Oct. 29 - There was

Oct. 29 - There was an incident today with an explosive device placed on the same track as Sgt. Short and Cpl. Beerenfeger were on when they were killed earlier this month, but thankfully there was no injury this time to the soldier:

Kabul — A Canadian combat engineer escaped injury Wednesday when his lightly armoured vehicle struck an explosive device west of the Canadian military base in the Afghan capital.

The incident occurred at 12:35 p.m. local time as combat engineers were clearing the route on which two Canadian soldiers were killed by at least one anti-tank mine Oct. 2.

The engineer, whose name was not immediately released, was taken to a field hospital at nearby Camp Julien for observation.

The vehicle involved in the incident was a Zettelmeyer front-end loader equipped with a bucket and had been preceded down the track through rolling foothills by combat engineers on foot.

Officials said they did not know if the vehicle struck a landmine or another type of explosive device. An investigation is under way.

Posted by: Debbye at 10:26 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 183 words, total size 1 kb.

Oct. 29 - Only days

Oct. 29 - Only days after it was announced that Sony was removing an imaginary instance of Quebec terrorists capturing the Toronto subway from their game Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain, due to protests from Quebeckers and the Toronto Transit Commission that something so negative and unthinkable would be portrayed, seven separatists face charges after anti-English incident:

Seven arrests, the discovery of explosive devices, and anti-English graffiti in communities that want to break away for Montreal have some people in the city on edge.

The arrests were made after police discovered the former town hall for Baie d'Urfe, a mainly English-speaking community, had been defaced with anti-Canadian and separatist slogans.

Police said they caught the men as they were trying to cut down a federalist symbol at the townhall with a chainsaw. Investigators said they later found several homemade pipe bombs in a suspect's car.

The graffiti included the words Canadians Go Home, Quebec Libre (A Free Quebec) and Fusion Montreal.

Paul lives in Montreal and has good commentary here and makes points that people (like me, who often wonder why this continues to be an issue after 30+ years) need to remember.

Just to round this out, there's been a mini-controversy up here over revelations in a recent Chretien biolgraphy that the PM was prepared for a military intervention had the 1995 referendum gone against Quebec staying in Canada. Paul reports and comments here, for Paul's thoughts, and Francois offers some perspective going back to Trudeau's invocation of the War Measures Act in 1970 as well as a possible alternate reason as to why the army may have been on alert.

I don't comment on Quebec because that is irremediably something I don't get, at least from a Canadian perspective, any more than I get bi-lingualism but Murdoc makes a valid point about the UN that I haven't seen elsewhere (but dang! I wish I had thought of it first.)

Posted by: Debbye at 10:11 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 329 words, total size 3 kb.

Oct. 29 - This is

Oct. 29 - This is Cecilia. If you have seen her, call the Cecilia Zhang hotline at 416-808-8390.

9-year old Cecilia Zhang is still missing, and there are evidently no new leads in the search for her. Toronto police have offered a $50,000 reward for her return and the case will be on America's Most Wanted this Satuday.

Police reconstructed the Oct. 19 abduction for reporters (Window of hope) and released the information that two phone calls were made to the home from payphones shortly before the abduction.

Posted by: Debbye at 08:58 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 98 words, total size 1 kb.

Oct. 29 - The Canadian

Oct. 29 - The Canadian government has seen fit to share the information they received which prompted them to divert an incoming El Al flight from Toronto to Montreal and then Hamilton (although a cynical person might point out that they only confirmed some rumours): Jet attack tip from Mossad

Canadian security officials yesterday revealed details of the threatened terror attack on an Israeli passenger jet enroute to Pearson airport last week. While the El Al Boeing 767 was in the air Thursday, Mossad agents in Tel Aviv notified airport and Canadian security agents that al-Qaida operatives were planning to attack the jet with a surface-to-air rocket, officials said.

"The tip originated from the Mossad," one senior federal official said, speaking on condition they remain anonymous. "They believed it was very credible threat."

Police suspect the heat-seeking missile was to have been fired at the descending aircraft from a van or truck on either Hwys. 427, 27, 401 or 403, the officials said.

