A "Al Qaeda" P pumping up their 'insurgents' with more numerology

Hey, 'progressives' it's time for another round number party! Bring your own bong.

Another triumphant headline, lead story at Yahoo, from the treacherous mainstream media, supporting their forces of darkness with all their might.

Iraq Bomber Kills 17; U.S. Toll at 2,100

By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer
52 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide car bomber attacked a police patrol Tuesday in the northern city of Kirkuk, killing at least 17 people, and three U.S. soldiers died in two separate attacks, pushing the American death toll in Iraq to 2,100, officials said.

In Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, insurgents fired a mortar at a U.S. ceremony attended by top officials to hand over a presidential palace to Iraqi authorities, sending the U.S. ambassador and top commander scrambling for cover but causing no injuries.

The attackers in Kirkuk lured the patrol to a busy commercial street by shooting a policemen, then struck with the suicide bomb as authorities investigated the shooting, said police Capt. Farhad Talabani. The bombing took place on a road leaving Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad.

Police Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qader gave the casualty figure of 17 dead and 26 wounded but did not say how many were civilians.

Attacks on the security forces in Kirkuk are common. Insurgents last week in Kirkuk opened fire on a police patrol, killing three officers, while a roadside bomb a few miles away killed two more police officers.

The U.S. military said a U.S. soldier assigned to the 2nd Marine Division wask killed after a bomb detonated near his vehicle Monday near Habaniyah, 50 miles west of Baghdad. There are several U.S. Army units assigned to the Marine division.

In addition, two soldiers from Task Force Freedom were killed Saturday by small arms fire while on patrol in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, another statement said.

As of Tuesday, at least 2,100 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003, according to an Associated Press count. At least 1,638 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers. The figures include five military civilians.

"Could be more! Don't give up killing! We love these stories. We here at AP / Yahoo / BBC / Fox / NYT (etc.) will do all we can to trumpet your accomplishments while downplaying and questioning everything U.S. troops do in Iraq."

The mainstream media is like a vulture, but without a useful niche in its ecosystem.

Open source knee-jerk reaction

OSM...
[UPDATE: AKA "Pajamas Media" "Internet Brownshirts" "Philosphical Assassins" - pending Mary Mapes' latest appellation]
...on the "timetable" for pullout. Maybe letting bloggers shoot from the hip for analysis isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Um, guys, read the article. That's the Bush plan. Tying drawdown to the training of Iraqi security forces is not exactly "eyes only".

There is no "time"table. What they proposed is nothing new. If there were an actual date mentioned, then it would be a timetable.

Iraq's government, to Sunni Arabs ahead of parliamentary elections that have been put on shaky ground by weeks of sectarian violence.

About 100 Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish leaders, many of whom will run in the elections Dec. 15, signed a closing memorandum on Monday that "demands a withdrawal of foreign troops on a specified timetable, dependent on an immediate national program for rebuilding the security forces," the statement said.

"The Iraqi people are looking forward to the day when foreign forces will leave Iraq, when its armed and security forces will be rebuilt, and when they can enjoy peace and stability and an end to terrorism," it said.

"By mid-next year, we will be 75 percent done in building our forces, and by the end of next year it will be fully ready," Jabr told Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab news channel.

The last paragraph is a bit like a timetable, but still dependent upon the prediction coming true. I prefer the Rumsfeld approach: "It happens when it happens."

Al-Jazeera almost became the story

Why didn't they talk about all the other things which could be done?
Back on my terrorism is for the media theme. What organization provides the jihadis with a voice any time they want to convey something to the world at large, and I mean ANY time? Al-Jazeera of course. The only story they refused to air was Fabrizio Quattrocchi refusing beheading without a fight so the 'brave' jihadis had to shoot him.

Report: Bush Talked of Bombing Al-Jazeera

By ROBERT BARR, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 9 minutes ago

LONDON - A civil servant has been charged under Britain's Official Secrets Act for allegedly leaking a government memo that a newspaper said Tuesday suggested that Prime Minister Tony Blair persuaded President Bush not to bomb the Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera.

The Daily Mirror reported that Bush spoke of targeting Al-Jazeera's headquarters in Doha, Qatar, when he met Blair at the White House on April 16, 2004. The Bush administration has regularly accused Al-Jazeera of being nothing more than a mouthpiece for anti-American sentiments.

