February 01, 2003

Holocaust-era Art from Yad Vashem’s Collection sent into space with Israeli Astronaut

Israel’s first-ever astronaut, Colonel Ilan Ramon,was launched into space on January 16, 2003  with Holocaust-era art from Yad Vashem’s Art Museum.

Ilan Ramon, a colonel in the Israeli Air Force, contacted Yad Vashem requesting a Holocaust related item to take with him on his launch into space on the shuttle Columbia, due to the significance of the Holocaust to him as a Jew and as an Israeli. On a personal level, the Holocaust is even more meaningful to Ramon as his mother is an Auschwitz survivor, and his grandfather and other members of his family perished in the death camps.

Yad Vashem chose “Moon Landscape”, created by Petr Ginz, a 14-year-old Jewish boy, during his incarceration in the Theresienstadt ghetto. Petr Ginz was multi-talented and had, at a young age, already written stories, articles and poetry, and continued to do so after being sent to the ghetto in 1942. During his incarceration Ginz traveled to places near and far within the depths of his imagination, and with great longing, he visited Prague, the city of his birth, in a poem written from behind the ghetto walls. In 1944 Ginz was killed in Auschwitz.


Petr Ginz

The moon landscape depicted in Petr Ginz’s drawing attests to his aspiration to reach a place from where the earth, which threatened his life, could be seen from a secure range. Even more so, the picture reveals a young man who, in addition to his other talents, was both a researcher and scientist full of optimism that science precedes all and would ultimately bring a remedy for humanity.


"Moon Landscape"

Speaking to the New York-based American Society for Yad Vashem from the Houston, Texas Space Centre where he is in training, Ilan Ramon said, “I feel that my journey fulfills the dream of Petr Ginz 58 years on. A dream that is ultimate proof of the greatness of the soul of a boy imprisoned within the ghetto walls, the walls of which could not conquer his spirit. Ginz’s drawings, stored at Yad Vashem, are a testimony to the triumph of the spirit."

“Moon Landscape” connects the dream of one Jewish boy who is a symbol of the talent lost in the Holocaust, to the journey of one Jewish astronaut, who is a symbol of our revival.

Col. Ilan Ramon

Col. Ramon died a free man, engaged in a great and noble endeavor of and for all mankind and he died a citizen of Israel, the democratic nation of the Jewish people where everyone can worship as they choose (even Muslims) that Petr Ginz could only have dreamed about in the death camps.
As with the view shown in Petr's drawing, Ramon was known to remarked this past week that the Earth looked peaceful from space.

Iraqis Call Shuttle Disaster God's Vengeance

Immediate popular reaction in Baghdad on Saturday to the loss of the U.S. space shuttle Columbia and its seven-member crew -- including the first Israeli in space -- was that its was God's retribution on Americans.

"We are happy that it broke up," government employee Abdul Jabbar al-Quraishi said.

"God wants to show that his might is greater than the Americans. They have encroached on our country. God is avenging us," he said.

Car mechanic Mohammed Jaber al-Tamini noted Israeli air force Colonel Ilan Ramon was among the dead when the shuttle broke up shortly before its return to earth.

"Israel launched an aggression on us when it raided our nuclear reactor without any reason (in 1981), now time has come and God has retaliated to their aggression," Tamini said.

Never mind that Saddam was planning to use that reactor to make nukes and aggressively use them to kill Israelis, which is why Colonel Ramon and the Israeli Air Force destroyed it in 1981.
I know that we in America and the "West" don't want to stoop to the level of these people and we won't, but it's hard to be compassionate or even humane to these people who positively rejoice in the deaths of their fellow man.
And I hate to say "I told you so" about their reaction.
In fact, it makes me feel sick to my stomach and sick at heart that they did give this reaction, identical to the one they gave on 9/11.
But this is the face of evil and the followers of a death cult.

You soar on the wings of eagles to Heaven:
Mission Commander Rick Husband
Pilot William McCool
Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon (the first Israeli astronaut)
Mission Specialist David Brown,
Payload Commander Michael Anderson,
Mission Specialist Laurel Clark, a Medical doctor
Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla, Ph.D. (born in India)
May the Lord comfort your families and friends in this terrible loss.
You are in our thoughts and prayers.
We will miss you and we are eternally grateful for your service to mankind and to our country on this mission.
Am Yisrael Chai. God Bless America.

I'm sitting here in Dalllas, near Downtown, not only worried about the shuttle crew, but wondering whether it (or pieces of it?) will slam into my place...
Dear Lord! What a nightmare!
And MSNBC is reporting that "someone" heard a loud bang and that the shuttle has exploded.
The film caught by the WFAA Channel 8 reporter at Fair Park doesn't look good.
There are multiple looking "pieces" with tails of smoke behind them.
CNN keeps pointing out that the first Israeli astronaut is on board, as well as 2 women.
Can those damn terrorists hit our shuttle?

Update: I must be crazy (with worrying about everything) thinking at first that Islamist terrorists had brought down Columbia...sorry!
It appears now that it was caused by some sort of technical failure/explosion on re-entry of the atmosphere.
I'm no NASA employee, but if you watch the film carefully, you can see lots of "small" pieces of debris in the smoke trails behind and I'm guessing that those are the heat tiles...
We will see.
I do know this though: I'll bet you $50 that the "Palestinians" and other hate-filled Islamists (like Saddam Hussein) are hopping up and down and shooting off their guns for joy that the Israeli astronaut who was one of the men who flew the mission to bomb the Osirik reactor in Iraq in 1981 has been tragically killed.

Not vice versa!
Saddam gets six more weeks
Everybody and their dog, from Drudge to the most respected bloggers are taking this story based on pure conjecture by the Guardian as if it came down from the Lord Himself via Moses, written on tablets!
I didn't hear President Bush say this!
And until I do, I refuse to take my "truths" from The Guardian of Britain!
Their people can't even spell.
And they don't like the U.S. much or President Bush and they're not real sure about Tony "Bush Poodle" Blair, either!

Both Glenn Reynolds and Andrew Sullivan have expressed their outrage yesterday that the following sign or bumper sticker was alledgedly on sale at the Conservative Political Action Committee convention that was held in Washington this week:

They claim, along with another blogger named "Disgusted Liberal," who featured this image--and he's not really providing much proof as to where he got the picture, by the way--that it is the Right Wing's "answer" to the ugliness of the Left's pro-Stalinist ANSWER movement and equally as hateful...
But is it?

First of all, most of we Conservative bloggers have been calling our enemy IslamoFascists every since 9/11, including Andrew and often Glenn.

Secondly, don't Islamists have the same aims as Nazi Germany, which is to kill all the Jews?

And thirdly, like Hitler's Reich, aren't Islamic goverments with their dictatorial theocracy of the mullahs and the rule of cruel shar'ia law a form of Fascism?

Fourthly, didn't Hitler himself join common cause with Islamists and even host the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in Berlin as an honored guest during his Reich?

Isn't it peculiar how the swastika seems to "fit" in that sign now?

