CTH Public Relations

• Torture by CO2HOG [May 02, 2012, 10:19:42 PM]
• China by CO2HOG [March 31, 2012, 02:24:13 PM]
• Global Warming Watch by TonyBlair [October 09, 2011, 06:41:37 PM]
• Solar Panel Doubts by TonyBlair [September 02, 2011, 08:25:23 AM]
• Barack Hussein Obama, Emp... by TonyBlair [August 10, 2011, 08:57:54 PM]
• National Debt Clocks and ... by Counter [August 08, 2011, 10:30:42 AM]
• Scanner or Pat Down? by Vocal Observer [June 28, 2011, 01:09:51 PM]
• Rise of the Police State by Vocal Observer [June 28, 2011, 01:01:03 PM]
• Who can we trust? by Vocal Observer [June 08, 2011, 01:07:59 PM]
• Anthony Wiener's wiener i... by CarolinaBuckeye [June 01, 2011, 11:29:22 PM]
• Democrat's Culture of Cor... by TonyBlair [May 18, 2011, 06:55:46 AM]
• Hey Obama..You want Taxes... by Vince the Fox [April 21, 2011, 03:12:25 AM]
• Obama Policy Watch by TonyBlair [April 20, 2011, 06:56:14 AM]
• George W. Obama by TonyBlair [April 19, 2011, 06:11:57 AM]
• The Religion of Peace Upd... by TonyBlair [April 12, 2011, 06:43:20 AM]

[Guest]

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever

Login with username, password and session length

Members

• Total Members: 329
• Latest: boborians

Stats

• Total Posts: 40602
• Total Topics: 5158
• Online Today: 18
• Online Ever: 252
• (April 10, 2011, 07:49:21 AM)

Users Online

Users: 0
Guests: 21
Total: 21

EducateWorthington.org

The 912 Project - Glenn Beck

912 Group of Central Ohio

Please let me know if you'd like your link added

What kind of training went on, and who was being trained?

Training is majorly on terrorism. They would be trained on assassinations, kidnapping, hijacking of airplanes, hijacking of buses, public buses, hijacking of trains and all other kinds of operations related to terrorism.

 
The people being trained were Iraqis in one group, and non-Iraqis, or foreign nationals, in another?

Non-Iraqis were trained separately from us. There were strict orders not to meet with them and not to talk to them. And even when they conduct their training, their training has to occur at times different from the times when we conduct the Iraqis our own training.
 
Sabah Khodada was a captain in the Iraqi army from 1982 to 1992. He worked at what he describes as a highly secret terrorist training camp at Salman Pak (see Khodada's hand-drawn map of the camp), an area south of Baghdad. In this translated interview, conducted in association with The New York Times on Oct. 14, 2001, Khodada describes what went on at Salman Pak, including details on training hijackers. He emigrated to the U.S. in May 2001. (Editor's Note: Although U.S. officials acknowledge terrorists were trained at Salman Pak, they say it is unlikely that these activities were related to the Sept. 11 attacks. It should also be noted that the two defectors interviewed for this report have been brought to FRONTLINE's attention by members of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), a dissident organization seeking to overthrow Saddam Hussein.)
 
 
 
 
So you were training Iraqis, Saddam's fedayeen, members of the militia in Iraq. And someone else, other groups, were training the non-Iraqis?

They were special trainers or teachers from the Iraqi intelligence and al-Mukhabarat. And those same trainers or teachers will train the fedayeen, the Iraqi fedayeen, and also the same group of those teachers will train the non-Iraqis, foreigners who are in the camp. Personally, my profession is not this kind of training. My profession is to train people on infantry, typical infantry training, such as training on machine guns, pistols, hand grenades, rocket launchers on the shoulder and this kind of training. The special training that I'm talking about, such as the kidnapping and so, is conducted by those trainers who are not from the army; they are from ... al-Mukhabarat.And there was a person who is very famous. They call him Al-Shaba. [ph]. This is Arabic word means "The Ghost," who was responsible for all the training, and those trainers or the teachers.

 
Why was he called the Ghost?

I don't know exactly why he's being called the Ghost. I came there and his name was the Ghost. But I know that he has conducted several terrorist operations in Lebanon and in other countries all over the world. And I know that he told us that he's been requested to be arrested by the Interpol. This is probably why he called himself the Ghost.
 
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sh...ws/khodada.html

That was your reaction on September 11 -- that some of these people might be involved?


I assure you, this operation was conducted by people who were trained by Saddam. And I'm going to keep assuring the world this is what happened.

Osama bin Laden has no such capabilities. Why? Because this kind of attacks must be, and has to be, organized by a capable state, such as Iraq; a state where they can provide high level of training, and they can provide high level of intelligence to do such training.

