Monday, February 14, 2005
Rafik Hariri was a member of the generation of success in the Middle East. (Click on for his speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.)
Rafik Hariri did not come to Lebanese leadership by family reputation or privelege. Quite the contrary is was a poor Sunni Muslim from Sidon. As a young man he became a teacher. He eventually found his way into the construction business as a laborer. He learned the trade in Saudi Arabia eventually putting together his own company called, Saudi Oger. He eventually became the private contractor to Prince Fahd. It was this opportunity that allowed him to return to Lebanon now ready to 'literally' rebuild Beirut.
In 2000, he was believed to be worth approximately $2 billion including a vast media interest.
Rafik Hariri took an interest in Lebanese politics and became a frequent voice for the people of Lebanon criticizing the government for the poor status of the people there.
I will let Rafik Hariri speak for himself below. But, before I do that I would like to propose an idea. Rafik Hariri was a prominant Sunni Muslim. I believe this attack may have been engineered by those who would lead the area into believing this was an act of the Shia Crescent. I don't believe that is true. A Shia Cresent has never before manifested in violence. I personally would not be surprised if this was engineered by those that are ambitious in The West who want suspicions to fall on the new Shi'ite government leadership in Iraq. I beseach the world to be careful how they blame those responsible. These are militants or henchmen, but, either way it should not lead to direct 'indictment' of the new Iraqi government. The Grand Ayatollah al Sistani's coalition leadership had attempted murder attempts on them and in no way do I believe that coalition is capable of this level of violence. The Grand Ayatollah al Sistani has always been and continues to be a man of peace.
Thank you.
My deepest sympathies to the people of Lebanon.
His Excellency Rafik HaririPrime Minister of Lebanon
"On the Reconstruction of Lebanon: Achievements and Impediments"
Lebanon is a country deeply rooted in the principles of democracy, human rights, and free enterprise. The Constitution of Lebanon guarantees democratic and economic liberty for the Lebanese people. We are committed to national unity and an effective government, combining security and prosperity. The Lebanese people are living testimony to the fact that there can be no military solution to conflicts. Today, after the events of last April, this testimony has become obvious to all concerned. The solution can only be political, and one that the international community can support - and later on, reconstruction and modernization efforts. The Lebanese are committed to the peace process based on the principles of the Madrid Conference. We have every interest that a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace takes hold in the Middle East. Seventeen years of war and turmoil have had a major impact on the Lebanese economy and society. The impact on social conditions and human resources was equally grave. However, Lebanon throughout her history, and even during her darkest days, never wavered from her long tradition of a democratic political system and open exchange and trade regime.
In 2000, he was believed to be worth approximately $2 billion including a vast media interest.
Rafik Hariri took an interest in Lebanese politics and became a frequent voice for the people of Lebanon criticizing the government for the poor status of the people there.
I will let Rafik Hariri speak for himself below. But, before I do that I would like to propose an idea. Rafik Hariri was a prominant Sunni Muslim. I believe this attack may have been engineered by those who would lead the area into believing this was an act of the Shia Crescent. I don't believe that is true. A Shia Cresent has never before manifested in violence. I personally would not be surprised if this was engineered by those that are ambitious in The West who want suspicions to fall on the new Shi'ite government leadership in Iraq. I beseach the world to be careful how they blame those responsible. These are militants or henchmen, but, either way it should not lead to direct 'indictment' of the new Iraqi government. The Grand Ayatollah al Sistani's coalition leadership had attempted murder attempts on them and in no way do I believe that coalition is capable of this level of violence. The Grand Ayatollah al Sistani has always been and continues to be a man of peace.
Thank you.
My deepest sympathies to the people of Lebanon.
His Excellency Rafik HaririPrime Minister of Lebanon
"On the Reconstruction of Lebanon: Achievements and Impediments"
Lebanon is a country deeply rooted in the principles of democracy, human rights, and free enterprise. The Constitution of Lebanon guarantees democratic and economic liberty for the Lebanese people. We are committed to national unity and an effective government, combining security and prosperity. The Lebanese people are living testimony to the fact that there can be no military solution to conflicts. Today, after the events of last April, this testimony has become obvious to all concerned. The solution can only be political, and one that the international community can support - and later on, reconstruction and modernization efforts. The Lebanese are committed to the peace process based on the principles of the Madrid Conference. We have every interest that a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace takes hold in the Middle East. Seventeen years of war and turmoil have had a major impact on the Lebanese economy and society. The impact on social conditions and human resources was equally grave. However, Lebanon throughout her history, and even during her darkest days, never wavered from her long tradition of a democratic political system and open exchange and trade regime.
This is the Mediterranean Sea as viewed from Italy. One cannot actually view this as a calm sea except there are no white caps. That wave in the foreground is a breaking wave. The Mediterranean Sea is interesting, especially at the Straits of Gilbralter. There is a huge 'ocean fall' (not water fall) that leaves the sea to mix with ocean water. The ocean fall at the straits is significant in that the velocity could literally (if tapped for energy) produce large amounts of electric (hydroelectric) power that would probably power every nation of Europe or North Africa or those of the Mediterranean Sea. That ocean fall at the straits is very, very interesting to me, as it leaves the straits and tumbles right to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean without being disrupted by ocean currents coming south along the continental margin.
February 14th seems turbulent through history.
February 14, ...
278 AD, Saint Valentine is beheaded, contributing in part to the origins of the Valentine's Day holiday.
1349, 2,000 Jews burned at the stake in Strasbourg France
1670, Roman Catholic emperor Leopold I chases Jews out of Vienna
1794. 1st US textile machinery patent granted, to James Davenport, Philadelphia PA
1817, Frederick Douglass African-American abolitionist/lecturer/editor
1838 Margaret Knight inventor, "the female Thomas Edison"
1847 Anna Howard Shaw US, suffragette
1864 Israel Zangwill England, Jewish author/Zionist (Children of Ghetto)
1872 1st state bird refuge authorized (Lake Merritt CA)
1883 1st state labor union legislation; New Jersey legalizes unions
1889, born, Philip A. Randolph, American labor leader, born in Crescent City, Florida. During his youth Randolph worked as a section hand on a railroad. Upon completion of high school, he moved to New York City and attended the College of the City of New York. During his student days, he organized a small union of elevator operators. Concerned over the treatment of black employees on railroads, Randolph organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925. It was the first union of predominantly black workers to be granted a charter by the American Federation of Labor. After more than ten years of struggle, his union won recognition as bargaining agent with the Pullman Company.
