

Nothing from this bunch would surprise me now!

The kingdom has one of the most conservative systems in the world.

Only if you call a country where if you sneeze in the wrong way it's called "blasphemy" and the penalty is beheading "conservative."

All political decisions are made by the ruler, aided by an appointed advisory council.

And that council is made up of sons, brothers, nephews and cousins of the ruler, all from the House of Saud!

But the Saudi initiative appears to be a response to intense American pressure on governments in the region.

The US has recently launched its own drive to encourage democracy in the Arab world.

Pardon me, BBC News, but the US has encouraged democracy anywhere and everywhere in the world since July 4, 1776!

Since the 11 September attacks, Arab systems of government have been under an unflattering spotlight in America.

It just couldn't be that, with or without that spotlight, their systems of government--basically IslamoFascism by shari'a law--are just plain awful on anyone's terms, could it?

As the country which produced most of the alleged attackers, Saudi Arabia has been the target of sustained hostile comment in the US.

Oh, I wouldn't say "hostile comment" exactly...but how does blame, largely because of their support for Wahhabism and the violent jihadi murder it preaches which directly resulted in the 9/11 attacks, work for you?

By insisting on self-motivated reform, the Saudi proposals are an attempt to seize back the initiative from Washington.

Translation: The Sauds are praying to Allah that once we've occupied and democratized Iraq, we won't turn our (military) attentions to their evil fiefdom and want to effect "régime change" there!

They also address an Arab public wounded by the humiliation of the Palestinians and the prospect of an American war against Iraq.

You saw it here first: "the humiliation of the Palestinians."
As if they didn't humiliate themselves!
All the Bush Administration did was identify them and expose them to the world for the cold-blooded killers they were!
I'm with Steven Den Beste on this when he says that September 11, 2001 was the beginning of the end for the "Palestinians," when all Americans became Israelis, too.

The kingdom says it wants Arab leaders to pledge to build up Arab defences, support the Palestinians and reject foreign aggression.

This is Media garbage language to say something completely different than the truth: what the Arabs want are more bombs, particularly nukes!
So this isn't about Arabia becoming any more democratic or enacting internal reforms!
In fact, it restates their continued reliance on their old scheme of using "Palestine" as a safety valve to let off the steam which brews internally in every Arab country in the region.
It's about their same old Wahhabist dreams--to take over the world for Islam (ism) and themselves and
to form a military Islamist alliance, particularly with the aim of the acquisition of the Arab Bomb(s), towards that end...but in the short term, they must hope that just making the right noises about "internal reforms and political participation" of their people will save them from the "gathering storm."
Must be off-putting for these scoundrels to see the juggernaut of American military might being assembled right in their back yard!
(Hmmm. You don't suppose that the NorKs are the Saud's idols, do you?)

Adam Garfinkle, of the NRO, has written a terrific piece today on the NorK non-crisis/crisis, which to my great relief, supports the Bush Administration's efforts and the opinions of pundits like Rush Limbaugh and Canadian journalist David Warren.
Read the whole piece: Garfinkel's analysis and solution outdoes both op eds in yesterday's papers by James Baker and Henry Kissinger as to its reasoning, practicality and common sense!
Checking Kim: The awful question of what to do.

he Bush administration is not being apocalyptic over North Korea — but that doesn't indicate a lack of seriousness on the subject. This is not the Clinton administration, after all; these guys know how to think strategically, how not to leak, and how to focus their foreign-policy activity on something other than the frenzied daily news cycle. What, then, are they thinking?

[...]
In short, the end of the Cold War dramatically changed the balance of risks and rewards in U.S. Korea policy, and should have led us to adjust our stance. But U.S. policymakers conducted business as usual, only responding to North Korean threats and never themselves taking the lead to solve the underlying problem. We should have managed the transition to South Korea's responsibility for its own security, while at the same time joining with other regional powers to limit North Korea's trouble-making potential. Had we started early enough, before North Korea had nukes, we would have had far more robust military options to enforce a muscular diplomacy than we do today.

Better late than never, however; we still need to rethink the Korea problem down to its roots. When we do, we immediately see our other option: Announce our intention to withdraw all U.S. military forces from Korea. Lots of South Koreans would be delighted. More important, such an announcement would force China and the other parties to the problem to face reality.

South Koreans, having to defend themselves, will either see the illusions of their own policy or suffer the consequences of maintaining it. But it's their country, and, frankly, their potential misfortune no longer matters to us as much as it did during the Cold War.

If North Korea becomes a six-or-more-weapon nuclear power, we will be far away, with deterrence reasonably intact, and with a decent if imperfect ability to prevent North Korea from exporting fissile materials and missiles. China, however, cannot relocate. If we profess an intention to leave, Beijing will then have to choose between a nuclear North Korea and Japan (and maybe South Korea, too) on its doorstep, or joining with the U.S. and others to manage the containment, and ultimately the withering away, of the North Korean state. Until it is faced with such a choice, Beijing will temporize and try to fob off the problem on Washington, hoping as before to free-ride on us for an outcome that benefits China more than it benefits the U.S. That's reality, and the Chinese need to face it. We can help them do so.