How could Osama bin Laden -- who's hiding in the middle of nowhere in Afghanistan in small caves and valleys -- train people and gather information and send people to do such high-level operation? We all know this is a high-level operation. This cannot be done by a person who does not even own a plane in Afghanistan, who cannot offer such training in Afghanistan. This is definitely done by a mastermind like Saddam. ...

 
And the camp has a 707 that they train on?

Yes, there's a real whole 707 plane, a whole real plane, standing in the middle of the training area in this camp.

 
And they train people on how to get access to the cabin, to the crew?

Yes.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sh...ws/khodada.html

9/11 Bombshell: Judge Rules Saddam Trained Hijackers



 
Friday, May 9, 2003 7:22 a.m. EDT
9/11 Bombshell: Judge Rules Saddam Trained Hijackers

In a bombshell finding virtually ignored by the American media, a U.S. district court judge in Manhattan ruled Wednesday that Salman Pak, Saddam Hussein's airplane hijacking school located on the outskirts of Baghdad, played a material role in the devastating Sept. 11 attacks on America.

The ruling renders moot complaints from Bush administration critics that the U.S. has so far failed to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, since an official verdict that Baghdad was complicit in the attacks provides more than enough justification for the decision to topple Saddam Hussein's regime.

In reporting Judge Harold Baer's $104 million judgment against Hussein and Osama bin Laden, only the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Chinese news service Xinhua mentioned Salman Pak by name.
http://www.floydreport.com/view_article.php?lid=266

IBD 052704

The Real Story of Fallujah

By ROBERT D. KAPLAN
May 27, 2004; Page A20

When Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment led U.S. forces into the heart of Fallujah in the pre-dawn hours of April 6, I was the only journalist present. It had been Bravo Company of the "1st of the 5th" that had been first inside the citadel of Hue in Vietnam in February 1968. Hue City, the sight of one of the most glorious chapters in Marine history -- in which the Marines killed 5,113 enemy troops while suffering 147 dead and 857 wounded -- was foremost in the minds of the Marine commanders at Fallujah.

The Marines never got proper credit for Hue, for it was ultimately overshadowed by My Lai, in which an Army platoon killed 347 civilians a month later in 1968. This was despite the fact that the Marines' liberation of Hue led to the uncovering of thousands of mass graves there: the victims of an indiscriminate communist slaughter. Thus, Hue became a metaphor for the military's frustration with the media: a frustration revisited in Fallujah.

* * *
Whenever the Marines with whom I was attached crossed the path of a mosque, we were fired upon. Mosques in Fallujah were used by snipers and other gunmen, and to store weapons and explosives. Time and again the insurgents forfeited the protective status granted these religious structures as stipulated by Geneva Conventions. Snipers were a particular concern. In early April in nearby Ramadi, an enemy sniper wiped out a squad of Marines using a Soviet-designed Draganov rifle: "12 shots, 12 kills," a Marine officer told me. The marksmanship indicated either imported jihadist talent or a member of the old regime's military elite.

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1085614...%5Fcommentaries

Saddam's Files
May 27, 2004; Page A20

One thing we've learned about Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein is that the former dictator was a diligent record keeper. Coalition forces have found -- literally -- millions of documents. These papers are still being sorted, translated and absorbed, but they are already turning up new facts about Saddam's links to terrorism.

We realize that even raising this subject now is politically incorrect. It is an article of faith among war opponents that there were no links whatsoever -- that "secular" Saddam and fundamentalist Islamic terrorists didn't mix. But John Ashcroft's press conference yesterday reminds us that the terror threat remains, and it seems especially irresponsible for journalists not to be open to new evidence. If the CIA was wrong about WMD, couldn't it have also missed Saddam's terror links?

One striking bit of new evidence is that the name Ahmed Hikmat Shakir appears on three captured rosters of officers in Saddam Fedayeen, the elite paramilitary group run by Saddam's son Uday and entrusted with doing much of the regime's dirty work. Our government sources, who have seen translations of the documents, say Shakir is listed with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

This matters because if Shakir was an officer in the Fedayeen, it would establish a direct link between Iraq and the al Qaeda operatives who planned 9/11. Shakir was present at the January 2000 al Qaeda "summit" in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at which the 9/11 attacks were planned. The U.S. has never been sure whether he was there on behalf of the Iraqi regime or whether he was an Iraqi Islamicist who hooked up with al Qaeda on his own.

It is possible that the Ahmed Hikmat Shakir listed on the Fedayeen rosters is a different man from the Iraqi of the same name with the proven al Qaeda connections. His identity awaits confirmation by al Qaeda operatives in U.S. custody or perhaps by other captured documents. But our sources tell us there is no questioning the authenticity of the three Fedayeen rosters. The chain of control is impeccable. The documents were captured by the U.S. military and have been in U.S. hands ever since.