The Daily Mirror attributed its information to unidentified sources. One source, said to be in the government, was quoted as saying that the alleged threat was "humorous, not serious," but the newspaper quoted another source as saying that "Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair."

Blair's office declined to comment on the report, stressing it never discusses leaked documents.

In Qatar, Al-Jazeera said it was aware of the report, but did not wish to comment. The U.S. Embassy in London said it was making no comment.

The document was described as a transcript of a conversation between the two leaders.

Cabinet Office civil servant David Keogh is accused of passing it to Leo O'Connor, who formerly worked for former British lawmaker Tony Clarke. Both Keogh and O'Connor are scheduled to appear at London's Bow Street Magistrates Court next week.

According to the Crown Prosecution Service, Keogh was charged with an offense under Section 3 of the Official Secrets Act relating to "a damaging disclosure" by a servant of the Crown of information relating to international relations or information obtained from a state other than the United Kingdom.

What is so infuriating about this story is there are so many ways to use Al-Jazeera. Their communications could be monitored as a way to find terrorists. The U.S. could always jam them without bombing them. Furthermore, it would be easy to plant disinformation on Al-Jazeera.

Bombing the studios, though justifiable, shows US and UK strategic planners could use some new blood. It would produce a firestorm of criticism from the usual suspects, ruin the possibility of using Al-Jazeera to get at terrorists, and seriously anger a nominal 'ally' in the Middle East. Among Muslim nations, Qatar isn't one of the pressing concerns. Bombing their TV station would certainly make it one.

Two morning cups of irony from the BBC

Iran calls for US exit from Iraq

You first, mullaht-head (actually an ayatoolah). If the Iranians weren't providing advanced shaped charges and thousands of 'insurgents' to Iraq this article wouldn't seem so ridiculous.

The ayatollah also told Jalal Talabani that the US was mainly responsible for widespread violence in Iraq.

"Please leave so we can stop attacking the people trying to rebuild Iraq and move on to the bloody civil war."

The Iranians have not only supplied Shia terrorists with weapons, but Baathists and al Qaeda types as well. Iran loves the instability.

-----------

Typical BBC spin on every disaster:

"Not enough aid, you stingy Americans. You can do better. Your government is too cheap (ignoring billions in private charity, but that's for another topic). Look at Luxembourg, their $50,000 beats your billions on a per capita basis. Capitalist Anglo-Saxon dogs!"

Never mind.

Stop with the aid already!

Aceh aid 'may cause over fishing'
By Rachel Harvey
BBC News, Jakarta

The number of boats being provided to tsunami survivors in Indonesia's Aceh province could lead to problems of over fishing, relief workers warn.

The waters off Aceh are rich fishing grounds, particularly for tuna which can fetch a high market price abroad.

But the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies says if local fleets become too big, fish stocks could be put at risk.

The one great thing about being an American is I know whatever I do is wrong. And the world press will be Johnny on the spot to tell me. It's a liberating feeling.

A Song For Europe

Link to lyricskeeper

Artist - Roxy Music
Album - Stranded
Lyrics - A Song For Europe

(Ferry/Mackay)

Here as I sit
At this empty cafe
Thinking of you
I remember
All those moments
Lost in wonder
That we'll never
Find again
Though the world
Is my oyster
It's only a shell
Full of memories
And here by the Seine
Notre-Dame casts
A long lonely shadow
Now - only sorrow
No tomorrow
There's no today for us
Nothing is there
For us to share
But yesterday
These cities may change
But there always remains
My obsession
Through silken waters
My gondola glides
And the bridge - it sighs ...
I remember
All those moments
Lost in wonder
That we'll never
Find again
There's no more time for us
Nothing is there
For us to share
But yesterdays
Ecce momenta
Illa mirabilia
Quae captabit
In aeternum
Memor
Modo dolores
Sunt in dies
Non est reliquum
Vero tantum
Comminicamus
Perdita
Tous ces moments
Perdus dans l'enchantement
Qui ne reviendront
Jamais
Pas d'aujourd'hui pour nous
Pour nous il n'y a rien
A partager
Sauf le passe

Spencer, Ye'or, Bostom, Warraq, Sina, Fallaci (and others) need to be heard

I posted part of this at LGF. Don't worry, it's not scary deja vu.

I'm concerned about the lack of any criticism of the theology of Islam in the public sphere. Even if you weren't raised Jewish or Christian there's a good chance you know basic scripture. Jews and Christians are accustomed to their belief systems and holy texts falling under intense scrutiny, and publicly.

