Morning Report: August 15, 2005

"All frozen." Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of a tragic airplane crash near Athens, Greece that killed all 121 people aboard - including many children - on Sunday. The plane apparently suffered a loss of air pressure, and many of the bodies were frozen. CNN reports: 'All but two of the bodies have been recovered, a Greek government spokesman said Monday, and officials hope autopsies and cockpit recorders will hold clues to Sunday's crash of Helios Airways Flight 522. The autopsies were ordered to determine if the 115 passengers and six crew were already dead or oxygen-starved before the crash, the spokesman said. ... Akrivos Tsolakis, head of the Greek airline safety committee, said the plane's data and voice recorders were being sent to French air safety investigators for further examination, but that the voice recorder was badly damaged. "It's in a bad state and, possibly, it won't give us the information we need," The Associated Press quoted him as saying. "Both boxes will be sent to Paris where a French committee will help us and the foreign experts that are here to decode (it)." ... The Boeing 737, en route from Larnaca, Cyprus to Athens, crashed north of the Greek capital shortly after 12 p.m. (5 a.m. ET). The plane had been scheduled to continue from Athens to Prague, Czech Republic. A Cyprus government spokesman said all the passengers were Cypriots.' Debka says: 'Helios Airways grounds all its planes. Two flight recorders sent to Paris for analysis. Athens defense ministry source says bodies recovered from Cypriot airline crash were frozen solid. Investigators seek clues to cause of Helios Boeing 737 crash north of Athens killing all 121 people aboard, 49 of them children bound from Larnaca to Prague. One pilot and the passenger were reported unconscious, the second pilot absent, by the Greek air force F-16 jets sent up when the plane failed to respond to signals from Athens control tower. The two flight recorders have been recovered. They may answer some puzzling questions which explain why a terrorist hijacking was not ruled out by the Greek army chief and which sent Mediterranean airports on hijack alert. Early indications that sudden decompression caused the crash do not disclose how this breakdown occurred on an aircraft less than two years old. Where was the missing pilot, an experienced British flyer, minutes before touchdown at Athens? Why did he fail to signal Athens about a decompression problem? The fragmentation of the plane into small bits of widely scattered debris suggests a possible explosion. ...' (CNN, Debka)

Israeli army evicts Gaza settlers. In a dramatic and historic confrontation, the Israeli army began the sometimes forcible evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, under the provisions of the Bush/Sharon disengagement plan. The conflict between the "orange" (pro-settler) and "blue" (pro-government) factions is singular in Israel's modern history. The deadline for the settlers to leave the area coincided with the Jewish fast day of Tisha b'Av, a solemn commemoration of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman Empire in the year 70 CE. The settlers' motivations are both political and religious: like many right-of-center Israelis, they see Israel's withdrawal from the occupied territories as tactically disastrous for the Jewish state; many also envision an Israel whose borders more closely match the boundaries of the ancient Jewish homeland ("Eretz Israel") than do the current 1948/1967 borders. The Jerusalem Post: 'IDF [Israel Defence Forces] Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz declared Monday that since the Disengagement Implementation Law went into effect at midnight Sunday, everything was going as expected. By 2:00 p.m. soldiers finished distributing eviction notices in Dugit, Nisanit and Pe'at Sadeh. In the Gaza settlements of Atzmona, Katif and Netzer Hazani, the army reached an agreement with the settlers by which notices were given to the settlements' secretariat to distribute. At 3:30, Morag and Gan Or had also received the decrees. Police said that by the end of the day Monday, they expected the northern Gaza settlements of Elei Sinai, Nisanit and Dugit and the southern Gaza settlement of Pe'at Sadeh to have emptied. Altogether, roughly 1,850 live in those four settlements. In those settlements, soldiers will spend the afternoon aiding the families in doing their final packing and transporting their belongings to their new homes and destinations. ...' Arutz Sheva: 'A woman in Morag threatens to employ violence against herself and her children -and Noga Cohen of Kfar Darom, three of whose children lost their legs in a terrorist attack, attempted to mollify her. The woman, named Ofrah, a 17-year veteran of Morag in southern Gush Katif, screamed at an army officer who arrived to deliver the expulsion notices: "By what right do you come and throw me out of my house? Did I hurt anyone? Did I do something? You're coming in the name of the law, in the name of the government - I'd like to see Ariel Sharon come here himself! He came here once and shook my hand and encouraged me to keep living here; I even have one child named Ariel and one named Sharon... In a chilling ending to the exchange, in which the army officer was barely able to respond, the woman then said, "I never hurt anyone, but I want to stay in my home. If I have to shoot myself and my children, I will." She then turned around and walked to the house.' Also from Arutz Sheva: 'Tense and charged stand-offs between soldiers/police and residents outside Chomesh, in the Shomron, as well as outside Gan-Or, Gadid, and Ganei Tal. Just south of N'vei Dekalim, the main Gush Katif road leads to a turnoff to the twin communities of Gan-Or and Gadid. At 7 AM this morning, the residents blocked the main gate leading to the two, and held a large prayer service. At around 9 AM, the local brigade commander, Col. Hagi Yehezkel, arrived. One eyewitness said, "Behind him was a long line of black-uniformed forces, which could not help but leave very unpleasant associations with Jewish history of several decades ago. The officer kept saying, 'We are coming in peace,' but many of the residents attacked him [verbally] very strongly. ...' Debka: 'Half a dozen Gaza and two West Bank communities bar soldiers handing out individual 48-hour eviction orders Monday amid heated verbal exchanges. Troops are not forcing their way in. No arms on either side. Neve Dekalim blocked 30 container trucks for removing belongings for hours. Israeli cabinet majority approves Stage B of evacuation operation – all of Gush Katif bloc communities - by sixteen ministers to 4 Likud dissenters.' MSNBC (AP story): 'Defiant and tearful Jewish settlers locked their communities’ gates and formed human chains to block troops from delivering eviction notices Monday, as Israel began its historic pullout from the Gaza Strip after 38 years of occupation. Police and soldiers waited patiently in the sweltering sun and avoided confrontation at the behest of their commanders. One sobbing settler pleaded with a brigadier general not to evict him before the two men embraced. “It’s a painful and difficult day, but it’s a historic day,” said Israel’s defense minister, Shaul Mofaz. ...' NOTE: For an excellent round-up of the disengagement debate, please see Kesher Talk. (various)