As others have reported, at the time of the summit Shakir was working at the Kuala Lumpur airport, having obtained the job through an Iraqi intelligence agent at the Iraqi embassy. The four-day al Qaeda meeting was attended by Khalid al Midhar and Nawaz al Hamzi, who were at the controls of American Airlines Flight 77 when it crashed into the Pentagon. Also on hand were Ramzi bin al Shibh, the operational planner of the 9/11 attacks, and Tawfiz al Atash, a high-ranking Osama bin Laden lieutenant and mastermind of the USS Cole bombing. Shakir left Malaysia on January 13, four days after the summit concluded.

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1085614...Fand%5Foutlooks

[Edmund Burke]

Wondering why we aren't hearing much about Fallujah recently?  Here's why...sounds like the Marines have hit on a winning formula.  Enjoy!

_______________________________________________
THE WESTERN FRONT

The Fallujah Brigade
How the Marines are pacifying an Iraqi hot spot. (From WSJ OpinionJournal)

BY BRENDAN MINITER
Tuesday, June 1, 2004 12:01 a.m.

In Iraq, apparently no news is good news. Two months ago everyone was talking about Fallujah. Four American citizens had been brutally murdered, and then a raging mob dragged their bodies through the streets and strung them up from a bridge. Every mosque in the city was calling for jihad, while the local police and fire departments ceased to exist. Then two days into offensive operations, the Marines suddenly seemed to halt their advance. Fallujah quickly became a metaphor for everything that was going wrong in Iraq.
Today, however, the city of 200,000 is relatively quiet, and there's little reporting on why. To find out how the Marines were able to pacify a city in the heart of the Sunni Triangle--despite accusations that they were shrinking from a fight for political reasons--I spoke with Col. John Coleman, who is in Fallujah and is chief of staff for the First Marine Expeditionary Force, which is in charge of about one-third of the land mass of Iraq. What he said revealed a continuing battle in Iraq that appears neither hopeless nor without progress. In speaking with Col. Coleman it quickly became clear that many of the images of the war that trickle back through the media and reports of "cutting deals" with insurgents are often out of context. This is a sentiment Navy Secretary Gordon England also sounded last week in a speech over lunch at the National Press Club. Before taking over in Fallujah, the Marines identified 28 individuals who were leading the insurgency in and around Fallujah. To date the Marines have killed or captured 27 of them, he said. The coalition is clearly winning.

As they were battling through the city two months ago, the Marines realized they could easily crush the insurgency in Fallujah but in the process would "rubble the city." That would leave thousands of Marines patrolling the city, repairing infrastructure and trying to build working relationships with the inhabitants who remained. "That doesn't work us out of a job," Col. Coleman told me. Nor would it leave the Marines free to conduct other operations.

What they needed to do was drive wedges into the enemy ranks--divide and conquer. From studying the enemy, the Marines realized the insurgents can be separated into five disparate groups with widely varying goals: foreign fighters (some of whom are very skilled bomb makers), religious extremists, violent criminals released from prison by Saddam and willing to kill for money, Saddam loyalists (those Col. Coleman described as "bloody up to their elbows" in the old regime) and former military personnel.

The Saddam-look-alike former general who turned up to help coalition forces in Fallujah notwithstanding, that last group offered the best opportunity. It turns out there are a lot of former military personnel in Fallujah. These are mostly Sunni men who were professional soldiers and are patriotic and proud of their military service. Many sat out the invasion last year believing the coalition's promise that if they abandoned Saddam, they would have a future in the new Iraq. But since the fall of the regime, the coalition hadn't provided them with any opportunity for meaningful work. As a consequence, many were joining the insurgency.

That's when a former Iraqi general stepped forward and promised the Marines that within 24 hours he could assemble 300 Iraqis ready to battle the insurgents. The next day he met his promise and within a few days the ranks of the brigade swelled to 900 men. Col. Coleman tells me there are so many former Iraq soldiers willing to fight insurgents that the "Fallujah Brigade" could easily grow to several thousand if the Marines would let it.

Among other things, this brigade became a liaison between the coalition and the local imams, sheiks and Fallujah city fathers. One by one these groups were peeled away from the insurgents. Now none of the mosques in Fallujah are calling for jihad, local politicians are coordinating with coalition forces in rebuilding city infrastructure--the Marines have approximately $500 million to spend in Iraq--and the Fallujah Brigade is patrolling the streets. Ninety percent of the intelligence the Marines get on insurgents comes from Iraqi sources.

