Yesterday, about eighty "who know whats" dressed in brand new, "can't be copied", uniforms seized almost one hundred and fifty people from an Iraqi Government building. It was estimated that eighty uniformed police, or militia dressed as police, participated in the snatch. In an urban environment that is no small feat. It requires training and support. It also demands a dramatic response.During such times we are inspired by men of action, who seize the moment and take the bold steps necessary to do the things that have to be done. This morning we get more inspiring bold leadership and decisive dramatic action from the new Iraqi Leader.
Iraq PM calls for raiders' arrest
BBC
"Maliki demanded the release of the remaining captives
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has called for the immediate arrest of those behind a mass kidnapping from a government building in Baghdad."
Mr Maliki said the militants behind the daylight raid were "worse than extremists", and added: "What happened was not terrorism, rather it was due to dispute and conflict between militias from one side or another."
He went on to demand the release the remaining captives.
He was speaking at Baghdad university during a visit to calm professors and students."
Oh come on, Mr Malikis' position was known BEFORE the US allowed the Iraqi to settle upon him as PM.
ReplyDeleteThe "new" uniform solution was stupid from the first day I heard of it. Only a Parade Soldier would think the "uniform" was sancrosect and the "proper" one would actually supply security.
Fools & Knaves.
The time for an Insurgency to be supported in Iran was three years ago. The saying "better late than never" comes to mind, but the situation has changed so remarkably of late that it may not be nearly enough.
2164th said:
ReplyDeleteThis morning we get more inspiring bold leadership and decisive dramatic action from the new Iraqi Leader. Iraq PM calls for raiders' arrest
JERUSALEM (AP) - April 3, 2007 As American combat support ships bring much-needed medical supplies and help transport the worst burn victims to ad hoc field hospitals set up in Italy, Prime Minister Olmert condemns the fission air burst that devastated much of Tel Aviv Saturday and asked for a Security Council resolution calling on the Iranians to immediately halt all further weaponization of their enriched uranium. The President, enjoying Arbor Day at his ranch in Crawford could not be reached for comment. US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice cautioned Olmert's government to avoid actions which could escalate the situation and perpetrate the cycle of violence.
Didn't I see where the hostages had all been released, and the "kidnappers" arrested?
ReplyDeleteNo idea as to what you saw, rufus.
ReplyDeleteJust another eighty folks either killed or returned. The fact that they were released, if that is a fact, is unimportant, unless the kidnappers were arrested and really detained.
Doubt that they were, though.
Coal? We don't Need No Stinkin Coal!
ReplyDeleteI think I mis-stated it. The word used was, "Rescued."
ReplyDeleteThe latest headline, from the Scotsman via google does not confirm the rufus report
ReplyDeleteMOST of the hostages kidnapped from a government building in Iraq have been released, according to the country's prime minister.
An official did not give exact numbers or say how they were freed, although it is thought to be around 40.
Reports are now emerging of how yesterday's daylight raid, which was one of the country's biggest mass abductions, happened.
The kidnappers, who were dressed in police uniforms, had cleared the area under the guise of providing security for what they claimed would be a visit to the building by the US ambassador.
Witnesses said they then raced through buildings, forced men and women into separate rooms, handcuffed the men and loaded them into about 20 pickup trucks.
Two hours old this story says half those taken were released. Most likely those that were from the Sect of the kidnappers.
FOX News says that 40 number should really be 70, but also report that between 40 and 140 people were taken.
No reports of any arrests
A fortythree minute old story
ReplyDeleteBAGHDAD, Iraq: Gunmen kidnapped three employees of a government agency that cares for Sunni mosques and shrines in Iraq, an official with the group said on Wednesday.
The employees of the Sunni Endowment were seized in Baghdad's northern neighborhood of Sabaa Abakar, said the official on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
He said the men were snatched by "armed militias" as they left work, an apparent reference to armed Shiite groups that Sunnis blame of kidnapping and killing their followers.
Sunni Endowment leader Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samaraie, head of the endowment, was quoted by Sunni-operated Baghdad Television as urging Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to work for the men's release.
In July, 20 employees of the endowment were kidnapped in a nearby area. They have not been found.