On the other hand, Muslim theology is being intentionally ignored (at almost every level) or changed (by groups like CAIR) for American consumption. CAIR's Koran sounds like it's the settle-down-dhimmi version.

The same pattern seems to repeat if there isn't overt warfare. Muslims move in, settle down, seem to get along. A couple generations later they start taking the Koran seriously again, especially later suras like Nine, and protective service stock looks like the only good investment.

If you can't criticize Islam in the Netherlands, try to imagine what living in Saudi Arabia must be like.

In other words, 'point' writers like Bat Ye'or, Robert Spencer, Ibn Warraq, and Bostom should be required reading, and discussed in the public, before we all have to live in bunkers and drive armored vehicles.

If it's going to come to a head inevitably, better it happen before the population of true believers gets any larger.

Islam must be civilized, or civilization must be Islamicized. I'll take the former.

Importantly, the 'MESA Nostra' (Hugh Fitzgerald) must stop deflecting and obfuscating for Islam. Let the debates begin, before we all need personal bodyguards.

There are hundreds of brilliant texts written on Islam in the past which are out-of-print or discarded due to 'harsh' langugage ("hate speech" is a fantastic term for ending debate on certain subjects). It's time to dust them off and read them again.

CNN pumping up 'insurgents' with lead story

Triumphant news coverage is exactly what the terrorists want, and almost every news outlet is more than happy to give it to them. U.S. victories over terrorists come with provisos and fretting over the dead terrorists. "Were they civilians?" Well, since terrorists don't wear uniforms, hide among the civilian population, and never follow the rules of war, in a sense yes is always the answer.

Mid-war intelligence

SGT Walter J. Rausch and 1st Platoon
Charlie Co. 2/327 Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)

Mom

Be my voice. I want this message heard. It is mine and my platoon's to the country. A man I know lost his legs the other night. He is in another company in our batallion. I can no longer be silent after watching the sacrifices made by Iraqis and Americans everyday. Send it to a congressman if you have to. Send it to FOX news if you have to. Let this message be heard please.


My fellow Americans,

I have a task for those with the courage and fortitude to take it. I have a message that needs not fall on deaf ears. A vision the blind need to see. I am not a political man nor one with great wisdom. I am just a soldier who finds himself helping rebuild a country that he helped liberate a couple years ago.

I have watched on television how the American public questions why their mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters are fighting and dying in a country 9000 miles away from their own soil. Take the word of a soldier, for that is all I am, that our cause is a noble one. The reason we are here is one worth fighting for. A cause that has been the most costly and sought after cause in our small span of existence on our little planet. Bought in blood and paid for by those brave enough to give the ultimate sacrifice to obtain it. A right that is given to every man, woman, and child I believe by God. I am talking of freedom.

Freedom. One word but yet countless words could never capture it's true meaning or power. "For those who have fought for it, freedom has a taste the protected will never know." I read that once and it couldn't be more true. It's not the average American's fault that he or she is "blind and deaf" to the taste of freedom. Most American's are born into their God given right so it is all they ever know. I was once one of them. I would even dare to say that it isn't surprising that they take for granted what they have had all their life. My experiences in the military however opened my eyes to the truth.

Ironically you will find the biggest outcries of opposition to our cause from those who have had no military experience and haven't had to fight for freedom. I challenge all of those who are daring enough to question such a noble cause to come here for just a month and see it first hand. I have a feeling that many voices would be silenced.

I watched Cindy Sheehan sit on the President's lawn and say that America isn't worth dying for. Later she corrected herself and said Iraq isn't worth dying for. She badmouthed all that her son had fought and died for. I bet he is rolling over in his grave.

Ladies and gentleman I ask you this. What if you lived in a country that wasn't free? What if someone told you when you could have heat, electricity, and water? What if you had no sewage systems so human waste flowed into the streets? What if someone would kill you for bad-mouthing your government? What if you weren't allowed to watch TV, connect to the internet, or have cell phones unless under extreme censorship? What if you couldn't put shoes on your child's feet? You need not to have a great understanding of the world but rather common sense to realize that it is our duty as HUMAN BEINGS to free the oppressed. If you lived that way would you not want someone to help you????

The Iraqi's pour into the streets to wave at us and when we liberated the cities during the war they gathered in the thousands to cheer, hug and kiss us. It was what the soldier's in WW2 experienced, yet no one questioned their cause!! Saddam was no better than Hitler! He tortured and killed thousands of innocent people. We are heroes over here, yet American's badmouth our President for having us here.

