The Shotgun Effect

Toronto Sun: NEWS - Oust Khadrs, Tory demands

Where do I start with this one?
Who in the right mind would let these people into Canada? What dumbass civil servant thought it would be great to let these two people back into Canada?
It’s a slap in the face to people waiting to get into Canada, who would be hardworking, who have no history of being associated with terrorism, and have waited longer than the Khadr’s to get into Canada. It’s also a slap in the face to Canadian citizens. The government is essentially saying to their constituents, that their citizenship is worthless. The Khadr’s immigration here devalues the citizenship of all Canadians.
I know of people here in Kuwait, a mix of Brits, Aussies, Egyptians, Lebanese, who would love to work and live in Canada, but are denied Visa’s and can’t get on the cues because they aren’t from refugee spewing countries.
These people have direct links to al-Qaida. Why are they in this country? Maybe the Canadian government is trying to start their own al-Qaida network.

The U.S. government must be shaking its collective head at this one. Is it any wonder why they think our borders are like sieves? Well, it can’t be sieves if we invite the terrorists into our countries, can it?
I can see why Canada hasn’t had any terrorist attacks yet, why would the terrorists want to attack the country that they are living in?

As for the Pakistani government stating that they don't see the two Khadr's as threats, why would they be threats if they are leaving Pakistan?

IRAQ: The Iranian Connection

I've come to the realization that the Arabs can be classified as the Ferengi (of Star Trek fame) of the earth.

Ferengis can be described as follows:
They are selfcentered, inclined to do things only when it benefits them;
They subjegate their woman;
They have high personal honour, but are cowards when confronted by compariable or superior forces;
They are greedy and conniving.

Some choice quotes from the article presented in full below.

"As German statesman Otto von Bismarck put it over a century ago, “We live in a time when the strong grows weak because of his scruples, and the weak grows strong because of his audacity.” But coalition troops will fire at gunmen firing from behind civilians or from mosques, they just aren't quick to do so until it's clear that the opponent is using these tactics deliberately. However, the Sunni and Shia gunmen want to get civilians and mosques shot at in order to inflame the population. They know that many Iraqis are reluctant to accept personal responsibility for their actions and quick to blame all misfortune on forces beyond their control. "

"Arab media like al Jazeera take advantage of this, as is very obvious, spinning every event to absolve Arabs and blame external forces."

"What are the armed Iraqis fighting and dying for? The Sunni Arabs want to somehow avoid the retribution for crimes committed during Saddams rule."

"In a country where personal responsibility often does not extend beyond second or third cousins, everyone is constantly calculating what's in it for their clan or tribe."

April 9, 2004: Fighting continues in Fallujah and Shia neighborhoods in three southern cities. The biggest disappointment has been the failure of police, or their commanders, to confront the anti-government militias. This was not unexpected, however. The Iraqi police, even under Saddam, were not a powerful force. Even before Saddam, the police directed traffic and chased burglars, and got out of the way when large groups of armed men came by. Saddam used secret police, criminal gangs and militias to maintain control of the population. However, all the training given to members of the new police (two thirds of the 77,000 Iraqi police have had at least a few weeks instruction on modern police techniques and police responsibilities) has produced some that can be depended on. But few competent police commanders are available, and this also causes problems in organizing units of reliable police. Coalition authorities are combing the country to get police volunteers for work in the areas of unrest, as the local police there have largely deserted their posts.

The police, and the even more numerous (and less dependable) Iraqi security forces are particularly needed because both Sunni and Shia fighters use tactics that take advantage of the reluctance of coalition troops to fire at civilians or into mosques. As German statesman Otto von Bismarck put it over a century ago, “We live in a time when the strong grows weak because of his scruples, and the weak grows strong because of his audacity.” But coalition troops will fire at gunmen firing from behind civilians or from mosques, they just aren't quick to do so until it's clear that the opponent is using these tactics deliberately. However, the Sunni and Shia gunmen want to get civilians and mosques shot at in order to inflame the population. They know that many Iraqis are reluctant to accept personal responsibility for their actions and quick to blame all misfortune on forces beyond their control. Saddam, and earlier dictators, took advantage of this character flaw to dominate the population. But now, as democracy, and personal responsibility, looms, there are many who would fight and die to prevent these alien concepts in. Arab media like al Jazeera take advantage of this, as is very obvious, spinning every event to absolve Arabs and blame external forces.

What are the armed Iraqis fighting and dying for? The Sunni Arabs want to somehow avoid the retribution for crimes committed during Saddams rule. They know that, once the Shia and Kurds are in charge, that many Shia and Kurd families who lost loved ones to Saddams thugs know who did it. And many of the guilty men are from Fallujah and nearby Sunni Arab towns. There are also some powerful criminal gangs in Fallujah and the Sunni Triangle that see a "law and order" government putting them out of business. For the Shias who are fighting, it's to establish an Islamic Republic and protect their leader, al Sadr, from getting prosecuted for killing other Shia clergy who opposed him. There are also Shia and Sunni who are out there fighting because it's fashionable, in the Arab world these days, to hate Americans. And then there's the Iranian connection. Since 1979, Iranian Islamic conservatives have preached that the United States, with all its democracy and freedoms, is the Great Satan and enemy of Islam, especially Shias. This hatred springs largely from the religious freedom practiced in America, instead of a police that recognizes Islam as the one true religion. While Iraqi Shias fought for Saddam against Iran in the 1980s war, you still have a generation of Shias who were raised on anti-American propaganda. To many Iraqis, it was stupid propaganda, but it got through to many. And if you can get a few thousand people with guns to die for you, as al Sadr has, you can make a mess. Iranian Islamic conservatives appear to be directly involved in working with Sadrs fighters. Yesterday, Sadr's men began kidnapping foreigners, and demanding that foreign governments withdraw their troops. In one case, three Japanese civilians were taken, and the Shia gunmen who captured them demanded that Japan get it's 550 soldiers (all support troops working on rebuilding projects) within three days, or the captives would be burned alive. The Japanese refused to withdraw its troops. But such barbaric tactics were used frequently by Iranian Shia radicals in Iran itself (where the American embassy staff was held captive for over a year) and in Lebanon (where it is used to this day.) The Iranian government denies any involvement, but they can say that with a straight face because the Iranian constitution allows the Islamic conservatives to run a parallel government, control the police and military and build atomic bombs.