I hate to say I'm right, but I said this a lot of these same things in my commentary on David Warren's fine piece on the NorK problem last week.
It's only the Liberals and especially their talking heads on TV that seem to think we "have to something now," by which they mean more appeasement and meaningless agreeements.
I fully believe that the Bush Administration is capable, willing and able to carry out such a strategic and positive policy change vis-a-vis North and South Korea, as the Bushies have already done so with the "Palestinians" in Israel, Iraq's violation of 16 UN resolutions and the "relevance" of the UN, and our outdated ABM treaty with the no-longer-extant Soviet Union.
It's a new American Century.
Time to roll (up our sleeves) and get to work!
[And if the Lib sock puppets on TV drive you nuts in the next few days with "Bush has got to do something!," use the mute button, yell back at them or turn it off if you have to.]
Hat tip to fab political commentary clearinghouse Real Clear Politics for the Baker and Kissinger links and another hat tip to Bush cousin and media pundit John Ellis for sending me there in the first place.
Good luck with that diet, John!

In-laws held over Paris bomb 'plot'

French police have arrested the former parents-in-law of an airport baggage handler who had explosives and weapons planted in his car in an attempt to frame him.
[...]
The baggage handler, Abderazak Besseghir, insisted that he had been set up by his in-laws, who blamed him for the death of his wife in a fire.

Last week a former Foreign Legion soldier admitted planting the evidence in Mr Besseghir's car.
[...]
But police said they were unable to find anything linking Mr Besseghir to extremists, and his fingerprints were not on the weapons.

Investigators gradually began to take seriously his claims that he was the victim of an elaborate set-up.

Only in France these days, huh?
I don't know what the truth is behind this story, but all the people involved sound completely crazy.
Maybe they didn't catch an Islamist terrorist this time, but they do have a big bomb at the airport to deal with.
(If the guys in-laws were going to get him back for roasting his wife and their relative, wouldn't they have done something bad to him at home?
Why the airport?
And how did these ex-Foreign Legion guys, who sound like native Frenchmen, get into the mix?)
Something's not right--quelle surprise.

Chavez Orders Crackdown On Opposition

Venezuelan troops fired tear gas today to disperse tens of thousands of protesters as President Hugo Chavez ordered a crackdown against a six-week-old opposition strike that is bleeding the economy.

Chavez warned opponents he would not let them disrupt schools, banks or food supplies with the strike, which has already crippled shipments by the world's No. 5 oil exporter

"They want to break us economically. They are not going to do it. I swear it by God and my mother," Chavez said during his weekly television and radio show.

The poor Venezuelans! As if what's happening to their country isn't bad enough, they have to listen to Chavez's interminable Castro/Hitler-like screaming fits on radio and TV!
Any leader with a brain and a vision for his country of prosperity and peace would vow to enact needed reforms, but not this leader:
all he gives his people are more threats and martial law.
Something's gotta give and I'm afraid it's Hugo.
Faster, please!
We need their oil--especially now that we're about to attack Iraq--and the Venezuelan people need their country back!

January 12, 2003

why do politicians now bother to run for President?
Between Ryan of Illinois and Richardson of New Mexico, in just the past few days we've seen the function of our highest offices in the land usurped by state governors!
Who needs the Supreme Court, the Secretary of State or even the President when we can get 50 governors who, if they're like the two just mentioned, will just run in and do everything and for a lot less money (until they figure out how to grab that tax revenue that we in our folly have been sending to the IRS.)
Maybe each state can secede and vie with the other 49 for Best in Show!
(Former members of the Clinton Administration preferred, of course--at least by the Media.)
So, being the Governor is obviously where it's at, baby, and there's no need to fool with Washington, D.C. and the Fed. Gov. anymore!
Think of the savings! And the creativity! And the grandstanding!
(Of course, Texas has always reserved the right to secede since it became a republic, but aren't you glad then Governor George Bush didn't abuse his gubernatorial powers like these blowhards?)

It's snowing!
This may not be a big deal to those of you who live farther north,
but it's a big deal for Big D!
It is so beautiful and so quiet, transforming the world outside my window...
I love it!
Pardon me while I cut out for awhile to enjoy this winter afternoon.
The summers here are long and hot and I need this cool memory to get me through the dog days.

Illinois Death Row Emptied

Illinois's outgoing Republican Gov. George Ryan commuted the death sentences of 167 people to life in prison today after concluding that the capital punishment system was "haunted by the demon of error."

Had nutcase George Ryan been Governor of Illinois 25 years ago, here's one of the Death Row Inmates who would have been spared lethal injection because of his "arbitrary and capricious--and therefore immoral " death sentence for killing (at least) 33 people:





Ryan's no Republican--he's a NUT who likes to play God!
Good thing he's on his way out!
The courts will be straightening out this little political stunt for decades...and the good citizens of the state of Illinois may not sleep too well, either, now that there's not much of a deterrant to committing murder, much less a way to permanently remove these killers from circulation, knowing they'll never be alive to kill again.
Maybe, if they're lucky, the victims' families can catch all the killers of their loved one on VH1 playing in their prison rock bands.
Now, that's entertainment (?).

*Thanks to that great site Clownz.com for the pic where their motto is "Beware the grease-painted ones."
To quote the Great One Glenn Reynolds, "Indeed."

Ed. update: Note that I didn't address the legitimacy of the Governor's actions: if constitutional reform-either at the state or the national level--is called for, acting as a state's governor is not the way to go about it and I believe this act is outside the scope of Ryan's authority.
Not only does it subvert the separation of powers between the judicial and executive branches of his state's government, but it also makes a mockery of the workings of the Illinois system of Justice, setting to the side sound verdicts reached by juries as overseen by sitting judges.
If Ryan wanted to do this the "right" way, he could have held a referendum on the issue and then act accordingly, but he didn't!
Conservative Americans all hold "states' rights" dear but that doesn't mean the acting Governor is at liberty to make up the state's rules as he goes along.
This must not and cannot stand--Look for either the SCOTUS or the Illinois Supreme Court to strike this down pretty quickly!