July 27, 2003
A sobering piece of news
A sobering piece of news from The Canadian Cops that serves to remind us that those who patrol our streets and answer our calls for help are in constant danger and are entlitled to strong community support.
THE BRANTFORD POLICE OFFICER WHO WAS INJURED WHILE ATTEMPTING TO AFFECT AN ARREST ON THURSDAY, JULY 24, 2003 REMAINS IN CRITICAL CONDITION IN THE INTENSIVE CARE UNIT OF THE HAMILTON GENERAL HOSPITAL FOLLOWING SEVERAL HOURS OF SURGERY ON THURSDAY.
As the Canadian points out,
This release does not tell us nearly enough about what happened and it is interesting to note that while the media across this country is screaming about same sex marriage and legalization of pot a young policeman fights for his life and faces a fate worse than death (total paralysis) for simply trying to do what people pay him to do. Not a damned word anywhere has been mentioned about his situation that I can find but I would be willing to bet that there will be plenty of words wasted on the jerk that caused this to happen.
Who can argue with that?
The post also gives information about where we can call to give our support by helping this young officer's family during this horrible time.
READ THE POST, MAKE THE PHONE CALL AND SHOW YOUR SUPPORT! When there's trouble, do you call the Toronto Star or 9-1-1? It's a no-freakin'-brainer.
THE BRANTFORD POLICE OFFICER WHO WAS INJURED WHILE ATTEMPTING TO AFFECT AN ARREST ON THURSDAY, JULY 24, 2003 REMAINS IN CRITICAL CONDITION IN THE INTENSIVE CARE UNIT OF THE HAMILTON GENERAL HOSPITAL FOLLOWING SEVERAL HOURS OF SURGERY ON THURSDAY.
As the Canadian points out,
This release does not tell us nearly enough about what happened and it is interesting to note that while the media across this country is screaming about same sex marriage and legalization of pot a young policeman fights for his life and faces a fate worse than death (total paralysis) for simply trying to do what people pay him to do. Not a damned word anywhere has been mentioned about his situation that I can find but I would be willing to bet that there will be plenty of words wasted on the jerk that caused this to happen.
Who can argue with that?
The post also gives information about where we can call to give our support by helping this young officer's family during this horrible time.
READ THE POST, MAKE THE PHONE CALL AND SHOW YOUR SUPPORT! When there's trouble, do you call the Toronto Star or 9-1-1? It's a no-freakin'-brainer.
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>From CNN Chirac denies nuclear
>From CNN Chirac denies nuclear tests harmed workers
PAPEETE, Tahiti (AP) -- French President Jacques Chirac, making his first visit to Polynesia since ordering a final round of nuclear tests in the South Pacific in 1995, on Saturday defended the decades of testing that some islanders claimed gave them cancer.
Chirac, making a five-day visit to the French territory of Tahiti, said the atomic tests that generated international outrage helped establish France as a world power.
"Without Polynesia, France would not be the great power that it is, capable of expressing in the concert of nations an autonomous, independent and respected position," he said.
And that's a good thing because ...
[...]
France detonated at least 123 nuclear weapons in the volcanic rock beneath Mururoa Atoll, about 750 miles southeast of Tahiti, between 1975 and 1996. The French exploded another eight under nearby Fangataufa Atoll. (Emphasis added)
Chirac broke a three-year international moratorium on nuclear testing shortly after coming to power in 1995, sparking a global uproar. The testing was stopped a year later.
But workers vowed to stage demonstrations during Chirac's four-day visit to the Pacific region to force the government to "recognize the health consequences of the military nuclear tests."
Sheesh, the poor guy left France to get away from demonstrating workers. He just can't get a break.
He also declared that French agents who, in 1985, blew up the Greenpeace ship "Rainbow Warrior" in Auckland, Australia, helped establish France as a unilateral world power.
Okay, I made that last bit up. I defend the second-to-the-last bit because I'm entitled to snarky speculation.
PAPEETE, Tahiti (AP) -- French President Jacques Chirac, making his first visit to Polynesia since ordering a final round of nuclear tests in the South Pacific in 1995, on Saturday defended the decades of testing that some islanders claimed gave them cancer.
Chirac, making a five-day visit to the French territory of Tahiti, said the atomic tests that generated international outrage helped establish France as a world power.
"Without Polynesia, France would not be the great power that it is, capable of expressing in the concert of nations an autonomous, independent and respected position," he said.
And that's a good thing because ...
[...]