They aren't sure if the rocket was to have been fired from a moving vehicle or one parked on the shoulder of the highway.

The only revelations is that last paragraph, but it seems a little incredible that the rocket would be fired from a moving vehicle. If they missed, that rocket would have hit . . . what? But here's the really interesting part:

Officials said the attack was aimed at that specific flight because certain unidentified Israeli military or government members were on board.

"We suspect there were potential targets on the flight that particular day," one official said.

"The airline never releases the names of its passengers."

That raises some interesting questions. It's a pretty clear implication that either there was a breach in security or there's an insider at work. Maybe somebody who knows more about how secure information about passenger lists might be breached will comment on this.

Posted by: Debbye at 08:44 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 322 words, total size 2 kb.

Justice for Kazemi elusive

Oct. 29 - The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi continues to be a political fight between the reformists and hardliners in the Iranian government. The official Iran report on Kazemi death highlights this:

TEHRAN -- Iran's reformist-dominated parliament accused hardline Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi yesterday of illegally detaining a Montreal photojournalist and then covering up facts surrounding her death in custody in July. Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian of Iranian origin, died July 10, about three weeks after she was detained for taking photographs outside a Tehran prison during protests against the ruling Islamic establishment.

An intelligence agent charged with her alleged beating death has pleaded not guilty to "semi-premeditated murder."

The parliament holds Mortazavi responsible as the head of the Tehran prosecutor's office.

The reformists control the intelligence agencies, and the hardliners control the judicial agencies.

Parliament accused Mortazavi of covering up facts about Kazemi's death -- he said she died of a stroke -- and having no evidence when he accused her of spying and having no permission to work.

The report said Kazemi was beaten by judiciary officials in Evin prison, north of Tehran. It said 20 guards who witnessed and reported the beating were forced to change their reports.

The report leaves little option for the court but to summon Mortazavi for questioning in the trial.

One of the demands of the Canadian government has been for the return of Kazemi's body to Canada and her son, Montrealer Stephan Kachemi. This has not yet been done.

It's hard to tell how much pressure the Canadian government would have put on the Iranian government to pursue this investigation had not Kachemi, Reporters Without Borders, the Canadian media, bloggers and the Official Opposition kept this issue in the forefront, but it is important to keep the pressure on. Kazemi is one of several journalists who are imprisoned in the Middle East and, had she not been a dual citizen of Canada, her death would probably have been ignored.

We tend to take freedom of speech and freedom of the press for granted, and nothing highlights this more than the incessant whining by lefties that they are being "repressed" when, in fact, the fact that they aren't in jail proves that there is no repression except in their own minds, but, more seriously, their whining insults those who actually are being repressed, tortured and jailed for asking questions, taking the "wrong" photographs and speaking their opinions as free people.

The best way we can aid those who are being repressed is to keep the death of Zahra Kazemi an issue. I think that's the best tribute we can pay to her and her belief in freedom.

UPDATE: The story in the Daily Telegraph says: Yesterday, a parliamentary commission dealing with press freedoms, attacked Teheran's chief prosecutor, Said Mortazavi, who has a reputation for jailing journalists and closing down newspapers.

Posted by: Debbye at 08:19 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 490 words, total size 3 kb.

Oct. 29 - Wondering how

Oct. 29 - Wondering how members of the Iraqi police forces are coping with the recent bombings that have hit their stations and killed their fellow cops? Boots on the Ground reports that their courage and steadfastness remind him of their colleagues in NYC. Inspiring read.

UPDATE: Grr, CNN is talking about getting the Iraqis to do more of the heavy lifting. The last attempt to bomb the UN offices was stopped by an Iraqi policeman. This latest string of bombings would have been worse had not some of the bombers been intercepted and stopped. I dispise this new generation of liberals precisely because of their patronizing attitudes. I'm not a numbers person, but if I find any total numbers for Iraqi police and cadets I'll post them. Damn the media some more.

Posted by: Debbye at 07:04 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 143 words, total size 1 kb.

Oct. 28 - From the

Oct. 28 - From the Times of India:

Indo-Pak thaw making jihadis desperate.