Every police station here has a dozen or more memorials for officers that were murdered trying to ensure that their people live free. These are husbands, fathers, and sons killed every day. What if it were your country? What would your choice be? Everything we fight for is worth the blood that may be shed. The media never reports the true HEROISM I witness everyday in the Iraqi's. Yes there are bad one's here, but I assure you they are a minuscule percent. Yet they are a number big enough to cause worry in this country's future.

I have watched brave souls give their all and lose thier lives and limbs for this cause. I will no longer stand silent and let the "deaf and blind" be the only voice shouting. Stonewall Jackson once said, "All that I have, all that I am is at the service of the country." For these brave souls who gave the ultimate sacrifice, including your son Cindy Sheehan, I will shout till I can no longer. These men and women are heroes. Their spirit lives on in their military and they will never be forgotten. They did not die in vain but rather for a cause that is larger than all of us.

My fellow countrymen and women, we are not overseas for our country alone but also another. We are here to spread democracy and freedom to those who KNOW the true taste of it because they fight for it everyday. You can see the desire in their eyes and I am honored to fight alongside them as an Infantryman in the 101st Airborne.

Freedom is not free, but yet it is everyone's right to have. Ironic isn't it? That is why we are here. Though you will always have the skeptics, I know that most of our military will agree with this message. PLease, at the request of this soldier spread this message to all you know. We are in Operation Iraqi Freedom and that is our goal. It is a cause that I and thousands of others stand ready to pay the ultimate sacrifice for because, Cindy Sheehan, freedom is worth dying for, no matter what country it is! And after the world is free only then can we hope to have peace.

Pre-war intelligence (1998 Iraq Liberation Act)

This is a bit like trying to find life on Mars, but I'll give it a try. Whatever is politically expedient at the moment is not virtuous or reality. Maybe if politicians keep telling themselves it will sink in.

Iraq Liberation Act (1998)

Forgive me for thinking Congress and President Clinton were serious about this.

Recall the Shia uprising which the GHWB Administration supported, but was snuffed out by Saddam's army using helicopters we forgot to include in the no-fly agreement. Saddam's earlier Anfal campaign, including the use of chemical weapons on the Kurds, sent a message to any group which might choose to oppose him. The message was: "I'll slaughter you, your family, babies, and your neighbors if you even think about stepping out of line." Our unwillingness to support the Shia after the Gulf War sent a message as well: "You're on your own. Try not to get slaughtered (again) when you take our advice."

The Iraqi Liberation Act of 1998 was the right idea at the right time, without any follow through. Who would act against Saddam without overt support from the United States, not mere paper pushed through Congress? It's disingenuous when Democrats forget this bit of legislation as if it's enshrouded in the mists of ancient history. The only course to end Saddam's tyrrany, ensure U.S. security, enforce UN resolutions, and prevent any futher aggressive wars by Saddam on his neighbors, was to act as George W. Bush did, with the support of Congress.

Have we forgotten Saddam raining SCUD missiles down on Saudi Arabia and Israel? Israeli babies with gas masks pressed to their faces by their terrified parents?

Is our national attention span so short? Don't answer that.

I can live with the decision decision to topple Saddam.

I can live. Some people can't.

Or we could have waited around for more UN study of the situation. How's this report coming along?

Some post-war (WWII) intelligence

UPDATE: Vice President Cheney mentioned the ILA in today's speech. (full text via White House)

Mark Steyn rules

Senate adopts 'exit strategy' from reality

November 20, 2005

BY MARK STEYN SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

If Mark Steyn was a pretty girl, and I wasn't married... Wait. That's not where I want to go with this. Just read the damn column.

Mark's caustic sarcasm hits every target with GPS-guided precision. God help me, but I do love it so.
A taste:

Good to see that even in the viciously partisan atmosphere of today's politics, Republicans and Democrats can still work together to carry out the people's business [naming buildings after themselves -- Chip]. In the same spirit, I wonder whether the Senate chamber itself should not be renamed the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi United States Senate. With increasingly rare exceptions, just about everything that emerges from the chamber tends to support the Zarqawi view of Iraq -- that this is a psychological war in which the Great Satan is an effete wimp who can be worn down and chased back to his La-Z-Boy recliner in Florida.