France detonated at least 123 nuclear weapons in the volcanic rock beneath Mururoa Atoll, about 750 miles southeast of Tahiti, between 1975 and 1996. The French exploded another eight under nearby Fangataufa Atoll. (Emphasis added)
Chirac broke a three-year international moratorium on nuclear testing shortly after coming to power in 1995, sparking a global uproar. The testing was stopped a year later.
But workers vowed to stage demonstrations during Chirac's four-day visit to the Pacific region to force the government to "recognize the health consequences of the military nuclear tests."
Sheesh, the poor guy left France to get away from demonstrating workers. He just can't get a break.
He also declared that French agents who, in 1985, blew up the Greenpeace ship "Rainbow Warrior" in Auckland, Australia, helped establish France as a unilateral world power.
Okay, I made that last bit up. I defend the second-to-the-last bit because I'm entitled to snarky speculation.
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>From the French Libertarian In
>From the French Libertarian In Quebec Sending them back is inexcusable is justifiably critical in the incomprehensible decision by the US to return to Cuba the innovative people who turned an old Chevy into a boat.
What's happened to the USA? People with that kind of imagination should have received a heroes' welcome, for heavens sake.
What's happened to the USA? People with that kind of imagination should have received a heroes' welcome, for heavens sake.
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>From Daimnation The Abu Mazen
>From Daimnation The Abu Mazen Drinking Game.
Maybe it should be played in the evening. This one would definitely be more intoxicating than the Star Trek Voyager drinking game (which I had to give up for, er, health reasons.)
Maybe it should be played in the evening. This one would definitely be more intoxicating than the Star Trek Voyager drinking game (which I had to give up for, er, health reasons.)
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Go here for a look
Go here for a look at Paul J.'s look at Life in the UK.
Why should Canadians (and Americans) care? Because the Tony Martin case is one of relentless logic as to where we are headed given the goofy way our courts handle criminals and how we too may lose our right to self-defense.
Why should Canadians (and Americans) care? Because the Tony Martin case is one of relentless logic as to where we are headed given the goofy way our courts handle criminals and how we too may lose our right to self-defense.
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>From the Toronto Sun's Lorrie
>From the Toronto Sun's Lorrie Goldstein Our justice system is a continuing disgrace:
Sometimes I can't believe what I'm reading - the media criticism Toronto mayoralty candidate John Nunziata faced recently for daring to lead a previously planned community protest at the Keele Centre halfway house after it was learned Correctional Services Canada had made an eleventh-hour decision to reverse itself and move Jacobson to a prison near Gravenhurst - for now. Of all the issues that outraged the public over the Jacobson affair, does anyone really think people were angry at Nunziata - who has a long and consistent political record of fighting for tougher sentencing?
I can't believe it either. I mean, I can, but in a twisted, cynical way.
Such is our system. Such is our disgrace.
And with that, it's obviously an ideal time for me to take a vacation, which I am. See you again in early September.
Is it wrong to feel a sense of loss when your favourite columnists go on vaction? Oh well, being a semi-nice person I will wish him a terrific vacation and look forward to his return.
Sometimes I can't believe what I'm reading - the media criticism Toronto mayoralty candidate John Nunziata faced recently for daring to lead a previously planned community protest at the Keele Centre halfway house after it was learned Correctional Services Canada had made an eleventh-hour decision to reverse itself and move Jacobson to a prison near Gravenhurst - for now. Of all the issues that outraged the public over the Jacobson affair, does anyone really think people were angry at Nunziata - who has a long and consistent political record of fighting for tougher sentencing?
I can't believe it either. I mean, I can, but in a twisted, cynical way.
Such is our system. Such is our disgrace.
And with that, it's obviously an ideal time for me to take a vacation, which I am. See you again in early September.
Is it wrong to feel a sense of loss when your favourite columnists go on vaction? Oh well, being a semi-nice person I will wish him a terrific vacation and look forward to his return.
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My friends and family are,
My friends and family are, well, weird. They think it essential I wear an American flag pin to the concert to show US unity with Toronto. They may have a point, especially given the American Friendship rally last April. It just seems like false-advertising, somehow, because I live here so of course I support Toronto.
Rollin' out the red carpet
I can see why everyone is fixated on the Stones. I saw them at the Cow Palace (or was it Keysar Stadium?) in San Fran back in the 60's. I actually made it to a Stones concert before I made it to a Beatles concert. My mother was really freaked out about it too because she had seen them on the Ed Sullivan show and was horrified by Mick Jagger, but at least it swung her over to thinking the Beatles weren't so bad after all. I had to hide my album "Her Majesty's Satanic Service". Mothers.
