There is no other word but savagery that can be used to describe what happened in Fallujah today. From Reuters:
A vengeful crowd of cheering Iraqis dragged the burned and mutilated bodies of four contractors -- three of them American -- through the streets of Falluja Wednesday after killing them in a vehicle ambush.
Some body parts were pulled off and left hanging from a telephone cable, while two incinerated bodies were later strung from a bridge and left dangling there.
A young boy beat one of the incinerated bodies after it was pulled down with his shoe as a crowd cheered.
"I am happy to see this. The Americans are occupying us so this is what will happen," said Mohammad, 12, looking on.
As the victims lay burning, a crowd of around 150 men chanted "Long live Islam" and "Allahu Akbar" ("God is Greatest") while flashing victory signs for the television cameras.
I understand that the "liberation" of the Iraqi people was more of a byproduct of the war than anything else, but the removal of Saddam Hussein should been seen as a good thing. Apparently not. These people desevered Saddam - sometimes I think we should have just let them rot under his rule.
Surely, this headline deserves its place on Engrish.com.
For future reference when the link is dead, the headline was "Misys gives Pecker head job"
My only problem with the death of Hamas leader, is that it was all too quick. It couldn't have happened to a more worthy guy.
That said, more pertinent perspectives come from Rinat and Allison who actually have to live with the fallout.
I hope the IDF has a plan to minimze the inevitable retaliation.
Pakistan believes that have al-Qaeda's #2 man surrounded and are engaged in fierce fighting with some amount of fighters. I do hope they're right and are able to bring this guy in alive. But who wants to lay odds on that this guy will somehow slip away?
Update: I guess I was right, he did seem to slip away.
A 10 year old Palestinian boy was reportedly used as a courier to bring an explosive device over the Green Line. Shameful, but not surprising: remember, terrorists abide by no rules.
Oh and advocating blowing up a 10 year old isn't that much better.
Gary Farber of Amygdala is in some tough financial straits. He's one of the more under-read and underrated bloggers out there and you'd do well to help him out.
The world is a stage and al-Qaeda is the puppeteer, or the Spanish elections results indicate. Tthe victory of the Spanish socialist party in that country's national election, and that party's threat to remove Spanish troops from Iraq if the UN doesn't take over by June 30th is the big news bouncing around the blogopshere. The blogosphere is split in two: the "Spanish electorate has gone the way of Neville Chamberlain" camp and the “Aznar’s party got what it deserved for supporting Bush against the will of the people.” Kevin Drum straddles middle, while also positing that the electorate was incensed with Aznar’s immediate blaming of the Basque ETA even though the evidence suggested otherwise. Inexplicably, Kevin finds it hard to believe that the Spanish punished Aznar’s party for its role in Iraq, but the evidence (albeit anecdotal) suggests otherwise.
A shame if true, because as the Calpundit says, it is a victory for al-Qaeda. Whether or not you agree with the war in Iraq (and Afghanistan, as the photos in the above link suggest), if the surprise victory of the Socialists was a reaction to the Madrid bombings, then it is likely that al-Qaeda has learned that it can affect elections in a manner appealing to them. This is true whether the bombing was committed by al-Qaeda or another loosely associated Muslim terrorist group; the result is clear – terrorism works, and now the world stage is set for future tugs at the puppet strings.
My perusal of the blogosphere has revealed posts and comments rife with errors, on both sides of the divide. Let’s be clear, Spain is not surrendering in the “War on Terror;” the incoming prime minister has vowed to continue fighting terror. This remains to be seen of course, as actions speak louder than words. Iraq, however, is another matter, and right now, Spanish troops are slated to return home, unless the UN “takes control” of the occupation or Zapatero finds some loophole to break his promise. It is distressing that Zapatero’s party was voted in on this promise; although Aznar backed the US and UK on Iraq, as far as I know, no Spanish troops only arrived in Iraq after the invasion was complete as part of a stabilization force. It would seem to me that trying to stabilize the country so that the Iraqi people can make a better future is a good thing, regardless of one’s feelings towards the actual invasion. Withdrawing the troops cannot help matters, but the plurality of Spanish voters seems to feel otherwise.