The only thing wrong is that is says "Islam" when it should say "Islamism," because obviously only the radical sects hold the doctrines cited above and these are not held by moderate Muslims, which constitute most of the world's Muslims.
As for the "Religion of Peace" thing, well, let's just say that the Muslim Faith has some work to do in stressing the less violent tenets of their faith as contained in the Ko'ran.
Last of all--and this isn't a justification for the use of Nazi symbols and slurs--but how many hundreds, maybe thousands now, of times have I not seen President Bush called "Hitler?"
Or seen Dick Cheney portrayed wearing an SS Officer's hat with the caption,"Dick's in the Bunker"?
And I even heard Nelson Mandela call President's Bush's potential attack on Iraq a "holocaust?"
And of course, this kind of "Right Winger as Nazi" treatment of the Bush Administration goes double for Ariel Sharon and the Israelis...
Mr. Sharon, who presides over the very country that was founded primarily by thousands of European Jews who had managed to survive Hitler's death camps after WWII, is portrayed in the Leftist and Arabic press regularly as Hitler, as a Nazi...
with no apologies ever from the Left.
I can't imagine how the Isrealis or Jews anywhere must feel who see these portrayals of themselves and their leadership as the personification of the regime that, in too many cases, wiped out most of the their families in Auschwitz, Dachau or Treblinka.
I personally would be so furious that I'm not sure what I'd do...
[I am now 46 years old and I have yet to be able to not be completely horrifed that the Holocaust was done by my fellow human beings to other human beings and only a mere 50 years ago in a supposedly "civilized" country in Western Europe.]
So, here's the deal: Either both the Left and the Right completely stop trivializing Nazism, the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust and the monstrous Adolf Hilter and quit using in their agitprop or...
The Conservatives responsible (if this was really in a vendor's booth at CPAC-- which I very much doubt!) should correct this sign to read: Islamism--and yes, keep the swastika-- and change the caption to read:"Religion of Peace? Work on it."
Now, I want all the whiners to sit down and shut up.
And the Leftist Dimocrats should quit hoping for another "Trent Lott" moment from the Right, because it ain't gonna happen.

Update: My friend, the American In London Rumsfeld lover Carol Gould, in her latest editorial from her very nice blog Jewish Comment writes that execrable columnist for the Daily Mirror, Islamist apologist and U.S.A.-basher John Pilger has called the Bush Administration the "Third Reich" and makes all sorts of "comparisons" between Bush, Blair and Sharon with Hitler and the Nazis...again.
This is getting beyond vexing and infuriating and the only result of trivilializing the evil of the real Nazi Reich and Hitler will be to change the meaning of the Holocaust from "Never again." to "No big deal. That's just something people say when they don't get their way."

January 31, 2003

Ivory Coast riot at French pull-out

Up to 1,000 stone-throwing youths have blockaded Abidjan airport as French nationals tried to leave, fearing renewed hostilities in Ivory Coast.

A French soldier was injured in the protests, which came as a new transitional prime minister was due to arrive in Ivory Coast.
[...]
French troops have intervened and one soldier was injured in the face by a stone. A French tank is stationed at the airport entrance.
[I didn't know the Froggies had tanks?!?--J.T.]

Supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo accuse former colonial power France of forcing him to share power with rebels at peace talks held in Paris last week.

The man named in the peace deal as the new prime minister, Seydou Elimane Diarra, was due to arrive in Abidjan on Friday.
[...]
Diarra is the prime minister of the French," the protesters screamed and burnt the French flag. [Isn't this great, seeing the old tricouleur getting torched instead of our Stars and Stripes for a change?--Jen]

"Go home and don't come back," the protestors screamed at families seated next to piles of luggage.
fter the deal was signed last weekend, Mr Gbagbo's supporters staged four days of anti-French protests, prompting some French nationals to start leaving on Wednesday.

The conflict has split the world's largest cocoa producer along ethnic and religious lines.

The rebels control the largely Muslim north, while the mainly Christian south, including Abidjan, remains in government hands.

Some 2,500 French troops are monitoring a ceasefire line across the middle of the country.

They were originally sent to protect the 16,000 French nationals in Ivory Coast.

This just hasn't been France's week.
Heh-heh-heh.
And while France neither sought nor received UN "approval" for them to move their troops in here unilaterally, who do you think sat with Jacques Chirac in Paris when they were brokering these wretched, Muslim "rebel"-friendly Ivory Coast "peace talks?"
None other than Kofi Annan, who gave the whole mess his blessing.

'Many dead' in Afghan blast

powerful explosion has killed at least 16 people near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, reports say.

The blast destroyed a bridge and those killed were travelling on a bus, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Deputy police chief Ustad Nazir Jan blamed the explosion on Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters or their allies, although no one has claimed responsibility.

He said he believed Afghan soldiers from a nearby army unit were the target.

Only two people on board the vehicle are believed to have survived. The dead are said to include a child and an elderly man.

Mr Jan said that fighters loyal to rebel warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar may also have been involved. Mr Hekmatyar, a former prime minister, has vowed to fight US forces on Afghan territory.

Of course this was done by pro-Al Queda terrorists.
And I think that Black Hawk was taken out by them, also, that killed 4 of our fine soldiers.
Well, rest in peace, terror victims.
Someday, it won't be like this and there will be peace in Afghanistan.
And our Allied forces are going to find and get Mr. Hkematyar and his gang just like we've rounded up the other Taliban and Al Queda evildoers.

Bush approves nuclear response

A classified document signed by President Bush specifically allows for the use of nuclear weapons in response to biological or chemical attacks, apparently changing a decades-old U.S. policy of deliberate ambiguity, it was learned by The Washington Times.
[...]
The classified document, a copy of which was shown to The Washington Times, is known better by its abbreviation NSPD [National Security Presidential Directive] 17, as well as Homeland Security Presidential Directive 4.
     The disclosure of the classified text follows newspaper reports that the planning for a war with Iraq focuses on using nuclear arms not only to defend U.S. forces but also to "pre-empt" deeply buried Iraqi facilities that could withstand conventional explosives.
[...] 
Mr. Arkin quoted "multiple sources" close to the preparations for a war in Iraq as saying that the focus is on "two possible roles for nuclear weapons: attacking Iraqi facilities located so deep underground that they might be impervious to conventional explosives; and thwarting Iraq's use of weapons of mass destruction."
     He cited a Dec. 11 memorandum from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to Mr. Bush, asking for authority to place Adm. James O. Ellis Jr., chief of the U.S. Strategic Command, in charge of the full range of "strategic" warfare options.

I am "good to go" with this policy, particularly given the psychopathic killer Ba'athists we're taking down in Iraq.
I think what we're looking at here are the new "nuclear bunker busters" we heard about last winter that have limited radioactive fallout and limited potential of "collateral damage" to surrounding populations and property while having the capability to penetrate into either bunkered WMDs or Saddam-filled air raid shelters built under his palaces.
I would much prefer these targets to be taken out this way, then by risking who knows how many soldiers taking them out manually on the ground.
As for the eventuality that we would have to use any nukes as retaliation for a WMD-attack that had already been perpetrated on us, do not go there!
But yes, in that case, oh, yes.

Daily Telegraph: 21 nations allow US war access

THE United States will have access to 21 countries in any war against Iraq, while 20 countries are committed to allowing overflights, US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has said.

He told the Senate Foreign Relations panel the US would have "full access to 21 countries" and additional countries were "under discussion".

"Twenty countries are fully committed, and three partially committed to overflights," he added.

He declined to give any further details of the level of international co-operation the United States would have if it decided to use military force to disarm Iraq.

But, with the US troop build-up in the Gulf reaching critical mass, Armitage underlined the administration's view that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein did not have much time left to disarm peacefully.

"He's[Saddam Hussein] got to make that choice in a hurry," he said.