Last week, the Republican majority, to their disgrace and with 13 honorable exceptions, passed an amendment calling on the administration to lay out its "plan" for "ending" the war and withdrawing U.S. troops. They effectively signed on to the Democrat framing of the debate: that the only thing that matters is the so-called exit strategy. The only difference between Bill Frist's mushy Republicans and Harry Reid's shameless Democrats is that the latter want to put a firm date on withdrawal, so that Zarqawi's insurgents can schedule an especially big car bomb to coincide with the formal handover of the Great Satan's cojones.

Jews gone wild! Christians threatening again!

Politics and / of Religion is my gig. This is something I didn't see coming.

Abe Foxman of the ADL.

Foxman went on to explain that the ominous agenda of the Christianizers includes working to confirm conservative judicial nominees, restricting abortion and stopping gay marriage.

“They intend to Christianize all aspects of American life, from the halls of government to the libraries, to the movies, to recording studios, to the playing fields and locker rooms of professional, collegiate and amateur sports; from the military to SpongeBob SquarePants,” the ADL chief warned. Is Sponge Pants Jewish? Has he been slated for forced baptism?

Perhaps Foxman could turn his conspiracy theory into a documentary for cable television – “Christians Gone Wild.”

Reform Rabbi Yoffie joins the fray.

By KRISTEN HAYS, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 55 minutes ago

HOUSTON - The leader of the largest branch of American Judaism blasted conservative religious activists in a speech Saturday, calling them "zealots" who claim a "monopoly on God" while promoting anti-gay policies akin to Adolf Hitler's.

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the liberal Union for Reform Judaism, said "religious right" leaders believe "unless you attend my church, accept my God and study my sacred text you cannot be a moral person."

"What could be more bigoted than to claim that you have a monopoly on God?" he said during the movement's national assembly in Houston, which runs through Sunday.

The audience of 5,000 responded to the speech with enthusiastic applause.

Yoffie did not mention evangelical Christians directly, using the term "religious right" instead. In a separate interview, he said the phrase encompassed conservative activists of all faiths, including within the Jewish community.

He used particularly strong language to condemn conservative attitudes toward homosexuals. He said he understood that traditionalists have concluded gay marriage violates Scripture, but he said that did not justify denying legal protections to same-sex partners and their children.

"We cannot forget that when Hitler came to power in 1933, one of the first things that he did was ban gay organizations," Yoffie said. "Yes, we can disagree about gay marriage. But there is no excuse for hateful rhetoric that fuels the hellfires of anti-gay bigotry."

There are some people who will be thrilled by this war (and it's ugly) of words. I'm not one of them. This is a classic case of I report, you decypher.

The giant elephant in the room crapping on the floor is doing a happy dance.

Do employees of news outlets have souls?

The reason I ask is that terrorist acts are only effective when they get maximum news exposure. As I mentioned several posts ago, referencing Victor Davis Hanson, terrorism captures no ground and offers no alternatives to the status quo. Terrorism only scares people and affects public opinion.

As I look at Yahoo, CNN, BBC, Fox, or at any major news outlet, the lead story is the car bombing of a Shia funeral in Iraq and a car bombing which killed five brave American soldiers.

If news outlets want to stop terrorism they should run the body counts of terrorists killed in Iraq. If they want it to continue, don't change anything.

I wonder what Dante Alighieri would say about the mainstream media? Bottom circle, or slightly above?

OSM, notably, doesn't feature the carnage.

Correction: "take as long as is needed"

Please reference my last post.

I stand corrected. There is a poll on withdrawl from Iraq. The largest category says "take as long as is needed" - 38% followed by "within one year" 33%.

Perhaps it's time to do a poll on when our troops are coming home from Germany, Japan, former Yugoslavia, and South Korea.

QUAGMIRES!

Latest flog poll

You've heard about the USA Today / CNN / Gallup Poll from every major news outlet in the nation by now. I'm sure you're familiar with the 'fact' 63% of us want to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq. Polls are used to flog President Bush and supporters of the war mercilessly. (If bloggers are "assassins" - look down a few posts - MSM writers using polling data they like are "floggers.")

There are many ways to introduce bias into a poll. One is to use a small or unrepresentative sample. Wording the question can swing results wildly. Rephrasing the actual poll question for a news story is propaganda (and as it turns out is very relevant in this situation). Another is to survey anyone when it's more appropriate to survey registered voters. Geography is critical. A survey which relies on Berkeley, California will not match the results when polling Salt Lake City, Utah. Most importantly on political issues, the sample must reflect the partisan distribution in the entire population.