Woder, because they were never found, they've made it to the KIA list, or not?
This just reminds me of the "gang warfare" during prohibition. Instead of whiskey, they're fighting for the Oil Revenue.
ReplyDeleteAnd Turf.
ReplyDeleteNot something that requires the Army, rufus, or something that does?
ReplyDeleteAre these kidnappings just the next phase of a "military insignifgant" Insurgency or Civil War.
Just saw a segment on FOX where the US Army is all the "Iraqi Government" they've seen in three years.
So are not the "Cops" responsible for the "Gang Violence" in their Precients and on their watch?
I don't think the Shia want to end the insurgency; they just want the Americans to go home so they can decimate the Sunni, and claim the Loot.
ReplyDeleteI think it's going to work.
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ReplyDeleteThe FOX segment was meant to show the "Good Work" the Soldiers were doing, providing "Security and Organization" to Iraqi life.
ReplyDeleteAll I saw was a failure of the Strategic Mission, because there were not 50 or 100 Iraqi Security Force members there training with the US troops.
Totally wasted effort by the US troops, as heroic and dutiful their being there is. The "Long War" aims are not being fulfilled by our efforts. Plain as day.
GOP Minority Whip is to be...
ReplyDeletedrum roll, please ....
Tent Lott
AP says the kidnapped are mostly free now.
ReplyDeleteO/T, but when you get a chance, read Senator-elect Webb in today's WSJ, would ya? I find the implications somewhat...well hell I don't know.
Dick Morris recommends Lott. Says his room skills are what what's needed, and that Frist was a disaster on that count.
ReplyDeleteBuddy, I'm with you on the Webb thing. My gut reaction is "uh-oh".
ReplyDeleteEasy to see all the effects that Mr Webb describes in Phoenix AZ, 6th largest Metro area in the USA.
ReplyDeleteThe job migration and the stagnate wages in many internal "industries" of importance to the area.
He is going to try to lead the Reagan Democrats, where they go is vital to political power, the most important subgroup, much more so than librarians.
It seems Mr Webb can legitimately straddle the divide, like "The Colossus of Rhodes".
A man to watch, and being born in '46, he just turned 60. He got at least a 12 year run, if he does not pass on to greener pastures.
On an unrelated note, it seems Ollie North has more influence with Mr Murdocks' thinking than one may have assumed.
ReplyDeleteJERUSALEM – Palestinian terror groups and security organizations in the Gaza Strip received $2 million from a U.S. source in exchange for the release of Fox News employees Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, who were kidnapped here last summer, a senior leader of one of the groups suspected of the abductions told WND.
The terror leader, from the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees, said his organization's share of the money was used to purchase weapons, which he said would be utilized "to hit the Zionists."
He said he expects the payments for Centanni and Wiig's freedom will encourage Palestinian groups to carry out further kidnappings.
Guns for Hostages!
First Mr Bush has Ms Rice find a way to fund the Palistinians and then Mr Murdock pays the ransom.
Just ain't no War.
I can't get back into politics, yet. I had my "uh-oh" moment about a week ago.
ReplyDeleteI'm still trying to figure the market out.
Big Empire number this morning. Some people tend to pooh pooh the Empire number, but it seems to me that it kinda leads some of the other numbers by a month or so. Especially when it's outside the normal range.
Dobbs and Webb are running the same playbook.
ReplyDeleteI guess we already knew that, but to see both articles on the same day . . .
Bad times ahead.
Black Friday links
ReplyDeleteNo ethanol stills yet. Maybe next year?
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ReplyDeleteI don't see Reagan Democrat in Mr. Webb. The rhetoric is 'class warfare'.
ReplyDeleteJust don't forget; it was the "populists," and "nativists" that brought you the great depression.
ReplyDeleteYou remember that one, don't you? That's the period when we net "Emmigration" of white males to Russia.
Oh, and as a "Bonus" their policies gave you "reparations, the Nazis, and WWII.
ReplyDeleteHowever, that traitorous Bush and his Internationalist "Elites" have given you 4.4% unemployment, and the highest standard of living in the world.
ReplyDeleteThis, and I'll drop the subject. Webb decries the income gap, but suggests no fix. He must know that the income gap is the Story of Mankind, and that only a top-down big-gov solution can touch it.