The secret was to make "good hearted" Iraqis into stakeholders in a peaceful Fallujah. The unreported story in Iraq is that this insurgency would continue uninterrupted even if coalition forces withdrew tomorrow. It's not an anticoalition insurgency as much as it is a war against the establishment of a peaceful, stable society in Iraq.

The Fallujah Brigade, however, doesn't have free rein. The Marines constantly test it to make sure it is fulfilling the coalition's goals. These tests include submitting to civilian rule, taking large-caliber weapons off the streets, ensuring the rule of law is prevailing in the city, working with and positively influencing city fathers, and adhering to all the Geneva Conventions and rules of war that the Marines themselves must follow. So far the brigade is passing these tests. But one area in which it must do better is helping to investigate, capture and prosecute those responsible for killing and then mutilating the four Americans in March. If the brigade ever fails to meet these tests, Col. Coleman says it will be disbanded. And if it is to live on past the June 30 handover, it must also be sanctioned by the interim government.

After seeing American citizens dragged through the streets a few months ago, many likely expected to see the Marines drop the sledgehammer in Fallujah. But the truth is that all branches of the U.S. military are able to employ more surgical strikes when the situation calls for it. "The military is a pretty educated force," Col. Coleman told me. "What you may be witnessing is that our toolkit is fairly broad these days." Col. Coleman admits using the Fallujah Brigade wasn't necessarily the Marines' first preference and he's not yet convinced that it will ultimately prove to be a model worth replicating around the country. But, he said, coalition forces learn from their operations and if the coalition is to build a stable country, "everything we do here should endeavor to put an Iraqi lead up front."

Mr. Miniter is assistant editor of OpinionJournal.com. His column appears Tuesdays.

Copyright © 2004 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 

Remember Richard C. Reid?

He is the guy who got on a plane with a bomb built into his shoe and tried to light it?   Did you know his trial is over?   Did you know he was sentenced? Did you see or hear any of the judge's comments on TV/Radio?  Didn't think so. I am not surprised.  It is our media at work again. Yet, all of us should have the opportunity to hear what this good judge had to say.  So, read on and enjoy.

Ruling by Judge William Young U.S. District Court:
Prior to sentencing, the Judge asked the defendant if he had anything to say. Here is Reid's response: After admitting his guilt to the court for the record, Reid also admitted his "allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam, and to the religion of Allah."   Defiantly Reid stated, "I think I ought not apologize for my actions," and told the court "I am at war with your country."

Judge Young then delivered his statement, which is quoted below.    A stinging but well deserved condemnation of Reid in particular, and terrorists in general.  Again, something you need to know.  

January 30, 2003, United States vs. Reid.

Judge Young:

"Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to the sentence the Court imposes upon you. On counts, 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life in prison in the custody of the United States Attorney General. On counts 2, 3, 4 and 7, the Court sentences you to 20 years in prison on each count, the sentence on each count to run consecutive with the other. That's 80 years. On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30 years, consecutive to the 80 years just imposed.

The Court imposes upon you for each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000 for the aggregate fine of $2 million. The Court accepts the government's recommendation with respect to restitution and orders restitution in the amount of $298.17 to Andre Bousquet and $5,784 to American Airlines. The Court imposes upon you the $800 special assessment.

The Court imposes upon you five years supervised release simply because the law requires it. But the life sentences are real life sentences so I need go no further.  This is the sentence that is provided for by our statutes. It is a fair and just sentence. It is a righteous sentence.

Let me explain this to you. We are not afraid of you or any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We have been through the fire before. There is all too much war talk here. And I say that to everyone with the utmost respect. Here in this court, where we deal with individuals as individuals, and care for individuals as individuals. As human beings, we reach out for justice. You are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist. You are not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist.

To give you that reference, to call you a soldier, gives you far too much stature. Whether it is the officers of government who do it or your attorney who does it or that happens to be your view, you are a terrorist.  And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not treat with terrorists.  We do not sign documents with terrorists. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice.

So war talk is way out of line in this court. You are a big fellow. But you are not that big. You're no warrior. I know warriors. You are a species of criminal guilty of multiple attempted murders. In a very real sense, State Trooper Santiago had it right when you first were taken off that plane and into custody and you wondered where the press and where the TV crews were, and he said, "you're no big deal". You're no big deal.
 
What your counsel, what your able counsel and what the equally able United States attorneys have grappled with and what I have, as honestly as I know how, tried to grapple with, is why you did something so horrific. What was it that led you here to this courtroom today? I have listened respectfully to what you have to say. And I ask you to search your heart and ask yourself what sort of unfathomable hate led you to do what you are guilty and admit you are guilty of doing. And I have an answer for you. It may not satisfy you. But as I search this entire record, it comes as close to understanding as I know. It seems to me you hate the one thing that is most precious.