Let’s also be honest here – Spain was attacked because of Iraq. It was not the only reason – after all, if one accepts the words of the Islamic terrorists that this indeed was punishment for Iraq, then one must also accept Bin Laden’s thoughts on Andalusia as well. (Tacitus has more on this.) But al-Qaeda (or its comrades in arms) knew that punishing Spain for its role in Iraq would be an effective means of making life unpleasant for the US and exacerbating an already difficult situation in Iraq. This had nothing to with vengeance of any Iraqi dead for whom al-Qaeda cares little. Would Spain have been attacked if not for its position on Iraq? Probably, but we cannot be certain. We can be certain that things got more difficult for America and regardless of your politics, if you’re American, this is not a good thing.
At least 173 people have been killed in a series of successive blasts in Madrid. My condolences to the Spanish people - and hey we know how you feel. Ther government is claim this to be the work of the ETA and the ETA is blaming some unidentified Islamic group. According to John of Iberian notes, the bombers left explosive laden backpacks on the trains. Given the propensity of Islamic terror groups to use suicide bombing, this m/o, suggest the work of the ETA. Then again, I've never heard of an ETA attack this large (but I'm no expert in this area). If indeed the ETA pulled this off, it's hard to imagine how it helps their cause of Basque separatism. No one gains any sympathy for his/her cause by intentionally blowing up civilians (unless of course you're a Palestinian blowing up Israelis, but that's another topic of discussion).
It will be intersting to see how the general Spanish public reacts. Although the Spanish government was firmly allied with the US in both the "War on Terror" and the war in Iraq, the Spanish public was not. If the ETA did this, I suspect the Spanish public will support a hard hitting reaction against them. If it was Islamic terrorists, then I'm not so sure.
When Todd Bertuzzi was an Islander he had no heart. Now, after he sucker punched and face planted Steve Moore (from behind no less), breaking Moore's neck, it's plainly obvious Bertuzzi lacks guts as well. At the moment, pending a hearing scheduled for this morning, Bertuzzi is suspended indefinitely, and as far as I'm concernced he should be suspended at least a year, if not permanently.
This incident has been compared to several other ugly ones in the NHL's checked past: Marty McSorely slashing Donald Brashear and Dale Hunter running Pierre Turgeon after he scored a goal, to name a couple. However, those happened in the heat of the moment. Bertuzzi's actions were premeditated. This puts what he did on a whole different level, and as such, I must disagree with Colby Cosh's assessment of the situation.
As dispicable as Marc Crawford may be (and I'm taking Colby's word on this since I know little about Crawford other than being the former coach of the Avalanche) the best evidence that he ordered Bertuzzi to injure Moore is Brad May's statement of there being a bounty on Moore's head. Right now this evidence is tenuous at best and doesn't demonstrate that Crawford explicitly ordered Bertuzzi (or any other Canuck) to intentionally injure Moore. Besides, if Crawford did specifically give such an order to Bertuzzi, there was no reason for him to obey. Bertuzzi is a star, not some rookie looking to make an impression with the coach and there was no need to follow such an order. Crawford needs Bertuzzi to play, not ride the pine.
In any case, this speculation is somewhat moot, because Bertuzzi hung himself by his own words. According to Knownews, after Moore gave Markus Naslund a concussion on Feb. 16, Bertuzzi said:
"No way that punk will be in their lineup in March."
As far as I'm concerned, that's mens rea enough. Bertuzzi knew exactly what he was doing. He may not have meant to inflict this magnitude of injury but the intent to injure was obviously there.
I also don't accept Colby's argument about the instigator rule directly causing this incident. Moore already fought earlier in the game; he paid his dues and the score should have been settled. However, if Bertuzzi felt he had his own score to settle, then he should have done it honorably, by dropping the gloves - with the score at 9-2, the threat of an instigator penalty was meaningless. Instead, he chose the cowardly route and deserves to be punished accordingly. I'm sorry Colby, I don't feel the need to tell my kids and grandkids that I had the "priviledge" of watching, to quote Mike Milbury, a gutless puke help ruin the game of hockey.