Looks like we're about ready to roll!
Baghdad delenda est!

PM says UN resolution 'will authorize action'Prime Minister Jean Chrétien has made his clearest statement yet about Canada's position on Iraq.

In an interview with Canadian Press, Chrétien says if the UN weapons inspectors find evidence Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, a second UN resolution authorizing force would not be necessary before an invasion.

"The report of (chief UN weapons inspector Hans) Blix, if he says (Saddam Hussein) is not conforming, he has not disarmed, Resolution 1441 will authorize action," Chrétien told CP.

I know Chretien's kind of crude Canuck, but I kind of like the guy...and I think he's a stand up guy for the U.S. and President Bush.
All I can say, "Beauty, eh, Jean?"

January 30, 2003

Australian Official: Islamic Group Planned Second Terror Attack

Indonesian and Australian investigations into the Bali bombings foiled a plot for a second terror attack late last year by the same Islamic extremist group, Australian police said Friday.

The arrest of two men accused of masterminding the deadly Bali attack -- Imam Samudra and Ali Imron -- uncovered the plans for the second attack, Australia's police chief Mick Keelty said.

If you think the global War on Islamist terror isn't working, then consider bullets dodged like this.
Good work, Aussies.
Keep going!

Hat tip to the Professor who reports that the New Europe 8 has become the New Europe 10: Slovakia and Albania have added their support:

Some of Europe's newest democracies have expressed the strongest support because of past U.S. economic and political support of their struggle to escape communism.

Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano, in a letter to Bush made public Thursday, pledged ``total and unconditional'' support in the showdown against Iraq. Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda of Slovakia called the declaration ``the clear, right word at the right time,''[I believe he's referring to the "United We Stand" declaration published today.--J.T.] and said he agreed with it.

Glenn adds,"The point is that -- despite (or because of) their diplomatic anschluss -- France and Germany are now isolated within the E.U. Indeed, there is now talk that the E.U. may splinter as a result of their anti-American efforts."
Of course, you've heard some of this talk (and I do think it's a lot more than that!) here at TGJ.
And does anyone have to ask if the people in Albania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland didn't think that Ronald Reagan was almost a god when he proclaimed the USSR an "evil empire?"
They know without reading the op eds in the NYSlimes that President Bush is truly "Reagan's Son."

New Europe' reads riot act to Paris and Berlin

By declaring their joint support of George W Bush eight states of the "New Europe" have read the riot act to the Franco-German couple who have long driven policy in the European Union.

Drafted by Spain's Jose Maria Aznar, the text of their collective article was a pointed rebuke to Germany's Gerhard Schröder and France's Jacques Chirac - labelled "Old Europe"by US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld - for thinking they alone represent Europe's collective will.

It is the latest example of the shifting centre of gravity in Europe, which would be reinforced if France and Germany were not part of a victorious coalition against Iraq.

Just a week ago, the audacious Franco-German plan for a twin-headed presidency of the EU was greeted with scorn by speaker after speaker in the Convention on the Future of Europe, all irked by the way Paris and Berlin seemed to imagine they had achieved a fait accompli. It followed a decision by EU finance ministers to castigate Germany for breaching the euro-zone's Stability Pact. They also issued an official "early warning" to France.

The failure of the German and French economies to cope with the rigours of the euro and economic downturn was a watershed. Easily ranked the world's number three and four in the late 1980s, they have slipped rapidly down the rankings.

The baton has passed to the English-speaking nations, enjoying a free-market revival over the past 15 years, transforming the power structure inside and outside the EU.

Britain's economy is now substantially bigger than that of France, and London is by far the richest city in Europe. The Irish are richer per capita than the Germans. [Whoa! The Irish?! And a lot of them aren't even sober!--ed.] The Spanish, enjoying their own spectacular revival in confidence after the self-imposed isolation of the Franco dictatorship, have aligned themselves with the Anglo-Saxons.

Holland and the Scandinavian states have embraced the internet age with a fervour matching California, and all have been through the labour market reforms that Paris and Berlin only talk about.

Together with the Poles, Czechs and Hungarians, all brimming with optimism, and can-do spirit, these nations form a "New Europe" of sorts, more or less coinciding with the core of pro-American states singled out for praise by Mr Rumsfeld, who dismissed France and Germany as the "Old Europe".

Nor is "Old Europe" necessarily a good description for two countries that launched the most ambitious currency union ever seen a year ago and are now pushing for the wildly ambitious goal of a full judicial, military and diplomatic union of 15 states, with different languages and intense tribal loyalties, against all historical precedent.

Uh...not exactly: it's precisely what Adolf Hitler was striving for with his Third Reich.
And Napoleon tried it on with his Empire in the early 19th Century.
And before that, we had Constantine with his Holy Roman Empire and he was emulating the ancient Romans with their Empire.
So the idea of that kind of Europe is an old, "been there, done that, got the war dead" kind of concept.
[BTW, forgive me for posting almost the whole article, but it was good.]
The author does forget to point out that the EU countries have argued in the past few months over their Common Agricultural Policy, which, next to their labor laws, are pretty key, but extremely contentious; Blair and Chirac openly spat about this in the fall.
And now there is the "Mugabe problem," as I've pointed out before.
Plus, there is the current blow-back from recent French adventurism in the affairs of Cote d'Ivoire.
Isn't it peculiar that France and Germany--the 2 countries who stood to gain the most from the EUro currency and who supposedly "backed" it with their economies--are the first ones to have their economies flunk out of the lead?
Our impending war on Iraq may be the very thing that has begun the implosion of the EU for real and while the posturing from the Left (meaning both Dims and Weasel powers) continues that it's about "letting the inspections and the UN work" or "giving Saddam the benefit of the doubt, more time, etc.." the truth of the matter is beginning to emerge, that the argument is really more about which country supports the U.S. and which country opposes it.
(Like the Dimocrats here who oppose Bush, "just because" he's Bush and/or a Republican, so the froggies and krauts oppose him because he's an American and the worse kind of American,too! The kind that believes in Liberty, Individualism, Capitalism, Free Trade and Constitutional Government!)
No matter, for purposes of this discussion, whether France and Germany are motivated to "break" from their EU neighbors because of idealogical differences with America and New Europe or for more nefarious reasons, i.e. because they've helped to arm Iraq.
What's extremely significant is the divergence in diplomatic stances between the Weasel powers and the "New 8" now on a problem on which they should all be in concert.
This is your "smoking gun" if you will, that has killed the EU, because it has shown that the EU countries could never have, much less implement, an important unified anything.

Addendum: Some (Liberals especially) have inanely declared that we can't be in a "real war" because we haven't been asked to make "sacrifices," such as rationing goods or instituting the draft.
As Stephen Den Beste has stated, perhaps something like a citizen boycott of French and German goods will be our "sacrifice;" and Megan McCardle continues this kind of discussion over on her blog Assymetrical Information on a comment thread about what kind of new car she should buy...
It is amazing to see the number of folks who have counseled her not to buy a BWM, a Mercedes, an Audi, etc. and most all add that they won't buy another German car either.
Ladies and gentleman, if Americans quit buying German cars, we are looking at an increasingly poorer Weasel in Deutschland, I can assure you.

Wouldn't it be just the worst of ironies if it was found that the German firm of I.G. Farben, the same company that helped bankroll the Reich, used concentration camp internees as labor, and that provided the Xyklon B for the death camps, also supplied nasty chemical products to Saddam,too?
And then there's the fine German armaments firm of Krups,too, Hitler's biggest backer...