Bush on Iran: "All options on table." President Bush has refused to rule out military action on Iran. Via Free Iran: 'US President George W Bush refused to rule out the use of force against Iran over the Islamic republic's resumption of nuclear activities, in an interview with Israeli television. When asked if the use of force was an alternative to faltering diplomatic efforts, Bush said: "All options are on the table." "The use of force is the last option for any president. You know we have used force in the recent past to secure our country," he said in a clear reference to Iraq. "I have been willing to do so as a last resort in order to secure the country and provide the opportunity for people to live in free societies," he added. Bush was speaking from his ranch in Crawford, Texas to a reporter from Israeli public television. The Jewish state has accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons and believes it is the prime target of the alleged arms program. ...' Also in the same thread: 'President George W. Bush yesterday raised the possibility of a U.S. military response to Iran's decision to restart its nuclear energy program. ``All options are on the table,'' Bush said in an Israeli television interview from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, according to a transcript provided by his staff today. He said military force would be a last resort. ``We've used force in the recent past to secure our country,'' Bush added, when asked to elaborate. ``It's difficult for the commander-in-chef to put kids in harm's way. Nevertheless, I have been willing to do so as a last resort in order to secure this country and to provide the opportunity for people to live in free societies.'' Iran reopened uranium conversion facilities at its Isfahan plant on Aug. 8, restarting a uranium enrichment program the oil- rich nation claims is needed for energy purposes. Material produced by the process, which Iran hopes to export, can fuel a nuclear power plant or a nuclear bomb. ...' (varous, via Free Iran)

Mohammed: A Response to Cindy Sheehan

Mohammed Fadhil at Iraq the Model writes this message to Cindy Sheehan:

I realize how tragic your loss is and I know how much pain there is crushing your heart and I know the darkness that suddenly came to wrap your life and wipe away your dreams and I do feel the heat of your tears that won't dry until you find the answers to your question; why you lost your loved one?

I have heard your story and I understand that you have the full right to ask people to stand by your side and support your cause. At the beginning I told myself, this is yet another woman who lost a piece of her heart and the questions of war, peace and why are killing her everyday. To be frank to you the first thing I thought of was like "why should I listen or care to answer when there are thousands of other women in America, Iraq and Afghanistan who lost a son or a husband or a brother…”

But today I was looking at your picture and I saw in your eyes a persistence, a great pain and a torturing question; why?

I know how you feel Cindy, I lived among the same pains for 35 years but worse than that was the fear from losing our loved ones at any moment. Even while I'm writing these words to you there are feelings of fear, stress, and sadness that interrupt our lives all the time but in spite of all that I'm sticking hard to hope which if I didn't have I would have died years ago.

Ma'am, we asked for your nation's help and we asked you to stand with us in our war and your nation's act was (and still is) an act of ultimate courage and unmatched sense of humanity.
Our request is justified, death was our daily bread and a million Iraqi mothers were expecting death to knock on their doors at any second to claim someone from their families.
Your face doesn't look strange to me at all; I see it everyday on endless numbers of Iraqi women who were struck by losses like yours.

Our fellow country men and women were buried alive, cut to pieces and thrown in acid pools and some were fed to the wild dogs while those who were lucky enough ran away to live like strangers and the Iraqi mother was left to grieve one son buried in an unfound grave and another one living far away who she might not get to see again.