You hate our freedom; our individual freedom, our individual freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we choose, to believe or not believe as we individually choose.  Here, in this society, the very winds carry freedom. They carry it everywhere from sea to shining sea. It is because we prize individual freedom so much that you are here in this beautiful courtroom. So that everyone can see, truly see that justice is administered fairly, individually, and discreetly. It is for freedom's sake that your lawyers are striving so vigorously on your behalf and have filed appeals and will go on in their representation of you before other judges. We are about it. Because we all know that the way we treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own liberties.

Make no mistake though. It is yet true that we will bear any burden, pay any price, to preserve our freedoms. Look around this courtroom. Mark it well. The world is not going to long remember what you or I say here. Day after tomorrow it will be forgotten. But this, however, will long endure..

Here in this courtroom and courtrooms all across America, the American people will gather to see that justice, individual justice - justice, not war, individual justice is in fact being done. The very President of the United States through his officers will have to come into courtrooms and lay out evidence on which specific matters can be judged, and juries of citizens will gather to sit and judge that evidence, democratically, to mold and shape and refine our sense of justice.

See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United States of America. That flag will fly there long after this is all forgotten. That flag stands for freedom. You know it always will.

Custody, Mr. Officer. Stand him down."    End quote.
-----------------------------------------------------
So, how much of this Judge's comments did we hear on our TV sets? We need more judges like Judge Young, but that's another subject. Pass this around. Everyone should and needs to hear what this fine judge had to say. Powerful words that ring with truth....
 

[If George Patton were president:]

This first part is from Bruce Baumann - Thanks, Bruce
=======================================
If George Patton were president:
If General George Patton were alive and President of the USA, this would probably be his Fireside Speech:
-----------------------------------

My fellow Americans:
As you all know, the defeat of Iraq's regime has been completed.

Since Congress does not want to spend any more money on this war, our mission in Iraq is complete.

This morning I gave the order for a complete removal of all American forces from Iraq.  This action will be complete within 30 days.  It is now time to begin the reckoning.  Before me, I have two lists.  One list contains the names of countries which have stood by our side during the Iraq conflict.

This list is short.

The United Kingdom, Spain, Bulgaria, Australia, Norway and Poland are some of the countries listed there.

The other list contains everyone not on the first list.  Most of the world's nations are on that list.  My press secretary will be distributing copies of both lists later this evening.

Let me start by saying that effective immediately, foreign aid to those nations on List 2 ceases immediately and indefinitely.  The money saved during the first year alone will pretty much pay for the costs of the Iraqi war.

The American people are no longer going to pour money into third world hell-holes and watch those government leaders grow fat on corruption.  Need help with a famine?  Wrestling with an epidemic?  Call France.

In the future, together with Congress, I will work to cut taxes and solve some local problems.  On that note, a word to terrorist organizations.

Screw with us and we will hunt you down and eliminate you and all your friends from the face of the earth.

Thirsting for a gutsy country to terrorize?  Try France, North Korea, Iran, or maybe China.

To Israel and the Palestinian Authority.  You, boys work out a peace deal NOW.

Just a note that Camp David is closed.  Maybe all of you can go to Russia for negotiations.  They have some great palaces there.  Big tables, too.

I'm ordering the immediate severing of diplomatic relations with France, Germany, and Russia.  Thanks for all your help, comrades.

We are retiring from NATO as well.  Bon chance, mes amis.

I have instructed the Mayor of New York City to begin towing the many UN diplomatic vehicles located in Manhattan with more than two unpaid tickets to sites where those vehicles will be stripped, shredded and crushed.  I don't care about whatever treaty pertains to this.  Pay your tickets tomorrow or watch your precious Benz's, Beamers, and limos be turned over to some of the finest chop shops in the world.

I love New York.

A special note to our neighbors.  Canada is on List 2.  Since we are going to be seeing a lot more of each other, you folks might want to try not pissing us off for a change.

Mexico is also on List 2.  President Fox and his entire corrupt government really need an attitude adjustment.  I have a couple extra tank and infantry divisions sitting around.  Guess where I'm gonna put'em?  Yep, border security.  So start doing something with your oil.

Oh, by the way, the United States is abrogating the NAFTA treaty-starting now.

It is time for America to focus on its own welfare and its own citizens.  Some will accuse us of isolationism.  I answer them by say 'darn tootin'.

Nearly a century of trying to help folks live a decent life around the world has only earned us the undying enmity of just about everyone on the planet.

It is time to cut taxes here because we will not be spending boodles of cash on other peoples problems.