Or, you can just pick a number and call people. As it turns out, that's the 'scientific method' the USA Today / CNN / Gallup Poll relies on.

Polls listed chronologically. All data are from nationwide surveys of Americans 18 & older.

CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll. Nov. 11-13, 2005. Adults nationwide.

"Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling the situation in Iraq?"
N=1,006, MoE ± 3

Approve / Disapprove / Unsure
35% / 63% / 2%

Wait a minute. This poll doesn't even address whether we should be in Iraq. The negative opinion could be people who want to put more troops in Iraq to invade Syria or Iran. Who knows? The "disapprove" is lumped into one category. Whether you are more or less hawkish than GWB, you are in the same category.

Sometimes what they don't tell you is more important than what they tell you. Look at the poll below the poll being used to claim Americans want to cut and run.

As it turns out, American opinion on a question more related to withdrawal has been remarkably stable for months. There is no question which directly addresses withdrawl. This is the closest they get. The worst result came in September when the "did not make a mistake" registered 39%.

"In view of the developments since we first sent our troops to Iraq, do you think the United States made a mistake in sending troops to Iraq, or not?"
Form A (N=491, MoE ± 5)

Made a Mistake / Did Not Make a Mistake / Unsure
54 / 45 / 1

Given the lack of any information regarding breakdown of party, geography, registered or not, and sample size (among other things) the nation is split right down the middle, even if you accept their margin of error (which I wouldn't).

Now consider the phrasing of the question.

"make a mistake in sending troops to Iraq."

What percentage of people will consider any mistake in the conduct of the war to be "a mistake in sending troops to Iraq"?

If even five percent are fooled by the wording of the question, the results reverse.

What does the phrase "in view of the developments since" do to the question?

It becomes a referendum on all the horrible mosque and car bombings, troop and civilian deaths.

Is the phrase necessary in the question if the issue is withdrawal? No.

This is the question without forcing the surveyed to consider recent bloodshed:

do you think the United States made a mistake in sending troops to Iraq

What if we remove the word "in." "In" suggests, again, looking at the conduct of the war, not the war itself.

do you think the United States made a mistake sending troops to Iraq

That's the real issue, approaching a question on withdrawal, though not reaching it, isn't it? Now ask yourself why the question is so wordy. Perhaps I've already answered it.

Next time you hear the phrase "war growing increasingly unpopular with the American public" over the next few days recall this is the polling data the mainstream media is using to reach that conclusion.

Damn floggers.


UPDATE: It has come to my attention that I can't spell withdrawal. Apparently I think it's a word describing someone who can't shake a southern accent.

As the HoR (House of Representatives) (see, whore) flings poo, Iran gives UN bomb part instructions

Iran's peaceful nuclear program in action

By Mark Heinrich and Francois Murphy
40 minutes ago

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran has told the U.N. nuclear watchdog that it received a black-market document with partial instructions for making the core of a nuclear bomb, diplomats said on Friday.

But a senior official close to the International Atomic Energy Agency, some diplomats and a U.S. nuclear expert urged caution over the disclosure in the latest IAEA report on Iran's nuclear project, saying further investigation was needed.

"Iran's full transparency is indispensable and overdue," IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said in his confidential report to the agency's board of governors, due to meet on November 24 to consider again whether to send Iran's case to the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions.

The report, obtained by Reuters, said the IAEA was given documents including one "on the casting and machining of enriched, natural and depleted uranium into hemispherical forms." One European diplomat described it as a "cookbook" for the enriched uranium core of a nuclear weapon.

But the senior official close to the U.N. nuclear agency said: "We are not taking a position as to what it (document) is. We are still in the assessment stage."

A diplomat close to the IAEA called the document "damaging" as it dealt with an important aspect of making an atomic weapon.

"But this is not the blueprint the Libyans had," he said, referring to a Chinese bomb design given to Tripoli before it renounced its weapons-of-mass destruction program in 2003.

A former U.N. weapons inspector, David Albright of the Institute for Science and International Security, said the document fell far short of a building manual for a bomb core.

"Iran has gone from saying it got nothing on this subject to (saying it got) a little bit," Albright said. "But the question remains: did Iran get more than it admitted to?"

