COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Friday, August 01, 2008

Our Good Friends in Pakistan

His Sliminess Gillani, Paki Prime Minister.

Gillani secured a pledge from Bush to respect Pakistani sovereignty in exchange for promises from Islamabad to crack down on the militants. "This is our own war," Gillani said. "This is a war which is against Pakistan."

Watch the video and then read this little ditty from the Washington Post. Is there a bigger turd in the punch bowl than Pakistan?

__________________

U.S. Officials: Pakistani Agents Helped Plan Kabul Bombing (Hat tip Doug)


By Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 1, 2008; Page A01


U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that elements of Pakistan's military intelligence service provided logistical support to militants who staged last month's deadly car bombing at the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan's capital, U.S. officials familiar with the evidence said yesterday.

The finding, based partly on communication intercepts, has dramatically heightened U.S. concerns about long-standing ties between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI, and Taliban-allied groups that are battling U.S. forces in Afghanistan, according to two U.S. government officials briefed on the matter.

The July 7 bombing at the Kabul embassy has been linked to fighters loyal to Jalaluddin Haqqani, an ethnic Pashtun militant who has led pro-Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and has been associated with numerous suicide bombings in the region. More than 40 people were killed in one of the deadliest attacks on Afghan civilians since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

"There continues to be evidence of Taliban and Haqqani network involvement in the Indian Embassy bombing as well as the attempted assassination of [Afghan President Hamid] Karzai," said a senior U.S. official briefed on the reports. He said there was "significant" evidence suggesting that individual ISI members provided logistical support to the embassy bombers. He declined to elaborate further.

CIA officials raised the issue of possible ISI support for the embassy bombers during a meeting last month between the newly elected Pakistani government and a delegation led by Stephen Kappes, the agency's director of clandestine operations, two officials said. The conclusion by U.S. intelligence and the visit were first reported by the New York Times.

One official involved with U.S. counterterrorism efforts stressed that the ISI has generally worked closely with U.S. intelligence in battling al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in the tribal region between Pakistan and Afghanistan. But he acknowledged that the Pakistani intelligence service is "not monolithic."

The intelligence community is divided about the extent of Taliban sympathies within the Pakistani service, a second senior official said. "You will find folks who will say there is significant penetration of the ISI by terrorist elements and that's a serious concern," the official said. "But others are saying that certainly, there's penetration, but we don't think it's top to bottom."

Pakistani officials have repeatedly denied the allegation of ISI support for the Taliban, though Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar, who accompanied Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani in a visit to Washington this week, acknowledged that his U.S. counterparts had aired serious concerns. Following their meetings this week, Gillani and President Bush sought to ease bilateral tensions over the conduct of the campaign against terrorism. Their talks focused on efforts to clamp down on al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists in Pakistan's northwest tribal areas.

Gillani secured a pledge from Bush to respect Pakistani sovereignty in exchange for promises from Islamabad to crack down on the militants. "This is our own war," Gillani said. "This is a war which is against Pakistan."

Pakistan, which has received more than $10 billion in U.S. aid since 2001, has resisted suggestions that troops from the United States or other countries be allowed into the region.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen, when asked yesterday whether the ISI and the military were aligned with the Pakistani government, said it was a question "the government of Pakistan ought to speak to."

Mullen, who recently traveled to Pakistan, said the country's leaders made clear during talks that they recognized the tribal areas pose "a serious internal threat to Pakistan, and it's growing," and that they are "committed to taking steps to . . . address it."

U.S. concerns about Taliban support within the ISI's ranks date back nearly a decade. Robert Baer, a former CIA case officer with experience in the region, noted that the ISI was an early backer of the Taliban during the 1980s, at a time when they were allied in the fight against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Some ISI officers forged personal ties with Taliban commanders that persist today, he said.


Staff writers Ann Scott Tyson and Karen DeYoung contributed to this report.


37 comments:

  1. No tax credit extention from the Feds on solar energy.
    The GOP voted for a tax hike.
    On solar energy.

    While running on a pledge of no new taxes. Just as they charge the Dems will, as the 2001 tax cuts expire. The hypocricy knows no bounds.

    Same goes with the ISI and the Pakistanis support of aQ and the Taliban. For more than a decade, since the 1980s.

    More like two, decades, actually.