                              God Bless America.
===========================================
This part from John McGullam - Thanks John
====================================

Robin William's plan...(Hard to argue with this logic!)

I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for peace.  So, here's one plan.

1.) The US will apologize to the world for our "interference" in their affairs, past & present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic and the rest of those 'good ole boys,' We will never "interfere" again.

2.) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany, South Korea and the Philippines. They don't want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No one sneaking through holes in the fence.

3.) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave. We'll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of who or where they are. France would welcome them.

4.) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit. No one from a terrorist nation would be allowed in. If you don't like it there, change it yourself and don't hide here. Asylum would never be available to anyone. We don't need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers.

5.) No foreign "students" over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If they don't attend classes, they get a "D" and it's back home baby.

6.) The US will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope for a while.

7.) Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel! for their oil. If they don't like it, we go some place else. They can go somewhere else to sell their production. (About a week of the wells filling up the storage sites would be enough.)

8.) If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not "interfere." They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides most of what we give them is stolen or given to the army. The people who need it most get very little, if anything.

9.) Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island some place.  We don't need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, the building would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.

10.) All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can call us "Ugly Americans" any longer. The Language we speak is ENGLISH - learn it...or LEAVE...Now, isn't that a winner of a plan.

"The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying 'Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses.'  She's got a baseball bat and she's yelling,
"You want a piece of me?"  

[Edmund Burke]

I guess Vladimir Putin ISN'T one of those leaders who privately told Kerry he hoped he'd win.  

_________________________________________________________
Putin Takes Bush's Side Against Democrats on Iraq

Thu Jun 10, 8:41 PM ET
 
SEA ISLAND, Ga (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) stepped into the U.S. political campaign on Thursday, saying the Democrats had "no moral right" to criticize President Bush (news - web sites) over Iraq (news - web sites).

The Kremlin leader, answering a reporter's question in Sea Island, Georgia, suggested that the Democrats were two-faced in criticizing Bush on Iraq since it had been the Clinton administration that authorized the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia by U.S. and NATO (news - web sites) forces.

The reporter had asked Putin to respond to U.S. press articles questioning Russia's place at the G8 feast of leading industrial countries.

Putin brushed these off, saying such articles were part of an internal U.S. political debate.

He went on: "I am deeply convinced that President Bush's political adversaries have no moral right to attack him over Iraq because they did exactly the same.

"It suffices to recall Yugoslavia. Now look at them. They don't like what President Bush is doing in Iraq."

Russia was adamantly opposed to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, as it has been to the U.S.-led military operation Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).

At the same time, Putin forged a strong friendship with Bush by offering immediate support in the global fight against terrorism. Both men go out of their way now to avoid criticizing each other publicly.

[Edmund Burke]

Let's hope this report about killing Johnson's murderers is accurate.  This is the kind of "justice" terrorists understand...sometimes I think the US is just too politically correct to get the job done.

________________________________________________________________
Saudis Gun Down Johnson's Murderers

Saturday, June 19, 2004

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — An Al Qaeda cell fulfilled its threat to kill an American hostage, beheading him and showing the grisly photos on the Internet. Saudi officials claimed they later gunned down four militants including the cell leader who allegedly masterminded Paul M. Johnson's kidnapping.

State-run television showed pictures of the four slain militants' bodies Saturday. Among them was one it said was Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, the reputed leader of Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia's most-wanted terror suspect.

Hours earlier, a message on an Islamic militant Web site said the reports of al-Moqrin's slaying were false. The message could not immediately be verified, but it appeared on a Web site that has had similar messages in the past.

A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity Friday had confirmed al-Moqrin's killing, while a Saudi official had said forensic tests would confirm its identity.

Johnson, who had worked in Saudi Arabia for more than a decade, was the latest victim of an escalating campaign of violence against Westerners that aims to drive foreign workers from the kingdom and undermine the ruling royal family, hated by Al Qaeda. Usama bin Laden, Al Qaeda's leader, is a Saudi exile.

Johnson's severed head was shown on a Web site Friday. The photographs and a statement, in the name of Fallujah Brigade of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, appeared after Johnson's wife went on Arab television and tearfully pleaded for his release.

"In answer to what we promised ... to kill the hostage Paul Marshall (Johnson) after the period is over ... the infidel got his fair treatment," the Al Qaeda statement said. "Let him taste something of what Muslims have long tasted from Apache helicopter fire and missiles."

President Bush condemned the beheading and vowed that "America will not be intimidated by these kinds of extremist thugs."

After news of Johnson's death was released, a Saudi security official said a witness took note of the license number of a car from which his body had been dumped just outside Riyadh Friday and informed police.

