Posted on 06/12/2003 9:11:52 PM PDT by null and void
Good Morning.
Welcome to the daily thread of Operation Infinite Freedom - Situation Room.
It is designed for general conversation about the ongoing war on terror, and the related events of the day. In addition to the ongoing conversations related to terrorism and our place in it's ultimate defeat, this thread is a clearinghouse of links to War On Terrorism threads. This allows us to stay abreast of the situation in general, while also providing a means of obtaining specific information and mutual support.
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 13 (OneWorld) - While angry and reluctant members of the UN Security Council voted Thursday to extend its exemption of U.S. soldiers and officials from the jurisdiction of the new International Criminal Court (ICC) for a second year, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld threatened to block funding for NATO web's new headquarters in Brussels unless Belgium amended or withdrew a controversial law permitting its courts to try foreigners for war crimes and genocide.
Speaking at a NATO meeting in Brussels, Rumsfeld complained that "by passing this law, Belgium has turned its legal system into a platform for divisive, politicized lawsuits against her NATO allies."
"It would obviously not be easy for U.S. officials...civilian or military, to come to Belgium for meetings," he said. "Certainly, until this matter is resolved, we will have to oppose any further spending for construction for a new NATO headquarters in Brussels."
Rumsfeld's threat--which bewildered Belgian officials, who amended the law in April so that U.S. officials or soldiers could not be prosecuted under it--was nonetheless certain to cause new resentment over U.S. demands that its citizens be exempt from prosecution for serious abuses of human rights, renewing tensions over the issue between Washington and its European allies.
Coming on the same day that the Bush admnistration won a second one-year exemption for U.S. citizens from the ICC, which is strongly supported by the European Union (news - web sites) (EU), Rumsfeld's remarks were likely to underline the growing divide between the U.S. and Europe.
The Stand
I stand with Israel. In the endless finger-pointing game of "who shot first? Who stops shooting first?" I point my finger squarely at the Arab world, and wait with Israel for them to make the first real move. I admire Israel, because it is a ridiculously small country with ridiculously brave people.
At this point most other authors would say, "if you don't agree with me you'd better just skip the rest of this." I almost did just that. But I changed my mind. If you don't agree with the sentiments above I want you to read the rest of this very slowly. I want you to understand how stupid and ignorant you are. I want you to understand that being "for Jews but against Israel" is a contradiction that reeks of anti-Semitism. I want you to get so angry your blood fizzes. Because you see that's how angry I am right now, and I feel like sharing.
I say these things to Israel's enemies even though I know they will never understand. Never understand that by destroying two buildings they succeeded only in transforming an ambiguous friend into a staunch ally. Never understand that by singing the praises of human detonators they merely dig a deeper hole in which to bury their own culture. Never understand their religion is no longer a force to be reckoned with, ceased being one six centuries ago, and their traditions are what got them in this mess in the first place.
I say these things to everyone so they may all understand. I am just one man among an ocean of men, a sea of women, living in a country of our own making with our own blood and treasure. I look across half the world and find in a region as old as time itself only one small nation that looks like mine. Unique in that region, its government is of its people, by its people, and for its people, and I am willing to do whatever I can to ensure it does not perish from this earth. True, I am just one man, standing up for what I believe in.
But I do not stand alone.
BY JAMES TARANTO
Friday, June 13, 2003 3:02 p.m. EDT
Bush to Hamas: Drop Dead
On Tuesday we criticized President Bush for going soft on terrorism. But even the president's harshest detractors can't deny one of his best qualities: He has the humility to realize when he's wrong and change course. "The Bush administration signaled strong support for Israel's crackdown on militant groups yesterday, effectively abandoning its earlier criticism of the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon," the Washington Post reports.
Is That a Promise or a Threat?
"A Sudden, Violent End for a Promising Youth" reads the headline of a New York Times report from the Middle East today. It's a profile not of one of the victims of Hamas's bus massacre Wednesday, but of the perpetrator, 18-year-old Abdel Madi Shabneh of Hebron. Carrying out a suicide attack takes training, so how "sudden" could it have been?