    But definately encompassing 9-11-01

    How soon we forgot what we never wanted to know.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Over at the WSJ this question is asked
    By DANIEL HENNINGER

    Is John McCain Stupid?

    July 31, 2008;

    The short answer to which is yes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. In this sports-crazed country, everyone has learned a lot about what it takes to win. They've heard and seen it proven repeatedly that to achieve greatness, to win the big one, an athlete has to be ready to "put in the work."

    John McCain isn't doing that, yet. He's competing as if he expects the other side to lose it for him. Sen. McCain is a famously undisciplined politician. Someone in the McCain circle had better do some straight talking to the candidate. He's not some 19-year-old tennis player who's going to win the U.S. presidential Open on raw talent and the other guy's errors. He's not that good.

    There is a reason the American people the past 100 years elevated only two sitting senators into the White House -- JFK and Warren Harding. It's because they believe most senators, adept at compulsive compromise, have no political compass and will sell them out. Now voters have to do what they prefer not to. Yes, Sen. McCain has honor and country. Another month of illogical, impolitic remarks and Sen. McCain will erase even that. Absent a coherent message for voters, he will be one-on-one with Barack Obama in the fall. He will lose.

    Write to henninger@wsj.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. While westhawk tells US

    Today’s Washington Post disclosed that Secretary Gates has authored a new defense strategy for the U.S. According to the article, Mr. Gates predicts a Long War against terrorism, and recommends a reduction in the Pentagon’s focus on conventional military operations.

    If Mr. Gates really believes this, should we then expect him to rescind his decision, made only days after taking over as Defense Secretary, to expand the U.S. ground force headcount by at least 60,000?


    Gates Sees Terrorism Remaining Enemy No. 1
    New Defense Strategy Shifts Focus From Conventional Warfare


    The strategy document, which has not been released, calls for the military to master "irregular" warfare rather than focusing on conventional conflicts against other nations, though Gates also recommends partnering with China and Russia in order to blunt their rise as potential adversaries. The strategy is a culmination of Gates's work since he took over the Pentagon in late 2006 and spells out his view that the nation must harness both military assets and "soft power" to defeat a complex, transnational foe.

    "Iraq and Afghanistan remain the central fronts in the struggle, but we cannot lose sight of the implications of fighting a long-term, episodic, multi-front, and multi-dimensional conflict more complex and diverse than the Cold War confrontation with communism,"


    Which is why the soft power of solar energy must not be advanced in the US.

    Thanks, Republicans

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  5. The GOP would rather lose the battle for energy independence than an election.

    Pandering to the Sauds, again.

    They'll lose, both.

    No more talk of the Democrats stopping a coherent energy policy from moving forward. This week the fault lies with the GOP.

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  6. No news there rat. The Republicans had an opportunity, no an obligation, to come up with an energy policy after 911. They did not do it. If not then, when?

    ReplyDelete
  7. The Republicans energy policy:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW6PLZ-NAr0

    The Department of Energy (DOE) on efficiency standards for appliances and electrical devices.

    ReplyDelete
  8. "The Republicans had an opportunity, no an obligation, to come up with an energy policy after 911.
    They did not do it.
    If not then, when?
    "
    ---
    The Republicans had an opportunity, no an obligation, to come up with a secure borders policy after 911.
    They did not do it.
    If not then, when?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Leadership Retreats

    "Al-Qaeda losing the Sunni population is like a human being losing the ability to drink water," he said.
    "Because of Masri's weak personality and leadership, al-Qaeda in Iraq was weakened and split and lost the Sunni population."

    Al-Qaeda in Iraq Leader May Be in Afghanistan

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  10. Of the 34 congressional mandated deadlines set for energy efficiency standards, the DOE has missed all 34.

    ==

    "DOE officials don't try to defend this performance. Alexander Karsner, the assistant Energy secretary who oversees the program, has called the department's record "abysmal." But he says DOE has cleaned up its act under Secretary Samuel Bodman and is making progress.

    It's hard to see the proof. Take just one example: The department finally proposed a new standard for natural gas furnaces last October — 12 years after the statutory deadline.

    The new standard won't go into effect until 2015. It barely changes a requirement set in 1987. It's so weak that most new home-heating furnaces already meet it. And the department rejected pleas to set regional standards recognizing that a gas furnace that makes perfect sense in Maine is overkill in Miami."