How are American troops going to deal with the uprising? The army and marines have new tactics and equipment to deal with street fighting. The tactics keep American casualties down to unheard of low levels for urban combat. But the fighting takes time. It may be weeks before the last of the resisting Iraqis are killed or captured. Meanwhile, American troops in the process of leaving, are being held back for three or four more months of duty in Iraq. Just in case. The original plan was to withdraw most coalition troops from Iraqi towns and let the Iraqi police maintain order. That was working, except in areas where large criminal, political or religious gangs were growing bolder, more heavily armed and more aggressive. Now the gangs are at war, and have to be destroyed. No one knows exactly how many troops that will take. But as any combat commander knows, in situations like this, too much ain't enough.

But a more important campaign is how well the coalition plays the Information War angle (with the Iraqi population) and how much cooperation they get from the Iraqi leadership (official and unofficial, who have a lot to lose if the Sunni Arabs and radical Islamic Shia like Sadr gain more power) is not used properly. Most Iraqis are not up in arms against the coalition, but this is not considered news and thus rarely gets reported. Most Iraqis understand what their situation really is (a coalition, led by the United States, deposed the tyrant Saddam and is now pouring billions of dollars into the reconstruction of their country). In a country where personal responsibility often does not extend beyond second or third cousins, everyone is constantly calculating what's in it for their clan or tribe. Most Iraqis see no future in having the thugs of Fallujah running things again, and the Islamic Republic of Iran has no broad appeal either. But few Iraqis are willing to "get involved." That would involve risk, and risk is to be avoided, or shoved onto someone else. It's easier to shout anti-American slogans, make deals with the Americans in the back room, and wait for the dust to settle. Western politicians must love this, because it makes their often morally suspect methods look pristine by comparison.

Story 1:
How to deal with the Arabs

"There is an old Iraqi saying -- very old," said Hussein Ali Tukmachi, a sign painter in Kadhimiya. "Me and my brother against my cousin. Me and my brother and my cousin against a stranger."

This quote says it all. The Arabs are not peaceful people, nor will they ever be. They will fight family members as well as members of their community. If a stranger (aka. foreigner) comes along, they'll all band together to fight them. But one thing that this quote doesn't say, but can be implied, is that once that stranger (aka. foreigner) is dealt with, they'll go back to fighting and killing each other. It doesn't matter who's around, they just enjoy fighting.
So what's this say about what will happen when the West leaves Iraq? Well, the Iraqi's will go back to fighting each other. There will be revenge killings, there will be religious killings, there will viloence in the street. Then there will be a government crack down, killing more people, and the people will once again be in fear of their government. The Iraqi's just don't know what to do with the peace and hope that's been giving them, so they've resorted to what they know, violence.
So, what's the best way to deal with this region? Build a 100 meter high wall around the area, shoot anything that comes over or under it and contain these people to their corner of the world, to prevent their psychology from spreading out of the region. There's no way to deal with this type of mentality, other than to contain it, in the hopes that there continued aggressive behavour gets cleansed from their gene pool, Inshallah.
Cut your losses in the region and abandon them to their fate.

Story 2:
It's time we told the Arabs that we aren't falling for their self-induced, holier than thou attitude. That their problems aren't made by the West, but are created at home. There are no more hard luck cases in the Middle East anymore. Iraq, a country rich in oil resources, is poor in morals and very indolent.
"the global village is beginning to see that the violence of the Middle East is not aberrant, but logical. Its
misery is not a result of exploitation or colonialism, but self-induced."
"The enemy of the Middle East is not the West so much as modernism itself and the humiliation that accrues when millions themselves are nursed by fantasies, hypocrisies, and conspiracies to explain their own failures. Quite simply, any society in which citizens owe their allegiance to the tribe rather than the nation, do not believe in democracy enough to institute it, shun female intellectual contributions, allow polygamy, insist on patriarchy, institutionalize religious persecution, ignore family planning, expect endemic corruption, tolerate honor killings, see no need to vote, and define knowledge as mastery of the Koran is deeply pathological."

A fabulous look into the Psyche of the Arabs.
The Mirror of Fallujah
No more passes and excuses for the Middle East
Victor Davis Hanson

What are we to make of scenes from the eighth-century in Fallujah? Random murder, mutilation of the dead, dismemberment, televised gore, and pride in stringing up the charred corpses of those who sought to bring food to the hungry? Perhaps we can shrug and say all this is the wage of Saddam Hussein and the thirty years of brutality of his Baathists that institutionalized such barbarity? Or was the carnage the dying scream of Baathist hold-outs intent on shocking the Western world at home watching it live? We could speculate for hours.