NEW DELHI: Terrorists have struck again in J&K injuring 36 people, a day after the Lashkar threatened renewed strikes during Ramazan. The Army expects more such attacks with winter setting in and the upswing in the Indo-Pak peace process.

Army intelligence sources said, over 2,500 jihadis are waiting across the border in Pakistan waiting for a chance to infiltrate into India before winter sets in.

Good article about something we should be paying more attention to.

As the original poster says, terrorist attacks continue to impede efforts to stabilize hot regions as well as disrupt elections, including the recent killings in Columbia.

(Link via Allahu Akbar.)

Posted by: Debbye at 09:16 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 127 words, total size 1 kb.

Oct. 28 - Paul lays

Oct. 28 - Paul lays a righteous fisking on the Nuclear Safety Commission and their unbelievable decision to not safeguard nuclear reactors in Canada.

Posted by: Debbye at 08:24 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 34 words, total size 1 kb.

Oct. 28 - There's some

Oct. 28 - There's some nice spoilery information posted about some of the scenes included in the Two Towers extended edition due to be released Nov. 20 here.

Link from Ith who also makes some insightful comments and links to some Return of the King pics.

Two. More. Months

Posted by: Debbye at 08:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 59 words, total size 1 kb.

Oct. 28 - Iyman Faris,

Oct. 28 - Iyman Faris, who also uses the name Mohammad Rauf, was sentenced to 20 years for plotting to cut cables on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Iyman Faris was sentenced to 15 years for aiding and abetting terrorism, plus five years for conspiracy. According to prosecutors, Faris, 34, travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan, carrying out low-level missions for terrorists. He provided sleeping bags, cellphones and cash to members of al-Qaida and met with Osama bin Laden in 2000 at a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, his accusers said. He also was accused of providing the terror group with information about possible U.S. targets.

Faris received attack instruction from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. It has been suggested that a second wave of terror was planned after Sept.11 and the destruction of the Brooklyn Bridge was intended to be part of that wave.

U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty also said Faris researched the use of ultralight aircraft for al-Qaida missions and communicated with operatives by e-mail using a code he improvised.

[...]

He was born in Pakistan and became a U.S. citizen in 1999. Since his arrival in the United States in 1994, his primary occupation has been as a truck driver.

Posted by: Debbye at 07:59 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 204 words, total size 1 kb.

Oct. 28 - U.S. and

Oct. 28 - U.S. and Afghan soldiers were in an intense firefight after they were ambushed by the Taliban last Saturday near Shkin, Afghanistan, which is on the Pakistan border.

10 Taliban, and Two Americans were killed in the firefight. The Americans have been identified as William Carlson of Southern Pines, North Carolina, and Christopher Glenn Mueller of San Diego, California. They were said to be formerly with special forces before they became contract workers with the CIA.

Posted by: Debbye at 07:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 88 words, total size 1 kb.

Oct. 28 - Stephanie Rubec

Oct. 28 - Stephanie Rubec writes from Camp Julien that the mechanics are in constant battle with the terrain when patrolling outside Kabul due to the rocky roads travelled by the light vehicles.

Since arriving at Camp Julien in mid-August, the 46 combat mechanics have logged 16,469 hours on 1,150 jobs. They rarely get time off, and there's always a group on call 24 hours a day to repair breakdowns.

The mechanics at Camp Julien service 542 vehicles and trailers. They deal with a shortage of spare parts by cleaning out air filters for repeat use and rebuilding alternators, starters and carburetors.

Posted by: Debbye at 07:39 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 111 words, total size 1 kb.

Oct. 28 - Yet another

Oct. 28 - Yet another of the world's leading despots is not feeling too well: Mugabe 'flown to South Africa after collapse':

President Robert Mugabe collapsed yesterday and was flown to South Africa for emergency medical treatment, sources in Zimbabwe said last night.

Ohmygosh, first there was a rumour that Arafat has stomach cancer, then Bin Laden reportedly received a visit from a "foreign doctor" and now Mugabe is ill. How ever can we bear it?

Supporters of Mr Mugabe, 79, were setting up barricades in the capital, Harare, manned by well-armed riot police.

