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Posted on 07/24/2006 10:53:04 PM PDT by BurbankKarl
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice salutes a US Marine as she walks towards a helicopter upon her departure from Beirut after meeting with Lebanese officials.
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=6791
25 July, 2006
IRAN – TURKMENISTAN
Ahmadinejad in Turkmenistan looking for gas and allies
Tehran (AsiaNews) – Iranian President Ahmadinejad has started a two-day visit in Turkmenistan ostensibly in search of trade deals involving gas supplies and petroleum by-products but also discussions over the Caspian Sea and Iran’s greater political role in Central Asia.
According to Iran’s state agency IRNA, the two countries reached an agreement to increase Turkmenistan's gas exports to Iran from the current eight billion cubic metres to a minimum of 14 billion cubic metres annually by next year. The two sides also plan to increase the swap of Turkmenistan oil via Iran's northern ports which currently stands at 40,000 barrels daily.
President-for-Life Saparmurat Niyazov has proposed greater participation of Iranian companies in oil exploration in Turkmenistan because of their great experience in the field."
Crazy Mahmoud. Crazy like a fox. Here's another interesting factoid from the article:
"An arid country, Turkmenistan has a surface that exceeds 480,000 Km2 and a population of about five million (85 per cent Muslim, 10 per cent Orthodox). It is strategically important for its oil production and its geographic location, between the Caspian Sea and Afghanistan, wetting the appetite of Russians, Americans and Chinese."
probably getting deadlier for them to be seen above ground in daylight now.....
They can dash into the truck, or run like hell at night...
IAF hits 15 Katyusha launch sites Tuesday morning
By YAAKOV KATZ
Since early Tuesday morning, IAF aircraft have hit 15 Katyusha rocket launch sites in south Lebanon.
In addition, the IDF has targeted 18 Hizbullah buildings in Tyre, six weapons warehouses throughout Lebanon and two cars suspected of carrying Hizbullah operatives near Tyre.
21:35 Bush on Lebanon crisis: Our goal is to have a lasting, not temporary peace (Reuters)
512M will not be enough for the upcoming Windows Vista either....(that is what is being said on the techie forums )
bttt
I know and, given the attitude these guys have for women, she must have a few jokes of her own. She's an amazing woman.
thanks everybody, doesn't look like this puny IDF force is having any effect on the rocket firings, i think Olmert cares more about world opinion than he does his own people. Send in the divisionS (plural) and roll up Hizbullah.
E85 is 2.29 while 10% ethanol 89 oct is 2.79---in Mo.
I believe that...It seems like each new generation of operating system needs the next powwer of 2 in memory...
Most stations are up around 3.19 and higher...
IDF: Control of Bint Jbeil to provide security
Commander of Galilee division says army forces have achieved full control of area dubbed as 'Hizbullah's capital': 'Many residents of northern Israel will now be protected from low-trajectory fire, and soon, from high-trajectory fire as well'
In a press conference Tuesday evening, Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch, commander of the IDF's Galilee division, said "We have achieved full control over Bint Jbeil and, as such, many residents of northern Israel will now be protected from low-trajectory fire, and soon, from high-trajectory fire as well. We are working toward this end. Terrorists who fight us will be hurt."
According to Hirsch, forces operating in the area, and in areas such as Kfar Aitroun, destroyed many of Hizbullah's operations rooms, intelligence collection centers and news stations. As a result, a number of the operatives are fleeing.
The IDF Northern Command reported relative quiet on Tuesday, with few exchanges of fire. They posit that the deployment of artillery, infantry and armored brigades, which created "a finger hold" in southern Lebanon, is having the desired effect. IDF sources say that forces are working in a ways that utilize their relative advantage – they operate primarily at night, for example. According to the sources, Hizbullah casualties are very high.
At least one senior Hizbullah member operating in the Maroun al-Ras/Bnit Jbeil area was killed Tuesday as a result of IDF activities in the area. An IDF source told ynet that the operative was staying in a house serving as an operations room. He further reported that, while searching the houses, forces found many weapons, including light arms, Katyushas, and various kinds of missiles.
Ninety rockets
IAF air strikes continue alongside the ground offensive. Twelve Lebanese citizens were killed as a result of a Tuesday evening aerial strike that dropped 23 bombs on the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiya, considered a Hizbullah stronghold. The IDF had not attacked the district for two days. Currently, sources report thick smoke is covering the whole area.
News agencies reported that some 25 Hizbullah operatives have been killed by IDF fire. Mahmoud Komti, one of the organization's field commanders, explained that this includes 17 operatives that were killed on the border this past weekend.
Despite IDF operations, rockets continue to fall on Haifa and across the Galilee. According to reports, some ninety rockets were launched as of Tuesday night, resulting in some sixty casualties. A fifteen year old girl, from the Druze village of Mrar, was killed when a rocket landed near the local mosque Tuesday afternoon.
Likewise, a 75-year old Haifa resident when warning sirens were activated in the city. His body was transferred to a forensics unit, who will determine if the man died from stress upon hearing the sirens.
Hanan Greenberg and Ahiya Raved contributed to the report
"IDF kills Hizbullah commander in Maroun al-Ras"
Worth repeating.
Go IDF!
FYI
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/007613.php#comments
Sweden Warned UN Of OFP Kickbacks, UN Shrugged
A new report from Sweden shows that the UN had full awareness of the Oil-For-Food program's corruption, but chose to do nothing about it http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060725/ap_on_re_eu/oil_for_food . The Swedish Foreign Ministry released a statement that claims the Swedish delegation brought the kickbacks to the attention of the UN sanctions committee in 2000:
An unidentified Swedish company informed the country's embassy in Amman, Jordan, in 2000 that Iraq was demanding 10 percent "fees" on all deals as a way to circumvent U.N. sanctions on Saddam's regime, according to a Swedish Foreign Ministry document published on the Web site of Swedish Radio.
The document was sent from the embassy in Amman to the Foreign Ministry and Swedish delegation at the
United Nations in December 2000, Swedish Radio said.
The document stated clearly that the extra fees violated U.N. sanctions. But it was "clear that an open Swedish engagement in this issue would negatively affect other Swedish business opportunities" in Iraq, it said.
Anders Kruse, head of the Foreign Ministry's legal division, said Sweden had forwarded the information to the U.N. committee in charge of sanctions and was told the extra fees were widely known.
Turtle Bay has long claimed ignorance of the problem until the 2003 invasion of Iraq produced reams of evidence of kickbacks and payoffs. Kofi Annan claimed that the UN didn't audit the OFF program thoroughly enough and never had any awareness of the vast monies being kicked back to Saddam Hussein. This announcement by Sweden makes clear that the UN had both knowledge and evidence of the corruption and a pretty good idea of its scope, but declined to enforce its own sanctions against the dictator.
People who keep claiming that the UN had Saddam "in his box" should take note of this development. The UN had no interest in keeping Saddam in his box or anyone else's, either. The program had no auditing and little oversight, and it existed to enrich Saddam even while he defied the organization that put money in his pockets. The billions of dollars that he collected from the "humanitarian" program went for more illicit military materiel and more firepower with which to oppress and tyrannize the Iraqi people.
Now the same organization that claimed to keep Saddam in check wants to push Israel aside and keep Hezbollah in check in Lebanon. Does anyone wonder why the Israelis show such great reluctance to accept that proposition?
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/007613.php#comments
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