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  11. The Republicans had an opportunity, no an obligation, to come up with an energy policy after 911.
    They did not do it.
    If not then, when?
    ---
    The Republicans had an opportunity, no an obligation, to come up with a secure borders policy after 911.
    They did not do it.
    If not then, when?


    ==

    This bunch of clowns needs a permanent timeout from office. It seems obvious to me they are beyond redemption.

    ReplyDelete
  12. The Bush Administration had an opportunity, no an obligation, to continue government reform policies after 911 to reduce domestic spending waste (and social breakdown) of ever bigger government.
    They did not do it.
    If not then, when?

    What Might Have Been
    After Clinton’s impeachment and a subsequent decade of intensified partisan rancor, it’s easy to forget that the 1990s were, relatively speaking, a decade of government reform. Governors like Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin pioneered welfare reform, while cerebral mayors like Steve Goldsmith of Indianapolis, John Norquist of Milwaukee, and Rudy Giuliani of New York tackled efficiency, urban design, and crime, respectively. Clinton and Gingrich were the comparable figures on the national stage.

    Unlike most of their fellow politicians on both sides of the aisle, they shared an intellectual interest in how to make government work.

    ReplyDelete
  13. The GOP disintegrated because of a lack of conservative leadership.

    The Compassionate Conservative turned out to be a Big Govt Liberal, with a predilection to bend over and grab the ankles in response to adversaries, both foreign and domestic.

    ReplyDelete
  14. off topic for dRat:

    Party of What People? The New DNC – DSAUSA

    By JB Williams Friday, August 1, 2008

    The increasingly overt madness of America’s so-called progressive left makes one wonder what people on earth the DNC might be the party of…? It certainly isn’t the average American…

    When average Democrats across the country rejected Howard Dean as a Left-wing nut in his White House bid, progressive party elites decided he was the perfect nut to become chairman of the entire Democrat Party.

    When popular career Democrat Joe Lieberman broke ranks with progressive elites on the issue of national security, Dean’s DNC booted him from the party and ran far left Lamont against him in the primaries, forcing Lieberman to change his life long Democrat status to Independent just to retain his senate seat. Even though he has caucused with Democrats since, he is about to be booted from the Democrat caucus due to his current support for Republican presidential candidate John McCain. Party of compromise…?

    When Democrats in Florida and Michigan decided they wanted to have more early say in the party primary process, Dean and his progressive party powers simply tossed Florida and Michigan Democrats out of the party primary process altogether, threatening to not even allow their votes to be counted at the party convention. (This was the tool used to hoist Obama into the nomination lead, against the will of voters…)

    When the majority of Democrat voters cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton in the 2008 presidential primaries, progressive party elites decided Barack Hussein Obama was the Messiah they really needed and even though Clinton had more popular support, and the progressive elites ignored their voters once again.

    When a committed Democrat Clinton delegate Debra Bartoshevich refused to get-in-line behind the anointed Messiah, party progressives stripped her of her credentials. “My intention was always to go to the convention to support Hillary Clinton,” Bartoshevich said during the call. “I still believe in her, I believe in her campaign, and I would like to maintain my status as a supporter of Hillary Clinton.”

    But because she had not given up on Clinton and refused to get in lockstep with the progressive left pimping for Obama, she was stripped of her delegate credentials and replaced by Marilyn Nemeth of Racine, who was the next highest vote-getter for Clinton at the May caucus. Nemeth was more than happy to throw her Clinton support behind Obama to gain Bartoshevich’s delegate seat at the convention.

    When the New York Times chief political correspondent Adam Nagourney wrote a front page piece titled ”Poll Finds Obama Isn’t Closing Divide on Race,” he was called on the carpet by the Obama camp before the piece even hit the morning streets.

    Nagourney awoke to an e-mail from Talking Points Memo writer Greg Sargent asking him to comment on an eight-point rebuttal trashing his piece that the Obama campaign had released to reporters and bloggers like The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder and Politico’s Ben Smith. Nagourney had not heard the complaints from the Obama camp and had no idea they were so steamed. “I’m looking at this thing, and I’m like, ‘What the hell is this?’ Nagourney recently recalled. “I really flipped out.” 