Police stopped the car at a gas station in central Riyadh and a shootout ensued in which al-Moqrin was killed with three other militants, Saudi officials said in the television broadcast Saturday.

"Security forces managed last night in confrontations with a group of terrorists to kill four of them, the top being Abdulaziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin al-Moqrin, who claims to be the leader of the gang that condemns people as infidels," the state-run TV announcer said, reading from a statement attributed to an unidentified spokesman for the Interior Ministry.

The photograph said to be of al-Moqrin showed the face of a young man, clean-shaven except for his mustache. It resembled earlier known photographs of him. A trickle of blood ran from the mouth of another of the militants pictured.

Saudi officials in Washington said on condition of anonymity that five Saudi security officers were also killed in the gunbattle. Two suspects escaped, said one Saudi security official who took part in the raid.

Saturday's Interior Ministry statement also said authorities confiscated three cars used by the cell, including one believed to be used in the June 6 killing of Irish cameraman Simon Cumbers.

Forged identity papers and a large amount of weapons also were confiscated, including three rocket-propelled grenade launchers, hand grenades and automatic rifles, the statement said.

The killing of al-Moqrin, 31, would be a coup for the Saudi government, which has been under intense pressure to halt a wave of attacks against Westerners in the kingdom.

The airing of the pictures appeared to be a direct rebuttal of the Web posting that appeared Saturday denying al-Moqrin was killed.

"Some satellite networks and news agencies have been propagating the false news that Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, God preserve him, has been killed," that statement said. "We would like to say that such claims, unleashed by the tyrants of Saudi Arabia, are aimed at dissuading the holy warriors and crushing their spirits."

The statement denying al-Moqrin's death was signed by his group and said another message wound appear soon.

Johnson, 49, who worked on Apache attack helicopter systems for Lockheed Martin, was kidnapped last weekend by militants who threatened to kill him by Friday if the kingdom did not release its al-Qaida prisoners. The Saudi government rejected the demands.

One of three photographs posted on the Web site showed a man's head, face toward the camera, being held by a hand. The two others showed a beheaded body lying prone on a bed, with the severed head placed in the small of his back, the clothes underneath bloodied. One showed a bloody knife resting on the face.

The beheaded body was dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit, similar to one Johnson is seen wearing in earlier videos released by the kidnappers.

"To the Americans and whoever is their ally in the infidel and criminal world and their allies in the war against Islam, this action is punishment to them and a lesson for them to know that whoever steps foot in our country, this decisive action will be his fate," the Al Qaeda statement said.

There are 35,000 Americans among the millions of Westerners who work in Saudi Arabia.

Soon after the statement appeared, a number of Web sites that had links to it became inaccessible, with messages saying they were closed for maintenance.

Johnson's beheading is the latest in a new, more dramatic wave of terror attacks for Saudi Arabia: bodies dragged on streets, traffic police blown up in their offices, hotel guests taken hostage and a chef shot outside an ATM machine. The attacks have killed dozens of people, mostly foreigners, over the past two months.

The violence is escalating despite an aggressive campaign by the government to root out terrorism, leaving many wondering whether the attacks are just the beginning or — as the government continues to insist — the last gasps of a desperate group reacting to the pressure of the hunt.

Johnson was seized on June 12, the same day that Islamic militants shot and killed Kenneth Scroggs of Laconia, New Hampshire, in his garage in Riyadh.

Scroggs worked for Advanced Electronics Co., a Saudi firm whose Web site lists Lockheed Martin among its customers. The office number on Johnson's business card was for Advanced Electronics.

The same week as Scroggs' death, militants shot and killed another American, Robert Jacobs, and Cumbers in Riyadh.

[Edmund Burke]

Signs of cooperation:



Sheiks Saud el-Shibly, left, Sadi al-Khinani dine with U.S. Army soldiers at Camp Victory, near Abu Ghraib, on June 17. Lt. Col. Tim Ryan commander of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment from Fort Hood, Texas, not in picture, believes that his job is to listen to tribal sheiks. He offered a clean slate. If the sheiks took responsibility for security, Ryan told them, he promised that his soldiers would not raid their homes. Further, he said, if the sheiks promised that members oftheir tribes sought by U.S. forces would stop carrying out attacks, the troops would stop hunting them. The sheiks agreed, and the deal has become known as ``The White Page Truce.'' ``This is the best move the Americans have made yet,'' said Sheik Sadial-Khinani, a senior tribal leader. ``The people will see that the Americans have come here to help them, not what others have said, which is that the Americans have come here to abuse them. (from World Tribune)

Good News from a War Zone

The Facts the Networks Miss

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of the steady drumbeat of bad news and defeatism from Iraq. The truth of the matter is that this has never been justified, and it's certainly not justified this week.