We did nothing to deserve all that suffering, well except for a dream we had; a dream of living like normal people do.

We cried out of joy the day your son and his comrades freed us from the hands of the devil and we went to the streets not believing that the nightmare is over.
We practiced our freedom first by kicking and burning the statues and portraits of the hateful idol who stole 35 years from the life of a nation.
For the first time air smelled that beautiful, that was the smell of freedom.

The mothers went to break the bars of cells looking for the ones they lost 5, 12 or 20 years ago and other women went to dig the land with their bare hand searching for a few bones they can hold in their arms after they couldn't hold them when they belonged to a living person.

I recall seeing a woman on TV two years ago, she was digging through the dirt with her hands. There was no definite grave in there as the whole place was one large grave but she seemed willing to dig the whole place looking for her two brothers who disappeared from earth 24 years ago when they were dragged from their colleges to a chamber of hell.

Her tears mixed with the dirt of the grave and there were journalists asking her about what her brothers did wrong and she was screaming "I don't know, I don't know. They were only college students. They didn't murder anyone, they didn't steal, and they didn't hurt anyone in their lives. All I want to know is the place of their grave".

Why was this woman chosen to lose her dear ones? Why you? Why did a million women have to go through the same pain? ...

Read the rest here.

Morning Report: August 12, 2005

Baghdad: Municipal coup d'etat. The New York Times reports: 'Armed men entered Baghdad's municipal building during a blinding dust storm on Monday, deposed the city's mayor and installed a member of Iraq's most powerful Shiite militia. Relatives visited Nasser Khathem Nasser at Al Kindi Hospital after he was wounded by a car bomb near an American patrol in Baghdad. The deposed mayor, Alaa al-Tamimi, who was not in his offices at the time, recounted the events in a telephone interview on Tuesday and called the move a municipal coup d'état. He added that he had gone into hiding for fear of his life. "This is the new Iraq," said Mr. Tamimi, a secular engineer with no party affiliation. "They use force to achieve their goal." The group that ousted him insisted that it had the authority to assume control of Iraq's capital city and that Mr. Tamimi was in no danger. The man the group installed, Hussein al-Tahaan, is a member of the Badr Organization, the armed militia of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, known as Sciri. The militia has been credited with keeping the peace in heavily Shiite areas in southern Iraq but also accused of abuses like forcing women to wear the veils demanded by conservative Shiite religious law. ...' (NYT)

ITM: Iranian regime, islamist parties taking over Basra. Mohammed at Iraq the Model writes on the growing influence of Iranian agents and local fundamentalist parties in Basra: 'Abddul Aziz Al-Hakim the head of the SCIRI called to day for the formation of a federal state in the south of Iraq and Hadi Al-Amiri chief of the Badr organization (the military wing of the SCIRI) said that if the Sheat don't persist in forming this state they will regret it. I don't really know why Amiri chose the word "regret" in addressing the people of the south, instead he could've said something like 'we would like to see a federal state in the south and we respect the people's choice about it' because I think this tone of threats to the people he's part of carries a lot of possible suspicious meanings. I think the Islamic leaderships have realized that it's difficult to lead a multi-ethnic, multi-religious country by forcing one perspective that has a specific religious inclination and that's why they're thinking of creating a smaller state in the south which can be more loyal (or less defiant) to them and their strategic ally in Iran, not forgetting the economic advantage of this region of Iraq which possesses the largest oil reserves and Iraq's only port. So they think that implementing an example that matches the visions of these parties in this region would be easier and safer especially with the presence of the desirable sectarian majority. Also these parties have established strong basis for them in this region as a step in the preparation for the future federal state (or mere state) and actually right now there's nothing that can stop this plan except the other religious trend that is spreading in the south represented by Muqtada's group. These two Sheat religious trends do not seem willing to coexist peacefully in the same place and in the past months the southern cities became an open field for a war between these parties and cities like Samawa, Najaf and Kut have witnessed continuous conflicts over power and influence. ...' Read the full post at the link, including Mohammed's selection of quotes from the BBC Arabic site - some of which are quite disturbing. (ITM)

Stefania at TCS: Iran and Europe. Stefania LaPenna has an article at Tech Central Station on the EU and the IRI: 'Iran's recent move to resume its nuclear activities both defies the European Union's warnings and makes a mockery of the EU's diplomatic efforts in the Middle East. It is a defeat of Europe's policy toward the Islamic Republic. It demonstrated, in case anyone still doubted it, the determination of a terrorist regime to get its hands on a nuclear bomb. Above all, it has proven that neither economic incentives nor any form of dialogue can change the Mullahs' minds. And yet, it seems that Europe still doesn't get it. We read that the EU Big 3 (France, Germany and UK) are now "getting tougher" with the Mullahs by threatening UN sanctions. But there is little to hope that this threat will become a reality. The Europeans have significant economic interests in Iran, and they are not willing to compromise them anytime soon. The Mullahs know who is on their side and who is not. Nevertheless, the future doesn't look good for the Islamic Republic. ...' Read the rest at the link. (TCS)