It was reported that senior members of the "Green Bombers", the notorious youth brigades created by Mr Mugabe and responsible for rape, murder and political thuggery, were being flown to the city.

Any transition of power in Zimbabwe would probably be violent as Mr Mugabe's successors in the ruling Zanu-PF party would clash with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

Astonishing! There have also been some moves within the PA to consolidate and align position for maximum standing should Arafat die.

Just for the record: we didn't do it. No, really. Everyone knows we suck at assassinating people, and we don't even try because the ones we want to target tend to live even longer than your average despot.

Posted by: Debbye at 03:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 219 words, total size 2 kb.

Oct. 28 - European Commission

Oct. 28 - European Commission auditors have discovered that the fox is in charge of the hen house. It seems that Brussels failed to shut down a network of slush funds and not only let slush funds stay but allowed abuses to spread.

MEPs called for the head of Pedro Solbes, the economics commissioner, after a final audit report leaked yesterday said missing records and the total breakdown of financial control at Eurostat, the statistics agency, made it impossible to know how much taxpayers' money had vanished or what it was used for.

Investigators identified the loss of £3 million in "a vast enterprise of looting" by senior officials in Luxembourg, mostly through inflated contracts with outside firms.

Suddenly members of the Prime Minister's Cabinet look like a bunch of underachievers.

Posted by: Debbye at 02:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 139 words, total size 1 kb.

Oct. 27 - Boots on

Oct. 27 - Boots on the Ground

I am a Solder of the United States Army, currently serving in Baghdad, Iraq. My goal in making this site is to give people back home and abroad on the daily life for the American soldier here in Baghdad, Iraq. I dont think the media covers this place that well. I will have an unbias'd oppinion, so I'll even be critical toward what the US military does here in Iraq. However, I will also re-iterate, that alot of stories on the news dont always give the full true stories. Anyway, that is my goal, I hope I can get as many people as possable to visit this site.

Count on it!

(Link via Andrew Sullivan.)

Posted by: Debbye at 02:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 130 words, total size 1 kb.

Oct. 27 - Interesting transcript

Oct. 27 - Interesting transcript from a Broadcasting & Cable interview with Fox News' Roger Ailes Roger's Balancing Act.

The interview persuades me we will probably never get Fox News up here for at least as long as the Liberals run the CRTC:

... I would say, of course, I can be objective about the war and the coverage of the war. But, as a United States citizen, do I want the Taliban to win and subjugate all the women and execute people in stadiums? No, I'm sort of opposed to that. The concept that the journalists are totally objective is crazy. They have friends. They have an education. They've gone to some school where some professor spun their brain out. They've got a view of life. They've got history. They've got parents. They've got people they like and socialize with. They have a view based on their experience. And they bring all that to journalism. Their job is to try to sort through that and get to as much truth as they can get to, which is what we do, every day. (Emphasis added)

Eat that, CBC!

The interview is exceptionally good. Ailes makes some interesting points about advocacy journalism and how he believes Fox News has challenged and changed institutions like the NY Times and LA Times.

(Link via Neale News.)

Posted by: Debbye at 10:20 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 231 words, total size 2 kb.

Oct. 27 - I'm not

Oct. 27 - I'm not going to try to report on the California fires, but I did note two news items that got my attention: Suspects sought

Authorities announced they were seeking two men for investigation of arson and possibly murder in connection with the fire, which ravaged foothill neighborhoods of San Bernardino and threatened mountain homes. One man was seen Saturday morning throwing something into roadside brush that caught fire, then he and a companion fled in a van, officials said.

The 30-mile fire in the San Bernardino area was formed when two smaller fires merged, covering the region with thick smoke and ash.

From World Net Daily -- Al-Qaida planned U.S. forest fires:

As arson wildfires consumed nearly 200,000 acres in Southern California, destroying 850 homes and killing at least 13, the inevitable question arises: Who started the fires?

While firefighters focus on containing the blazes rather than the detective work necessary to prosecute arsonists, many are wondering about a possible connection with terrorism.

I'll admit it: I'm one of those who wonder, and my suspicions are only increased when reports after the fires break out state that the fire was started by arson but then that fact is downplayed as was the case recently in Western Canada and Australia last year.