Red Alert
"Not that there's anything wrong with communism, which, as the movie rightly points out, once represented the dream of justice and equality."--film critic Louis Templado, Asahi Shimbun News Service (Japan), June 13
"A mass grave, containing hundreds of Buddhist monks and civilians executed in Stalinist purges in the 1930s, has been found in the Mongolian capital."--7am.com News, June 12
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Another Benefit of Iraq's Liberation
The sound of wedding bells can be heard once again in the streets of Baghdad. Reuters reports that the Iraqi capital's only functioning civil court has begun registering marriages again, after a two-month hiatus. But "the court is so overwhelmed and under-resourced that the only service it currently provides is approving marriages." In other words, no divorces.Who'd have thought Operation Iraqi Freedom would be such a triumph for traditional family values?
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WASHINGTON — A short conflict that used fewer missiles, sparked fewer oil field fires and created fewer refugees than anticipated produced a lower-than-expected financial cost for the major combat in Iraq.
That means President Bush won't have to go back to Congress for additional funding this year, a step that could have revived the debate over the war.
A detailed account of expenses won't be complete for months, but senior administration officials say the cost of deployment and combat will be just less than the $62.6 billion Congress approved in March as emergency funding for Operation Iraqi Freedom. It is the first time officials have offered a tally.
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White House backs Israel’s response
Washington Post | 6/13/03 | Glenn Kessler
The Bush administration signaled strong support for Israel’s crackdown on militant groups yesterday, effectively abandoning its earlier criticism of the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that had sparked an outcry from lawmakers on Capitol Hill and pro-Israel lobbying groups.
IN COORDINATED STATEMENTS, White House and State Department officials tried to shift the diplomatic focus from Israeli actions to the commitment made by Arab leaders at a summit last week in Egypt to cut off funding and support for terrorist attacks against Israelis. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell made that point in a round of phone calls to Arab foreign ministers, officials said.
“The issue is not Israel. The issue is not the Palestinian Authority,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. The issue is “terrorists who are killing in an attempt to stop a hopeful process from moving forward.”
Arab officials placed the blame for the renewed violence on Israeli’s botched assassination attempt Tuesday of a senior leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement, known as Hamas. “We were very close to an agreement with the Palestinians to end the suicide bombings,” said a senior Arab diplomat who spoke to Powell yesterday. “But every time we come close to an agreement, the Israelis launch a disproportionate attack.”
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Presenter: Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, CJCS |
Thursday, June 12, 2003 - 1:53 p.m. EDT |
(Briefing on Operation Tribute to Freedom. Participating were Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Army Maj. Gen. Anders B. Aadland, director, Installation Management Agency, and executive director, Operation Tribute to Freedom Committee. The slide shown at today's briefing can be found on the Web at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun2003/g030612-D-6570C.html.)
Myers: Well, good afternoon, everybody. While operations in Afghanistan and Iraq continue, more than 100,000 of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen have returned from overseas. As they do, many communities from around our country are paying tribute to the efforts and sacrifices these brave men and women have made in our global war on terrorism. In fact, we've been inundated with requests from hundreds of communities -- actually, I think the number is closer to -- up to a thousand now -- communities, companies and individuals asking how they can show their support and say thanks for the great job our young people have done and continue to do.
We have established Operation Tribute to Freedom as a way for the military to support as many community efforts as possible. The first of the Operation Tribute to Freedom events began on Memorial Day weekend, I think a natural starting point to reflect on the sacrifices of our military members and their families.
This Saturday, all Major League Baseball teams will fly flags that were flown over the Pentagon to recognize our troops. And there are numerous Operation Tribute to Freedom events taking place across the country over the next several months that include hometown parades, 4th of July fireworks, veterans meetings, community dinners, and many other types of tributes.
Of course, many Americans around the nation have already paid tribute to our troops in so many ways, and we thank them very much for their support. Some have placed yellow ribbons on mail boxes, hosted a parade or, like one family in St. Jacob, Illinois, they have taken over their neighbor's lawn care until he returns from Iraq. What a deal that is. I think they bring new meaning to the term "neighborly." In fact, it was just last weekend, I was out about 40 miles west of here, went through a couple of small towns, and it was amazing the number of American flags and yellow ribbons that were displayed, I think all part of recognizing the sacrifices that our armed forces make.