ReplyDeleteAlready, according to Ben Stein, 1% pays 36%, and 50% pays 3.4%. So, who gonna get upped, but "the consumer"?
And will the raise do anything but cut production?
Oh well, I'll shut up. I agree with Stein that the top few percent ought to cough up a surcharge directed at military pay.
But Webb is after BIG game, I'm afraid.
Oh, and fucking, phony-assed Lou Dobbs wouldn't know a middle class American, or a balance sheet, if either one bit him dead in the ass.
ReplyDeleteI AM Middle Class, and, everyone I know is "Middle Class," and they're all doing quite well, thank you.
We're making a lot more money, and paying a lot less in taxes. Our kids are going to college, and they're doing better than we are. We kind of like it.
We have a lot of people "below the poverty line" that live better, by any metrics, than the average "middle class" in Europe.
ReplyDeleteAnd the tone! Us ignernt joe lunchboxes being "distracted" by good economic numbers and appeals to virtue.
ReplyDelete"Distracted" from what? Class warfare?
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ReplyDeleteThe first battle of the new congress in the 'class war' is going to be on the minimum wage front. Can we win it? Do we have the guns to defeat any such hikes?
ReplyDeleteIt infuriates me to hear some bleeding-heart liberal decry the inability of some unskilled shmuck who can't afford to raise a family on minimum wage. And I know I'm preaching to the choir - but the minimum wage is not meant to sustain a family. It is for kids and entry-level, unskilled labor. If you don't like it, get an education, learn a trade, become skilled at something besides sitting on your butt.
I read a column yesterday - don't remember where or by who - that said they wanted to raise the federal minimum wage to something north of $10/hr. Freaking $10/hr to sweep the floor or flip a burger!
Bad times ahead.
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ReplyDeleterem870 said:
ReplyDeleteI read a column yesterday - don't remember where or by who - that said they wanted to raise the federal minimum wage to something north of $10/hr. Freaking $10/hr to sweep the floor or flip a burger!
If the Donks could get away with it, comrade, they would make a $10/hr maximum wage for all trades, be they doctors, engineers, or baseball players. Except for trial lawyers, they would still get to bill three figures an hour.
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ReplyDeleteamen, WC--
ReplyDeletehabu, southeren cookery
ReplyDeleteBuddy,
ReplyDeleteThe Webb article is pretty disturbing. That aphorism about where mere "good intentions" are sufficient to lead one to seems lost, perhaps inherently, in government.
I fear the very idea of a "bifucated" machine that has levers you can pull and tug to affect some sort of ambiguous betterment.
I hope gridlock works out for me - I'm far from an elite, and I suffer none of the problems specified by Webb or felt by the spirit of the times he fancies he embodies.
That's not to say my finances are optimal, but why would I expect my elected representatives to help me with my finances? Aren't they my finances?
Witness the rise of populism in the Anglo-sphere.
Here's the front-end of some populist subversion in Australia:
GetUP!
Populism is already stalking Europe and Latin America -
ReplyDeletePDF paper here
Is that how the Nation state ends, with its nationalism diverging, separated by divisive "dialectics" and accelerated by populist rhetoric?
If you have a group that has an identity based on some common historical experience, what happens when you begin to persuade members of divergently different ideas about their historical experiences?
Is unity foregone once this process has reached some sustainable level of veracity (i.e. by popular presumption) in the minds of the formerly single group?
Truly a revolutionary change of direction for the Republicans - Trent Lott, the Pascagoula Mississippi flash. Even with the smarmy baggage, he will be better than Frist, but that's not saying much. Sorry, Rufus I just don't see Senator Lott as the answer to the Democrats.
ReplyDeleteOh, and Boehner looks like he's safe as well. Rem870 may be right - hard times ahead.
Lott is "damaged goods." He's just a symptom of the fact that the Pubs have terminal defeatism disease. They've given up.
ReplyDeleteLott is said to be a top mechanic. The very thing Frist was manifestly not.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm gonna be checkin' out books for awhile.
ReplyDeletethat was pretty mysterious, rat.