Ryan's post over at Dead Parrot's society should be held as an exemplar of a blog post. Instead of accepting prima facie the claims of one blogger (which resonates with the beliefs of many in the blogosphere), Ryan conducted some further research, which, I believe, puts everything into better persepctive.
In discussing his admiration for John Kerry, Josh Marshall uses Kerry's victory over the popular Republican governor Bill Weld in the 1996 Senatorial election as evidence of Kerry's ability to win a tough election. Perhaps. But it's important to remember that Weld's popularity was a double edged sword: lots of voters wanted him to remain governor, a position that has a more direct effect on people's everyday lives than does a US Senator.
The NY Times has a fascinating story on how Khalid Sheik-Mohammed was caught because al-Qaeda was loyal to a single type of mobile phone SIM chip.
While the article is interesting and provides a peek into the world of counter-terrorism, I have to wonder why this technique is being revealed to the general public. I realize that, according to the article, counter-terrorism experts belive that al-Qaeda has already figured out how they were being tracked, I see no reason to confirm al-Qaeda's suspicions.
So Zurich and Geneva are the best cities to live in. My reaction: zzzzzzzzz. I've never been to Zurich, but Geneva? Nice. But boring. And expensive too. Don't get me wrong, the city I live in, Boston, is overpriced, inefficient and provincial (not to mention rife with obnoxious Red Sox fans) but at least it has character.
Mazel Tov to Allison on her new pregnancy. And all credit goes to her for the title of this blog entry.
I know that much of the Israeli public is still trying to understand why the Israeli government traded hundreds of Arab prisoners for 3 dead soldiers and an apparent drug dealer, but Ma'ariv's explanation is a bit of a stretch. Ma'ariv's claim that Sharon enacted the trade because Tennenbaum is the (now separated) husband of a daughter of one of Sharon's old business associates sounds like a twisted version of 5 degrees from Kevin Bacon. Until further proof is provided, I just don't buy it.
How do I know Iraq will be alright? Because I received this in my inbox:
ASSALAMU ALLAIKUM,
GREETINGS TO YOU. I AM FARUK ABDULAHI MOHAMMED OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAQ AND ONE OF THE PALACE ACCOUNTANTS OF PRESIDENT SADDAM HUSSEIN IN BAGHDAD.
I HAVE IN MY POSSESSION THE SUM OF $18.5M IN CASH, WHICH I REMOVED FROM ONE OF THE STRONG ROOM OF THE PALACE WHEN THE AMERICAN MARINES TOOK OVER BAGHDAD. I AND MY BROTHER ZAFAR IMMEDIATELY TOOK THE FUNDS OUT OF IRAQ FOR SAFE KEEPING IN A SECURITY COMPANY IN OVERSEAS, WITH THE HELP OF MY BROTHER AND KEEP THE 2 METAL BOXES CONTAINING THE FUNDS THERE SUCESSFULLY.
I AM NOW ON A SELF EXILE WITH MY FAMILY IN THE BELGIUM.
MY PRIMARY AIM OF CONTACTING YOU IS TO SEEK FOR YOUR URGENT HELP TO ASSIST ME CLAIM THE CONSIGNMENT FROM THE SECURITY COMPANY FOR INVESTMENT IN A VERY GOOD RELIABLE PROJECT IN YOUR COUNTRY. A LOT OF IRAQIS HAD LOOTED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND RAN OUT OF IRAQ INCLUDING TOP OFFICIALS OF EMBATTLED PRESIDENT SADDAM,
MANY OF US SUCCEDED WHY MANY DIED IN THE PROCESS, I THANK ALLAH THAT I AM ALIVE AND I WANT TO HAVE AN INVESTMENT BASE IN YOUR COUNTRY, WHEREBY AS SOON AS YOU TAKE CUSTODY OF THE FUNDS AND LODGE IT INTO YOUR ACCOUNT.
IF YOU ARE READY TO ASSIST ME, REPLY URGENTLY VIA MY E-MAIL ADDRESS FOR DETAILS. momohabu@netscape.net
THIS PROJECT IS RISK FREE BUT HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL PLEASE TREAT AS URGENT.
REGARD,
MR FARUK ABDULAHI MOHAMMED
We have truly led Iraq into the 21st century.