Daily Telegraph: Al-Qaeda made 'dirty bomb' [31jan03]

OSAMA bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network successfully built a crude radiological device known as a "dirty bomb" in Afghanistan, the British Broadcasting Corp has reported.

British intelligence agents infiltrated the network and learned that terrorists had built the device near Herat in western Afghanistan, the BBC said, citing unidentified British government officials.

Britain's Foreign Office said today the report substantiated expert opinion that al-Qaeda wanted to develop a nuclear weapon.
[...]According to the BBC, the Taliban regime helped al-Qaeda construct the device, which has not been recovered, by providing medical isotopes.
[...]
During a New York trial two years ago stemming from bombings at two US embassies in Africa, a former bin Laden aide testified he was ordered in 1993 to try to buy uranium on the black market for an effort to develop a nuclear weapon. Jamal Ahmed Al-Fadl said al-Qaeda was prepared to spend $US1.5 million ($2.5 million), but he did not know if a purchase was made.

In addition, US officials have said captured al-Qaeda lieutenant Abu Zubaydah told American interrogators the terrorist network was working on a "dirty bomb".

Authorities also have said that Jose Padilla, the former Chicago gang member charged with plotting with al-Qaeda, attended two meetings in Karachi, Pakistan, at which senior al-Qaeda operatives discussed the possible use of a "dirty bomb".
[...]In November the British Government issued - and then hurriedly withdrew - a statement warning that al-Qaeda might be prepared to use a "dirty bomb", or some kind of poison gas. It was replaced with a more general warning of terrorist threats.

3 Points: First of all, Where in the hell is this bomb?!?
Find it, please. NOW.
Second, note that they reportedly used "medical isotopes" for their nuclear material:
now, think about all the whining that Saddam has done in years past for "medicines" and medical supplies to be sold to Iraq and not be included in the UN sanctions.
Sobering, isn't it?
Third, the British government blatantly withdrew their more specific warning because they didn't want to "panic" people...
That was just weeks before they found the ricin in London, before Stephen Oakes was killed by a member of that Al Queda cell, and before they raided the Finsbury Park mosque and found things like NBC (Nuclear, chemical and biological protective) suits.
Welcome to the world after 9/11.

Jordan to Allow Limited Stationing of U.S. Troops

Jordan has decided to allow the discreet stationing of U.S. troops here to man air defenses, the launch of search-and-rescue missions from its airfields and the passage of allied planes across its airspace in any war with neighboring Iraq, according to Jordanian officials and diplomats.

The Jordanian willingness to cooperate, although limited, marks a dramatic reversal of the neutrality proclaimed by the late King Hussein in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. It could prove important to any U.S. attack if it means warplanes could overfly Jordan from aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean Sea on the way to bombing runs over Iraq.

OK, like the Turks, we've had to give Jordan boatloads of $aid$ for their help, but still, an ally is an ally!
Looks like President Bush's cultivation of the friendship with King Abdullah has paid off!
I believe there is also the possibility that once we've liberated Iraq from Saddam and the Ba'athists, that the Hashemites could be put back on the throne in Iraq [This is King Abdullah's dynastic family who once ruled Iraq B.S.--before Saddam.], so maybe Abdullah is thinking of the possibilities there, even though rumor had it that he was a good friend of Saddam's psychotic son Uday...
This could get interesting and maybe even...fun!

" Double whammy"

President Bush's State of the Union address and the Israeli election results are a bitter double whammy for the Middle East. They are the worst of news, crushing any hopes of peace in the region. Bush's address makes it plain that war over Iraq is moving inexorably closer. Ariel Sharon's election victory means no change in the present bankrupt Israeli policy of confrontation with the Palestinians: there will be no peace deal, no end to Israeli violence in the occupied territories, no end to suicide bombs in Israel.

Notice how that last phrase is added on as a threat...that endless "suicide bombs in Israel" are their answer?
And note also how what they call "peace" is everyone else's idea (except for the Weasel powers) of granting the Islamist terrorists the liberty to commit Jewish (and Christian) genocide?
If the IslamoFascists are bemoaning President Bush's SOTU speech and Sharon's big victory, then I know with certainty that they were both marvelous things and statements of our two nation's strength, for which we should thank God!

January 29, 2003

Solana toughens stance on Iraq

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana has said the case for war against Iraq has not yet been made - making a thinly-veiled attack on the crisis' "hawks".
Mr Solana insisted that the UN Security Council must be the centre of efforts to prevent what he called the "catastrophe" of war.
[...]Meanwhile German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder expressed doubt that diplomacy would succeed in averting a conflict.

"The international situation, especially the crisis over Iraq is worrying me," he told a conference in the western town of Wesel. "I am worried about whether we will succeed in avoiding a war in Iraq.
[...]
Mr Solana's comments came as Russia continued to advocate a peaceful solution to the crisis amid continuing European divisions.
[...]
However, Russia has been firmly opposing the prospect of military action, saying there is no evidence to justify it.

And diplomats in Moscow say Russia will be expecting something more tangible from the US than UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's dossier on Iraq released in September 2002, which Mr Putin dismissed as propaganda.

Putin, you lying Russian Stalinist scum bastard!
You and your friends and family in the KGB made propaganda into an art form!
We don't work that way in the West (except for the Lib Dims, Tranzis, and sleeper Ruski Commie cells you support here like A.N.S.W.E.R.!).
In the meantime, Schroder's got "Tom Daschle" disease where he's "worried" and "concerned" and has "questions..."
He may speak Hoch Deutsch and wear lederhosen, but these Lefist Liberals are all the same, aren't they?
Is it any wonder that President Bush's hair is so gray (so is mine!) and that he looked so worn last night?
These idiotarians will literally whine and moan you into an early grave.

United We Stand:
Eight European leaders are as one with President Bush

(...This article is written by Jose María Aznar, Jose-Manuel Durão Barroso, Silvio Berlusconi, Tony Blair, Vaclav Havel, Peter Medgyessy, Leszek Miller and Anders Fogh Rasmussen.)

The real bond between the U.S. and Europe is the values we share: democracy, individual freedom, human rights and the rule of law. These values crossed the Atlantic with those who sailed from Europe to help create the United States of America. Today they are under greater threat than ever.

The attacks of Sept. 11 showed just how far terrorists--the enemies of our common values--are prepared to go to destroy them. Those outrages were an attack on all of us. In standing firm in defense of these principles, the governments and people of the U.S. and Europe have amply demonstrated the strength of their convictions. Today more than ever, the trans-Atlantic bond is a guarantee of our freedom.

We in Europe have a relationship with the U.S. which has stood the test of time. Thanks in large part to American bravery, generosity and farsightedness, Europe was set free from the two forms of tyranny that devastated our continent in the 20th century: Nazism and communism. Thanks, too, to the continued cooperation between Europe and the U.S. we have managed to guarantee peace and freedom on our continent. The trans-Atlantic relationship must not become a casualty of the current Iraqi regime's persistent attempts to threaten world security.
[...]The U.N. Charter charges the Security Council with the task of preserving international peace and security. To do so, the Security Council must maintain its credibility by ensuring full compliance with its resolutions. We cannot allow a dictator to systematically violate those resolutions. If they are not complied with, the Security Council will lose its credibility and world peace will suffer as a result. We are confident that the Security Council will face up to its responsibilities.
Messrs. Aznar, Durão Barroso, Berlusconi, Blair, Medgyessy, Miller and Fogh Rasmussen are, respectively, the prime ministers of Spain, Portugal, Italy, the U.K., Hungary, Poland and Denmark. Mr. Havel is the Czech president.