But I am more excited about seeing AC/DC. My kids introduced me to their music, and I love it. Maybe they were repaying me for all the Pink Floyd and Bruce Springsteen they heard when they were helpless infants.
Rollin' out the red carpet
I can see why everyone is fixated on the Stones. I saw them at the Cow Palace (or was it Keysar Stadium?) in San Fran back in the 60's. I actually made it to a Stones concert before I made it to a Beatles concert. My mother was really freaked out about it too because she had seen them on the Ed Sullivan show and was horrified by Mick Jagger, but at least it swung her over to thinking the Beatles weren't so bad after all. I had to hide my album "Her Majesty's Satanic Service". Mothers.
But I am more excited about seeing AC/DC. My kids introduced me to their music, and I love it. Maybe they were repaying me for all the Pink Floyd and Bruce Springsteen they heard when they were helpless infants.
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Security agents detained in Kazemi death
July 27 - This could be good news. From the Toronto Sun 5 held in Kazemi case:
TEHRAN -- Five Iranian security agents have been detained in the death of a Canadian photojournalist who died in police custody, the state-run Tehran radio reported yesterday. The officers were detained Friday after "comprehensive investigations" into Zahra Kazemi's July 10 death, the radio report said, quoting a statement released by Iran's judiciary.But the propaganda war goes on:
Meanwhile, the Iran government summoned Canada's charge d'affaires yesterday to protest the shooting death of an Iranian teenager in a Vancouver suburb and the youth's father threatened to sue the police officer who pulled the trigger.Maybe it's customary in Iran to use a machete to charge someone who's holding a firearm. What's that old joke about bringing a knife to a gunfight? Anyone charging at me with a machete is going to be shot. Period. We call it self-defense.
Gilles Poirier was summoned to Iran's foreign ministry to discuss the July 14 shooting of 18-year-old Keyvan Tabesh by a plainclothes officer in Port Moody, a diplomat said on condition of anonymity. He did not elaborate.UPDATE: This news may be premature. According to the CBC, Canada waits for Iran to confirm arrests in Kazemi case because they haven't received official confirmation of the arrests from the Iranian government.
Iran's state-run radio reported on the weekend that the men had been rounded up after "comprehensive investigations" into the fatal beating of Zahra Kazemi while she was in police custody. (Emphasis added)All five had been "in close contact" with her during her detention, the report said. Their identities were not released.
Ottawa said it had not yet received confirmation of the arrests. A spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Department told CBC News that if true it would be "a welcome development."
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>From the Toronto Sun's Bob
>From the Toronto Sun's Bob MacDonald, Canucks unite thanks to feds an interesting take that the dithering and inaction of the Feds may have united Canadians at the grassroots level.
He may be onto something: it's an old saw that nature hates a vacuum, so this may be the political application of that truism.
He may be onto something: it's an old saw that nature hates a vacuum, so this may be the political application of that truism.
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I've focused a lot on
I've focused a lot on the Australian-led multi-national operation because I think it is setting an example to other regions on how neighbours help neighbours, and because it contrasts sharply with the French-led intervention in the Congo. In the former, the troops are spreading beyond one city and trying to bring stability to the country. In the latter, the forces are staying close to one city, Bunia, but massacres continue in the rest of the Congo.
US insistence that any intervention in Liberia be conducted in concert with neighbouring countries seems, to this observer, to be taking that tack. Just going into Monrovia will be a nice, public relations, cooperating-with-the-UN or (obeying the UN?)type of operation but will it actually save lives or bring stability to the country as a whole? Ask the people in the Congo and the Solomons which type of intervention they need.
>From Australia Troops spread through islands (July 27, 2003).
THE Australian-led intervention force revealed it would move beyond the Solomon Islands capital within days, as the troubled nation's police chief urged rebel leader Harold Keke to surrender.
The intervention force today took an angle grinder to 28 illegal firearms surrendered in the week leading up to the deployment of troops and soldiers to restore law and order.
More than 1,000 intervention force personnel were already on the ground in the Solomons, where supplies and equipment continue to arrive by Hercules transport planes.
Australian warship HMAS Manoora, which has finished unloading at historic Red Beach, sailed closer to Honiara today to become a backdrop for the small city.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Ben McDevitt said the intervention force could soon establish bases outside the capital.
He said the force was planning to set up a number of outposts, initially on the islands of Malaita and Guadalcanal.
Yes, that Guadalcanal.
Intervention force chief Nick Warner said that in just two days, the force had won the confidence of Solomon Islanders.