Later that afternoon, Nagourney got permission from Times editors to e-mail Sargent a response to the Obama memo. But the episode still grates. ”I’ve never had an experience like this, with this campaign or others,” Nagourney tells me. ”I thought they crossed the line. If you have a problem with a story I write, call me first. I’m a big boy. I can handle it. But they never called. They attacked me like I’m a political opponent.”

    While Obama was abroad playing president elect and pandering to international progressives for campaign support, fellow Democratic progressives back home were busy poking a stick in the angry eye of average Americans fed up with high fuel costs, whose demands that congressional Democrats release their 30 year stranglehold on domestic energy production, fall on deaf ears.

    As the progressive left’s Messiah pandered to a largely anti-American international socialist audience abroad, his fellow progressives back home are busy running roughshod over their own voters. This is what progressive elites do with the power of the party they hijacked years ago. Imagine what they could do with the unbridled power of the federal government…

    After raising his family in an overtly anti-American racist church for twenty years, without ever noticing that it was an anti-American anti-white congregation led by a racist preacher, it should come as no shock that hip-hop rapper and Obama friend Ludacris writes “You can’t stop what’s bout to happen, we bout to make history; The first black president is destined and it’s meant to be; The threats ain’t fazing us, the nooses or the jokes; So get off your ass, black people, it’s time to get out and vote!”

    In his pro-Obama campaign song, Ludacris says “Hillary hated on you, so that bitch is irrelevant” – and
    calls upon the black community to “Paint the White House black - I’m sure that’s got ‘em terrified…” If you think Ludacris language is foul, read some of the comments posted from foul mouthed Obama supporters…

    This is the Party of what people?

    Black racists? International socialists? Foul mouthed adolescent misfits and malcontents? Who?

    We have known for some time that the Democrat Party is controlled by a far left caucus of the Democratic Socialists of America. Where did all the real JFK - Reagan Democrats go?

    Well, some can be found here at NoBama.com

    Others can be found here at Democrats for McCain

    If today’s DNC is the “party of the people,” I want to know “what people?”

    It sure isn’t the party of my democrat parents or grandparents. This is your Democrat Party?

    Long time Democrat strategist Dick Morris writes “Obama has a problem among women over 40 and a big problem among women over 50. These groups, normally the staunchest of Democratic supporters, are showing a propensity to back McCain.”

    But it isn’t just women over 40 he has a problem with. It’s just about every American old enough to recognize who and what Obama and today’s DNC really represent. It’s by no means the average American and people are beginning to figure that out! It’s the agenda of DSAUSA and there is nothing American about it!


    JB Williams is a business man, a husband, a father, and a writer. A no nonsense commentator on American politics, American history, and American philosophy. He is published nationwide and in many countries around the world. JB Williams’ website is jb-williams.com/

    JB Williams can be reached at: JB_Williams@comcast.net

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  15. Mat:
    But the Messiah is not the redeemer!

    ReplyDelete
  16. As WIO's post illustrates
    IN DETAIL!

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  17. Black liberationist Marxist Nazi in waiting.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Cabimas Journal - Sympathetic to Chávez, a New Church Draws Fire -

    “I share the revolutionary project of President Chávez, since it is a socialist and humanist project for the masses,” said Enrique Albornoz, a former Lutheran minister who is principal bishop, the top leader, of the Reformed Catholic Church. The church says it has about 2,000 members in Cabimas and in other oil towns in Zulia, Venezuela’s most populous state.

    What they want to do is put an end to the Catholic Church, but they have not succeeded,” Archbishop Roberto Luckert, one of Mr. Chávez’s most strident critics in Venezuela’s Roman Catholic hierarchy, said in a radio broadcast denouncing the new church.

    He was scathing in his criticism of the church. “They get dressed up as priests, conduct baptisms and confirmations — all paid for by the government — while the people go hungry,” he said.

    ReplyDelete
  19. "But the Messiah is not the redeemer!"

    He's not. But what are the options, Doug?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Blame goes around to both sides...

    this shit did not start with Bush 2

    Do you remember 1973?

    Clinton, who i voted for 2 times, gave nuke power plants to the Nkor's and did jack shit about middle eastern oil...

    to blame JUST one side is specious at best...

    Some of us for decades have been trying to tell america the issue is not "cheap oil" but rather an issue of national security...

    Middle Eastern oil (opec) is a threat to our national well being...