1894, born, Jack Benny, American comedian, who hosted long-running shows on both radio and television. He was born Benjamin Kubelsky in Chicago. Benny began a successful career in vaudeville at the age of 17 as a violinist, but he later became a monologuist, having discovered that he could convulse an audience with his deadpan stare and elegant style. His first film was Hollywood Review of 1929; other films in which he appeared are To Be or Not to Be (1942) and A Guide for the Married Man (1968). It was as a radio performer, however, that Benny achieved his greatest fame. His enormously popular program, “The Jack Benny Show,” was introduced in 1932; it was heard every week for 23 years thereafter. He first successfully transferred his well-loved characterization of the acerbic penny pincher to television in 1950. For the next 24 years he appeared frequently. “The Jack Benny Show” was seen on television from 1955 to 1964. Benny also appeared in theaters and nightclubs in the late 1950s and '60s, and after 1956 he appeared frequently as a comic violin soloist with major American symphony orchestras in fund-raising concerts.
1894 Venus is both a morning star & evening star
1903, the Department of Commerce and Labor was established. (It was divided into separate departments of Commerce and Labor in 1913.) AND IN 2000, Secretary Evans destroyed it.
1920, the League of Women Voters was founded in Chicago; its first president was Maude Wood Park.
1921 Hugh Downs Akron OH, TV journalist (20/20, Concentration)
1925 State of emergency crisis in Bayern ends, NSDAP re-allowed
1929, disguised as Chicago police officers and detectives, Al Capone's mobsters take out six of George "Bugs" Moran's gang in a warehouse. The infamous event will become known as the Saint Valentine's Day massacre.
1936, more than 800 delegates representing over 500 organizations elect Asa Philip Randolph, of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, as president of the newly formed National Negro Congress in Chicago.
1944, Anti-Japanese revolt on Java
1945, Perú, Paraguay, Chile & Ecuador join the United Nations
1945, 8th Air Force bombs Dresden
1949, 1st session of Knesset opens in Jerusalem
1960, Beverly Hanson wins LPGA St Petersburg Golf Open
1960, Marshal Ayub Khan elected President of Pakistan
1961, Element 103, Lawrencium, 1st produced in Berkeley CA
1961, Louise Suggs wins LPGA Royal Poinciana Golf Invitational
1962, 1st lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducts White House tour on TV
1963 US launches communications satellite Syncom 1
1964, Bill Bradley, playing for the Ivy League Princeton basketball team, scores a record high 58 points.
1966 Wilt Chamberlain breaks NBA career scoring record at 20,884 points
1967 Aretha Franklin records "Respect"
1967 Latin American nuclear free zone proposal drawn up
1968 Pennsylvania Railroad/NYC Central merge into Pennsylvania Central
1975, Jennifer Michelle Roberts Greensboro NC, Miss North Carolina-America (1996)
1979, Adolph Dubs, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, was kidnapped in Kabul by Muslim extremists and killed in a shootout between his abductors and police. GEE WHIZ. THIS kinda stuff has been going on a long time. Does anyone believe this is going to stop just because Bush is in Iraq? NO !
1984, 6-year-old Stormie Jones became the world's first heart-liver transplant recipient at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (she lived until November 1990).
1984 Singer Elton John marries Renate Blauel in Sydney Australia
1985 Hostage CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is released in Beirut
1985, Cable News Network reporter Jeremy Levin, who was being held hostage by extremists in Lebanon, was freed.
The Associated Press
1988, Patty Sheehan wins LPGA Sarasota Golf Classic
1989, Robin Givens is granted a divorce from Mike Tyson in Dominican Republic
1989, Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million damages for Bhopol disaster
1989, African National Congress (ANC) opens office in Amsterdam
1989, Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offers $1 million-$3 million bounty on Salman Rushdie's death due to his novel, "Satanic Verses"
1989, World's 1st satellite Skyphone opens
1990, Space probe Voyager 1 takes photograph of entire solar system
1991, Air raid shelter at Baghdad bombed killing 300
1992, Cease fire in Somalia begins
1993, Fire in Linxi department store in Tangshan China, kills 79
1994, Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia (51) weds Deborah Koons
Missing in Action
1966 HILLS JOHN R. SOUTH BEND IN
1967 MARVIN ROBERT C. DEXTER MI
1968 DUNN JOSEPH P. HULL MA
1968 ELLIOT ROBERT M. SPRINGFIELD MA SEVERAL OBS INDICATE CAPTURE REMAINS RETURNED 12/27/99
1968 MC MAHAN ROBERT C. JACKSONVILLE IL REMAINS RETURNED 9/90 11/28/90 I.D.
1969 CLARK STANLEY S. MODESTO CA
1969 STEVENS LARRY J. CANOGA PARK CA
278 AD, Saint Valentine is beheaded, contributing in part to the origins of the Valentine's Day holiday.
1349, 2,000 Jews burned at the stake in Strasbourg France
1670, Roman Catholic emperor Leopold I chases Jews out of Vienna
1794. 1st US textile machinery patent granted, to James Davenport, Philadelphia PA
1817, Frederick Douglass African-American abolitionist/lecturer/editor
1838 Margaret Knight inventor, "the female Thomas Edison"
1847 Anna Howard Shaw US, suffragette
1864 Israel Zangwill England, Jewish author/Zionist (Children of Ghetto)
1872 1st state bird refuge authorized (Lake Merritt CA)
1883 1st state labor union legislation; New Jersey legalizes unions
1889, born, Philip A. Randolph, American labor leader, born in Crescent City, Florida. During his youth Randolph worked as a section hand on a railroad. Upon completion of high school, he moved to New York City and attended the College of the City of New York. During his student days, he organized a small union of elevator operators. Concerned over the treatment of black employees on railroads, Randolph organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925. It was the first union of predominantly black workers to be granted a charter by the American Federation of Labor. After more than ten years of struggle, his union won recognition as bargaining agent with the Pullman Company.
1894, born, Jack Benny, American comedian, who hosted long-running shows on both radio and television. He was born Benjamin Kubelsky in Chicago. Benny began a successful career in vaudeville at the age of 17 as a violinist, but he later became a monologuist, having discovered that he could convulse an audience with his deadpan stare and elegant style. His first film was Hollywood Review of 1929; other films in which he appeared are To Be or Not to Be (1942) and A Guide for the Married Man (1968). It was as a radio performer, however, that Benny achieved his greatest fame. His enormously popular program, “The Jack Benny Show,” was introduced in 1932; it was heard every week for 23 years thereafter. He first successfully transferred his well-loved characterization of the acerbic penny pincher to television in 1950. For the next 24 years he appeared frequently. “The Jack Benny Show” was seen on television from 1955 to 1964. Benny also appeared in theaters and nightclubs in the late 1950s and '60s, and after 1956 he appeared frequently as a comic violin soloist with major American symphony orchestras in fund-raising concerts.