His remarks were echoed by Paul Tovua, the head of a long-established Solomons peace monitoring group, the National Peace Council.
Tovua said the intervention force's arrival on Thursday had prompted 'many more inquiries' from people wishing to surrender firearms.
"This is a clear sign of the rewards and the trust that the people of Solomon Islands have in the (intervention force)," Tovua told reporters.
Among the weapons destroyed today were six military-style rifles and a 40mm grenade launcher.
The rest of the weapons, which included a cross-bow, were home-made.
Earlier, on national radio, Police Commissioner William Morrell told rebel Harold Keke to give himself up and set free six hostages.
Keke has been operating on the remote Weathercoast of Guadalcanal, resisting calls for a truce.
US insistence that any intervention in Liberia be conducted in concert with neighbouring countries seems, to this observer, to be taking that tack. Just going into Monrovia will be a nice, public relations, cooperating-with-the-UN or (obeying the UN?)type of operation but will it actually save lives or bring stability to the country as a whole? Ask the people in the Congo and the Solomons which type of intervention they need.
>From Australia Troops spread through islands (July 27, 2003).
THE Australian-led intervention force revealed it would move beyond the Solomon Islands capital within days, as the troubled nation's police chief urged rebel leader Harold Keke to surrender.
The intervention force today took an angle grinder to 28 illegal firearms surrendered in the week leading up to the deployment of troops and soldiers to restore law and order.
More than 1,000 intervention force personnel were already on the ground in the Solomons, where supplies and equipment continue to arrive by Hercules transport planes.
Australian warship HMAS Manoora, which has finished unloading at historic Red Beach, sailed closer to Honiara today to become a backdrop for the small city.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Ben McDevitt said the intervention force could soon establish bases outside the capital.
He said the force was planning to set up a number of outposts, initially on the islands of Malaita and Guadalcanal.
Yes, that Guadalcanal.
Intervention force chief Nick Warner said that in just two days, the force had won the confidence of Solomon Islanders.
His remarks were echoed by Paul Tovua, the head of a long-established Solomons peace monitoring group, the National Peace Council.
Tovua said the intervention force's arrival on Thursday had prompted 'many more inquiries' from people wishing to surrender firearms.
"This is a clear sign of the rewards and the trust that the people of Solomon Islands have in the (intervention force)," Tovua told reporters.
Among the weapons destroyed today were six military-style rifles and a 40mm grenade launcher.
The rest of the weapons, which included a cross-bow, were home-made.
Earlier, on national radio, Police Commissioner William Morrell told rebel Harold Keke to give himself up and set free six hostages.
Keke has been operating on the remote Weathercoast of Guadalcanal, resisting calls for a truce.
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>From the Chicago Sun-Times Mark
>From the Chicago Sun-Times Mark Steyn takes a look at the international media and dead-end strategy of the Dems Bush playing his cards right in Iraq.
He finds space to trash the CBC too:
Meanwhile, in Canada, the CBC's main national news found time to give its viewers just one ''typical'' reaction from an ordinary Iraqi to the demise of Saddam's kids. This lone representative of public opinion was outraged at the vicious cruelty meted out to two respectable upstanding mass-murdering torturing psychopath rapists. The CBC had to get its microphone pretty close in to its sole man in the street in order to hear him above all the cheers and celebratory volleys from his fellow Iraqis.
(Via On the Third Hand)
He finds space to trash the CBC too:
Meanwhile, in Canada, the CBC's main national news found time to give its viewers just one ''typical'' reaction from an ordinary Iraqi to the demise of Saddam's kids. This lone representative of public opinion was outraged at the vicious cruelty meted out to two respectable upstanding mass-murdering torturing psychopath rapists. The CBC had to get its microphone pretty close in to its sole man in the street in order to hear him above all the cheers and celebratory volleys from his fellow Iraqis.
(Via On the Third Hand)
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July 26, 2003
I can't believe the graphic
I can't believe the graphic and gruesome and even colour pictures in today's Sun (UK) which accompanies the story 20 bullets in each body.
(Of course that was sarcasm! Sheesh.)
EVIL brothers Uday and Qusay Hussein were each riddled with more than 20 bullets when killed by US troops, it was revealed yesterday.
But, on a sadder note:
Peter Rudorf, 25, of Salisbury, Wilts, has died while helping to clear mines off the coast of southern Iraq. He was part of a team of civilian experts hired by the US government.
My condolences and gratitude goes out to his family. In a sane world, this would be the top news story over the puerile outrage being bleated by some over the validity of releasing photos of the Evil Brothers carcasses.