In August, Australian authorities launched an investigation into reports al-Qaida planned to spark bushfires in a new wave of devastating terror attacks.

A June 25 FBI memo to United States law enforcement agencies revealed a senior al-Qaida detainee claimed to have developed a plan to start midsummer forest fires in the U.S.

The terrorist hoped to mimic the destruction that devastated Canberra last summer, killing four people and destroying more than 500 homes, as well as in other parts of Australia.

The memo, obtained by the Arizona Republic newspaper, said an unidentified detainee revealed he hoped to create several large, catastrophic wildfires at once.

"The detainee believed that significant damage to the U.S. economy would result and once it was realized that the fires were terrorist acts, U.S. citizens would put pressure on the U.S. government to change its policies," the memo said.

You mean like use bigger bombs? Oh, I probably shouldn't say that. We're still working on the principle that Islam is a religion of peace. It seems like only yesterday that Muslim leaders were urging the US to start the offensive in Afghanistan after the Ramadan festival because it would offend Muslims if war were to intrude on the holiness of that peaceful nature. Why just yesterday at the Baghdad Red Crescent HQ . . .

Oh please, direct your hate to someone who cares. I believe that Islam is a religion of peace just as Judaism is a religion of peace just as Christianity is a religion of peace. It's nothing personal, merely an historical observation. Back me into a corner and I'll cut your heart out. Simple, really.

Back on topic: what I didn't realize was there is a precedent:

In fact, Arab terrorists in Israel have started dozens of major forest fires over the years...

As far back as 1988, Israeli police caught more than a dozen Palestinian adults in the act of setting fires, while other Arabs confessed to arson after arrest. Some fires followed specific calls by underground Arab terrorists. A leaflet issued by the Palestinian uprising's underground leadership called for ''the destruction and burning of the enemy's properties, industry and agriculture.''

Maybe this is just my day of collecting odd bits and pieces of the news, or maybe the quiet speculation is being reinforced by leaked intelligence reports.

I hate wondering about what might be behind cases of food poisoning (I'm kidding) or servers going down (not kidding.)

Posted by: Debbye at 09:48 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 623 words, total size 4 kb.

Oct. 27 - According to

Oct. 27 - According to the Sun (UK), the rockets used in the attack on the Rashid Hotel were new French missiles:

Half of the missiles fired were modern French weapons, said experts -- produced after the arms embargo imposed on Iraq following the first Gulf War.

The shock discovery will further fuel growing concern over blackmarket French arms links with Islamic terrorists.

The French government has furiously denied turning a blind eye to illegal weapon supplies, despite the recent discovery in Iraq of military hardware apparently built there.

This information should probably be taken with a caution, especially as an earlier report that Polish troops found new French missiles proved to be false. An Australian news agency reports that:

The military believes the insurgents are raiding abandoned weapons dumps, a legacy of Saddam's regime, where they find everything from missiles to mortars.

Posted by: Debbye at 08:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 150 words, total size 1 kb.

Oct. 27 - This dispatch

Oct. 27 - This dispatch from Stephanie Rubec, Dangers in the dark, details the dangerous duty of night patrols in Kabul. It's more dangerous in nighttime Kabul than Toronto, and the Canadian troops are the only ISAF unit who undertake these patrols.

Although there are police in Kabul, they haven't been paid in months and are potentially part of the problem.

Although night-vision goggles give the soldiers the advantage, they use the stars to guide them. And, not suprisingly, the green uniforms are an advantage in the dark.

Good read.

Posted by: Debbye at 07:18 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 100 words, total size 1 kb.

Oct. 26 - From Alpha

Oct. 26 - From Alpha Patriot, a recent report indicates that illegal aliens have changed the makeup of Congress because they are included as residents when seats in the House of Represenatives are reapportioned on the basis of population in districts. He links to a report from the Center for Immigration Studies which indicates that California has 3 new seats and North Carolina has another due to illegal aliens who reside in those districts and 4 states have lost a seat each.

Posted by: Debbye at 12:11 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 92 words, total size 1 kb.