The official Tribute to Freedom Events scheduled for this summer, and beyond, will continue that support for our fighting forces.
Q: Is there any indication -- I'm sorry -- going back to the same issue, any indication of casualties on either side?
Myers: In that particular event, we had one wounded.
Q: One --
Myers: One on the U.S. side.
Q: U.S. side. Is there any indication on the other side?
Myers: There were a number killed -- large number.
| Borderland Friday, June 13, 2003 | ||
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Families greet 507th at Bliss Welcome Home Laura Cruz
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More than 300 family members and friends waved signs and the 62nd Army Band played patriotic songs as 63 soldiers from the company stepped off the plane with 130 soldiers from the 5-52 Headquarters and Headquarters Battery.
"This is a wonderful day! We're so glad they are coming home and this is the last arrival (of 507th soldiers) for us," said Cynthia King, wife of 507th commander Capt. Troy King. "It's just sad that some of our soldiers will not be coming home. They will be missed, and they will never be forgotten."
The maintenance company, which suffered some of the heaviest losses in Iraq, deployed from Biggs Army Airfield Feb. 17. March 23, part of the company was traveling toward Baghdad in a convoy when the soldiers were ambushed near Nasiriyah.
Nine soldiers were killed, six were taken prisoner, and four were wounded.
Laura Cruz may be reached at lcruz@elpasotimes.com
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13 June 03 |
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http://airdefense.bliss.army.mil/adamag/
13 June 03
Edmonton Sun, Canada
Canada to Start Missile Shield Talks
Canadian officials head to Washington for talks on a Canadian role in missile shield. ***
Krauthammer: Hoaxes, Hype and Humiliation
Washington Post ^ | 06/13/03 | Charles Krauthammer
"It took only 48 hours for the museum to be destroyed, with at least 170,000 artifacts carried away by looters."
-- New York Times, April 13
"You'd have to go back centuries, to the Mongol invasion of Baghdad in 1258, to find looting on this scale."
-- British archaeologist Eleanor Robson, New York Times, April 16
Well, not really. Turns out the Iraqi National Museum lost not 170,000 treasures but 33. You'd have to go back centuries, say, to the Mongol invasion of Baghdad in 1258, to find mendacity on this scale.
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WASHINGTON - An Army maintenance unit that lost 11 soldiers and had several taken prisoner in an ambush in Iraq was sent in the wrong direction by other American soldiers as they sped to catch up to their convoy, a Texas congressman said Friday.
The 507th Maintenance Company was directed to go east at an American checkpoint and had traveled several miles in the outskirts of Nasiriyah when their commander realized they were heading in the wrong direction, said Rep. Silvestre Reyes.
Reyes is a Democrat from El Paso, home to Fort Bliss, where the 507th is based. He was briefed Friday by the Defense Department.
A spokesman for the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla., Maj. Mike Escudie, said an investigation of the ambush was under way and the military would have no comment.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A coalition soldier was found dead in a lake at a military compound near the town of Fallujah Friday, the U.S. military said.
The soldier, whose identity is being withheld pending notification of relatives, had been reported missing since Thursday and had been swimming.
A search was undertaken after fellow soldiers found some of the soldier's belongings and clothing at the edge of the lake.
No other details were immediately available.
Fallujah is a Sunni Muslim stronghold about 30 miles west of Baghdad. It has been the site of several attacks against coalition forces by alleged loyalists of the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein.
Also Friday, another soldier was killed and eight others injured when their armored vehicle rolled over in an accident 12 miles south of Iraq's Al Asad Air base, a U.S. military statement said.
"The personnel were traveling in an M113 armored personnel carrier on a mission when they encountered a four-foot drop off on the side of the road that caused the vehicle to throw a track and roll over," the statement said, adding that names were being withheld pending notification of relatives.
Sorry, Kat. Tired of the hypocrites. I want to know the answer to that brain twister, too.
Dolly, what's the third "gry" word?
Night, all. Puter's not in my bedroom, prolly good or I'd stay up late and be crankier than usual. (^;
Dolly, re. the 'great Dane', check out Tim Blair's blog...or I'll check back tomorrow and see if his address is posted.
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