(Of course that was sarcasm! Sheesh.)
EVIL brothers Uday and Qusay Hussein were each riddled with more than 20 bullets when killed by US troops, it was revealed yesterday.
But, on a sadder note:
Peter Rudorf, 25, of Salisbury, Wilts, has died while helping to clear mines off the coast of southern Iraq. He was part of a team of civilian experts hired by the US government.
My condolences and gratitude goes out to his family. In a sane world, this would be the top news story over the puerile outrage being bleated by some over the validity of releasing photos of the Evil Brothers carcasses.
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How does he keep producing
How does he keep producing these gems? and why hasn't a Canadian newspaper contracted to publish him?
OK, Steyn doesn't answer those questions but he does take on scare quotes, Andrew Gilligan, Howard Pinter and Robert Fiske as well as Euro-skeptics and German polls in his column in the Daily Telegraph (UK) BBC World News - now with all content guaranteed sexed down.
(NB: hitting the refresh button helps get rid of the pop-up ad.)
Good evening. Reports that the former Italian leader Benito Mussolini is "dead" and "hanging" "upside down" at a petrol station were received with scepticism in Rome today. Our "reporter" - whoops, scrub the inverted commas round "reporter", the scare-quotes key on the typewriter's jammed again. Anyway our reporter Andrew "Gilligan" is "on" the scene "in" Milan. Andrew...
OK, Steyn doesn't answer those questions but he does take on scare quotes, Andrew Gilligan, Howard Pinter and Robert Fiske as well as Euro-skeptics and German polls in his column in the Daily Telegraph (UK) BBC World News - now with all content guaranteed sexed down.
(NB: hitting the refresh button helps get rid of the pop-up ad.)
Good evening. Reports that the former Italian leader Benito Mussolini is "dead" and "hanging" "upside down" at a petrol station were received with scepticism in Rome today. Our "reporter" - whoops, scrub the inverted commas round "reporter", the scare-quotes key on the typewriter's jammed again. Anyway our reporter Andrew "Gilligan" is "on" the scene "in" Milan. Andrew...
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News Junkie Canada has a
News Junkie Canada has a satirical (I think, but maybe not?) piece at The Canadian webiste called Review: Marijuana for Dummies.
I laughed all the way through it because true or no, it does represent the epitome of how the Feds deal with everything, i.e., they take the simplest thing and elevate it to the absurdest degree.
Of particular concern is this item:
You don't get their weed--delightfully packaged in black shroud-cloth material with an embossed death's head--until you make 60% on knowledge of the manual.
Could that be for real? I wonder if our friendly neighbourhood dealer will soon be required by law to distribute this manual with every sale (not that I, well, you know, I ... I mean, oh never mind.)
I laughed all the way through it because true or no, it does represent the epitome of how the Feds deal with everything, i.e., they take the simplest thing and elevate it to the absurdest degree.
Of particular concern is this item:
You don't get their weed--delightfully packaged in black shroud-cloth material with an embossed death's head--until you make 60% on knowledge of the manual.
Could that be for real? I wonder if our friendly neighbourhood dealer will soon be required by law to distribute this manual with every sale (not that I, well, you know, I ... I mean, oh never mind.)
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>From CNN: Three killed in
>From CNN: Three killed in grenade attack
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Three U.S. soldiers guarding a hospital northeast of Baghdad were killed in a grenade attack Saturday, U.S. Central Command said.
The soldiers, from the 4th Infantry Division, were guarding the Ba'qubah Children's Hospital. (Emphasis added)
I don't usually blog about US casualties in Iraq because other bloggers do it (and do it well) and because it stirs a personal pain that is hard to convey. These brave souls are dying to protect not only us but our children's futures, and words of respect and gratitude seem empty next to the feelings and tears that spring from their familys' sacrifices.
But, as NY Times guest columnist Paul Bremer pointed out last week in The Road Ahead In Iraq -- and How to Navigate It (unfortunately only available for purchase from the NY Times archives but I blogged and quoted from it here), many of these attacks target successes in Iraq.
The US was villainized internationally for being responsible for the deaths of thousands of infants due to the sanctions against Iraq. Of course, revelations about the true nature of the Oil-for-Food program revealed that Saddam used the money from oil exports not for food and medicine but for palaces and to enrich his own coffers, and the UN signed off on all his purchases.
But the stain on US honour remains because attitudes rarely change when facts come out. (It would be useful if the UN or French government investigated those companies that violated the sanctions but that is not going to happen.)