Tehran told the IAEA the document had come to it unsolicited from people linked to the black market set up by disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan -- a point officials close to IAEA said warranted further investigation.

"This (document) opens new concerns about weaponisation that Iran has failed to address," the U.S. ambassador to the IAEA, Gregory Schulte, said in a statement.

"This has to have a weapons use ... The only question is 'Did they go looking for this'? The Iranians say they didn't," said another Western diplomat.

.....

No, it just appeared in their e-mail box between the prescription drug and penis spam, you moron.

Operation Roundup

Sometimes I get behind in posting links to interesting articles. Other times I end up with so many I need to dump them in one post. This is one of those times.

Victor Davis Hanson in City Journal discusses asymmetrical warfare and military history. The most important point to digest is terrorist attacks are designed to sway your opinion, not accomplish any traditional military objectives.

Our Special Universe
What's life all about? Science and religion both help us find answers.
(Opinion Journal)
Ironically, science proved not too long ago that part of our brain wants to have faith.

How to Mix Religion and Politics (TCS)
Personally, I do it in my blog title. Both are faith-based belief systems where certain people are elevated beyond mere human status.

Changing gears somewhat. Remember when scientists were more rational and less alarmist than the most end times of all religious leaders? Doesn't seem that long ago.

Two-thirds of world's resources 'used up'

Tim Radford, science editor
Wednesday March 30, 2005
The Guardian,
I guess it depends on how you define "resource." Or maybe they're just insane.

Just a reminder:

France Backs China on Taiwan
As far as I know the French still believe it's fine for Communist China to attack little democratic Taiwan.

There is no backing down in the Chinese missile threat to Taiwan. Since the French announcement, a Chinese general threatened to use nuclear weapons on the United States if we intervene in any China versus Taiwan conflict. The Chinese government was notably silent.

Of course the destabilizing and possibly genocidal French stance is based on their desire to break the European high-tech arms embargo on China. French foreign policy is always measured in currency.

If such conflict does occur, we should task one Trident submarine on France.

Profile in Courage

Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Dutch MP) (BBC)

Dutch MP to make gay Islam film

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is also planning a book written for Muslims
A Somali-born Dutch MP who collaborated on the film that led to the murder of director Theo van Gogh has written a sequel, about Islam's attitude to gays.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali received death threats after her work on Submission, a film about Islam's treatment of women.

Van Gogh was shot and stabbed by a Muslim radical, Mohammed Bouyeri, as he cycled through Amsterdam in 2004.

The film will use anonymous actors and carry no credits in an effort to protect those involved in the project.

Ms Ali told Dutch media that she had co-written the script with Van Gogh in the summer of 2004, months before he was killed last November.

"I examine the position of homosexuals in Islam in the film Submission II," she told the De Volkskrant newspaper.

"In the movie, they are called Allah's creatures," she added.

The MP is an outspoken critic of Islamic values and describes herself as a "lapsed" Muslim.

Uproar

Mainstream Islamic thought treats Islam and homosexuality as incompatible, and hostility to homosexuals is widespread in many parts of the Muslim world.

.....

Ayaan Hirsi Ali has already been threatened with death countless times. She cannot travel anywhere without armed guards. Let her courage be an example to all of us. If you really believe in freedom you should be willing to fight and die for it. I don't mean a kamikaze for freedom. Fighting takes many forms, including the battlefield of ideas.

France burning, a new reality which isn't newsworthy?

We've been watching weeks of car, stadium, school, house, nursing home, and supermarket burnings. Due to the lack of coverage in the mainstream media you might assume France is peaceful. Not exactly. The new baseline is 150+ cars torched per night and a church burning. Perhaps someone with mathematical abilities could extrapolate this baseline out for a couple years and predict the future of the secular French Republic.

No Pasaran (main page):

The State of Emergency is prolonged for 3 months. Last night, 160 vehicles were torched, 40 arrests were made, and a church was partially destroyed by fire in Romans (Drome). The French are settling into a comfort zone of 150+ cars burned per night just to be able to say that this thing is over.

Open Source Media takes off!

Charles Johnson (Little Green Footballs), the pajama-clad Lizard who lives under the Denver Airport, heavily funded by Zionists and Freemasons, has provided me with a quote which deserves its own post. In National Review, referring to the launch of Open Source Media.

"This whole left-right thing kind of sprung out of the French Revolution," Johnson said. "And I don't want to define myself by the French."