So much for all the cries of "unilateralism" being hurled at President Bush!
Thank you, New Europe.
And "Old Europe," heads up!
The bus may be leaving without you.
You have some soul searching to do, France and Germany (and Russia).
That is, if your nations still have a soul.
[Hat tip to John Cole over at Balloon Juice for this marvelous link!
This story is dated for tomorrow's WSJ, BTW.]

Abu Hamza faces deportation over bigamous marriage

BU HAMZA AL-MASRI, the controversial imam of Finsbury Park mosque, faces possible deportation after the disclosure yesterday that his British citizenship is based upon a bigamous marriage.

The Egyptian-born cleric was granted the right to remain in the UK after he married Valerie Traverso, a young Englishwoman, in May 1980. However, inquiries by The Times have established that Ms Traverso was already married, and not divorced by her first husband until July 1982. That means the marriage is void, according to family law experts, and Abu Hamza could be stripped of his citizenship.

The Home Office has long been frustrated at its inability to deport the one-eyed, hook-handed imam who has spoken out in support of the September 11 attackers. Last night officials were examining the details of his bigamous marriage.

What a liar and a scumbag!
I'm sure he regarded his secular British "marriage" to this woman a sacrilege to Islam and a fraud anyway, being such a *holy man*.
Acquiring British citizenship was important to him not only for the legal protections it's giving him now, but also for the generous welfare checks he's received from British taxpayers:
in this story, also in The Times and also about Abu Hamza, we find the following juicy morsel:

Abu Hamza lives in Shepherd?s Bush, West London, where he is thought to have been paid £100,000 in welfare benefits over the past three years, including three types of disability payments, income support, housing benefit and help with fuel bills.

Deport him, Britain!
You know you want to!
And you'll sleep a lot better at night, as will we Yanks, knowing this terror master isn't at large to spread his hate in the West in ease and comfort on John Bull's largesse!
[I will never forget MSNBC's Ashley Banfield interviewing this dirt bag back in the spring as if he were Mel Gibson!]

Iraq Denies Any Connection to Al Qaeda

Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz on Wednesday denied President Bush's allegation that his country has ties to Al Qaeda operatives.

"I absolutely deny that. I absolutely deny that," Aziz said in an interview on ABC News. "And I challenge Bush and his government to present any, any evidence of that."

Hmmm. Old Tareq denied it twice for emphasis...
Unless you believe that President Bush's speech got them to turn over a new leaf and start telling the truth for a change, I think we may have found our "smoking gun" now.
Or should I say that it was more likely that it was Saddam who was the "20th 9/11 hijacker?"
What Pandora's box have we opened now?

Korean talks end with little progress

A South Korean envoy has returned from North Korea without holding talks with the North's reclusive leader Kim Jong-il.

South Korean presidential envoy Lim Dong-won, arriving back in Seoul, said his North Korean hosts told him Mr Kim was on a regional tour.

This dashed hopes that the South Korean delegation could help resolve a nuclear crisis over North Korea's withdrawal this month from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

It appears as if that Sunshine Policy has set in the East...
And I'm down with the way the Bush Administration is handling this: if you have a child that acts like a brat, you either give them a spanking or put them in the "time out chair" to let them think about their misbehavior.

France Ready to Evacuate Citizens from Ivory Coast

France is ready to evacuate its citizens from Ivory Coast "at any time" and face up to any security challenges posed by the unrest there, Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said Wednesday.

Villepin said France had reinforced security measures in the capital Abidjan as protests against a peace deal brokered by France last week spread. France has 2,500 troops in the West African country, the world's largest cocoa producer.

The minister insisted that the deal, which embattled President Laurent Gbagbo has played down and the Ivory Coast army has rejected, must remain the basis for any reconciliation between the government and rebel forces challenging it.
[...]
He said French soldiers were on alert but added France had to "avoid any slip-up that could set off a fire."
[...]
Asked if the army might overthrow Gbagbo, he[de Villepin] said "I think today that all parties understand the importance of this reconciliation because it will permit a demilitarization."

"As President Gbagbo said himself, the Ivorian army must understand the situation and accept this reconciliation." Ivory Coast's army rejected key aspects of the peace deal on Tuesday and refused to demobilize, saying in a letter to Gbagbo that the accord "carries within it the germs of a national implosion."

Does any of what De Villepin said mean anything?
Maybe it sounds better in French. *Gallic shrug*
I have liked the French very much in the past, but now I'm beginning to think they are real swine and not only because of they way they've behaved to us and to their own Jewish citizens, either.
This whole Ivory Coast thing is a mess, une bourdelle as they would say....
They make Gbagbo come to Paris to negotiate a peace for his country, when he probably only wanted the French to send in troops to put down the revolt and help sustain his government.
When the French broker (or should we say "order") this "reconciliation" with the "rebels"--which involves giving the Muslim "rebels" partial control of the government after a mere 4-month-long uprising--it's not surprisingly unacceptable to the Ivorian army and a good portion of the Ivorians.
So what is the French solution when their precious "reconcilation" fails?
Now that the inevitable implosion of Ivory Coast has begun, they've decided that all the French people should leave the country, aided by their troops there, and run back to France, naturellement!
I presume they were issued their white surrender flags before they left Weasel Land...
In the meantime, what are President Ngagbo and the Ivorians to do who are left to try and live there?
I truly feel sorry for them and I sincerely hope that the United States can be of help in some way to these poor people yearning for democratic, peaceful rule.

Russia Sees No Grounds for Use of Force in Iraq

Russia, said Wednesday it saw no grounds yet for using force against Iraq and called for U.N. arms inspectors to have more time, a day after President Bush sought support for a possible war.

"We are guided by the principles of international law and the prerogatives of the U.N. Security Council and, as we have said before, we do not see grounds for the use of military force," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said.

Oh, brother!
Don't they sound nice?
Almost as "neutral" and peace-loving as the Swiss...
Who'da thunk it?
The Germans are channelling Sheryl "War is not the Answer" Crow and now the Russians claim they live religiously by "international law and the prerogatives of the UNSC" and they only support the judicious, necessary use of "military force."
OK, then.
Have we mentioned that they bombed the Chechen province back into the Ice Age?
Not to mention their contributions in WWII and the Cold War (highlights were the use of military force in Hungary and Poland, completely in contravention of international law and condemned, not sanctioned, by the UNSC.)
But I read yesterday that the descendants of Stalin's victims in the gulags are going to get--wait for it--free false teeth!
That should take their hurts away.
Of course, in a refinement of his SOTU from last year, President Bush actually used the "c-word" in his speech last night and about how American strength had overcome it.
(That's Communism to you, me and Vlad.)
And they don't like that at all.
And the President talked about Strategic Missile Defense, too.
And they don't like that either.
Is the love between Bush and Putin doomed?
Could one of the key reasons that Russia, Germany and France don't wanna join us in our Iraq attack not because they don't think our cause is right and just, but because they can't.
All three former "powers" have armies that are so shrunk, badly funded, inadequately trained and poorly equipped, I think they're more embarrassed than they are peace-loving!