ReplyDeleteI just feel so bad for those poor Peruvians, Central Americans, and Colombians that have fought off the Chavistas promising more trade with the U.S. getting their legs cut out from under them by this unfortunate election.
ReplyDeleteWe might have just given South/Central America to El Hugo.
Buddy -
ReplyDeleteWebb is playing the Kerry class warfare crap here. Bad news. I didn't like him when he was at Navy (had my issues with Lehman, too) and I like him less now. And Lou Dobbs is a fool's fool.
Rufus, I've got my problems with Lott, too, but at least he knows where the men's room is. Frist was an unmitigated disaster.
Roadie, Buddy, Lott isn't taking Frist's job. He's taking McConnell's job. McConnell is taking Frist's job.
ReplyDeleteLott will just keep the anti-Pork Republicans all riled up, and contribute to our losing the next election, too.
ReplyDeletethanks for the kee-rection. McConnell is anti-earmarks, isn't he?
ReplyDeleteI really don't know about that one, Buddy. I know Pelosi/Murtha are strongly pro-earmark, as are most all politicians; A strong-anti earmark Republican Leadership could get some traction as time goes on, but not with Lott in the lead.
ReplyDeleteI'm sitting here watching the market climb it's "Wall of Worry." The S&P is within a whisker of 1400; that will feel good.
ReplyDeleteJeez, Even the French are ahead of us on this one!
ReplyDeleteWay aheasd on nule-power. I think they're up in the 75% range or near to it, in grid-powering.
ReplyDeleteThis is a Fascinating thesis.
ReplyDeleteCivilisation did not arise as the result of a benign environment which allowed humanity to indulge a preference for living in complex, urban, 'civilized' societies. On the contrary, what we tend to think of today as 'civilisation' was in large part an accidental by-product of unplanned adaptation to catastrophic climate change. Civilisation was a last resort - a means of organising society and food production and distribution, in the face of deteriorating environmental conditions.
-- Dr. Nick Brooks.
Nule Power?
ReplyDeleteor, Mule Power?
OH, Nude! Power
Got it.
rufus said:
ReplyDeleteLott will just keep the anti-Pork Republicans all riled up, and contribute to our losing the next election, too.
It might take one or two more election cycles to purge the Party of pork purloining 'Pubs. Never confuse Republican with Conservative, the Venn Diagrams don't perfectly overlap.
Jim Webb is a Democrat.
ReplyDeleteThe most important--and unfortunately the least debated--issue in politics today is our society's steady drift toward a class-based system
Webb is way behind the curve. Protected classes of citizens was introduced by Lyndon Johnson in 1965. I agree with Webb though. The steady drift for more classes of citizens - minorities, women, gays, Islamic jihadis, illegal aliens, etc. is having a negative impact on our society.
Few among them send their children to public schools; fewer still send their loved ones to fight our wars.
Oh wait, he's not talking about the protected classes, he's talking about the largely white, Christian, traditionalists, who work hard, and chose to pay for private school for their kids because the public schools had become the indoctrination centers the multi-cultural, moral relativist, religion-bashing, post-modern, Gramscian, hate-america-first crowd. Also, we saw data in the past year that showed those serving in the military are above average economically and in other measures.
They own most of our stocks, making the stock market an unreliable indicator of the economic health of working people.
This is an old Democratic ploy. Only the rich people own stocks. So let's tax the hell out of them. Conversely, all people who have stocks in their retirement portfolios are rich. Let's tax the hell out of them. A third translation is: The economy is in terrible shape. Pay no attention to the stock market.
Too bad no-one thought early in the election campaign to see if he had any Jewish ancestors.
BTW is the site meter still working? If yes, will someone please post the link to it.
Via Drudge
ReplyDeleteFOX DENIES RANSOM PAYMENT
**EXCLUSIVE** INTERNAL MEMO DENIES PAY-FOR-HOSTAGE AT FOXNEWS...
Internal FOXNEWS memo to employees from Roger Ailes: 'I just saw an article on the internet from WorldNetDaily.com by Aaron Klein which claims we paid $2 million in hostage money during the Centanni & Wiig kidnapping crisis. The story is absolutely 100% false. Not a cent of hostage money was paid, and it was never considered'...