1894 Venus is both a morning star & evening star
1903, the Department of Commerce and Labor was established. (It was divided into separate departments of Commerce and Labor in 1913.) AND IN 2000, Secretary Evans destroyed it.
1920, the League of Women Voters was founded in Chicago; its first president was Maude Wood Park.
1921 Hugh Downs Akron OH, TV journalist (20/20, Concentration)
1925 State of emergency crisis in Bayern ends, NSDAP re-allowed
1929, disguised as Chicago police officers and detectives, Al Capone's mobsters take out six of George "Bugs" Moran's gang in a warehouse. The infamous event will become known as the Saint Valentine's Day massacre.
1936, more than 800 delegates representing over 500 organizations elect Asa Philip Randolph, of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, as president of the newly formed National Negro Congress in Chicago.
1944, Anti-Japanese revolt on Java
1945, Perú, Paraguay, Chile & Ecuador join the United Nations
1945, 8th Air Force bombs Dresden
1949, 1st session of Knesset opens in Jerusalem
1960, Beverly Hanson wins LPGA St Petersburg Golf Open
1960, Marshal Ayub Khan elected President of Pakistan
1961, Element 103, Lawrencium, 1st produced in Berkeley CA
1961, Louise Suggs wins LPGA Royal Poinciana Golf Invitational
1962, 1st lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducts White House tour on TV
1963 US launches communications satellite Syncom 1
1964, Bill Bradley, playing for the Ivy League Princeton basketball team, scores a record high 58 points.
1966 Wilt Chamberlain breaks NBA career scoring record at 20,884 points
1967 Aretha Franklin records "Respect"
1967 Latin American nuclear free zone proposal drawn up
1968 Pennsylvania Railroad/NYC Central merge into Pennsylvania Central
1975, Jennifer Michelle Roberts Greensboro NC, Miss North Carolina-America (1996)
1979, Adolph Dubs, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, was kidnapped in Kabul by Muslim extremists and killed in a shootout between his abductors and police. GEE WHIZ. THIS kinda stuff has been going on a long time. Does anyone believe this is going to stop just because Bush is in Iraq? NO !
1984, 6-year-old Stormie Jones became the world's first heart-liver transplant recipient at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (she lived until November 1990).
1984 Singer Elton John marries Renate Blauel in Sydney Australia
1985 Hostage CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is released in Beirut
1985, Cable News Network reporter Jeremy Levin, who was being held hostage by extremists in Lebanon, was freed.
The Associated Press
1988, Patty Sheehan wins LPGA Sarasota Golf Classic
1989, Robin Givens is granted a divorce from Mike Tyson in Dominican Republic
1989, Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million damages for Bhopol disaster
1989, African National Congress (ANC) opens office in Amsterdam
1989, Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offers $1 million-$3 million bounty on Salman Rushdie's death due to his novel, "Satanic Verses"
1989, World's 1st satellite Skyphone opens
1990, Space probe Voyager 1 takes photograph of entire solar system
1991, Air raid shelter at Baghdad bombed killing 300
1992, Cease fire in Somalia begins
1993, Fire in Linxi department store in Tangshan China, kills 79
1994, Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia (51) weds Deborah Koons
Missing in Action
1966 HILLS JOHN R. SOUTH BEND IN
1967 MARVIN ROBERT C. DEXTER MI
1968 DUNN JOSEPH P. HULL MA
1968 ELLIOT ROBERT M. SPRINGFIELD MA SEVERAL OBS INDICATE CAPTURE REMAINS RETURNED 12/27/99
1968 MC MAHAN ROBERT C. JACKSONVILLE IL REMAINS RETURNED 9/90 11/28/90 I.D.
1969 CLARK STANLEY S. MODESTO CA
1969 STEVENS LARRY J. CANOGA PARK CA
Some time ago after the manifestation of the vortexes on October 4, 2002 a resident 'heat conduit' existed between Africa and the mouth of the Amazon River. You can see it here on February 6, 2005. There is also a lot of other 'stuff' going on over Madagascar but I won't go into that here. The clouds reaching across the Atlantic between Africa and South America would indicate an exchange of air at the equator with air masses moving from Africa to South America.
The next day on February 7th there is an obvious movement of clouds from west Africa eastward toward Madagascar. Along with that movemnt is the mostly missing 'heat conduit' over the Atlantic Ocean. The point here is that a massive change in air circulation occurred 'against' the normal geophysics of Earth. It was a clear indication to me Earth was losing the cooling battle in a way that was leading to greater Climate Change rather than a return to normalcy.
This is today's satellite. It is a very big reach to be happy about what I am seeing but regardless the increased cloud cover and turbulence there is still signs there is a slowing to the dynamics that caused the snows of Australia. The 'heat conduit' is back. It is more grossly apparent in it's assent to teh Northern latitudes and it easily discerned it is traveling directly to the North Polar Cap. But if one considers this along with the diminished heat movement from the equator to the South Polar Ice Continent and the minimally manifesting Jet Stream over the resident North Atlantic Vortex I believe I am seeing at very least an oscillation minimum but more a 'settling' of dynamics that remotely might indicate we are starting to do this thing right.
WAR IS OUT OF THE QUESTION !!
It would behoove everyone to behave themselves and keep breathing !
WAR IS OUT OF THE QUESTION !!
It would behoove everyone to behave themselves and keep breathing !
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Is there a question to where Earth is headed?
I don't see how anyone could ever deny Earth is heating. I don't see the objection to the belief the destructive pattern that manifested on October 4, 2002 could be anything but THE problem this world faces.
Below is a graph from Mauna Loa Observatory. There are two red lines. Each read line represents the increase of carbon dioxide being deposited into the troposphere. In the early days of investigation is was learned the 'average' rate of increase of carbon dioxide in the years 1958 through 1966 was 0.60 parts per million. The other red line measure the rate of carbon dioxide increase in the years 1996 to 2002.
To keep this as simple if one is to draw a straight line continuing the earlier red line off the chart it would exit at about 340 parts per million in the year 2002. In March of 2004 the level of carbon dioxide in the troposphere was 379 parts per million. Needless to say that the amount of increase per year has significantly changed the level of CO2 in the tropsphere. In October 2002 the tropospheric levels of CO2 were nearly 376.
Back in the day and it wasn't all that long ago, approximately 2 or 3 decades ago when global warming was first conceived as a dangerous trend it was believed levels of 400 PPM would be tolerable and the levels of which intolerance of biota would be 800 PPM. Those were estimates derived from fossil evidence. They were wrong. They were not only wrong they were grossly wrong. The intolerance to CO2 concentration by Earth is significantly lower than 400.