On Tuesday the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution supporting the end of the occupation of Iraq on June 30, transferring sovereignty to the Iraqi interim government, and authorizing the U.S. role providing security-a huge victory. This vote came on the heels of Monday's announcement that nine of the independent Iraqi militias agreed to disband. This is good news, but just part of a pattern of good news that simply hasn't been prominently reported.

The press coverage of Iraq reminds me of when I was a kid during World War II. The Allied campaign in Italy, for example, was going off the track, and everybody was wringing their hands that we were losing the war. And after D-Day, sixty years ago this month, American forces were bogged down at the Battle of the Bulge during the winter of 1944. Remember the American general's famous response when the Nazis told him to surrender? One word: "Nuts." Sure, things were uncertain and messy, and there was plenty of talk about the gloomy state of the war.

The fact is, you see, that uncertainty and mess are unavoidable elements of war, but if that's all you hear, you begin to think the sky is falling. And that's what has been happening in Iraq. But as Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard writes, "To share the Iraq-is-lost sentiment, one must ignore a spate of good news."

For example, while there is trouble in the Sunni Triangle, Victor Davis Hanson notes that in Kurdistan, the northern third of Iraq, "seven million people live under humane government with less than 300 American troops."

Add to that the interim government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. It's a balance between the ethnic, regional, and tribal groups-a balance many thought would be impossible to achieve.

As the interim government takes control on June 30, Iraq gets a bill of rights, and the first Arab democracy in the Middle East will be born with elections seven months later.

Addressing the Iraqi people, Allawi said, "Targeting the multinational forces, led by the United States, to force them out of Iraq, would be a catastrophe for Iraq ... "

And there's more. First, in Iran an emerging middle class is becoming increasingly restless and wants democracy. Pressures will build for democracy with our successes in Iraq. Second, apart from Spain, major terrorist attacks have been confined to the Middle East. Third, Libya has discontinued its nuclear program. To sum it up, when I had lunch with Ehud Olmert, Deputy Prime Minister of Israel, he told me that things were changing dramatically throughout the region precisely because of the U.S. presence in Iraq.

Will things continue to be uncertain and messy? Sure-this is war. As Hanson writes, "Anyone who thinks thousands of Islamic fascists and out-of-work Baathists won't want to stop the region's first consensual government is unhinged. But, again," he adds, "for all our mistakes of omission there was and is a plan-and it is now slowly coming to messy fruition."

But the big question is: Is our effort in Iraq morally justified? Indeed it is. And it's the front line of our war against terror.
 

Bush Wins EU Support for NATO Aid to Iraq
U.S., European Union Give Strong Support for Iraq's Request for NATO Aid to Train Security Force

ANKARA, Turkey June 26, 2004 — With European Union support in hand, President Bush looked to seal an agreement for NATO to help stabilize Iraq as its fledgling government takes over this week. He shrugged off lingering European resentment of the war, saying "We'll just let the chips fall where they may."
NATO announced an initial agreement to help train Iraq's armed forces hours after Bush won support Saturday from the 25-nation European Union. Nineteen of NATO's 26 members overlap in the EU.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040626_693.html
 

[President broke his promise to build a legitimate coalition in Iraq]

First, the President broke his promise to build a legitimate coalition in Iraq by exhausting diplomacy before resorting to the use of military force. John Kerry http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease....id=155-06232004

John Kerry LIED

Democrats are fond of claiming that President Bush went it alone, and that we did not have international support. A more accurate statement is that we did not have the support of the countries that controled the corrupt UN Security Councel and had a finanical incentive not to disrupt the status quo. Here are the Coalition members:

Forty-six countries are publicly committed to the Coalition, including:

Afghanistan
Albania
Australia
Azerbaijan
Bulgaria
Colombia
Costa Rica
Czech Republic
Denmark
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Georgia
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
Italy
Japan
Kuwait
Latvia
Lithuania
Macedonia
Marshall Islands
Micronesia
Mongolia
Netherlands
Nicaragua
Palau
Panama
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Rwanda
Singapore
Slovakia
Solomon Islands
South Korea
Spain
Turkey
Uganda
United Kingdom
United States
Uzbekistan

This number is still growing, and it is no accident that many member nations of the Coalition recently escaped from the boot of a tyrant or have felt the scourge of terrorism. All Coalition member nations understand the threat Saddam Hussein's weapons pose to the world and the devastation his regime has wreaked on the Iraqi people.

The population of Coalition countries is approximately 1.17 billion people.
Coalition countries have a combined GDP of approximately $21.8 trillion.
Every major race, religion, ethnicity in the world is represented.
The Coalition includes nations from every continent on the globe.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/20...0030320-11.html