A pigs head used to send a message
ReplyDeletePig's head brings on a media frenzy Where was habu?
Re Webb, I wrote something along Stoutfellow's lines to the WSJ, which I see they have posted, here. Tried to be sardonic.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so it all boils down to tomorrows Core CPI Number. If it's too high, again, the Fed is liable to raise rates again and put us in Recession. Isn't that Interesting.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it interesting? It's interesting that probably 60% of the YOY increase of 2.9% in the Core CPI is a result of higher rents.
So, you ask, why did rents go up. Well, rents went up because the Fed raised interest rates to the point that they shut off demand for new home purchases, thus increasing the demand for Rentals.
buddy,
ReplyDeletere: WSJ
Great post!
One man's sardonic is another's talking points. Webb and you aren't far apart then.
;-)
Does the above confuse you? Good, that means you have an IQ equal to, if not above, a cucumber.
ReplyDeleteBut, you say, "Won't raising interest rates cause rental demand to rise even more, and thus, cause the "Core Rate" of Inflation to rise even further?
Yes; Yes it will. Does this mean that the PhDs on the Fed have IQs somewhat below that of a cucumber? I'll leave that up to you; You decide.
thanks, Allen--that's high praise to be damned by, fer sher!
ReplyDeleterufus, I'm still flabbergasted by the total ignoring of the "household survey" when calculating the employment numbers. But, you're right, it has been 'rents' in the CPI driving much of the inflation, since mortgage rates went that up that 2% and disqualified a few million potential buyers.
Great Comment, Buddy; you did us "Proud."
ReplyDeleteI was distracted there, for but a moment, then I remembered it was buddy and his famous transblogian wit.
ReplyDeletethank ew. I tried to mind the windage and elevation--
ReplyDeleterat, you being pretty comprehensive on the geopolitics, don't miss this bone-chiller. EU support in Turkey down into the 30s. Jeez--the Caspian Axis grows apace.
ReplyDeleteMore good news, aye, buddy.
ReplyDeleteGood job, Buddy.
ReplyDeleteBuddy, Rat, there is a heck of an "update" to that post in the form of an e-mail from Istanbul. If you haven't read it you need to click back on the original link, and take a look at it.
ReplyDeleteIf Turkey does not hold as the Secular leader of the Muslim Governments, if in the society there Regligion beats Civics, the greater "Clash" is guarenteed.
ReplyDeleteThe link being the one in Buddy's 3:47.
ReplyDeleteOur PKK friends, that international terror group that recieves Santuary from US in Kurdistan.
ReplyDeletePissed them Turks off, no doubt.
But maybe those PKK gunners are also running Ops into Iran, deserving of US provided Sanctuary in Kurdistan.
We've had this discussion before. What, maybe, if, could, would, maybe should.
The PKK, a militia at least as disruptive as Mr al-Sadr.
ReplyDeleteBy comparison Mr al-Sadr only operates in Iraq, with just a few busloads of Jihadist sent to Lebanon, of course.
The PKK is off running cross border Ops into Turkey, killin Turkish commuters at train stations and such.
Turkey a NATO partner and ally.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of the 4th ID debacle, that was as much on US as them.
Cannot delegate the responsibility of getting the Deal Closed to Dan Rather or the Turks for not being convinced of their own best interests, from the US perspective.
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ReplyDeleteToo bad PKK can't restrict its ambitions to match the immediate and urgent needs of her vital, if secret, ally, USA.
ReplyDeleteI've read in several learned places that the 4th ID flip/flop was French-engineered, using EU membership as the bait, and was done as a sop to old colony Syria, which did not want that organiztion in her nose, in full attack mode.
Les Francaise, reliably unreliable.
oh, and thanks, Rem870--'preciate dat--
ReplyDeleterufus, saw the email--Claire Berlinski has written extensively on Turkey--I've seen her in the WSJ, ands I think she has a book or three out. Knows of whence she speaks, IOW.
ReplyDeleteMust read, France & Turkey quit some important mid-level NATO cooperations. Over the subject of Armenia. Nothing ever goes away, everything that ever happened is back on the table. Millennial accounts-settling.
ReplyDelete