    Like Bush 2 or not he at least did something to try to change the inbred sick nature of the middle east...

    I still say, and HAVE said without pause, The Iraq war was needed, and Bush has the BALLS to do it.

    Just think about the messiah's POV, that the Iraq was was wrong..

    The messiah says, KEEP alive and in power the single largest mass murderer of iranians, kurds, arabs and moslems in the history of the world. KEEP in power a Man that had invaded and attacked Israel, Arabia, Kuwait, Iran and yes funded international terror group.

    SO in the end you have 3 options with the middle east & it's oil

    Destroy the oil by nuking it

    Taking it by force

    Nation build a NEW dynamic in the region

    So this DEM still says thanks for effort by Bush...

    ReplyDelete
  21. "Destroy the oil by nuking it"


    WiO,

    Energy independence thru renewables and electric cars offers exactly that. It's that fundamental.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Grover Norquist:
    Another agent in the GOP's disintegration.
    (close to Newt, at one time, don't know about now)
    He and Karen Hughes, big cheerleaders for welcoming Jihadists to the Whitehouse.
    ---
    - The Friends Of (GOP Immigration Enthusiast) Grover Norquist
    By Michelle Malkin

    Alec “the Bloviator” Baldwin has a new bosom buddy:
    Beltway Republican strategist [ arch-immigration enthusiast] Grover Norquist.

    The Bush-bashing actor-turned-activist and the Muslim vote-courting political organizer joined together at a Washington, D.C.-area conference last weekend to perpetuate bald lies about the Patriot Act and to oppose the “repressive” War on Terror (repressing terrorist suspects apparently being a bad thing).

    Baldwin and Norquist’s panel, titled “Strange Bedfellows,” was sponsored by the ultraliberal group, People for the American Way (PFAW).

    When PFAW head and panel participant Ralph Neas ranted about the lack of judicial and Congressional oversight of the Justice Department’s terror investigations, the audience applauded passionately.

    According to National Review Online reporter Byron York, Baldwin (the “moderator”) then turned to Norquist for comment. “Ditto," Norquist replied. Never mind the flat-out falsity of Neas’ claim. The smarmy Baldwin looked at his panelists and proudly remarked: "Can't you feel the love?"Blech.
    Wasn’t he supposed to have left our country by now?

    If Alec Baldwin ever does make good on his election-year promise, he should buy an extra Louis Vuitton suitcase and pack up Grover Norquist as a carry-on companion for the one-way trip to Tora Bora. Or Riyadh.
    Or Paris.
    Wherever.

    ReplyDelete
  23. WIO:
    Bolton argues that Bush/Condumb are as bad on NORKOR and Iran as Clinton Admin.
    AFTER 9-11.

    ReplyDelete
  24. mətušélaḥ said...
    "Destroy the oil by nuking it"


    WiO,

    Energy independence thru renewables and electric cars offers exactly that. It's that fundamental.


    As one who for years has bought soy oil to run my diesel I am completely on board with your statement...

    If we look at the price run up on oil one can determine the recent 4x ing of oil has NOTHING to do with the iraq war.

    The ONLY good thing about the increase in oil is that it is the boot in the ass of AMerica to wake up and do something.

    If HONEST Americans truly looked at the cost of middle eastern oil they would be shocked.

    People are picking at Boone Pickens plan for natural gas since it provides about 15 billion in government sub'd infrastructure....

    But let's guess how much AMERICA spends on keeping the shipping lanes open for the oil companies?

    Carrier groups, the 1st Iraq war, reflagging tankers back in the Iranian attack days...

    Military bases in the region?

    all have costs not accounted for in what we pay for at the pump.

    So now i am scared about the upcoming collapse of oil prices and will that destroy all renewable and alternative efforts...

    maybe we need a minimum opec oil tax of $75 a barrel, that way if the cost falls below $75 the difference would be put into alternatives...

    ReplyDelete
  25. doug said...
    WIO:
    Bolton argues that Bush/Condumb are as bad on NORKOR and Iran as Clinton Admin.
    AFTER 9-11


    Bolton is correct....

    ReplyDelete
  26. "So now i am scared about the upcoming collapse of oil prices and will that destroy all renewable and alternative efforts..."
    ---
    T Boone cites cheap oil for lack of sane energy policy.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Jury dismissed in 7/7 plot trial
    The jury in the trial of three men accused of helping the 7 July London bombers has failed to reach a verdict.