Yet I fear that we have not seen anything new. Flip through the newspaper and the stories are as depressing as they are monotonous: bombs in Spain; fiery clerics promising death in England, even as explosive devices are uncovered in France. In-between accounts of bombings in Iraq, we get the normal murdering in Israel, and daily assassination in Pakistan, Turkey, Morocco, and Chechnya. Murder, dismemberment, torture—these all seem to be the acceptable tools of Islamic fundamentalism and condoned as part of justifiable Middle East rage. Sheik Yassin is called a poor crippled “holy man” who ordered the deaths of hundreds, as revered in the Arab World for his mass murder as Jerry Falwell is condemned in the West for his occasional slipshod slur about Muslims.

Yet the hourly killing is perhaps not merely the wages of autocracy, but part of a larger grotesquery of Islamic fundamentalism on display. The Taliban strung up infidels from construction cranes and watched, like Romans of old, gory stoning and decapitations in soccer stadiums built with UN largess. In the last two years, Palestinian mobs have torn apart Israeli soldiers, lynched their own, wired children with suicide bombing vests, and machine-gunned down women and children—between sickening scenes of smearing themselves with the blood of “martyrs.” Very few Arab intellectuals or holy men have condemned such viciousness.

Daniel Pearl had his head cut off on tape; an American diplomat was riddled with bullets in Jordan. Or should we turn to Lebanon and gaze at the work of Hezbollah—its posters of decapitated Israeli soldiers proudly on display? Some will interject that the Saudis are not to be forgotten—whose religious police recently allowed trapped school girls to be incinerated rather than have them leave the flaming building unescorted, engage in public amputations, and behead adulteresses. But Mr. Assad erased from memory the entire town of Hama. And why pick on Saddam Hussein, when earlier Mr. Nasser, heartthrob to the Arab masses, gassed Yemenis? The Middle-East coffee houses cry about the creation of Israel and the refugees on the West Bank only to snicker that almost 1,000,000 Jews were ethnically cleansed from the Arab world.

And then there is the rhetoric. Where else in the world do mainstream newspapers talk of Jews as the children of pigs and apes? And how many wacky Christian or Hindu fundamentalists advocate about the mass murder of Jews or promise death to the infidel? Does a Western leader begin his peroration with “O evil infidel” or does Mr. Sharon talk of “virgins” and “blood-stained martyrs?”

Conspiracy theory in the West is the domain of Montana survivalists and Chomsky-like wackos; in the Arab world it is the staple of the state-run media. This tired strophe and antistrophe of threats and retractions, and braggadocio and obsequiousness grates on the world at large. So Hamas threatens to bring the war to the United States, and then back peddles and says not really. So the Palestinians warn American diplomats that they are not welcome on the soil of the West Bank—as if any wish to return when last there they were murdered trying to extend scholarships to Palestinian students.

I am sorry, but these toxic fumes of the Dark-Ages permeate everywhere. It won’t do any more simply to repeat quite logical exegeses. Without consensual government, the poor Arab Middle East is caught in the throes of rampant unemployment, illiteracy, statism, and corruption. Thus in frustration it vents through its state-run media invective against Jews and Americans to assuage the shame and pain. Whatever.

But at some point the world is asking: “Is Mr. Assad or Hussein, the Saudi Royal Family, or a Khadafy really an aberration—all rogues who hijacked Arab countries—or are they the logical expression of a tribal patriarchal society whose frequent tolerance of barbarism is in fact reflected in its leadership? Are the citizens of Fallujah the victims of Saddam, or did folk like this find their natural identity expressed in Saddam? Postcolonial theory and victimology argue that European colonialism, Zionism, and petrodollars wrecked the Middle East. But to believe that one must see India in shambles, Latin America under blanket autocracy, and an array of suicide bombers pouring out of Mexico or Nigeria. South Korea was a moonscape of war when oil began gushing out of Iraq and Saudi Arabia; why is it now exporting cars while the latter are exporting death? Apartheid was far worse than the Shah’s modernization program; yet why did South Africa renounce nuclear weapons while the Mullahs cheated on every UN protocol they could?

No, there is something peculiar to the Middle East that worries the world. The Arab world for years has promulgated a quite successful media image as perennial victims—proud folks, suffering under a series of foreign burdens, while nobly maintaining their grace and hospitality. Middle-Eastern Studies programs in the United States and Europe published an array of mostly dishonest accounts of Western culpability, sometimes Marxist, sometimes anti-Semitic that were found to be useful intellectual architecture for the edifice of panArabism, as if Palestinians or Iraqis shared the same oppressions, the same hopes, and the same ideals as downtrodden American people of color—part of a universal “other” deserving victim status and its attendant blanket moral exculpation. But the curtain has been lifted since 9-11 and the picture we see hourly now is not pretty.

Imagine an Olympics in Cairo? Or an international beauty pageant in Riyadh? Perhaps an interfaith world religious congress would like to meet in Teheran? Surely we could have the World Cup in Beirut? Is there a chance to have a World Bank conference in Ramallah or Tripoli? Maybe Damascus could host a conference of the world’s neurosurgeons?

And then there is the asymmetry of it all. Walk in hushed tones by a mosque in Iraq, yet storm and desecrate the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank with impunity. Blow up and assassinate Westerners with unconcern; yet scream that Muslims are being questioned about immigration status in New York. Damn the West as you try to immigrate there; try to give the Middle East a fair shake while you prefer never to visit such a place. Threaten with death and fatwa any speaker or writer who “impugns” Islam, demand from Western intellectuals condemnation of any Christians who speak blasphemously of the Koran.