Winds of War. The latest edition of Winds of War is up. Among other items: 'The National Council of Resistance of Iran (yet once again) produced a secret Iranian document detailing the manufacture of centrifuges by the Mullahcracy’s nuclear program. They also stated that Iran has 4,000 of the undeclared centrifuges deployed throughout Iran's research/enrichment facilities. Again, the toothless IAEA merely has tickets to the show as they watch Iran unseal ‘IAEA sealed’ centrifuges, as others threaten meaningless trips to the UN Security Council, complete with Russia's veto power as they contract to build more Iranian plants. ...' Read it all at the link. (Winds of Change)

Turkmenbashi goes too far. The president of Turkmenistan is a fruitcake. You already knew that, you say. Well, yes. But now the egomaniac is taking his egomania to a whole new level. (Armies of Liberation)

Meeting GayPatriot

Bruce, aka the original GayPatriot, is in Portland for a few days to attend a Lewis & Clark event. I managed to persuade him to join me for drinks at the Blue Moon.

Bruce is a young ( = under 40), soft-spoken guy with short hair, glasses, and endless curiosity. He's an American History buff (especially pre- Civil War). We talked about urban sprawl, dating, the military, Log Cabin, and the changing face of liberalism in America. And we talked about the process of "coming out" as Bush supporters in an overwhelmingly anti-Bush environment.

Go check out GP's posts on Lewis & Clark, gay politics, and gays in the military. (Keep watching that last topic, especially.) Also read the posts about LCR (which are mostly written by Bruce's blogging partner, GayPatriot West).


And don't forget to add GayPatriot to your blogroll.

Ali on What's at Stake

Ali Fadhil of Free Iraqi has this to say about al-Zawahiri threats

It's amazing how the terrorists themselves keep showing us in words and actions how vital the war in Iraq is for them and at the same time we have westerns and Americans saying that this war has nothing to do with fighting terrorism and that it's only increasing the danger of terrorism!

Another thing that this message and previous ones show is what other bloggers have already noted in that the Jihadis are following the western media and using the arguments of the far left to feed the fears of westerns and Americans, like the note about Vietnam and the use of the "no blood for oil". That's why I think that people like George Galloway and Michael Moor are doing a great service to the terrorists.
...
It's interesting to see how bold Al Zawahiri was in threatening to launch more attacks against London but settled with the threat of killing more American soldiers in Iraq when talking about America. He has lost the initiative when it comes to attacking America in America so he's looking for the "next best thing", a big target that he still can safely attack without having to worry about a massive counter attack on all his bases and supportive regimes. He knows very well that if he attacks America the tyrannies that help him and his organization in attacking Iraq would not only stop offering him any help but will also do all they can to save their necks, like turning in any Al Qaeda men they have on their lands or if they can't then they would cooperate fully with the US in security field giving her access to all the info they have on Al Qaeda which I guess they have a lot to tell after their lands where used as a passage for the terrorists to Iraq with them turning a blind eye or even facilitating the process.

Read the full post at the link.

Morning Report: August 9, 2005

Shuttle lands at Edwards AFB, doesn't blow up. The Space Shuttle Discovery landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base, according to media reports. CNN: 'The space shuttle Discovery touched down Tuesday morning, completing NASA's first shuttle mission since Columbia broke apart during re-entry in February 2003. The shuttled landed at 5:11 a.m. PT at NASA's secondary landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California. As commander Eileen Collins brought the orbiter to a stop on runway 22, NASA spokesman James Hartsfield stated, "Discovery is home." (CNN)

Iraqi women demonstrate for, against civil constitution. Iraq the Model reports (with pictures): 'In spite of the heat and the dust that's covering Baghdad for the 2nd day, more than a hundred Iraqi women representing NGOs and active groups gathered to declare their demands in equality and a civil family and personal affairs law. The women set a large tent in Al-Firdows square which witnessed the fall of Saddam in April 2003. Under this icon of freedom the women held their signs and demands high. I met some of the activists who talked enthusiastically about plans for more protests and conventions to show their disapproval of the constitution's draft because they're afraid that religion might hijack the constitution and deprive them of their rights.' The liberal activists were met by a counter-demonstration of about 30 pro-islamist women. Responding to a question about the status of women witnesses in an Islamic court, one of them told Mohammed, 'It's an honor to me to be half of a garbage collector because that's what Allah said and it's not you who can explain to me what Allah said.' Read Mohammed's interview with the pro-islamist woman, and the rest of the article, at the link. (ITM)