Tee shirt vendors, take note.

From the second link:

By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer
Tue Nov 15, 2:32 PM ET

NEW YORK - A media Web site scheduled to debut Wednesday will seek to blend traditional journalism with the freeform commentary developed through the emerging Web format known as blogs.

Some 70 Web journalists, including Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds and David Corn, Washington editor of the Nation magazine, have agreed to participate in OSM — short for Open Source Media.

OSM will link to individual blog postings and highlight the best contributions, chosen by OSM editors, in a special section. Bloggers will be paid undisclosed sums based on traffic they generate.

The ad-supported OSM site will also carry news feeds from Newstex, which in turn receives stories from The Associated Press, Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service and other traditional media organizations.

"We're deliberately trying to do something new by affiliating blog and mainstream people," said Roger L. Simon, a blogger and the venture's co-founder.

According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, about 9 percent of adult Internet users in the United States have created their own blogs, and about 25 percent read them. The audience tends to be more influential: blog postings can affect what news organizations cover or politicians discuss.

Many details of OSM remain unsettled. For example, OSM wants to create a mechanism for citizen journalists, including bloggers, to submit original news during natural disasters, civil unrest and other newsworthy events. Simon said organizers still have to come up with ways to check submissions for accuracy.

Initially, OSM will create blog-like discussion panels surrounding major news events, with three or four bloggers and non-blogging experts chosen to contribute.

Although Simon and co-founder Charles Johnson are often described as conservative, Simon said the site will transcend labels and include bloggers of all political leanings.

OSM was founded last year as Pajamas Media, a play on bloggers' ability to opine from home at all hours, day or night. It has raised $3.5 million from venture capitalists.

___

On the Net:

http://www.pajamasmedia.com

This might be one of those days people remember for a long time.

Where was I? Getting my cable modem replaced by a friendly Bright House employee. I'm ashamed of the Orlando politician who criticized our Puerto Rican immigrants. America, Florida, and Orlando will survive. Our new residents will tan better. And isn't that the point?

Women and Islam (again)

I come back to this subject over and over. My hope is that someday the rights of women in Islam will be as important to American feminists as a rich woman someday teeing it up in Augusta, Georgia without going as the guest of a member.

Top ten rules in the Quran that oppress women


Raped Pakistani Woman Brings Fight to U.S.

By WILLIAM C. MANN, Associated Press Writer
Tue Nov 1,10:54 AM ET

WASHINGTON - In a quiet voice — almost a whisper — Mukhtar Mai spoke of her fight against a system back home in Pakistan that allowed a tribal council to deem it acceptable that four men could rape her to avenge their honor after her brother allegedly had sex with a woman above his class.

"I am fighting a fight against oppression, where women and the poor are oppressed ... by feudal lords," she said Monday night through an interpreter, reading from a prepared statement and addressing a group of human rights activists. "They have power and money, and all I have is you and your support. God willing, truth will have victory."

.....

Mai allegedly was ordered raped in 2002 by a council of elders in Meerwala, her home village in eastern Punjab province, as punishment for her 13-year-old brother's alleged affair with a woman from a higher caste family. Mai and her family deny any affair ever took place and say the brother was in fact sexually assaulted by members of the other family.

In Pakistan, the method of restoring a family's honor by rape is commonplace. Often, the victim kills herself in shame.

Not Mai, 36. Her outcry drew international attention and brought the men who attacked her to the national courts of Pakistan.

A trial court in 2002 sentenced six men to death and acquitted eight others in Mai's rape. In March, the High Court in Punjab province acquitted five of the men and reduced the death sentence of the sixth to life in prison.

After an emotional appeal by Mai, the acquittals were overturned in June and the 13 men who had been released were rearrested. They remain in jail while Pakistan's Supreme Court considers the case.

Mai said she has no intention of leaving Pakistan, as did another woman who says she was forced out of the country after being raped by an army officer.

"I think that the fight can be fought only by living in Pakistan," she said. "You cannot fight by leaving."

Even coming to the United States posed a significant challenge. Mai had been invited by the U.S.-based women's rights group Asian-American Network Against Abuse of Women earlier this year to tell her story in the United States. But authorities confiscated her passport.

After officials in the United States and other countries strongly condemned the move, Islamabad rescinded the ban and returned her passport.

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a strong ally of Washington, acknowledged that he had ordered the travel ban to prevent Mai from casting Pakistan in a bad light.