I have purchased Israeli agricultural implements, computer parts, and read books translated from the Hebrew; so far, nothing in the contemporary Arab world has been of much value in offering help to the people of the world in science, agriculture, or medicine. When there is news of 200 murdered in Madrid or Islamic mass-murdering of Christians in the Sudan, or suicide bombing in Israel, we no longer look for moderate mullahs and clerics to come forward in London or New York to condemn it. They rarely do. And if we might hear a word of reproof, it is always qualified by the ubiquitous “but”—followed by a litany of qualifiers about Western colonialism, Zionism, racism, and hegemony that have the effects of making the condemnation either meaningless or in fact a sort of approval.

Yet it is not just the violence, the boring threats, the constant televised hatred, the temper-tantrums of fake intellectuals on televisions, the hypocrisy of anti-Western Arabs haranguing America and Europe from London or Boston, or even the pathetic shouting and fist-shaking of the ubiquitous Arab street. Rather the global village is beginning to see that the violence of the Middle East is not aberrant, but logical. Its misery is not a result of exploitation or colonialism, but self-induced. Its fundamentalism is not akin to that of reactionary Hinduism, Buddhism, or Christianity, but of an altogether different and much fouler brand.

The enemy of the Middle East is not the West so much as modernism itself and the humiliation that accrues when millions themselves are nursed by fantasies, hypocrisies, and conspiracies to explain their own failures. Quite simply, any society in which citizens owe their allegiance to the tribe rather than the nation, do not believe in democracy enough to institute it, shun female intellectual contributions, allow polygamy, insist on patriarchy, institutionalize religious persecution, ignore family planning, expect endemic corruption, tolerate honor killings, see no need to vote, and define knowledge as mastery of the Koran is deeply pathological.

When one adds to this depressing calculus that for all the protestations of Arab nationalism, Islamic purity and superiority, and whining about a decadent West, the entire region is infected with a burning desire for things Western—from cell phones and computers to videos and dialysis, you have all the ingredients for utter disaster and chaos. How after all in polite conversation can you explain to an Arab intellectual that the GDP of Jordan or Morocco has something to do with an array of men in the early afternoon stuffed into coffee shops spinning conspiracy tales, drinking coffee, and playing board games while Japanese, Germans, Chinese, and American women and men are into their sixth hour on the job? Or how do you explain that while Taiwanese are studying logarithms, Pakistanis are chanting from the Koran in Dark-Age madrassas? And how do you politely point out that while the New York Times and Guardian chastise their own elected officials, the Arab news in Damascus or Cairo is free only to do the same to us?

I support the bold efforts of the United States to make a start in cleaning up this mess, in hopes that a Fallujah might one day exorcize its demons. But in the meantime, we should have no illusions about the enormity of our task, where every positive effort will be met with violence, fury, hypocrisy, and ingratitude.

If we are to try to bring some good to the Middle East, then we must first have the intellectual courage to confess that for the most part the pathologies embedded there are not merely the work of corrupt leaders but often the very people who put them in place and allowed them to continue their ruin.

So the question remains did Saddam create Fallujah or Fallujah Saddam?

Story 3:
Here's another example of how violence and intimidation are used as tools to control the way people live in Iraq.
From: Wendell Steavenson
Subject: Iraq's Assassination Epidemic
Thursday, April 8, 2004, at 9:19 AM PT