It should have never had to end this way. Commemorating the 60th anniversary of the US atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan near the end of World War II, Neo-Neocon responds to some provocative questions: 'Why didn't they drop a nuke on an unpopulated area and say, 'See that goddamn horror? We'll drop another one on your heads in two days if you don't surrender.'
My post had ended with this quote from Fussell's article about the atomic bomb, which I think is especially relevant to anonymous' question: The past, which as always did not know the future, acted in ways that ask to be imagined before they are condemned. Or even simplified. Many of those who are critical of the dropping of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs seem to lack the capacity to understand that those who made the decision were given a certain set of circumstances with which to work. One of those circumstances was a fairly basic one: the US only had two atomic bombs at the time....' Read the rest, and visit Neo's previous post, at the link. (Neo-Neocon)

Morning Report: August 7, 2005

Russian sailors rescued. CNN reports: "The seven-man crew of a trapped Russian mini-submarine are back in port after a three-day ordeal at the bottom of the Pacific with dwindling oxygen. Six of the seamen were taken to hospital for observation in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on the eastern coast of the Pacific peninsula of Kamchatka after arriving on board a rescue ship. ...' (CNN)

Israeli terrorist kills four Arabs. The Jerusalem Post reports: 'A far-right activist who was AWOL from his army unit murdered four Israeli Arabs and wounded 12 on Thursday evening when he opened fire while riding in an Egged bus in the northern city of Shfaram. He was then lynched by an angry mob. The shooter, identified as Natan Eden Zada, 19, of the Samaria settlement of Tapuah, had deserted his IDF unit and was on Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) watch lists. Despite this, Shin Bet sources said no warnings had been received regarding plans by Zada or other Jewish extremists to target the Israeli-Arab sector. Among the victims were two young sisters, Hazar and Dina Turki, 23 and 21-years-old respectively, and the driver of the bus, Michel Bahous, 56. Nadir Hayak, 55, a passenger on the bus, was killed as well.' Zada will be buried without military honors. (JPost)

Israel set to begin Gaza pullout; Netanyahu resigns. Debka reports: 'Finance minister Binyamin Netanyahu has resigned. He walked out of cabinet meeting Sunday which approved first evacuations from Gaza. Netanyahu left session in the middle leaving a letter on the cabinet table. He announced his refusal to be part of the “irresponsible” and “blind advance” towards a unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and its handover to be “an Islamic terror base” posing extreme peril to the nation and Jerusalem. Earlier, education minister Limor LIvnat said she would vote against the first Gaza withdrawals from Netzarim, Morag and Kfar Darom due to begin in 10 days. Three more Likud ministers Danny Neveh, Israel Katz and Tsachi Hanegbi oppose the evacuations which has a cabinet majority without the Likud ministers.'

Iranian group lays claim to killing of judge. News media reported that Masoud Moqadasi, a judge who oversaw a case against now-imprisoned journalist Akbar Ganji, was shot dead in his car after leaving his central Tehran office Tuesday afternoon, according to a judiciary spokesman. The comment thread a Free Iran offers some analysis: 'For a single person on a moterbike to aim and fire a full clip from an assault rifle on the move, into another moving vehicle is pushing the limits of the possible, one only has two hands. Even letting go of the handle bars (which is possible, in a straight line), the recoil would throw the bike off center, risking a wreck. It's virtually impossible to handle an assault rifle one handed, and keep aim steady, during a full-auto burst using up a full clip (30 rounds AK 47 7.62 mm) Perhaps having the sling of the rifle rapped around the arm holding the handle bars, as a prop to hold the gun steady, but aiming would be a bit more difficult. Not something one could do alone without practice, in any case. Plus then there's the fact that it would be almost impossible to hide such a weapon prior to, or after assault on a bike. Only certain people on the street allowed to carry that type weapon, thus it's probable that when "Iran's Intelligence Ministry later blamed the murders on "rogue agents" in the secret service. " ..They were accurate. Don't think for a minute that Opposition is not inside... as well on the street in protests. - Oppenheimer. / Iranian bloggers and news sources such as Pichay, Goroohesiyahkal, IranPan, and Gooya News: an English translation of the essential elements of these reports. As indicated in these Persian web sites, a group called Secret Armed Youths Organization ( A Branch of Pan-Iranists party) takes the full responsiblity of murder of the judge who was shot a few days ago in Tehran. The group claims they killed the judge because he has been killing and torturing political prisoners since 1980s. This group also claims that they killed this judge to support Akbar Ganji and other political prisoners in the prisons of the Islamic Republic. - Rasker.' (Free Iran)

Journalist Steven Vincent Murdered by Paramilitary Death Squads

Steven Vincent was abducted and killed in Basra recently. Vincent was the author of In the Red Zone, an account of his journeys in Iraq. Omar at Iraq the Model writes:

I was extremely shocked and saddened when I saw on the news a few minutes ago that Steven Vincent was found dead in Basra. Mohammed and I were closely following his reports from Basra and we really enjoyed reading them.
Now the bastards took him away. The terrorists try to silence every voice that tells the truth but they can not succeed as there will be always people who are ready and willing to write and speak the truth and they will see that our pens are stronger than their guns. We lost a fine writer today, God bless his soul and our deepest condolences to his family and friends.