    The Kingston Crown Court jury had spent two weeks considering a charge of conspiracy to cause an explosion.

    Waheed Ali, 25, Sadeer Saleem, 28, and Mohammed Shakil, 32, all from Leeds, admit having known the 7/7 bombers but denied having helped them find targets.

    The prosecution is expected to seek a retrial and the men were remanded in custody until a hearing in September.

    On Friday, the jurors told Mr Justice Gross they had not reached a verdict on any of the three defendants and he said the time had come to discharge them.

    'Smiled broadly'

    The BBC's Liz Shaw, who was in court, said Mr Ali smiled broadly from the dock as the position became clear.

    However, the trio were remanded in custody and will return to court for a hearing in late September.

    Prosecutor Paul Taylor said the Crown Prosecution Service would take "a little time" to consider if it would seek a retrial of the men.

    Mr Justice Gross said: "I will work from the assumption that there might be a retrial and I will assume that it is likely to be in the new year."

    The trial had focused on a trip to London by the three men, which also included two of the eventual suicide bombers.

    Prosecutors said the men had effectively carried out a dry run for the July 2005 attacks by assessing the capital's security during their visit in December 2004.

    They alleged the visit had been organised by 7/7 plot ringleader Mohammad Sidique Khan, who had contacted the men from Pakistan.

    'Shared objectives'

    Neil Flewitt QC, prosecuting, had told the court that the three were not directly responsible for the explosions that killed 52 and maimed hundreds more.

    But he said evidence showed they shared the same objectives as the bombers and knew that some kind of attack was being planned.

    The men vehemently denied this, saying that their trip to London had been to allow one of them to see family and to take in a little tourism.

    In tense courtroom scenes, each of the men in turn denounced the prosecution as politically motivated and stressed the bombers' actions had been completely un-Islamic.

    7/7 Investigation in numbers
    90,000 phone calls examined
    4,700 phone numbers probed
    13,000 exhibits
    7,000 forensically examined
    18,450 statements taken
    19,400 documents created
    The three-month trial heard that the three men had grown up in Beeston, the same tight-knit community of Leeds as three of the bombers.

    The men said they shared many of their concerns about the plight of Muslims around the world.

    Each of the men had spent time in training camps in Pakistan because they wanted to support Muslim fighters seeking to liberate Islamic lands.

    But the jury could not decide whether or not their beliefs stretched to supporting suicide bombings or attacks of any kind against civilians or other targets in the UK.

    London visit

    The trial heard that in December 2004, Mr Ali, Mr Saleem and Mr Shakil had travelled to London.

    Prosecutors said their movements bore a "striking similarity" to those of the 7 July bombers, who attacked three Underground stations and a bus near Kings Cross.

    The men on the 2004 trip also visited the London Eye, the Natural History Museum and London Aquarium.

    But the men denied having entered the London Underground, saying they had driven around the city, and said the entire case rested on partial records of where their mobile phones had connected to the network.

    They accused the police and media of creating a climate of fear in the Beeston area of Leeds and said the police had been trying to make them guilty by association.

    The men were arrested in 2007 amid the largest ever criminal investigation in the UK, which continues today.

    Tens of thousands of police hours have been spent on the three-year-old investigation - and detectives say there are still people in the Leeds area who know more.


    Families and victims reflect on the events of 7/7

    Story from BBC NEWS:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/7537552.stm

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  28. The official Iranian news agency (IRNA) quotes Expediency Council chief, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani as saying, “We have started the first activities of nuclear fusion.”

    Rafsanjani made the remarks today during a speech delivered to a gathering of students at Tehran’s Jamaran Hoseynieh.

    And for those who don't understand the difference between fission and fusion, Captain Ed explains:
    Civilian nuclear power comes from fission, the splitting of atoms and the heat it releases. Fusion, on the other hand, has other uses as well. Hydrogen bombs rely on carefully constructed stages of both fission and fusion for their enormous release of power. In fact, thus far, hydrogen bombs have been the only successful and reliable fusion reactions produced by man.
    IRNA, Iran's official news agency, reports Friday on a statement by foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki at the closing of the Non-Aligned countries' conference taking place in Tehran.
    According to IRNA Political Desk reporter, Mottaki added, "(EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier) Solana and 5+1 countries' representatives should heed the issues agreed upon in Tehran talks and to remain faithful to them."