Mustansiriya University: a campus full of bright young things streaming in and out of class and girls in bright happy-colored sandals now that summer is here (the sweet smell of molten Baghdad garbage marks the changing of the seasons). The girls are what I noticed first, all lip liner and smudged kohl and exposed golden tresses. The second thing I noticed was the black cloth banners painted with slogans: "Death Is a Lie: Hussein Is Everlasting," "We Express Our Sorrow for the Death of the Martyr Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the Founder of Hamas." Territorial markers, like the flags that flutter all over the city, vast monochrome satin squares at traffic roundabouts, on top of bridges and roofs: black for death, red for blood, green for Islam. Inside the College of Sciences, draped over lintels, along walls, hung in the stairwells: "We All Express Our Sorrow for Those Who Died in Karbala and Khadimiya," "The Attack on Sheik A. Yassin Was an Attack Against the Islamic Revolution," "Every Day Is Ashura." Shiite slogans.
"They tell us we can't wear trousers or tight clothes," Reem, a physics student, told me as we sat by a fountain in the sunshine. "Guards on the gates, they say do not wear so much makeup."
Her friend Saif chimed in, "Yeah, and I agree with them."
Reem rolled her eyes. "Of course he agrees with them! Their rules do no affect him. But it is a matter of freedom!"
"When you give them freedom, they take too much—" countered Saif good-naturedly.
And the black flags? I ask. There has been controversy about the black flags—
"The university should be a space free from politics," said Saif. Reem was hanging onto her tenets of freedom: "I have a different opinion. Let them do as they like. It's not hurting anyone."
The black flags went up across campus around the time of Moharram, the Shiite month of mourning, in February. Dr. Abdul Sameer, the dean of the College of Sciences, told the students that they should be taken down; the students refused. Sit-ins followed demonstrations, negotiations failed. The flags remain. A Ministry of Education investigation is pending. Meanwhile, Dr. Sameer is at home under death threats, surrounded by bodyguards.
It's a matter of freedom of expression, as Reem had said, but in Baghdad you can be assassinated for expressing an opinion. I have my Westerner argument with an Iraqi friend most days: I insist that Iraqis are ultimately responsible for what happens in Iraq, and he looks at me oddly and replies, "What can I do? If I say anything, they will shoot me."
This is unarguable.
There is an assassination epidemic in Iraq. The targets are varied; motives sometimes guessable, sometimes not; the gunmen and bombers unknown.
I have a friend, Ahmed, a neat, handsome radical Islamist who painstakingly explains to me why it's OK to kill Iraqi women and children if they are standing in the way of Americans, because this is permissible in jihad. He told me about a man from the neighborhood who got death threats. "He was working for the Americans," said Ahmed, "as a translator." The translator went into the mosque during prayer time and announced, "I have not informed upon anyone." Someone called out, "Admit this before God." The translator didn't, and two days later, he was killed.
Another man I know, a former bodyguard of Saddam's, Emad, a garrulous psychopath who has a bit of a road-rage problem and suffers from nightmares about the man whose throat he cut during the uprising in Karbala, said he had a friend, a tough guy who couldn't get out of the country after the collapse. He was running from the family of a girl he used to carry on with. He sold his car, bought a beat up Brazili (a Brazil-made Volkswagen), and slept in it. He grew a beard and lost weight. A couple of weeks ago, they finally found him and killed him.
A psychiatrist friend, Dr. Ali, who is trying to set up an NGO to treat post-traumatic stress-disordered children (Good God, I asked him, where do you begin?), says he is constantly looking behind him in the street to make sure he is not being followed. The last time he was threatened, a man called his wife and told her they would kill the whole family if her husband did not stop working with the Ministry of Health—and by extension the American occupiers. "In the summer, there were just threats," he told me, "but so many doctors have been assassinated, now the problem is not threats, it is action." His wife is worried, they're thinking about moving house, living with relatives, leaving Iraq. "I am depressed," he told me. He has a colleague, Dr. Saad, whom he knows from the 1991 war, when they were monitoring the morale of front-line troops in Kuwait (fear, worry, and desertion). Dr. Saad left Iraq in 1996 and has now returned to work with the Democratic Coalition. A couple of weeks ago, he was stopped on a road bridge, and seven bullets were fired into his car. Still, Saad says, he doesn't want to be deterred. He drives around in the same car he always did.
At Mustansiriya University, four professors have been killed over the past year. Dr. Fallah Hussein, the vice dean, was shot outside the gates of the university in the days of chaos after the fall. Dr. Sabah Marhoud, a famous writer, was stopped by a gunman outside his home and shot twice in the head. Dr. Mahmoud Al Qaisi was in a wheelchair after being paralyzed in the Iran-Iraq war. He was kidnapped last August; his body turned up 10 days later. Dr. Abdul Latif Al Mayah, head of the Arab studies department was killed in January, the day after he made one of his appearances on Al Jazeera supporting Ayatollah Ali Sistani's view that elections should come as early as possible. His car was stopped by eight gunmen. His bodyguard and colleague were told to get out, and he was shot in the drivers' seat. As he slumped, wounded and bleeding, they pulled him out of the car and shot him again, reportedly another 32 times.
The Independent Islamic Students Organization at the university, which put up the black-flagged slogans around campus has moved into the office that used to belong to the Saddam Students Union. On the wall is a portrait of a green-mantled Hussein, the Shiite martyr, surrounded by loving children; the bookshelves are filled with religious literature. They are a serious, friendly lot, answering my questions, giving me pamphlets in English, and refusing to shake my hand because I am a woman. They said they had about 200 members among the college students. They wanted their opponent, Dr. Sameer, to resign. They accused him of being a Wahhabist bent on making differences between the students. "He has made many mistakes," said Mahan al-Jourani, who wore a black shirt and black trousers. "He is a dictator. He is the Saddam of this college."
I asked them where I could find the memorial service for Professor Latif that was to be held that day. They told me it was being held in Seyyed Al Hakim Hall. (Seyyed Al Hakim was the leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, based in Tehran for 20 years; in August he was blown up in a car bomb in Najaf.)
Is that the name of the place? I asked, a little incredulous.
"Yes, yes," they assured me.
On the way, I ran into a friend, Hasan, who is in a boy band and studying chemistry. He said the Shiite students who were putting up the banners weren't very popular. "I am a Shiite, I don't have to do these things," he said. "They don't represent us at all."
Hiba, Dr. Latif's daughter, sat in the second row of the auditorium. She said that her father knew the dangers. "If no one takes a risk, who will take the risk?" Her voice cracked a little.
"He expected something, but not so soon," said his sister-in-law. They had no idea who had done such a thing. The memorial service was dead memory: cloth flower arrangements, a videotape of the professor's Al Jazeera interview, an intoning imam, flickering fluorescent lights, and thimbles of bitter coffee. In the entrance hall, Latif's personal effects had been laid out on a table like a shadow box. Business cards with brown blood-stained edges; two pairs of spectacles, one with a cracked lens; and a wallet with a bullet hole in it. Outside, a phalanx of Kalashnikov-wielding bodyguards stood in a perimeter waiting for their charge, the minister for human rights, to emerge.
An article appeared in the local press prematurely reporting Dr. Abdul Sameer's death. The article described the execution in gory detail: He was beheaded, dismembered, and thrown in pieces into the Tigris.
"This I consider a threat," Dr. Sameer told me. I asked why and who.
He mentioned the "Muqtada group," referring to the followers of MuqtadaSadr. He talked about Sadr City, the Shiite slum; the Badr Brigade, another Shiite party/militia. He complained about the dean of the university. He spoke vaguely of forces of chaos and of instigators.
In Iraq, it seems, the why or who is never really known.