A reader quotes the following from an interview with Steven Vincent:

Words matter. Words convey moral clarity. Without moral clarity, we will not succeed in Iraq. That is why the terms the press uses to cover this conflict are so vital. For example, take the word “guerillas.” As you noted, mainstream media sources like the New York Times often use the terms “insurgents” or “guerillas” to describe the Sunni Triangle gunmen, as if these murderous thugs represented a traditional national liberation movement. But when the Times reports on similar groups of masked reactionary killers operating in Latin American countries, they utilize the phrase “paramilitary death squads.” Same murderers, different designations. Yet of the two, “insurgents”—and especially “guerillas”—has a claim on our sympathies that “paramilitaries” lacks. This is not semantics: imagine if the media routinely called the Sunni Triangle gunmen “right wing paramilitary death squads.” Not only would the description be more accurate, but it would offer the American public a clear idea of the enemy in Iraq. And that, in turn, would bolster public attitudes toward the war. ...

The most despicable misuse of terminology, however, occurs when Leftists call the Saddamites and foreign jihadists “the resistance.”

Read the interview here.

Fayrouz has a few thoughts.

Chrenkoff writes:

Steve had a successful and rewarding career as an art critic in New York. Then came September 11, and his life would never be the same again. "When the Administration launched the Operation Iraqi freedom, I felt strangely excited," he wrote. "I wanted to join the conflict." Too old to enlist (his only military experience, driving a cab in NYC, he says), too freelance to hope to accompany the troops, Steve made the decision to see Iraq away from the frontlines: "I sought to embed myself in the Iraqi society."

The fruit of his two trips, and several months of stay in Iraq was his book "In the Red Zone: A journey into the soul of Iraq" - "some of the best journalism to come out of Iraq since the liberation," I wrote in my review. It was ‚– is ‚– a wonderful work, not uncritical of both the liberated and the liberators, but nevertheless infused with deep sympathy for the long suffering of the Iraqi people, as well as love of freedom, and hope for a better future. ...

Go read the rest of Chrenkoff's post at the link, and understand what the world lost with Steven Vincent - and what we must still strive for, now that he is gone.

Steven Vincent's last published articles:
On Again, Off Again
Switched Off in Basra

Morning Report: August 1, 2005

King Fahd dies. Though largely a figurehead since suffering a debilitating stroke in 1995, Saudi Arabia's King Fahd, who rose to power in 1982, left his mark on the Middle East. He died early Monday at the age of 84. Voice of America has this: 'Saudi Arabia's King Fahd, who had been in ill health for years, died early Monday in Riyadh. The Saudi royal court announced the king's death and said Crown Prince Abdullah, Fahd's brother, has assumed the throne. The crown prince has been Saudi Arabia's de-facto ruler since Fahd suffered a stroke 10 years ago. Officials say the monarch died at the King Faisal Specialized Hospital in Riyadh, where he had been admitted in late May for unspecified medical tests. ...' MSNBC: 'Fahd died at approximately 2:30 a.m. EDT, a senior Saudi official in Washington told The Associated Press. President Bush was alerted within minutes of Fahd’s death, the official told The AP on condition of anonymity. The king’s funeral was to be held Tuesday evening, he said.' Mahmood has a tribute. (VOA, MSNBC, Mahmood)

Bolton to get UN appointment. President Bush will appoint the controversial John Bolton as the US ambassador to the United Nations, media sources report. MSNBC: 'Frustrated by Democrats, President Bush will circumvent the Senate on Monday and install embattled nominee John Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations, a senior administration official told NBC News. Bush has the power to fill vacancies without Senate approval while Congress is in recess. Under the Constitution, a recess appointment during the lawmakers' August break would last until the next session of Congress, which begins in January 2007. ...' Fox: 'Democrats have not relented in their argument that Bolton is not the man for the job. "He's damaged goods; this is a person who lacks credibility. This will be the first U.N. ambassador since 1948 we ever sent there under a recess appointment. That's not what you want to send up, a person who doesn't have the confidence of the Congress," Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., told "FOX News Sunday." Republicans say the Democratic filibuster justifies use of a recess appointment. "I think Mr. Bolton has been treated incredibly unfairly by the process here. And the president would have every right to give him a recess appointment," said Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.' CNN: 'Senate Democrats held up the nomination after the White House refused, on grounds of executive privilege, to provide records of communications intercepts Bolton sought from the National Security Agency when he was the State Department's point man on arms control. The State Department last week acknowledged that Bolton incorrectly told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a questionnaire that he had not been interviewed as part of any investigation within the past five years.' (various)