So US troops are in Iraq guarding a Children's Hospital and they are attacked. Does it escape the media's notice that this attack has a supplementary goal of keeping Iraqi parents from taking their children to this hospital due to their legitimate concerns over safety?
Shouldn't every self-respecting human rights advocate be denouncing this attack?
That paragon of Western journalism, Reuters, in this article mentions but doesn't focus on the location of the attack either but on the prospect that it was retaliatory in nature:
Fourteen soldiers have been killed in the past eight days, including eight since Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay were killed by U.S. forces in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday.
At least one shadowy organization has vowed revenge attacks although U.S. officials hope that in the longer term eliminating the former ruling family will undermine a campaign against their troops which they put down to Saddam loyalists.
Baquba, in the Sunni Muslim heartlands that once supported Saddam, has been the site of attacks on American forces in the past.
Explain to me again why I'm supposed to care about what Europeans think of us. Ask me rather why I am disgusted that Reuters doesn't have a problem with a grenade attack that occurs in front of a children's hospital.
Does it occur to any Europeans to wonder why many Americans are starting to have so much contempt for them? Actually, I think maybe some of them do, and I think that each mass grave uncovered in Iraq may bring back memories many of them wanted to suppress and now can't.
I don't say that as a cheap shot at Europeans, in fact far from it. I say that as a reminder that Europeans of all people should be the ones determined to stand up and denounce the forces that allowed the brutality of the Saddam regime go unchecked. They might find they restore their self-respect far more quickly by doing that than by denouncing the USA for ending Saddam's reign.
Just my opinion, of course.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Three U.S. soldiers guarding a hospital northeast of Baghdad were killed in a grenade attack Saturday, U.S. Central Command said.
The soldiers, from the 4th Infantry Division, were guarding the Ba'qubah Children's Hospital. (Emphasis added)
I don't usually blog about US casualties in Iraq because other bloggers do it (and do it well) and because it stirs a personal pain that is hard to convey. These brave souls are dying to protect not only us but our children's futures, and words of respect and gratitude seem empty next to the feelings and tears that spring from their familys' sacrifices.
But, as NY Times guest columnist Paul Bremer pointed out last week in The Road Ahead In Iraq -- and How to Navigate It (unfortunately only available for purchase from the NY Times archives but I blogged and quoted from it here), many of these attacks target successes in Iraq.
The US was villainized internationally for being responsible for the deaths of thousands of infants due to the sanctions against Iraq. Of course, revelations about the true nature of the Oil-for-Food program revealed that Saddam used the money from oil exports not for food and medicine but for palaces and to enrich his own coffers, and the UN signed off on all his purchases.
But the stain on US honour remains because attitudes rarely change when facts come out. (It would be useful if the UN or French government investigated those companies that violated the sanctions but that is not going to happen.)
So US troops are in Iraq guarding a Children's Hospital and they are attacked. Does it escape the media's notice that this attack has a supplementary goal of keeping Iraqi parents from taking their children to this hospital due to their legitimate concerns over safety?
Shouldn't every self-respecting human rights advocate be denouncing this attack?
That paragon of Western journalism, Reuters, in this article mentions but doesn't focus on the location of the attack either but on the prospect that it was retaliatory in nature:
Fourteen soldiers have been killed in the past eight days, including eight since Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay were killed by U.S. forces in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday.
At least one shadowy organization has vowed revenge attacks although U.S. officials hope that in the longer term eliminating the former ruling family will undermine a campaign against their troops which they put down to Saddam loyalists.
Baquba, in the Sunni Muslim heartlands that once supported Saddam, has been the site of attacks on American forces in the past.
Explain to me again why I'm supposed to care about what Europeans think of us. Ask me rather why I am disgusted that Reuters doesn't have a problem with a grenade attack that occurs in front of a children's hospital.
Does it occur to any Europeans to wonder why many Americans are starting to have so much contempt for them? Actually, I think maybe some of them do, and I think that each mass grave uncovered in Iraq may bring back memories many of them wanted to suppress and now can't.
I don't say that as a cheap shot at Europeans, in fact far from it. I say that as a reminder that Europeans of all people should be the ones determined to stand up and denounce the forces that allowed the brutality of the Saddam regime go unchecked. They might find they restore their self-respect far more quickly by doing that than by denouncing the USA for ending Saddam's reign.
Just my opinion, of course.
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The Iranians sure know Canada
July 26 - I am really angry. From CTV.ca: Graham promises to investigate death of Iranian which was their response to Canadian inquiries about the death of Zahra Kazemi.