Marines bomb Fallujah mosque:

"US marines pressing an offensive in this Iraqi town west of Baghdad bombed a mosque in the center of the town Wednesday and killed up to 40 insurgents inside, a marine officer said.
The attack came from a jet aircraft at a high angle to minimize the impact, the officer said.
'We wanted to kill the people inside,' said Lieutenant Colonel Brennan Byrne. "

I couldn't have put it better myself. The West takes great care in preventing collateral damage, sparing noncombatants lives and from attacking culturally sensitive places, such as mosques. We do it mainly to minimize bad publicity [honest truth here], not just in the eyes of the media and press, but also with the local population. It's all a part of winning the hearts and minds of the locals.
But, when your enemy uses these places for offensive means, then they've shown disrespect to their own culturally sensitive places. In doing so, they are also giving a clear message to the people who are showing restraint in not attacking these sites, "we disrespect our holy places, so go ahead and disrespect them yourselves"

There is no rule or law that requires us to preserve these sites if the enemy uses them against us. So i say, wait until a lot of militants fill up that mosque and then bomb away.

Toronto Sun: NEWS - I'm willing to die, radical cleric says

al-Sadyr is willing to die. Well, isn't that nice of him then. If he wishes to die, here's some advice then, follow the sounds of the approaching tanks, wave a pistol at it, and you'll get your wish. Oh, by the way, when you get to hell al-Sadyr, tell Uda and Qusay that their daddy will be joining them soon.

HK USA - XM8
StrategyPage.com - XM8

This has got to be one of the best looking, greatest designed weapons i've ever seen. It's very futuristic, it's got a clean design, and it's well thought out for easy use by the shooter. I like the fact that the molded plastic comes in various colours, depending on the environment you are in. It's better than the standard black, which is hard to hide in an arctic or snowy condition.
Also, with it being full ambedextrious, highly interchangable with various attachments and accessories, and greater durability, this rifle is going to be the envy of any solider out there.
It's hard to imagine that one rifle can be a smg, sniper rifle, a standard rifle, and a machine gun... all in one design.
Thankfully, the OICW isn't truly being considered as the next personal weapon system by the US. That think looks awful and is heavy as well. But luckily, the rifle part of the system has become the XM8.
All i can really suggest is that the US adapts the 6.8mm round. It has more stopping power than the current 5.56mm and it's just as accurate out to 600m. Let's face it, with most engagements now coming within 500m
StrategyPage.com - XM25
The XM25 is the grenade launcher portion of the defunct OICW. It's one hellava lot better then the old M203. It's got thermal sites, computer controlled shells, fires a 25mm shell (similar to the Bushmaster cannon on the M2 Bradleys) that is devestating against troops and soft targets and fires a various array of different types of shells. This weapon will put the grenade launcher back into the troops standard arsenal.
StrategyPage.com - Shotgun
This is a new product is to replace the older "Masterkey Breaching Module". It's lighter in weight, has a bigger clip for more rounds. It's designed to shoot solid shot (for breaching doors) or non lethal shots for crowd control. It's an interesting system in that it not only attaches to the underside of a combat rifle, it can also be used as a stand alone weapon. Very creative in design



XM8


XM25
LSS - Lightweight Shotgun System

Toronto Sun: NEWS - Inmates go to the polls

How can it be, that when you commit an offense against your communities standards (ie. commit a crime) and are jailed for the offense, that you still get privelages that are awarded to upstanding members of that same community?
Seriously, this has got to stop. If you murder, rape or steal, you are knownily committing an offense and if you get caught and are imprisoned, you freedom is taken away from you. That's what jail is all about: removing a convicted persons freedoms as punishment for screwing over the community. Freedoms such as privacy, personal entertainment (ie. movies and TV), being able to roam around at your leisure and also your right to express your opinion as a voter.

I guess the day has arrived where criminal influences are now choosing the government (who some will say are criminals themselves). It's a sad day indeed.

Ammendment

Here's what the ruling was by the Supreme Court.
The ruling was that denying inmates the right to vote, contravened both sections 3 and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The 2 sections in question:

3. Every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of members of the House of Commons or of a legislative assembly and to be qualified for membership therein.

15. (1) Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.
Affirmative action programs (2) Subsection (1) does not preclude any law, program or activity that has as its object the amelioration of conditions of disadvantaged individuals or groups including those that are disadvantaged because of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.

Hmm.. for Section 3, i would say that if you commit a crime against society, you forfit your rights as a member and citizen of the country until you are released. If not, then going by what Section 3 says, it's possible that an inmate could run for Parliment. Now how's that for having criminals running the government.

As for Section 15, i don't see an inmate not voting as discrimination against their race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability. It's discrimination based on their criminal conduct, which, from what is written under section 15, isn't protected in the Charter.
Also, but what the ruling of the Supreme Court has said, that means a rapist and murderer is an equal to me (Every individual is equal before and under the law). I'm sorry, but that's bullshit. A murderer and rapist are lower class of people, who deny others their freedoms and equality. I didn't deny someone elses rights and freedoms by raping and killing, so where does the Supreme Court get off saying that my morals are as equal to the convict.

Sometimes Liberal thinking can go too far.

MSNBC - U.S. forces in showdown with Shiite cleric

The Americans “have the money, weapons and huge numbers, but these things are not going to weaken our will because God is with us,” he said in a statement sent to the Arab-language satellite news channel Al-Jazeera, which provided a copy to The Associated Press.

“We don’t fear death, and martyrdom gives us dignity from God,” al-Sadr said.