Oil rises ahead of Bush address

The price of crude oil has see-sawed upwards again ahead of President George W. Bush's State of the Union address later on Tuesday.
[...]
The oil market has been extremely volatile in the build-up to a possible war against Iraq.

Traders surmise oil supplies from Iraq could be blocked in the short term but released in the long term if Saddam's regime is toppled.

Then, the BBC has this story from Davos:
Iraqi oil output 'could double'

Investment in Iraqi oil fields could see the country double its crude output following a change of regime, a leading opposition figure has told world leaders.

Adil Abdul Mahdi, president of the Iran-based Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, said that, with an injection of $30-40bn, production could be raised to 5-6 million barrels per day by 2010.
[...]
Cash raised from oil revenues should be redirected to local and federal authorities and "large scale infrastructure projects", Mr Mahdi added.

I hope all Americans know in their hearts and their minds that we are not attacking Iraq for oil:
We are attacking Saddam Hussein's regime because he wants to kill us and threatens to arm our Islamist enemies with WMD.
But when we liberate Iraq, we will be able to increase the productivity of Iraq's oil reserves and I think that this estimate of doubling output isn't outrageous.
The Bush Administration has promised that the lion's share of the generous proceeds therefrom will go to the Iraqi people, but one of the inevitable benefits (as I've noted before) will be the downfall of OPEC [Read this as "Saudi Arabia"] as the arbiter of the oil market.
Prices on crude, with plentiful Iraqi oil on the market, will have to fall and OPEC's practice to keep the price artificially high while manipulating supply will no longer be workable.
[No offense, Mr. Mahdi, but we may not be able to use you: anyone who declares that they hail from an "Islamic Republic" of anything sounds too fanatical and jihadi to be helpful!]

U.S. and Its Allies Fight Rebel Force on Afghan Peaks

Some 350 American, European and Afghan forces fought a fierce battle through the night against a large group of rebel fighters in a mountainous region of southeastern Afghanistan, in the heaviest fighting they have encountered in nine months, the American military spokesman said here today.

As many as 80 fighters aligned with the former mujahedeen commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a warlord who once battled Soviet occupation but has now joined forces with the remnants of the Taliban to oust the Americans, were thought to be lodged in caves and mountain hideouts near the border with Pakistan, said the spokesman, Col. Roger King. Those forces fired on Apache helicopters that went to investigate their presence in the Adi Ghar, a mountain range just north of Spinbaldak, the border crossing between the southern Afghan town of Kandahar and the Pakistani city of Quetta.

American forces responding to the violence included a rapid reaction force of the 82nd Airborne Division, backed by air support from American B-1 bombers and AC-130 gunships and Norwegian F-16's, Colonel King said.
[...]
For Norway, it was the first time its planes had carried out operational bombings since World War II, said a military spokesman, Per Hoeiby. [As one waggish commenter said over at Rantburg : "Hufda!"]
The detained man said the rebel fighters were loyal to Mr. Hekmatyar, but they appear to have links to the ousted Taliban and Al Qaeda. Afghan commanders in the region have said they are led by two former Taliban commanders.

Mr. Hekmatyar, an Islamic fundamentalist who was an important leader in the resistance against the Soviets in the 1980's, is opposed to the American military presence in Afghanistan, and to the government of President Hamid Karzai, whom he sees as an American-installed leader. There are also reports from Afghan and Pakistani officials that Arab and other foreign fighters are now based in the tribal areas of Pakistan, along the Afghan border, and are preparing new and bigger attacks against American troops in Afghanistan.

Well, let's hope those reports about bigger and worse attacks are just rumors.
Otherwise, good work, everybody!
Look on the bright side: it took those bad guys over 9 months to put up some real resistance and so far, none of our people have been wounded or killed in action.
Also, face it: if Al-Queda's and the Taliban's "go-to guy" is Hekmatyar, we can still keep pencilling in Osama and Mullah Omar as "no longer a problem..." (to quote President Bush!).

US opposes Iraqi UN disarmament presidency

The United States has warned it cannot accept Iraqi chairmanship of a United Nations disarmament body and is considering options to block such appointment scheduled for May.

For all those Liberal folks howling that the UN should be the final "boss" of the planet, consider things like this that are so fundamentally wrong, they'd be funny if they weren't so tragic!
And these kinds of snafus happen at the UN almost on a daily basis: Libya now heads up the Human Rights Committee of the UN, Zimbabwe is rarely, if ever, sanctioned for genocide, Israel is frequently condemned for defending her own territory and reluctant member states won't act on the UN's own resolutions after reports from their weapons inspectors.
The only logical reason that Iraq could or should ever be head of the Disarmament Dept. is if they were going to write a manual for the globe on how to "beat" the inspection system and what to look for if you suspect a leader's doing just that.
One suspects that Kim Jung-Il may already have the first draft.

Ah, who can pin down the significance of things in our world and point out to us why they're so meaningful in such a poignant and personal way? No-one but James Lileks.
And thus, I link him and pray that maybe someday, after reading him enough, his eloquence and art of expression will be contagious!
Here's his wrap-up of President Bush's speech and it's another Lileks beauty!

January 28, 2003

Bush's 2003 State of the Union Speech
What a stirring, inspirational speech!
God Bless President Bush and God Bless America!

Putin Raises Specter of Russia's Taking Tougher Line on Iraq; Impatience With Saddam Grows

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Tuesday that Moscow, which has been pushing for a diplomatic solution to the Iraq crisis, "may change its position" if Baghdad hampers U.N. weapons inspectors.

France and Germany, strong opponents of the war option, also issued calls for Iraq to cooperate, but Baghdad remained defiant.

The comments - particularly from Russia, Iraq's most powerful ally - were signs of growing international impatience with Saddam Hussein a day after chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix delivered his toughest assessment yet of Baghdad's level of compliance.

As the diva of dish Lucianne Goldberg said over at her fine site today, "Come on, Pootie! Do your duty!" Love that.
And France and Germany, it must be getting awfully lonely over there in "Old Europe."

Scott Peterson: Laci Knew I Was Having an Affair
BARF!
Who cares? Who wants to know? Nobody!
Is this "news?" NO!
Murder and adultery are some of the oldest stories in human history.
Not only have TV and print media functioned as the 24/7 apologists of the Lib Dim appeaseniks, but if you cheat on your wife and it's very possible that you murdered her, they'll put you on Good Morning, America with Diane Sawyer for a big interview!
Disgusting. And boring. And unconscionable.

Empty Chair at Bush Speech Will Symbolize Sept. 11

An empty seat will symbolize losses from the Sept. 11 attacks when President Bush's delivers his State of the Union speech before Congress on Tuesday night.

The empty seat will be two rows behind first lady Laura Bush in the House of Representatives chamber where Bush gives his annual address.

The seat "symbolizes the empty place many Americans will always have at their tables and in their lives because of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001," the White House said.

What a beautiful gesture.
I pray that Perpetual Light shines on the souls of the 9/11 victims.
Never forget.
And pray that there are no more 9/11s again. Ever.

Mobs Outside U.S. Embassy in Ivory Coast


Yahoo Caption:"Demonstrators take part in a protest near the American embassy in Abidjan January 28, 2003. Young supporters of president Laurent Gbagbo called for American support for their country and denounced France, its former colonial ruler, for brokering a recent peace initiative in the four-month civil war. The protests in the Ivory Coast capital underlined the problems facing the power-sharing deal agreed by President Laurent Gabgbo in Paris to end the war that has split the world's top cocoa producer along ethnic lines."