The pictures below give an interesting picture. The day Australia had snow in the middle of summer the raging heat from the equator into the Southern Ice Continent was unlike any 'Heat Transfer System' I ever witnessed in the 3+ years I have been observing and recording the events of Human Induced Global Warming. Since that day the dynamics seems to have changed and I want to say in a postive way but in reality with carbon levels not improved I can only say in a 'static way.'
The traverse of the sun from the southern hemisphere to the north seems to have brought about an equilibrium of the two hemispheres of Earth in that the reach of the North Polar and South Polar vortexes are the same as exhibited in the current Pacific Global Satellite. That is somewhat of a relief to the Southern Hemisphere although the temperature at Scott would reflect a little bit warmer wind today. That is not a drastic experssion of accuracy of the movement of heat there but only the movement of air at the instance the measurement was taken and that can vary from day to day to reflect stability overall.
The issue now is what will occur in the Northern Hemisphere now that we have a resident 'super cell' if you will over the North Atlantic. I believe I am catching a bit of a re-manifestation of the Jet Stream today flowing over top of the vortex which would be a clear indication the velocity of the system could be slowing. I don't believe the Jet Stream is back to stay but it is making more appearances on a regular basis than it has in the past. This could be just another oscillation to minimum before a return to a greater maximum or it could be an actually 'relief' pattern whereby we are actually coming down in CO2 density while Earth is trying to rest back into comfortable patterns of 'normal' tropospheric air movement.
There is one more item of interest not pictured here but I can certainly pull up a 'then' and 'now' picture to illustrate it. The 'heat conduit' that flowed between the mouth of the Amazon River and Africa disappeared. Today it is back. It is oscillating but it is back. For as 'terrible' as all this looks, I remain hopeful and optimistic we are taking our responsiblities seriously and getting the CO2 to lower in trend rather than to continue to rise.
Below is a graph from Mauna Loa Observatory. There are two red lines. Each read line represents the increase of carbon dioxide being deposited into the troposphere. In the early days of investigation is was learned the 'average' rate of increase of carbon dioxide in the years 1958 through 1966 was 0.60 parts per million. The other red line measure the rate of carbon dioxide increase in the years 1996 to 2002.
To keep this as simple if one is to draw a straight line continuing the earlier red line off the chart it would exit at about 340 parts per million in the year 2002. In March of 2004 the level of carbon dioxide in the troposphere was 379 parts per million. Needless to say that the amount of increase per year has significantly changed the level of CO2 in the tropsphere. In October 2002 the tropospheric levels of CO2 were nearly 376.
Back in the day and it wasn't all that long ago, approximately 2 or 3 decades ago when global warming was first conceived as a dangerous trend it was believed levels of 400 PPM would be tolerable and the levels of which intolerance of biota would be 800 PPM. Those were estimates derived from fossil evidence. They were wrong. They were not only wrong they were grossly wrong. The intolerance to CO2 concentration by Earth is significantly lower than 400.
The pictures below give an interesting picture. The day Australia had snow in the middle of summer the raging heat from the equator into the Southern Ice Continent was unlike any 'Heat Transfer System' I ever witnessed in the 3+ years I have been observing and recording the events of Human Induced Global Warming. Since that day the dynamics seems to have changed and I want to say in a postive way but in reality with carbon levels not improved I can only say in a 'static way.'
The traverse of the sun from the southern hemisphere to the north seems to have brought about an equilibrium of the two hemispheres of Earth in that the reach of the North Polar and South Polar vortexes are the same as exhibited in the current Pacific Global Satellite. That is somewhat of a relief to the Southern Hemisphere although the temperature at Scott would reflect a little bit warmer wind today. That is not a drastic experssion of accuracy of the movement of heat there but only the movement of air at the instance the measurement was taken and that can vary from day to day to reflect stability overall.
The issue now is what will occur in the Northern Hemisphere now that we have a resident 'super cell' if you will over the North Atlantic. I believe I am catching a bit of a re-manifestation of the Jet Stream today flowing over top of the vortex which would be a clear indication the velocity of the system could be slowing. I don't believe the Jet Stream is back to stay but it is making more appearances on a regular basis than it has in the past. This could be just another oscillation to minimum before a return to a greater maximum or it could be an actually 'relief' pattern whereby we are actually coming down in CO2 density while Earth is trying to rest back into comfortable patterns of 'normal' tropospheric air movement.
There is one more item of interest not pictured here but I can certainly pull up a 'then' and 'now' picture to illustrate it. The 'heat conduit' that flowed between the mouth of the Amazon River and Africa disappeared. Today it is back. It is oscillating but it is back. For as 'terrible' as all this looks, I remain hopeful and optimistic we are taking our responsiblities seriously and getting the CO2 to lower in trend rather than to continue to rise.
Morning Papers - It's Origins
History
February 13...
1914, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, known as ASCAP, was founded in New York.
1920, the League of Nations recognized the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland.
1935, a jury in Flemington, N.J., found Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty of first- degree murder in the kidnap-death of the son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. (Hauptmann was later executed.)
1945, during World War II, the Soviets captured Budapest, Hungary, from the Germans.
DRESDEN DEVASTATED:February 13, 1945
On the evening of February 13, 1945, the most controversial episode in the Allied air war against Germany begins as hundreds of British bombers loaded with incendiaries and high-explosive bombs descend on Dresden, a historic city located in eastern Germany. Dresden was neither a war production city nor a major industrial center, and before the massive air raid of February 1945 it had not suffered a major Allied attack. By February 15, the city was a smoldering ruin and an unknown number of civilians--somewhere between 35,000 and 135,000--were dead.
1960, France exploded its first atomic bomb.
1966: The Rolling Stones appear for the first time on the Ed Sullivan Show.
2000, Charles Schulz's final "Peanuts" strip ran in Sunday newspapers, the day after the cartoonist died in his sleep at his California home at age 77.
Missing in Action
1967 CARLSON PAUL V. MINNEAPOLIS MN
1969 HERLIK QUERIN E GREEN BAY WI 03/12/69 RELEASED BY SIHANOUK ALIVE AND WELL 98
The Jerusalem Post
Italy to increase Mideast peace role
Italy was interested in increasing its role in Mideast peacemaking, Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu, on a visit to Israel, told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178566056>
Peres to plead with Rabbi Yosef
Before he entered the coalition, the economic policies of Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu were "piggish capitalism" for Labor chairman Shimon Peres.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178566073
Hamas, Jihad say they will maintain undeclared truce
Hamas and Islamic Jihad will maintain a de facto truce with Israel, the groups said on Saturday.
Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar told The Associated Press after the group's leaders met with Abbas that the group is "committed to what is called 'quietness'" until it sees whether Israel stops military activities, halts its targeted assassinations, and discloses according to what criteria Palestinian prisoners will be released.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178565121
Iran goes public with stealth torpedo production
Iran on Saturday officially launched production of a line of stealth torpedoes, calling it the latest effort to step up its defense capabilities against possible threats, state-run television reported.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178566047
Leaving Ethiopia for Zion
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision to bring the last of the eligible Falash Mura to Israel by the end of 2007 promises finally to resolve a controversial and heart-wrenching problem. People who have been following the Ethiopian aliya over the years, however, will wait to see what actually happens before accepting that this chapter really has been closed.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178566035
continued...
February 13...
1914, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, known as ASCAP, was founded in New York.
1920, the League of Nations recognized the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland.
1935, a jury in Flemington, N.J., found Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty of first- degree murder in the kidnap-death of the son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. (Hauptmann was later executed.)
1945, during World War II, the Soviets captured Budapest, Hungary, from the Germans.
DRESDEN DEVASTATED:February 13, 1945
On the evening of February 13, 1945, the most controversial episode in the Allied air war against Germany begins as hundreds of British bombers loaded with incendiaries and high-explosive bombs descend on Dresden, a historic city located in eastern Germany. Dresden was neither a war production city nor a major industrial center, and before the massive air raid of February 1945 it had not suffered a major Allied attack. By February 15, the city was a smoldering ruin and an unknown number of civilians--somewhere between 35,000 and 135,000--were dead.
1960, France exploded its first atomic bomb.
1966: The Rolling Stones appear for the first time on the Ed Sullivan Show.
2000, Charles Schulz's final "Peanuts" strip ran in Sunday newspapers, the day after the cartoonist died in his sleep at his California home at age 77.
Missing in Action
1967 CARLSON PAUL V. MINNEAPOLIS MN
1969 HERLIK QUERIN E GREEN BAY WI 03/12/69 RELEASED BY SIHANOUK ALIVE AND WELL 98
The Jerusalem Post
Italy to increase Mideast peace role
Italy was interested in increasing its role in Mideast peacemaking, Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu, on a visit to Israel, told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178566056>
Peres to plead with Rabbi Yosef
Before he entered the coalition, the economic policies of Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu were "piggish capitalism" for Labor chairman Shimon Peres.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178566073
Hamas, Jihad say they will maintain undeclared truce
Hamas and Islamic Jihad will maintain a de facto truce with Israel, the groups said on Saturday.
Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar told The Associated Press after the group's leaders met with Abbas that the group is "committed to what is called 'quietness'" until it sees whether Israel stops military activities, halts its targeted assassinations, and discloses according to what criteria Palestinian prisoners will be released.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178565121
Iran goes public with stealth torpedo production
Iran on Saturday officially launched production of a line of stealth torpedoes, calling it the latest effort to step up its defense capabilities against possible threats, state-run television reported.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178566047
Leaving Ethiopia for Zion
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision to bring the last of the eligible Falash Mura to Israel by the end of 2007 promises finally to resolve a controversial and heart-wrenching problem. People who have been following the Ethiopian aliya over the years, however, will wait to see what actually happens before accepting that this chapter really has been closed.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178566035
continued...
Morning Papers - continued
Miscellaneous
Diesel spill could bring prosecution
13.02.05 12.45pm
A diesel spill in Christchurch's Heathcote River could result in prosecution and a fine of up to $200,000.
Thousands of litres of fuel leaked into the river from a drain in Sockburn on Friday.
Environment Canterbury spokesperson Mike Freeman says if there is evidence to suggest the spill was deliberate, then it is highly likely legal action will follow.
Hundreds of volunteers are continuing to help with the clean-up.
Council staff were alerted to the problem when residents complained of a heavy smell.
Hundreds of ducks and other birds have been affected by the spill, which is not thought to be deliberate.
- Newstalk ZB
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10010847
Overturned tanker on I-595 leaves 4 dead, 1 injured
By Bill Hirschman and Jean-Paul Renaud
Sun-Sentinel
Posted February 12 2005, 6:02 PM EST
Davie · Four people were killed Friday night when a fuel tanker truck flipped over at a busy interchange, landed on a car and burst into flames that shot 30 feet into the air.
FHP spokesman Lt. Pat Santangelo said the 18-wheel tanker truck was traveling eastbound on Interstate 595 at the Florida Turnpike's on-ramp in the right lane, but "for some reason the driver lost control and started overturning."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-ctanker12feb12,0,5383489.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
The Gulf News
Sectarian attacks kill 22 in Iraq
Reuters
Baghdad: More than 20 people were killed in attacks on Shiite targets yesterday in violence apparently aimed at stoking sectarian hatred.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=151595
The European Union and the Middle East peace process
By As'ad Abdul Rahman
Europe, both in terms of the individual states and collectively through the 15-member European Union (EU), seeks to play an active role in the Middle East peace process. There are many reasons for this, the most important of which are economic and political.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=151605
Women are advancing, but their pay is not
By Larry Williams
Women's brains work differently from those of men different sizes, different electrical patterns, different test scores. That much we know is true.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=151606
Foundation comes to the aid of tsunami victims
By Bassam Za'za', Staff Reporter
Dubai: More than Dh5.5 million in aid has been donated to tsunami victims in Thailand by the Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/NationNF.asp?ArticleID=151586
US officials should check facts, says Syria
Reuters
Damascus: Syria said on Thursday that US officials should check the facts before making provocative remarks, commenting after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Syria last week of exporting terrorism.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=151659
Washington-Tehran tension may spin out of control
Reuters
London: Nobody sees military action as the best way to tame Iran's suspected nuclear weapons ambitions, but as the rhetoric heats up, mutual miscalculation could suck Tehran and Washington into an unpredictable showdown.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=151656
On the proficiency of withdrawal from Iraq we turn to an interview with the King of Hype, General 'Strange' Grange. Kindly note the casual nature as if part of everyday living that death of people holds little definition except in the context of measuring success:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0501/27/ldt.01.html
DOBBS: There are no firm numbers on the number of insurgents and terrorists fighting U.S. troops and Iraqi forces in Iraq, but yesterday, the U.S. commander in Iraq, General George Casey, declared that 15,000 insurgents have been killed or captured over the past year. Now, if that number were accurate, the insurgents would be far stronger than the Pentagon's civil and military leadership has ever admitted or in point of fact suggested. I'm joined now from Chicago, General David Grange. And General, let me first say, good to see you.
And secondly, the Pentagon has always had an interesting history with numbers, but the fact that a general is declaring that more insurgents have been killed or captured than the Pentagon suggested existed a year ago is remarkable, isn't it?