Bloggers' demo cancelled. Overshadowed by President Mubarak's unsurprising (but awkwardly timed) announcement that he will seek a fifth term in office, the planned demonstration in memory of the victims of Sharm-el-Sheikh was cancelled. 'Why did our permit get revoked? Why did the police send such a huge number of security soldiers to an anti-terror demonstration? I believe the answer lies in the phobia that our government has towards any sort of demonstration even if it was a protest denouncing Osama Bin Laden. They hate assemblies, period. May be the police was afraid lest our protest turn into an anti-government or an anti-Mubarak demonstration or something. They just don't want the hassle.' Sandmonkey: 'How can you explain to people the logic behind the illogical? Forget that, how can you put them in the same situation you were put in? After all the work they had to do to lobby for this thing to work, they had to call all of those people and convince them not to go, because the vigil was canceled, just like that. And the worst part is: you will no longer have any credibility with those people. You won’t be able to get them to come the next time.' (Big Pharaoh, Sandmonkey)

Morning Report: July 29, 2005

London bomb suspects arrested. CNN: 'Three men have been arrested following police raids in west London in connection with last week's failed terror attacks in the British capital. Unconfirmed media reports, citing police sources, said two of the men were suspected bombers behind the July 21 attempted attacks on London's transit system. Friday's arrests came after heavily armed police raided two locations in west London at around 11:00 a.m. (1000 GMT). ...' BBC: 'Two more of the failed London bombing suspects are believed to have been arrested as police carried out a number of armed operations in west London. ... Police moved residents to safety during two raids, in Notting Hill and north Kensington, and made three arrests. Officers also arrested two women at Liverpool Street station, which has reopened after packages were examined. Police are still questioning a third suspect arrested on Wednesday in Birmingham. Yasin Hassan Omar was wanted as a suspect in the Warren Street Tube attempted bombing. ...' Debka: 'Two of the three July 21 bombers at large arrested by armed London police in swoops on hideouts across city, Friday July 29. Two women were also detained at Liverpool Station after struggle. Three of the four July 21 bombers are now in custody. They are two men who unsuccessfully tried to blow up a train at Oval Tube station and a bus in Hackney. The Warrren St. bomber was captured in Birmingham Thursday. Still sought is the would-be bomber who fled Shepherd’s Bush station ahead of pursuit. ...' (various)

Saddam faces questions. CNN reports: 'Saddam Hussein was called to a hearing where he was questioned about the 1991 repression of a Shiite-led uprising in southern Iraq after the Gulf War, a court official told CNN on Friday. Judge Raid Juhi, of the Iraqi Special Tribunal set up to try the jailed ex-leader, said Saddam answered questions in Thursday's session, more than 30 minutes long. The former president attended the session alone. A trial date for the former dictator will be announced soon for Saddam's alleged role in a 1982 incident, in which Shiite Muslims in the village of Dujail north of Baghdad were massacred. ...' (CNN)

Orthodox Union: Israeli troops harass religious Jews. The Jerusalem Post reports: 'The Orthodox Union, an umbrella group representing hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Jews in North America, accused the Israeli government and security forces of bigotry and religious discrimination in a recent letter sent to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Ambassador to the US Daniel Ayalon and Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz. The letter, released to the media Tuesday evening after Israeli officials failed to respond for four days, stated that, based on both media and eyewitness accounts, "Israeli government officials, jurists and police and security forces" showed an "indifference to civil liberties." ... The OU cited an incident in Ma'aleh Adumim in which police stopped a bus and removed all passengers wearing kippot [skullcaps]. "Those passengers were not even traveling to a demonstration but were simply seeking to reach their place of work in Jerusalem upon the same bus on which they travel each and every day," said the letter. The OU also accused the government of using administrative detention or house arrest against persons "merely advocating positions at odds with government policy," "baseless confiscation of drivers' licenses," and "threats and coercion against persons seeking to exercise their right of lawful travel and free association." ' (JPost, via e-mail)

Samir Hassan: Religion vs. oppression. '... A number of different [Koranic] verses clearly demonstrate that the "cause of Allah" is not to be actively pursued in any nation unless the people of that nation have collectively agreed to an accord which defines and guarantees the basic liberties and responsibilities of its citizens. Here are just a few examples: "There is no compulsion in religion." "You shall have your religion and I shall have mine." "Truth is from your Lord; if you wish, you can either believe or you can disbelieve." "Thou art not in control over them." "Thou shalt consult with them." "Intercession for all is by Allah alone." The believers in such a nation would readily volunteer to fight in defense of its lifestyle. They would also volunteer to liberate the "ill-treated (and oppressed)- Men, women, and children" of other nations....' Read the full English text of Samir Hassan's very fine article at Friends of Democracy. Arabic text is here. (Friends of Democracy)

Ugandan Police Attack Lesbian Activists

Via Pseudo-Adrienne at Alas, A Blog, Black Looks has this item on anti-gay government violence in Uganda:

The ugandan parliament have enacted a new anti-homosexual law and with this the Ugandan police yesterday stormed the house of lesbian activist, Victor Julie Mukassa. Victor tried to contact me today but unfortuantely I missed her call so the details on her present situation are still sketchy. However there is a report on the raid in Behind the Mask as follows:

On the night of 20 July 2005, Victor Juliet Mukasa, who is the chairperson of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), had her residence raided by the Ugandan government police officials. The officials confiscated all documentations and other materials that had homosexual content.