The Ivorians chanted "U.S.A.," waved, instead of burned, the Stars and Stripes, sang the Star Spangled Banner and recognized America as the defender of democracy, while calling France " democracy's assassin."
Those Ivorians are perceptive people!

Here's the link for the White House where the text of the President's State of the Union address will be put up at 3:00 PM EST today in advance of the speech tonight.

[Hat tip to Steven Den Beste.]

DRUDGE REPORT 2003
BUSH LAUNCHES MEDIA OFFENSIVE; PLANS LUNCH WITH NETWORK ANCHORS, TV HOSTS AHEAD OF SPEECH

"BrokawRussertJenningsStephanopoulos and others will have private off-the-record lunch with President Bush on Tuesday... Developing..."

No details yet on this Breaking News at Drudge.
Sounds like either President Bush is going to announce war or he's taking all these bad boys out to the woodshed.
Or perhaps both? An admonition to them about how to handle his war announcement?
The tension builds and the war drums are getting louder.
Faster, please!

January 27, 2003

Gbagbo pleads with Ivorian rioters

The president of Ivory Coast has called on his supporters to put off protests at a deal to share power with rebels and allow him to explain his position.

Laurent Gbagbo went on TV briefly to ask protesters to return to their homes and jobs as riots against the deal agreed in France last week continued for a third day running in the main city, Abidjan.

"Do not worry, what was said at Marcoussis [a small town near Paris] only amounted to propositions," he [President Gbagbo] said.

Gbagbo supporters are suspect about the deal brokered by France, the former colonial power, and have attacked its embassy and other interests in Abidjan.

Guards at a French military base and the embassy fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse crowds on Monday, but the unrest died down in the afternoon as the loyalists rallied near the presidential palace.

However, the BBC's correspondent in the city, Tom McKinley, reports that the president's upcoming address will be crucial.

Not only must he satisfy his staunchest supporters, our correspondent says, but the army, which has called the deal a humiliation.

Gbagbo loyalists fear giving too much power to the rebels who control half of the world's largest cocoa-producing nation.

They are particularly alarmed by rumours that the rebels will be given control over the national army under the French-brokered peace deal.

"France has killed us and killed democracy," said Ble Goude, one of the leaders of the loyalist unrest.

"How can we give control of our army to the rebels?"

Celestin Guei, a demonstrator who spoke to the Associated Press, said he wanted to hear Mr Gbagbo's explanation:

"I've come to listen to the president to see if it's him, or France, who leads Ivory Coast."

Of course, the BBC neglects to tell us that these "rebels" are Muslims, which they are.
And for the life of me, I can't recall France asking the U.N. or anybody else for permission to either send troops here (which they did) or for the authority to make a settlement in Paris with the Ivorian "rebels."
Funny how that works, n'est-ce pas?
In addition, La Belle France is also in deep merde over their "open door" policy to that mass murderer of Caucasians Bobby Mugabe:
EU disarray over Mugabe sanctions

European Union foreign ministers have failed to decide on a new package of sanctions against the government of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe at a meeting in Brussels.
[...]
The measures currently in force include a travel ban on senior government figures, but France has invited Mr Mugabe to a Franco-African summit in Paris next month, angering several countries.

France argues that EU sanctions against Zimbabwe allow officials to attend meetings in Europe if the focus is on human rights and democracy.

What can the French be thinking--Comic relief? Education for the ignorant? Wishful thinking? "White man's burden?"
We may have to send the whole nation of France to AA--drinking their own wines has finally made them completely and totally crazy!

Iraq breaching UN resolutions: PM

Prime Minister John Howard said a report by United Nations weapons inspectors showed Iraq was in material breach of UN security council resolutions and could be arming terrorists.

And Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the report by chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix to was "blacker than expected".

The Blix report said Iraq had not accepted international demands to disarm and potentially had stocks of anthrax and the US immediately responded that Iraq had little intention of disarming.

Mr Howard said that while Iraq may have cooperated in a process sense, in substance it had not cooperated.

"Therefore on my reading of it, (Iraq) is in further material breach of ... earlier resolutions," he told Sydney radio 2GB.

Mr Howard warned Iraq could begin arming terrorists if it was not disarmed.

Exactly!
Some things may be "backwards" Down Under, but there's obviously nothing wrong with their thought processes or skills of perception and they're not afraid to call a spade a spade.
Good on you, Mr. Howard!

If you're still one of the stubborn ones who's opposed to this War on Islamist Terrorism or even if you know too well that we must fight and be victorious over Islamofascism, you still must read Bill Whittle's outstanding essay "WAR".
He explains why our aims, our purpose and our outrage must lead to War and lays out the American(/Western) argument point by point--carefully, cogently and irrefutably.

January 26, 2003

Man in court on terror charge

One of the seven people arrested during a raid at the Finsbury Park mosque in north London will appear in court on Monday under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Samir Asli, 29 of St Thomas Road, Finsbury Park, is due to appear at Bow Street Magistrates Court charged with possessing articles for terrorist purposes.*

A second man arrested during the raid last Monday is still being questioned on suspicion of terrorism-related offences.

Four others are in custody for suspected immigration offences and one has been released.

The mosque has been closed and boarded up since the police search was completed.

Oh yeah! Good move, Brits!
Now, if only we could "take care of" Captain Hook, the mosque's imam and master terror architect Abu Hamza!
*Buzz is that these "articles for terrorist purposes" were "NBC suits" (suits to protect the wearers from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons' use) thus lending credence to fears that such an attack was being planned on London. LittleGreenFootballs links to this WorldNet Daily story: Bio-chem suits found
in London mosque: Discovery confirms Scotland Yard's worst fears of massive attack planned.
This is also connected to that major bust of Al Queda in Spain earlier this week:
Al-Qaeda suspects questioned

Spanish authorities are questioning 16 men arrested in a police swoop on suspected al-Qaeda-linked militant cells on Friday.

Experts are examining explosives and chemicals seized in the raid.

Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said a "major terrorist attack", had been thwarted by the arrests in the north-eastern Catalonia region.

Mr Aznar described the arrests as an extraordinarily important strike in the war against terror.
[...]More than 150 anti-terrorist police agents took part in Friday's pre-dawn swoop against the suspected al-Qaeda cells in more than a dozen apartments in Barcelona and elsewhere in Catalonia.

Suspicious resins, fuels and other chemicals are being examined, along with electronic equipment, detonators and remote controls for use in bomb-making.

The arrests came two days after an operation in Italy to arrest five Moroccans on charges of illegal possession of explosives.
[...]
Mr Aznar said those arrested had links to Algerian militant groups.

"[The police] have broken up a major terrorist network... linked in this case to the Algerian Salafist group, a splinter of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), which has clear connections with the criminal organisation of Bin Laden," he said.
Interior Minister Angel Acebes said the suspects were divided into two groups, both led by Algerians.
[...]A UK investigation into terrorist cells, sparked by the discovery of the poison ricin in London, has unearthed a huge number of suspects all over Europe.

Spain has been a fabulous partner to the United States in the War on Islamist Terrorism.
They not only caught these guys, who are obviously working in concert with Al Queda, that GIA group and also, but not mentioned the ETA Basque separatist group (also Al Queda-linked), but Aznar has pledged his support to President Bush in our war against Iraq with or without another UN resolution and we've been working with Spain and 4 other countries to solve the Chavez problem in Venezuela!
Bush's Spanish and love of Hispanic people and culture is such an asset!
Notice Italy and Berlusconi have been very helpful also, while in the Franco half of the Weasel Axis, a certain group of Frenchmen were saying that that Parisian Rabbi stabbed himself week before last in order to make Muslim immigrants look bad.