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, you know, the good news is that 15,000 were killed or captured. The bad news is that that means there's a lot more out there, and obviously has grown considerably since the fall of Saddam.
DOBBS: It's grown considerably, the attacks are escalating, and yet U.S. military forces, the Bush administration insists that we are winning the war in Iraq. How can that be?
GRANGE: Well, I do believe we're winning the war. What you don't see is a lot of the effort that's going on. I really think, Lou, that after this election, you're going to start seeing a decline in that insurgency. It's going to require removing the popular support, those that do support the insurgency, away from the insurgents, and that has to be with Iraqis, military on the street and moving the presence of the U.S. off-set from the street but ready to pounce on and raid any sites they deem necessary to eliminate the threat as well.
DOBBS: General, as you know, I am as -- certainly as supportive of our troops as you are in Iraq, and I think that no one can be more supportive than you and I of our troops. I'm also extraordinarily, frankly, critical of the Pentagon. The leadership at this point -- we've lost over 1,400 Americans. We have 10,000 Americans wounded. The Pentagon continues and usually in the form of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to say that the violence will escalate at each one of the events that occurs, whether it's the handover, the run-up to the elections, the elections themselves, post-election. At what point is there such a breach of just straightforward relationship to facts that we have to examine precisely what is happening here on the part of military strategy for the good of our troops first and then for the good of the Iraqi people?
GRANGE: Well, I think what you're seeing is not anyone hiding the truth. I think what you're seeing is a miscalculation of the estimate of what the threat is and how it's changed over time and the requirement that it was a necessity to have many more troops there initially in a transition from maneuvered combat to the stability and support operations. During that void is where this thing built up and changed the landscape, the environment, the situation that we're experiencing right now. And it's -- I think there were poor calculations up front.
DOBBS: And do you believe that the Pentagon, the general staff, those in command of our fighting men and women in Iraq now have, if you will, if I can put it in the colloquial, do they now, in your best judgment, have their act together?
GRANGE: Yes, I do. I know many of the commanders on the ground that are running these operations. They are very proficient. I would trust any of my sons under their care. And I think they have a handle on it. And I think we'll see improvement.
DOBBS: Outstanding. If General Grange says that there is going to be improvement, I'll take that to the bank. We appreciate it. Thank you, General David Grange.
IN CONTRAST TO an article that appears on Michael Moore Dot Calm:
Pentagon covers up failure to train and recruit local security forces
By Andrew Buncombe / The Independent
Training of Iraq's security forces, crucial to any exit strategy for Britain and the US, is going so badly that the Pentagon has stopped giving figures for the number of combat-ready indigenous troops, The Independent on Sunday has learned.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1413
Michael Moore Today
Gold Star Families for Peace
We as families of soldiers who have died as a result of war are organizing to be a positive force in our world to bring our country’s sons and daughters home from Iraq, to minimize the “human cost” of this war, and to prevent other families from the pain we are feeling as the result of our losses. We are also hoping to be lifetime support for each other through our losses.
http://www.gsfp.org/
REGRETFULLY, LAURA
THE MARCH OF FREEDOM
The Bush administration came under pressure on Thursday to make public the full classified version of a report from the 9/11 commission that is critical of the government's failure to heed aviation threats before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php
Iraqi Security Force Cover-Up at Pentagon?
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Rumsfeld Watches as Iraqis Learn to Fight Insurgency
By Josh White / Washington Post
BAGHDAD, Feb. 11 -- The sharp blast echoed from a cluster of buildings and trees in the morning sunshine, and almost simultaneously the target crumpled nearly 1,000 feet away. Helicopters roared in and soldier after soldier slithered down a rope onto a stone building. Armored vehicles followed, as did flashes and bangs and smoke and gunshots.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1412
At Least 18 Killed In Iraq Violence
By Luke Baker / Reuters
BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber killed 18 people near a hospital south of Baghdad on Saturday amid a surge of violence by Iraq's mostly Sunni Muslim insurgents ahead of Ashura, the holiest festival on the Shi'ite religious calendar.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1411
Bush Doctrine Gets a Nuclear Reaction
Editorial / Atlanta Journal Constitution
Under the Bush Doctrine, the United States will "not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most dangerous weapons," as the president explained his policy. Those words "will not permit" were carefully selected, carrying the clear and very intentional message that military force will be used to correct such situations if necessary.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1398
The Los Angeles Times
Postelection Optimism Ebbing in Iraq
With no official results and a surge in violence, some wonder whether even a new government can make a difference. Others hold on to hope.
BAGHDAD — Two weeks after Iraq's first democratic election, hopes for a better future have given way in some quarters to pessimism, or at least to more limited expectations, as resurgent violence and a delay in the final tally have added to political uncertainty.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-mood13feb13,0,3907101.story?coll=la-home-headlines
The Face of Mexico's Narco-Spy Scandal
AGUA PRIETA, Mexico — Nahum Acosta's rise from elementary school teacher in this hardscrabble border city to a prestigious job on President Vicente Fox's travel staff made him the epitome of "local boy makes good." And he never forgot his roots.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexmole13feb13,0,7806044.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Hunt for Fugitives Expands to Retirees
A computer dragnet of aid recipients has caught felons, but in many cases the sick and poor lost their lifeline. Social Security rolls are next.
WASHINGTON — A law enforcement measure that has had mixed results in hunting down fugitives among the nation's sick and disabled is expanding this year to target the much larger ranks of retired Americans.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fugitive13feb13,0,2021583.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Guardian Umlimited
Top police chiefs admit hunt ban won't work
Secret memos reveal growing fear of civil unrest
Mark Townsend, environment correspondent
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
Britain's most senior police officers have raised grave concerns that the imminent hunting ban is unenforcable, will erode morale, and could precipitate large-scale civil unrest, internal documents obtained by The Observer reveal.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1411912,00.html
New Aids nightmare shocks US
Robin McKie, science editor
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
A strain of HIV that is highly resistant to almost all anti-retroviral drugs and which leads to the rapid onset of Aids has been detected in New York. Doctors and hospitals across the city have been placed on alert and told to test all new HIV cases for evidence of the strain.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1411916,00.html
Allies move in on top terrorist
Bigley's executioner 'holed up in Kirkuk' as death toll in Iraq resumes pre-election levels
Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
Iraq's most wanted terrorist, the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is hiding out in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk after fleeing from Mosul, according to police sources.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1411802,00.html
Tsunami victims still wait for aid
Supplies to stricken Sri Lankans are blocked by bungling and corruption
Jason Burke in Galle
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
Thousands of tsunami victims in Sri Lanka are still without aid, despite the biggest global humanitarian effort ever launched following a natural disaster. Tens of thousands more are receiving patchy assistance, because of government bureaucracy and corruption, poor co-ordination between aid agencies and inappropriate, rather than insufficient, supplies sent from the West.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1412033,00.html
Sex and the single robot
Jonathan Watts, East Asia correspondent
Wednesday February 2, 2005
The Guardian
Scientists have made them walk and talk. There are even robots that can run. But a South Korean professor is poised to take their development several steps further, and give cybersex new meaning.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/science/story/0,12996,1403780,00.html
The Daily Mail and Guardian
New Aids nightmare shocks US
13 February 2005 08:02
A strain of HIV that is highly resistant to almost all anti-retroviral drugs and which leads to the rapid onset of Aids has been detected in New York. Doctors and hospitals across the city have been placed on alert and told to test all new HIV cases for evidence of the strain.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197398&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/
Judge lashes out at SA's prison crisis
12 February 2005 07:41
Were the SPCA to cram as many animals into a cage as inmates are packed into a prison cell, it would be prosecuted for animal cruelty, Pretoria High Court judge Eberhardt Bertelsmann said on Friday.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197395&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/
SA's water: how long will it last?