This is beyond outrageous and every city and province should condemn it:
Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham rejects Iran's comparison of the death of an Iranian teenager in Vancouver (actually, Port Moody) to the killing of a Montreal photojournalist in Tehran, but said he is willing to hold an investigation into the death.(Emphasis added)
This is so wrong. The Vancouver police are perfectly capable of holding their own inquiry, and "Screeching" Bill Graham (TM Paul) presumes to not only butt in but to implement measures in the inquiry:
Establishing a homicide investigationI need a drink. No, really. Words of anger and outrage are choking me but I can't get them out and, after all, how does one sputter indignantly from a keyboard?
Putting the officer involved on leave
Results of investigation will be reported to Crown attorney to see if charges should be laid
Holding a public coroner's inquest into the circumstances of the death
The opportunity for Iranian officials to be present during the investigation
The body of the victim has been returned to Iran
I wanted to be wrong when I wrote last Thursday in Counter Punch from Iran that Canada would meekly agree to an investigation.
Anytime a police officer is forced to shoot and kill someone there is automatically a local inquiry held, right? Such inquiries do not, however, fall under the auspices of the Federal government but under the local governments where the use of force occured.
I'm repeating myself because it is an important point; the Vancouver police will doubtless go along because of the international implications, but would it have hurt the Feds to tell Iran that they can attend the inquiry that the Vancouver police will hold? Would it have hurt the Feds to affirm the integrity of Vancouver? Are they really so stupid that they don't recognize that they have just maligned Vancouver?
Canada has just slapped Vancouver in the face by giving the impression internationally that the Feds have to get involved to ensure justice. Arrogant, say-anything-to-appease-at-all-costs idiots.
How do you say "Sell-out" in Canada?
Now for that drink before I get really angry.
Headline and link via Neale News
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July 25, 2003
I thought I was finished
I thought I was finished for the day, but this must be seen to be believed: lgf: Naked Arab Hypocrisy on Display.
This post links to a Reuters report "Arabs Shocked by TV Images of Saddam's Sons".
(via Daimnation!)
This post links to a Reuters report "Arabs Shocked by TV Images of Saddam's Sons".
(via Daimnation!)
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Iran calls Canadian account of
Iran calls Canadian account of Iranian's death "incomprehensible".
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran's foreign minister dismissed Canada's account of the killing of an Iranian near Vancouver as "incomprehensible," in an escalation of the row between Ottawa and Tehran over the death of an Iranian-Canadian journalist after her arrest here last month.
Kamal Kharazi called for Canada to provide a "convincing explanation" of how the man died and the prosecution of those responsible for what he called the "murder."
"For the Canadian foreign ministry to draw a parallel between the death of Ms. Kazemi and the murder of Keyvan Tabesh is incomprehensible to us," Kamal Kharazi was quoted as saying on state-run television.
It was Iran that linked the two deaths, not Canada. But this is a propaganda war, right? And it will be difficult for Canada to argue its case with the Iranian people as long as Cuba is jamming the television signals from the Free Iran people in the USA.
Nevertheless, it is important for Canada to stay on track with this and keep pushing. So long as the eyes of the world remain in Iran, the journalists and dissidents now in Iranian jails could be safer than if they were just forgotten.
[...]
The controversy continued to simmer Friday with a leading Muslim cleric trying to minimise the political fall-out from the affair.
Mohammad Imami-Kashani, standing in for the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni at Friday prayers, said: "A journalist has a problem, this is the sort of thing that happens, but then when the foreign media hear about it, they start going on about human rights.
"Our government has said it is going to hold an inquiry and, quite simply, it will do so, but you are looking for a conspiracy everywhere."
Nobody is looking for a conspiracy. The situation is about as clear as it can get, and it is the duty of free people everywhere to keep up the pressure on Iran.
(Via Neale News)
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran's foreign minister dismissed Canada's account of the killing of an Iranian near Vancouver as "incomprehensible," in an escalation of the row between Ottawa and Tehran over the death of an Iranian-Canadian journalist after her arrest here last month.
Kamal Kharazi called for Canada to provide a "convincing explanation" of how the man died and the prosecution of those responsible for what he called the "murder."
"For the Canadian foreign ministry to draw a parallel between the death of Ms. Kazemi and the murder of Keyvan Tabesh is incomprehensible to us," Kamal Kharazi was quoted as saying on state-run television.
It was Iran that linked the two deaths, not Canada. But this is a propaganda war, right? And it will be difficult for Canada to argue its case with the Iranian people as long as Cuba is jamming the television signals from the Free Iran people in the USA.