Well, if God was really with you, don't you think you'd have the "money, weapons and huge numbers" to help get rid of the Americans? Don't you think if God was with you, you wouldn't be living in a shithole of a country? Don't you think that if God was really with you, you would have ousted Saddam yourselves, instead of waiting for the Americans to do it?

I love the attitude of these Shiite clerics and followers; they've been religiously oppressed for 30 years by the rule of Saddam and they finally get their religious freedom, by the American invasion no less, and they turn around and say that American's suck. How Ironic. I guess they've never heard the phrase, don't bite the hand that feeds you. These guys should be thanking the Americans for liberating them from Saddam's terror. Truely, if the Americans were the "Great Satan", then why would they help the Shiites out by liberating them. And in saying that, shouldn't the Shiites be hating themselves because they've been liberated by "a follower of Satan"?

As for the "martyrdom gives us dignity" crap, please, what a load of rhetoric bullshit (actually, thinking of rhetoric, I haven't heard a new thought come out of these Islamic radical guys in decades. They spew the same shit over and over and where has it gotten them, no where). All I can say is, God may give you diginity in death, but in the real world, it'll be total humiliation.

Lets be realistic about this entire situation. al-Sadr is trying to carve out a little fiefdom of his own and in doing so, he's stirred the hornets nest that is the US Military. The US was willing to look the other way with his involvment in the murder of another cleric (wow, that's very Islamic of him), but now that he's rattled the cage, he's going to get himself put to sleep, permanently.

Sheik Abu Mahdi al-Rubaie, 35, a follower of al-Sadr at the mosque, warned that any U.S. move against al-Sadr would be “a very dangerous thing.”

“They will pay a heavy price. We will not allow them to enter Kufa. ... We are ready to lay down our lives for al-Sayed,” he said, using the Arabic word for “master” to refer to al-Sadr.

Apparently, these guys don't learn very quickly. Do they not comprehend the technical sophistication that the US Military commands. The ability to watch the enemies movements constantly, the ability to hit you with very precise weaponary. They've watched 'Blackhawk Down' a few to many times and believe that similar tactics will work again. Well, here's a news flash for you Mr. al-Rubaie, the US doesn't have to step one foot into Kufa. Using one UAV and one AC-130 gunship, the US can spy on the mosque that al-Sadyr is using, watch him walk into or out of the building, then use the gunship to lay the area into waist. Or, for a bit more subtly, using one of the Predator UAV's, fire off a nice Hellfire missile enema into al-Sadyr and pull off an Israeli Yassin Maneouver.

When will Flip Flop McFly (aka. Dalton McGuinty) and the Fiberals keep an election promise?

This is becoming a broken record for Ontario.
It really irks me how the provincial and federal Liberal party work. They'll promise the voters everything under the sun; from tax breaks, better health care, better education system, financial accountability, to better environmental management. But, once they the keys to the store handed to them, they decide that what they've promised really can't be done.

Well, golly gee, isn't that nice! [insert dripping sarcasim here].

We elect our politicians on their promises, under the assumption that they'll fulfill them (for the most part). If they are unable to do so, then I think, as a voter and contributor to the tax base, I should have the right to hold back my taxes or request a new vote take place.
There has to be an accountability to what politicians promise. It'll prevent the gross dereliction of duty that is currently taking place with the current Ontario Liberal government.

If you want to help out in the fight to stop provincial and Canada's tax increases, go to the Canadian Federation of Taxpayers website and sign their online petitions.

CTV.ca

I find it truely amazing that two respectable countries would have a dispute over a frozen ice covered rock in the Arctic. Surely there are more pressing concerns than this, say.. terrorism.
As a Canadian, i'm sort of glad to see that the typical Canadian response of bitching and moaning, but not doing anything, isn't happening here. As much as our military has been short shifted by the current Federal government, i'm glad to see that they are using this diplomatic incident as a good opportunity for training.

As much as this episode will turn into absolutely nothing (i hope), it'll at least give the government a shake up as to how underfunded our military is. Next time, it may not be Denmark that's planting a flag on our soil, but someone a lot less desirable.


StrategyPage.com

April 5, 2004: Canada may be having trouble funding overseas deployments, but that is not preventing the military from conducting a three-week exercise in the Arctic this summer. The exercise, code-named Narwhal, involves at least 200 troops, the Halifax-class frigate HMCS Montreal, and a squadron of CH-146 Griffon helicopters around Baffin Island. This is the largest exercise Canada has ever run in the Arctic.

Despite official claims to the contrary, the reason Canada is scraping together the funds to conduct Narwhal is a territorial dispute with Denmark. The island in question is Hans Island, an uninhabited three-kilometer long piece of rock in the middle of the Kennedy Channel, the northern portion of the Nares Strait, a body of water separating Greenland and Ellesmere Island. To be precise, around the 80th parallel.

Prior to this year, the dispute over the island had not been contested. However, Denmark’s position is that if Canada is going to claim the island, Canada had better be able to get to the island. If Canada can’t get to the island, it really isn’t Canadian. In the summer of 2002, a Danish warship (reportedly the Vaedderen, a Thetis-class patrol frigate designed for Arctic operations) sailed in the area, and a group of soldiers are alleged to have disembarked and hoisted the Danish flag on the disputed island, prompting a diplomatic protest that turned this dormant dispute active.