    He added, "There was no mention about a particular time in Tehran, and we told Mr. Solana that we would survey the matter in a month's time and present our proposal. These are the points over which we reached agreement in Tehran and the 5+1 countries have to respect them."

    Mottaki reiterated, "The literature of appointing deadlines is incomprehensible for us and we, too, presented our viewpoints within the span of the one month's time that we had agreed upon, so it is now their turn to declare their stands regarding the response they have got from us."

    He expressed hope that constructive talks, based on accepted and justifiable fundamentals would take place, in which Solana and Iran's top nuclear negotiator would pursue the matter.
    As you may recall, Saturday is Iran's deadline to respond to the latest 'incentives package.' What Tehran is saying beneath all the rhetoric above is that it does not recognize the deadline. It's time for Iran's delaying games to be brought to an end. All they're doing is buying time.

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  29. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  30. Rush gets call from 43, 41, and Jeb.
    Message:

    43 - Drill now! (surprise.)

    41 - Golf

    Jeb - Education - Sounds interesting

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  31. 2019.10.30知名酒店經紀調查酒店上班顯示,2019年酒店工作酒店打工有將近7成的上班族有意願酒店兼差在八大行業擔任酒店兼職坐檯小姐或打工,其中在中山區林森北路以及忠孝東路上的便服店酒店兼職的有(54.6%),比在白天正職的比例(29.8%)更高。進一步女大學生、上班族詢問未來想投入八大行業酒店兼差的比例達到7成3,其中想在八大行業擔任酒店小姐兼職有(17.8%),想擔任正職的有(23.9%)。知名酒店打工專業指出產業來進行交叉分析,結果發現,目前在傳產製造業的上班族想在八大行業兼職酒店小姐的比例最高,而服務業想投入兼職酒店小姐擔任正職的比例最高。主要的原因包括對客人買全場接S(性交易)額外收入感到有興趣(32.3%)想為未來事業多認識企業的大老闆(29%)、喜歡跟人相處(30%)以及酒店工作機會多(31%)、酒店工時彈性(16.5%)等原因。

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  32. 2020.02.01國際知名酒店經紀公司近期正在尋找酒店工作,或有意在公家機關內上班的人請注意,台北市八大行業酒店上班人力需求,近期有77個機關釋出170個約聘僱酒店打工人員職缺。但因各酒店兼差需求人力職務、業務不同,因此薪資落差不小。例如酒店經紀釋出的聘用高級研究員職缺,其月薪依學經歷,最高可達新台幣70000元,但台北市制服店、便服店、禮服店、鋼琴酒吧、日式酒店、飯局、傳播等服務員職缺,月薪僅給70000元。八大行業約聘僱人員招募自即日起~酒店兼職2月7日(週五)止受理報名,預計2月15日(週六)、2月16日(週日)舉辦甄試。

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  33. 2020.05.01北部一名酒店工作酒店女公關私下接酒店S(性交易)月初被確診武漢肺炎,導致全國舞廳跟酒店,4月9日起遭勒令無限期停止營業,至今將近三個星期了,還不見酒店上班復工曙光,不少八大行業員工因為這波停業生計受損,就有任職台中知名酒店PT酒店小姐不滿中央停業兩套標準,打破沉默,站出來爭工作權。酒店工作人員陳小姐說:「台北的(酒店打工)女公關確診,可是其他店都沒事啊,叫我們停業的標準我也覺得很可笑。」北部酒店女公關一人確診,全國同業被停業,沒收入快三個星期,陳小姐再也忍不住開砲。陳小姐表示:「八大的停業標準我不服氣,按摩業跟三溫暖都可以(營業),磐石艦的軍官很像很愛去量販店,量販店消毒過後都可以營業,為什麼我們就是一個(女公關)離我們這麼遠的地方,就叫我們(酒店)全部停業。」酒店舞廳被停業,被衝擊的不只舞小姐們,像陳小姐就在台中知名酒店內負責音響設備維修超過18年,當年SARS疫情也沒這麼慘,現在卻被無限期停業,全公司所有人都快完蛋。謀職碰壁,生活快過不下去,陳小姐寫了這4張陳情書打算全公司連署,向中央請命。

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