13 February 2005 08:02
South Africa urgently needs a well-funded institute to research water demand management.
This is the view of Pieter Pansegrouw, professor of civil engineering at Port Elizabeth's Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, who wrote on the topic in the latest issue of Farmer's Weekly.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197402&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/
Sri Lanka accuses UK of poaching its doctors
13 February 2005 08:02
Sri Lanka - still recovering from the devastation of December's tsunami - has accused Britain of undermining its already embattled health service by failing to prevent hospitals luring away trained doctors and nurses to work in the UK.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197399&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/
continued...
Diesel spill could bring prosecution
13.02.05 12.45pm
A diesel spill in Christchurch's Heathcote River could result in prosecution and a fine of up to $200,000.
Thousands of litres of fuel leaked into the river from a drain in Sockburn on Friday.
Environment Canterbury spokesperson Mike Freeman says if there is evidence to suggest the spill was deliberate, then it is highly likely legal action will follow.
Hundreds of volunteers are continuing to help with the clean-up.
Council staff were alerted to the problem when residents complained of a heavy smell.
Hundreds of ducks and other birds have been affected by the spill, which is not thought to be deliberate.
- Newstalk ZB
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10010847
Overturned tanker on I-595 leaves 4 dead, 1 injured
By Bill Hirschman and Jean-Paul Renaud
Sun-Sentinel
Posted February 12 2005, 6:02 PM EST
Davie · Four people were killed Friday night when a fuel tanker truck flipped over at a busy interchange, landed on a car and burst into flames that shot 30 feet into the air.
FHP spokesman Lt. Pat Santangelo said the 18-wheel tanker truck was traveling eastbound on Interstate 595 at the Florida Turnpike's on-ramp in the right lane, but "for some reason the driver lost control and started overturning."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-ctanker12feb12,0,5383489.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
The Gulf News
Sectarian attacks kill 22 in Iraq
Reuters
Baghdad: More than 20 people were killed in attacks on Shiite targets yesterday in violence apparently aimed at stoking sectarian hatred.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=151595
The European Union and the Middle East peace process
By As'ad Abdul Rahman
Europe, both in terms of the individual states and collectively through the 15-member European Union (EU), seeks to play an active role in the Middle East peace process. There are many reasons for this, the most important of which are economic and political.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=151605
Women are advancing, but their pay is not
By Larry Williams
Women's brains work differently from those of men different sizes, different electrical patterns, different test scores. That much we know is true.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=151606
Foundation comes to the aid of tsunami victims
By Bassam Za'za', Staff Reporter
Dubai: More than Dh5.5 million in aid has been donated to tsunami victims in Thailand by the Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/NationNF.asp?ArticleID=151586
US officials should check facts, says Syria
Reuters
Damascus: Syria said on Thursday that US officials should check the facts before making provocative remarks, commenting after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Syria last week of exporting terrorism.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=151659
Washington-Tehran tension may spin out of control
Reuters
London: Nobody sees military action as the best way to tame Iran's suspected nuclear weapons ambitions, but as the rhetoric heats up, mutual miscalculation could suck Tehran and Washington into an unpredictable showdown.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=151656
On the proficiency of withdrawal from Iraq we turn to an interview with the King of Hype, General 'Strange' Grange. Kindly note the casual nature as if part of everyday living that death of people holds little definition except in the context of measuring success:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0501/27/ldt.01.html
DOBBS: There are no firm numbers on the number of insurgents and terrorists fighting U.S. troops and Iraqi forces in Iraq, but yesterday, the U.S. commander in Iraq, General George Casey, declared that 15,000 insurgents have been killed or captured over the past year. Now, if that number were accurate, the insurgents would be far stronger than the Pentagon's civil and military leadership has ever admitted or in point of fact suggested. I'm joined now from Chicago, General David Grange. And General, let me first say, good to see you.
And secondly, the Pentagon has always had an interesting history with numbers, but the fact that a general is declaring that more insurgents have been killed or captured than the Pentagon suggested existed a year ago is remarkable, isn't it?
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, you know, the good news is that 15,000 were killed or captured. The bad news is that that means there's a lot more out there, and obviously has grown considerably since the fall of Saddam.
DOBBS: It's grown considerably, the attacks are escalating, and yet U.S. military forces, the Bush administration insists that we are winning the war in Iraq. How can that be?
GRANGE: Well, I do believe we're winning the war. What you don't see is a lot of the effort that's going on. I really think, Lou, that after this election, you're going to start seeing a decline in that insurgency. It's going to require removing the popular support, those that do support the insurgency, away from the insurgents, and that has to be with Iraqis, military on the street and moving the presence of the U.S. off-set from the street but ready to pounce on and raid any sites they deem necessary to eliminate the threat as well.
DOBBS: General, as you know, I am as -- certainly as supportive of our troops as you are in Iraq, and I think that no one can be more supportive than you and I of our troops. I'm also extraordinarily, frankly, critical of the Pentagon. The leadership at this point -- we've lost over 1,400 Americans. We have 10,000 Americans wounded. The Pentagon continues and usually in the form of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to say that the violence will escalate at each one of the events that occurs, whether it's the handover, the run-up to the elections, the elections themselves, post-election. At what point is there such a breach of just straightforward relationship to facts that we have to examine precisely what is happening here on the part of military strategy for the good of our troops first and then for the good of the Iraqi people?
GRANGE: Well, I think what you're seeing is not anyone hiding the truth. I think what you're seeing is a miscalculation of the estimate of what the threat is and how it's changed over time and the requirement that it was a necessity to have many more troops there initially in a transition from maneuvered combat to the stability and support operations. During that void is where this thing built up and changed the landscape, the environment, the situation that we're experiencing right now. And it's -- I think there were poor calculations up front.