Nevertheless, it is important for Canada to stay on track with this and keep pushing. So long as the eyes of the world remain in Iran, the journalists and dissidents now in Iranian jails could be safer than if they were just forgotten.
[...]
The controversy continued to simmer Friday with a leading Muslim cleric trying to minimise the political fall-out from the affair.
Mohammad Imami-Kashani, standing in for the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni at Friday prayers, said: "A journalist has a problem, this is the sort of thing that happens, but then when the foreign media hear about it, they start going on about human rights.
"Our government has said it is going to hold an inquiry and, quite simply, it will do so, but you are looking for a conspiracy everywhere."
Nobody is looking for a conspiracy. The situation is about as clear as it can get, and it is the duty of free people everywhere to keep up the pressure on Iran.
(Via Neale News)
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Smug Canadian has a link
Smug Canadian has a link which refutes the half-baked theories on global warming It's a bad year for Lefties and this observtion:
It seems to me that increasingly the greatest hazard to democracy and capitalism is created by its own generation of wealth - and I don't mean "that's why they hate us". At no other time in history has the human race been able to afford institutions that support busybodies by the thousands.
It seems to me that increasingly the greatest hazard to democracy and capitalism is created by its own generation of wealth - and I don't mean "that's why they hate us". At no other time in history has the human race been able to afford institutions that support busybodies by the thousands.
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French Libertarian in Quebec has
French Libertarian in Quebec has this Congress releases 9/11 whitewash report by Robert Lederman which is a call for different action in the War on Terrorism.
I see he mentions the Afghan oil pipeline without scare quotes, but I still think anyone who would try to construct a pipeline though such mountainous terrain and Pakistan to the sea would need a quick review of the difficult task of protecting existing oil pipelines in Iraq and Columbia from saboteurs.
Furthermore, the 24-hour a day campaign must be taking place in a country other than the US because the media are definitely not supporting Pres. Bush.
There are a lot of conspiracy theories around why the US hasn't targeted the Saudis yet, including the Cheney-Haliburton one, but I think there are a few other things going on.
First, until the export of oil from Iraq is stable, it would plunge the world into economic chaos if the Saudis were targeted.
Second, the Saudis may seem to speak with one voice, but that is far from the reality. I don't think the Saudis themselves have the faintest idea on how to deal with their self-imposed problems but I like the thought that they are arguing with each other. There is a lot of bitter rivalry in that ruling family, and if events are exacerbting those divisions that is to the good.
Does anyone else remember former NYC Mayor Guiliani refusing a sizeable gift from a Saudi prince? I think (without evidence) that he refused after consultations with the White House.
I say we should use the Saudis for whatever intelligence information we can get out of them until we're good and ready to confront them.
I'm looking at the War on Terror in military terms, and that means a different set of strategy and tactics than the State Dept. is competent to handle.
My son always complains that Americans communicate by what we don't say as much as by what we do say. The fact that everyone knows that the blacked-out portions of the report referred to the Saudis tells me a lot, but it's strictly conjecture and possibly from another planet.
I see he mentions the Afghan oil pipeline without scare quotes, but I still think anyone who would try to construct a pipeline though such mountainous terrain and Pakistan to the sea would need a quick review of the difficult task of protecting existing oil pipelines in Iraq and Columbia from saboteurs.
Furthermore, the 24-hour a day campaign must be taking place in a country other than the US because the media are definitely not supporting Pres. Bush.
There are a lot of conspiracy theories around why the US hasn't targeted the Saudis yet, including the Cheney-Haliburton one, but I think there are a few other things going on.
First, until the export of oil from Iraq is stable, it would plunge the world into economic chaos if the Saudis were targeted.
Second, the Saudis may seem to speak with one voice, but that is far from the reality. I don't think the Saudis themselves have the faintest idea on how to deal with their self-imposed problems but I like the thought that they are arguing with each other. There is a lot of bitter rivalry in that ruling family, and if events are exacerbting those divisions that is to the good.
Does anyone else remember former NYC Mayor Guiliani refusing a sizeable gift from a Saudi prince? I think (without evidence) that he refused after consultations with the White House.
I say we should use the Saudis for whatever intelligence information we can get out of them until we're good and ready to confront them.
I'm looking at the War on Terror in military terms, and that means a different set of strategy and tactics than the State Dept. is competent to handle.
My son always complains that Americans communicate by what we don't say as much as by what we do say. The fact that everyone knows that the blacked-out portions of the report referred to the Saudis tells me a lot, but it's strictly conjecture and possibly from another planet.
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