Powell Tells Europe U.S. Ready to Attack Iraq Alone

Secretary of State Colin Powell told skeptical Europeans Sunday the United States was willing to attack Iraq alone if the U.N. Security Council shrank from disarming President Saddam Hussein.

In a speech to muster European support for a tough line against Iraq, Powell made few concessions to European doubts about the wisdom of invading the country while U.N. inspectors are still searching for suspected weapons of mass destruction.

He mixed reassurances that the Bush administration would be patient and consult its allies with warnings that time was short and Washington would not wait for ever.

"We are in no great rush to judgment today or tomorrow but it's clear that time is running out," he told a gathering of business and political leaders in the Swiss town of Davos.

"Multilateralism cannot become an excuse for inaction," Powell added, referring to opposition to an early war among key veto-holding members of the U.N. Security Council, France, China and Russia.

"We will work through these issues patiently and deliberately with our friends and allies... Let the Iraqi regime have no doubt, however. If it does not disarm peacefully at this juncture, it will be disarmed at the end of the road," he said.

"We will not shrink from war if that is the only way to rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction. We continue to reserve our sovereign right to take military action against Iraq alone or in a coalition of the willing," he said.

Powell said Saddam had "clear ties to terrorist groups including al Qaeda" and had not yet made a strategic decision to comply with his obligation to disarm under a U.N. resolution passed in November.
[...]
He also sought to counter suspicions that the Bush administration has hidden motives linked to oil for attacking Iraq, citing U.S. military interventions in Kuwait in 1991, in the Balkans in the 1990s and in Afghanistan in 2001.

WHOO HOO! Secretary Powell!
You are *the* Man!
Way to tell 'em! (I did hear that he was furious when Chirac went back on his word to support us and had that peacenik love fest with Schroder! Boy, will this put their pantilettes and underträgen in a wad!)
Between SoS Powell, Rummy and what I'm sure will be the President's kick *ss SOTU speech on Tuesday night, I'm feeling so proud to be an American right now!
And I'm so proud of you, Mr. Powell!
You're smooth, calm, very cool and quite firm.
They know we mean business.
And this declaration of our sovereign right to defend ourselves is also for all those Liberal idiotarians who keep whining about American "unilateralism" and how we can't sneeze without another UN resolution.
Eat our dust, Dimocrats!
Now what was that about Powell being the Bush Administration's biggest dove?

Venezuelans stage marathon protest

Tens of thousands of Venezuelans have gathered on one of the main roads in the capital, Caracas, to demand the resignation of the country's president, Hugo Chavez.

The rally - intended to last 24 hours - was called in protest against a court decision to block a referendum on President Chavez's rule, which opponents say is dictatorial.

Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil exporter, has been gripped by the eight-week strike, which has caused severe fuel and some food shortages.

President Chavez is refusing to step down, saying his opponents are being manipulated by Venezuela's wealthy elite. [Doesn't this pinko Chavez sound a lot like our Dimocrats playing the "rich"/class warfare card?--J.T.]
The protesters have accused Mr Chavez of behaving like a dictator and mismanaging the economy and have called on him to resign or call early elections.
[...]
They flooded a four-kilometre stretch (2.5 miles) of the major highway, chanting "Until he goes!" and waving the national colours of the Venezuelan flag.

Many took tents and sleeping bags to stay overnight, while others carried folding chairs, portable television sets and radios.

They are protesting against last week's decision by the Supreme Court to postpone a referendum on Mr Chavez's rule scheduled on 2 February - six months before a binding popular vote is due.

The president's opponents had gathered the required two million signatures to press for the vote.

They strike, which started on 2 December, has almost paralysed Venezuela's oil industry.
[...]
On Friday, the six-nation Group of Friends agreed in Washington to send a high-level mission to Venezuela next week to try to find a compromise.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell told his colleagues from Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal and Spain that Mr Chavez should either hold early elections or call a referendum on his leadership.

What can you say but "Wow!"
These are people who want to vote in another leader!
And Jimmy Carter couldn't make them end their strike, so that makes 2 Communists they don't listen to! Ha-ha!
I do admire the strong spirit of these protestors and their hunger for Liberty and free market capitalism.
May God and the spirit of Simon Bolivar be with you, Venezuela!

Israel launches deadly Gaza raid

Israeli forces have killed 12 Palestinians and wounded more than 50 in what is believed to be their biggest incursion into Gaza City since the Palestinian uprising began more than two years ago.

Palestinians sources say some 50 tanks and armoured vehicles backed by helicopter gunships entered the city from three directions, in the second Israeli incursion in the past 24 hours.

Israel's Defence Minister, Shaul Mofaz told Israel radio that the government in the past had considered simply taking over the Gaza Strip, and that this was still under consideration.

He said the raid, which ended at daybreak, was aimed at sites where Palestinians made and launched rockets at Israel after a recent increase in such attacks.

Most of the Palestinian dead appear to be men in their twenties. The militant group Hamas has already vowed revenge.

Palestinian official Saeb Erakat accused Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of using military force to try to keep himself and his Likud party in power in Tuesday's general elections.

The BBC's Liz Blunt in Jerusalem says the Gaza incursion was a major show of strength which should go down well with voters but for Israel to put a permanent presence into Gaza would be a major, and potentially a very costly undertaking.

The troops reportedly stormed several buildings, destroying at least three metal workshops, as mosques called on Palestinians to resist the incursion.

Israeli military sources said their troops came under heavy fire from Palestinians with assault rifles, anti-tank missiles and explosives.

The sources said the Israeli troops returned fire, hitting a number of armed Palestinians.
[...]Correspondents say that the area is a known stronghold of the group Hamas, which does not recognise Israel's right to exist and has carried out dozens of attacks to pressure Mr Sharon's government into a complete withdrawal from the Palestinian territories.
[...]
Despite the incursion, another Qassam rocket was reportedly fired from northern Gaza on Sunday.

Obviously, this "incursion" needed to be done, not only to protect Israelis in general, but to button down the "Palestinian" areas on the eve of our war with Iraq.
Ariel Sharon either isn't worried about getting re-elected or he's more worried about Israel's security.
Also, with the latest Qassam rocket attack, it's clear that there's still more work for the IDF to do.
The government might want to think about re-taking possession of the Gaza Strip again.
Otherwise, good work, fellas!

Hunt for 1,200 Britons who trained with al-Qa'eda

Almost 1,200 British Muslims trained with Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda terrorist network in Afghanistan, The Telegraph has learnt.

The names, addresses and other details of the Britons were found by British military intelligence during searches of bin Laden's cave complex at Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan.

Many of the Britons,all of whom trained at al-Qa'eda camps in Afghanistan, are now thought to have returned to Britain while others are believed to have died in combat. The location of some is known, but others have still to be traced. In all, the names of 1,192 Britons have been found. A senior Whitehall official confirmed the discovery, saying: "It was shocking to realise that so many young Britons had travelled to train with Osama bin Laden, al-Qa'eda and the Taliban."

Here's hoping that a good part of these killers are under incarceration at Camp Gitmo!
Otherwise, best of British (luck) with finding the rest.
Yikes!