Canada’s military has been unable to seriously contest the issue in the past, since its major naval combatants are not ice-strengthened, only its Coast Guard has icebreakers, and they are rarely at sea due to financial constraints. However, despite the restrictions, Canada’s military is slated to increase operations in the Arctic, beginning this spring, with enhanced sovereignty patrols from Resolute to Alert by Canadian Rangers (a group more akin to the National Guard and largely consisting of Inuit). This summer, the tempo will increase with Narwhal, a war game, will kick off a five-year plan to expand Canada’s presence in the Arctic. The includes additional sovereignty patrols (the first of which departs on April 1), tests to see how well unmanned aerial vehicles handle Arctic conditions, and Project Polar Epsilon, a satellite surveillance system that will cover northern Canada. Canada is even considering the construction of radar stations to detect and track unauthorized use of the Northwest Passage.

The Canadian response is intended to prevent a situation similar to that which led to the Falklands War. The British left the impression that the Falklands did not matter that much through defense cuts and their public posture. This led to the Argentinean invasion in 1982, and the weeks-long war. The British now maintain a very strong presence in the Falklands as a result. This exercise is intended to show that the financial problems the Canadian military has suffered recently will not prevent Canada from defending its territory. This dispute will not likely result in war, but it will be interesting to see how Denmark responds. – Harold C. Hutchison (hchutch@ix.netcom.com)

StrategyPage.com.

Build a SuperLaser to destroy them -[insert Darth Vader Breathing Here]-

April 5, 2004: The U.S. Army has built and tested a humvee equipped with a laser gun turret that can quickly destroy unexploded munitions and roadside bombs. The system, called Zeus-HLONS (HMMWV Laser Ordnance Neutralization System), uses an industrial solid state laser, normally used to cut metal, but can also ignite explosives up to 300 meters away. Normally, engineers have to approach such munitions (shells, cluster bombs aircraft bombs) or roadside bombs, place explosives next to it, then move away, trailing a detonator wire behind them, and then set off the explosive to destroy the bomb or unexploded munitions. Using the Zeus laser is a lot cheaper (a few cents per laser shot) and safer than the traditional method. Zeus is particularly useful when you have an area with a lot of unexploded munitions just lying about. The munitions are often unstable, meaning that just picking them up could set them off. The Zeus system can be fired up to 2,000 times a day. Last year, a Zeus-HLONS was sent to Afghanistan for six months last year, where it destroyed 200 items, including 51 in one 100 minute period.

However, Zeus is currently stuck in development because no one in the army wants to "own" it and pay for manufacturing it. While destroying unexploded munitions is an engineering task, Zeus-HLONS was developed by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. Development is continuing, including the use of a more powerful laser. One thing the engineers would like to see is some way for Zeus to destroy buried munitions and land mines. But the laser cannot penetrate earth very effectively. As things stand now, Zeus-HLONS will remain on the sidelines until someone decides it's important enough to spend money on and adopt as another item of equipment.

"I think it is time we demonstrate the full power of this station." - Grand Moff Tarkin

Toronto Sun: NEWS - 'Ironic' plea from Copps

Wow, this is like the pot calling the kettle black. Really, does she expect people to be sympathetic to her cause. I love seeing Liberals fighting amongst each other, it really lets the public see the true nature of the Left.

Toronto Sun: NEWS - Readers recall death penalty

Young Offenders Act.
I'm sick of hearing young teenagers in Canada being treated so softly when they are convicted of crimes such as property damage, sexual assault, manslaughter and even murder.
Kids nowadays are not the Leave it to Beaverisk kids of yesterday. They are more mature, better educated, and more socially aware then any kids in history. There is no more innocent youth.
I say, scrap the Young Offenders Act (YOA), treat this kids like regular criminals. Don't shield them from the public; let them know that there actions have public consequences.

Hard Labour.
I think that hard labour should be reintroduced into the Canadian Penal System. Make life hard for the convicted, so that they'll think twice about reoffending. But saying that, also fix the penal system, so that inmates get quality life skills training, so that when they are released, they will have job skills and life skills to cope with the real world. Make sure that each inmate can leave the penal system with the ability to walk into a job.

Toronto Police.
All i can say is, remove the red tape and bullshit, so that they can do their job properly and effectively. The SIU is a useful tool to make sure that the police don't overstep their authority, but also, make sure that the SIU isn't brought in for every single complaint by some streetwise thug, how knows that the system will support him/her and not the police.
The Toronto cops have a hard job, especially with the current shootings in Rexdale and Scarborough and the Celia case, and they don't need the job being complicated more with the SIU breathing all over them. The public needs to get out and support these brave men and women. The community needs to help them out when the street gangs decide that drive by shootings are a good way to settle problems. Help yourselves and your community by helping the police find these people.

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MSN Entertainment - News - Kelly Osbourne Enters Drug Rehab

Wow, i think everyone saw this one coming from lightyears away.

I really like the Osbournes show, it's a great looking into the best disfunctional family on earth.
It's a smorgasbord of swearing and hilarity.

But saying that, Rich kids just have it way too easy. They are so bored that they have nothing better to do than party, do drugs and make porn videos, which i must thank Paris Hilton for someday. :D
At least it makes for good entertainment.


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MSN Entertainment - News - 'Sesame Street' Still A-OK After 35 Years

I can't believe that this program is that old. I loved watching Sesame Street as a kid.
My favourite bits include the Pinball Game (the famous 1,2,3,4,5 song that goes with it), Oscar the grouch, and the Yup, Yup muppets.



I hope there's another 35 years to the great childrens show.

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Leafs win home ice advantage for the playoffs after embarassing the Ottawa Senators in Ottawa with a 6-0 score

All I can say is, this is going to be one exciting playoff run for the Leafs.

Go Leafs Go

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