Unfortunately for the police contingent which was clearly intending to pounce on Mukasa, they didn't find her at home as she had not yet arrived back home from town.

On the house they found a gay activist from Kenya who works closely with SMUG. She was detained for the night. According to Kasha Jacqueline, a lesbian human rights activist, "They took her [the Kenyan activist] in so Victor and the other LGBT activists [from SMUG] would want to fetch her from the police and then they can arrest Victor specifically and or the other activists

"The police threatened to broadcast the information found in the national media and that can lead to more containment by public at large", said Jacqueline.

This purported trap to arrest for SMUG officials is suspected to be part of an elaborate plan by the Ugandan government to obliterate gay and lesbian activities in that country.

Here's a link to the original post at Behind the Mask. An update at the Black Looks post adds:

I have just spoken to Victor who has reported to the police. They were unable to detain her since they have nothing on which to charge her. She has a lawyer and the IHLHRC are supporting her case. Meanwhile she cannot go home as people near where she lives planned to attack her. Once the matter comes out in the press she will be in even more danger. She is staying and moving from hotel to hotel. Victor's human rights have been grossly violated. There was no search warrant on her home and her guest was stripped naked by the police and detained and both their lives are now in danger. All of these issues will be followed through with the support of the international gay and lesbian community and their friends.

Meanwhile, a current post at Black Looks has this:

Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) Press Release

On July 20th, an LC1 Chairman (local government official) and another man forcibly entered the home of J.M. at Kireka, who is a human rights activist and chairperson of SMUG (Sexual Minorities Uganda). They proceeded to search her home without a warrant and to mishandle her friend, a visiting Kenyan activist who they found at the home. ...

Read the rest here. And don't forget to bookmark (and blogroll) Black Looks, Behind the Mask, and IGLHRC.

PS - If you possibly can, take a moment to make a donation to IGLHRC. I just did.

Morning Report: July 28, 2005

NASA grounds shuttle fleet - foam causes concerns. The space shuttle Discovery successfully docked with the International Space Station, but NASA officials aren't pushing their luck. CNN reports: 'Discovery docked with the international space station Thursday as NASA tried to determine why insulating foam fell off the shuttle's external fuel tank during its launch. ... Discovery flew in an unusual upside-down maneuver before it docked so space station cameras with special lenses could take pictures of it, looking for possible damage. The images were sent from the station to NASA engineers on Earth, who will scrutinize Discovery's surface tiles and its thermal-protection system, explained Wayne Hale, deputy shuttle program manager. "Any damage will not escape our detection," Hale said at a Wednesday news conference. NASA said that during launch, a piece of tile also fell from Discovery's underside near the forward landing gear -- an area that has a redundant thermal barrier.' Foam fragments are blamed for the loss of Discovery's sister ship Columbia in 2003, in an accident where falling foam during liftoff apparently damaged the spacecraft's critical heat shield, causing the spacecraft's destruction - and the deaths of its seven crew members - upon re-entry. More to follow under "Science and Space". (CNN)

IRA: A farewell to arms. "All IRA units have been ordered to dump arms. All Volunteers have been instructed to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means. Volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever. The IRA leadership has also authorised our representative to engage with the IICD to complete the process to verifiably put its arms beyond use in a way which will further enhance public confidence and to conclude this as quickly as possible." These are the words of an official statement from the Irish Republican Army as quoted on the BBC. British Prime Minister called the move "a step of unparalleled magnitude." (BBC)

More on Iraqi constitution. Iraq's Constitution Drafting Committee called for an emergency meeting among political and religious leaders to overcome difficulties with the present draft of the Iraqi Constitution. Omar at Iraq the Model writes: 'The main points that are going to be discussed in this conference will-in my opinion-include the shape of the federalist system of the state, the issue of considering Islam the main source of legislation, the name of the state as well as case of considering Persian ethnicity among the components of the Iraqi society. I have expressed my disagreement with the draft in the last post and actually I noticed that most of the people I met in the last couple of days share the same concerns I have and many people are disappointed by the weak performance of the CDC.
Let's not forget that many of the public opinion polls that were conducted in Iraq in the past two years showed that a maximum of 15% of the voters would favor an Islamic state, so if the Saturday conference failed in dealing with the above points I mentioned, then I expect this constitution will be rejected by the voters.' Go to Iraq the Model at the link for the full post, and don't miss the reader discussion in Comments. (ITM)