DOBBS: And do you believe that the Pentagon, the general staff, those in command of our fighting men and women in Iraq now have, if you will, if I can put it in the colloquial, do they now, in your best judgment, have their act together?
GRANGE: Yes, I do. I know many of the commanders on the ground that are running these operations. They are very proficient. I would trust any of my sons under their care. And I think they have a handle on it. And I think we'll see improvement.
DOBBS: Outstanding. If General Grange says that there is going to be improvement, I'll take that to the bank. We appreciate it. Thank you, General David Grange.
IN CONTRAST TO an article that appears on Michael Moore Dot Calm:
Pentagon covers up failure to train and recruit local security forces
By Andrew Buncombe / The Independent
Training of Iraq's security forces, crucial to any exit strategy for Britain and the US, is going so badly that the Pentagon has stopped giving figures for the number of combat-ready indigenous troops, The Independent on Sunday has learned.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1413
Michael Moore Today
Gold Star Families for Peace
We as families of soldiers who have died as a result of war are organizing to be a positive force in our world to bring our country’s sons and daughters home from Iraq, to minimize the “human cost” of this war, and to prevent other families from the pain we are feeling as the result of our losses. We are also hoping to be lifetime support for each other through our losses.
http://www.gsfp.org/
REGRETFULLY, LAURA
THE MARCH OF FREEDOM
The Bush administration came under pressure on Thursday to make public the full classified version of a report from the 9/11 commission that is critical of the government's failure to heed aviation threats before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php
Iraqi Security Force Cover-Up at Pentagon?
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Rumsfeld Watches as Iraqis Learn to Fight Insurgency
By Josh White / Washington Post
BAGHDAD, Feb. 11 -- The sharp blast echoed from a cluster of buildings and trees in the morning sunshine, and almost simultaneously the target crumpled nearly 1,000 feet away. Helicopters roared in and soldier after soldier slithered down a rope onto a stone building. Armored vehicles followed, as did flashes and bangs and smoke and gunshots.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1412
At Least 18 Killed In Iraq Violence
By Luke Baker / Reuters
BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber killed 18 people near a hospital south of Baghdad on Saturday amid a surge of violence by Iraq's mostly Sunni Muslim insurgents ahead of Ashura, the holiest festival on the Shi'ite religious calendar.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1411
Bush Doctrine Gets a Nuclear Reaction
Editorial / Atlanta Journal Constitution
Under the Bush Doctrine, the United States will "not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most dangerous weapons," as the president explained his policy. Those words "will not permit" were carefully selected, carrying the clear and very intentional message that military force will be used to correct such situations if necessary.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1398
The Los Angeles Times
Postelection Optimism Ebbing in Iraq
With no official results and a surge in violence, some wonder whether even a new government can make a difference. Others hold on to hope.
BAGHDAD — Two weeks after Iraq's first democratic election, hopes for a better future have given way in some quarters to pessimism, or at least to more limited expectations, as resurgent violence and a delay in the final tally have added to political uncertainty.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-mood13feb13,0,3907101.story?coll=la-home-headlines
The Face of Mexico's Narco-Spy Scandal
AGUA PRIETA, Mexico — Nahum Acosta's rise from elementary school teacher in this hardscrabble border city to a prestigious job on President Vicente Fox's travel staff made him the epitome of "local boy makes good." And he never forgot his roots.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexmole13feb13,0,7806044.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Hunt for Fugitives Expands to Retirees
A computer dragnet of aid recipients has caught felons, but in many cases the sick and poor lost their lifeline. Social Security rolls are next.
WASHINGTON — A law enforcement measure that has had mixed results in hunting down fugitives among the nation's sick and disabled is expanding this year to target the much larger ranks of retired Americans.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fugitive13feb13,0,2021583.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Guardian Umlimited
Top police chiefs admit hunt ban won't work
Secret memos reveal growing fear of civil unrest
Mark Townsend, environment correspondent
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
Britain's most senior police officers have raised grave concerns that the imminent hunting ban is unenforcable, will erode morale, and could precipitate large-scale civil unrest, internal documents obtained by The Observer reveal.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1411912,00.html
New Aids nightmare shocks US
Robin McKie, science editor
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
A strain of HIV that is highly resistant to almost all anti-retroviral drugs and which leads to the rapid onset of Aids has been detected in New York. Doctors and hospitals across the city have been placed on alert and told to test all new HIV cases for evidence of the strain.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1411916,00.html
Allies move in on top terrorist
Bigley's executioner 'holed up in Kirkuk' as death toll in Iraq resumes pre-election levels
Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
Iraq's most wanted terrorist, the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is hiding out in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk after fleeing from Mosul, according to police sources.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1411802,00.html
Tsunami victims still wait for aid
Supplies to stricken Sri Lankans are blocked by bungling and corruption
Jason Burke in Galle
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
Thousands of tsunami victims in Sri Lanka are still without aid, despite the biggest global humanitarian effort ever launched following a natural disaster. Tens of thousands more are receiving patchy assistance, because of government bureaucracy and corruption, poor co-ordination between aid agencies and inappropriate, rather than insufficient, supplies sent from the West.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1412033,00.html
Sex and the single robot
Jonathan Watts, East Asia correspondent
Wednesday February 2, 2005
The Guardian
Scientists have made them walk and talk. There are even robots that can run. But a South Korean professor is poised to take their development several steps further, and give cybersex new meaning.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/science/story/0,12996,1403780,00.html
The Daily Mail and Guardian
New Aids nightmare shocks US
13 February 2005 08:02
A strain of HIV that is highly resistant to almost all anti-retroviral drugs and which leads to the rapid onset of Aids has been detected in New York. Doctors and hospitals across the city have been placed on alert and told to test all new HIV cases for evidence of the strain.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197398&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/
Judge lashes out at SA's prison crisis
12 February 2005 07:41
Were the SPCA to cram as many animals into a cage as inmates are packed into a prison cell, it would be prosecuted for animal cruelty, Pretoria High Court judge Eberhardt Bertelsmann said on Friday.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197395&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/
SA's water: how long will it last?
13 February 2005 08:02
South Africa urgently needs a well-funded institute to research water demand management.
This is the view of Pieter Pansegrouw, professor of civil engineering at Port Elizabeth's Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, who wrote on the topic in the latest issue of Farmer's Weekly.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197402&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/
Sri Lanka accuses UK of poaching its doctors
13 February 2005 08:02
Sri Lanka - still recovering from the devastation of December's tsunami - has accused Britain of undermining its already embattled health service by failing to prevent hospitals luring away trained doctors and nurses to work in the UK.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197399&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/
continued...
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