Target Centermass

Day: June 13, 2005

  • Palestinian Militants: Resistance or Thugs?

    You make the (obvious) call.

    Palestinian Authority ‘won’t disarm militants’

    The Palestinian Authority will not disarm militants until Israel ends its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza as stated in a U.S.-backed peace plan, Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa said on Monday.

    “Under international law, the Palestinian people have the right to resist this occupation and defend themselves,” Kidwa, the former Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, told Reuters in an interview.

    “When occupation ends, it becomes a different matter. It would have to come to a national position to start disarming everybody, everybody but the security apparatus,” he said, referring to Palestinian Authority security forces.

    A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who declared a ceasefire with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in February, could not be reached for comment on whether the Palestinian leader agreed with Kidwa’s remarks.

    When lawlessness gets the upper hand

    At long last A. managed to bring his nephews from Jenin to Ramallah for one weekend. He had hoped to restore to them, if only for two days, the taste of their childhood that was buried under the Israeli bulldozers, tanks and missiles. On Friday he took them to the play center in Ramallah. They had not yet begun to enjoy themselves when an argument erupted between a mother and the owner of the place. She called in a relative, a member of one of the security organizations. He came and contributed his part to the argument – shots fired into the air from his pistol, in the closed space full of children.

    The children and the parents huddled in alarm and did not calm down until armed police showed up. Instead of stopping the shooting, they too opened fire.

    On that same street, about a kilometer northward, passersby found themselves in the midst of exchanges of gunfire between armed men wearing civilian clothes. “Jews,” said 5-year-old T. to his mother as they hid behind the shelves of the grocery store. “No, they’re ours, safeguarding our security,” she replied with cynicism beyond his ken.

    Feel free to read them both and decide.

  • France Refuses to Explain Hostage Release

    Ah, the French. Why do they, as a nation, make it so easy to question their fortitude?

    France, which denied it paid a ransom to win the release of French journalist held in Iraq, refused Monday to give any details that led to winning freedom for the reporter and her Iraqi guide after five months of captivity.

    Florence Aubenas and Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi, who were freed Sunday, had been missing since Jan. 5, when they were seen leaving Aubenas’ hotel in Baghdad. French officials have never identified the kidnappers, although authorities in both France and Iraq suggested they were probably seeking money rather than pressing a political agenda.

    Despite mounting calls for the government to explain how the releases were achieved, Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy refused to identify the captors, because he said they are still holding other people.

    “I can say absolutely nothing about that,” Douste-Blazy said on RTL radio. “There are still some hostages in the place of detention where Florence and Hussein were a few hours ago.”

    Government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope said France paid no ransom.

    “There was absolutely no request for money,” Cope said on Europe-1 radio. “No ransom was paid.”

    Former Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, who worked the case until leaving the government this month, also said there was no ransom.

    But questions persisted.

    “Now the time of joy is over, the time for explanations has come,” said Annick Lepetit, a spokeswoman for the main opposition Socialist Party. “The public authorities, the president, the government must explain themselves.”

    If there are legitimate questions, they deserve to be answered. Note I said if. There is nothing in this article, other than a lack of forthcoming, that suggests the French government would acquiesce to a foe. There is, however, history.

    The article does go on to allow Aubenas to be praised to a silly degree.

    Liberation director Serge July, in an editorial Monday, called the captors “professionals in kidnapping, who hold an important – if not central – role in the atrocious market for hostages” in Iraq. He did not elaborate.

    July, a Liberation co-founder who shuttled to and from the Middle East during the hostage crisis, joined many others in praising Aubenas’ tenacity.

    Aubenas, 44, is “an incredible fighter, with a considerable psychological resistance, who in many ways simply didn’t crack,” he said on France-Inter radio.

    The kidnappers had their biggest prize since the lying Sgrena. Just how the hell was Aubenas, a career-long reporter for France’s “leading left-wing tabloid,” going to crack? By promising to write a story denouncing American efforts … again?!!

  • An Airman’s Farewell

    Michael James Reed, known in the blogosphere as Bunker Mulligan, has been laid to rest.

    Bunker’s family has been extremely kind to us, blessing us with photos even as they deal with their own great personal loss. Yesterday, they showed us the honors that the United States Air Force paid to one of their own.

    Even more important, the family also has graciously shared a great many pictures that portray how Bunker lived.

    It is obvious from the devotion of his family, from the service of Bunker, and the many remembrances of others who knew him either in person or only from the internet that we have lost a good man. Indeed, the very willingness by his family to share a look at cherished personal moments, even in the midst of their own time of sorrow, with complete strangers on the internet stands as an incredible testament to the character of Mike Reed and his legacy. Thank you, sir, and thank you to your loved ones.

  • Reciprocity XVII

    It’s been a while since I’ve done this, but every so often I like to take an opportunity to express my gratitude to those who have blogrolled or linked to Target Centermass.

    First, thanks to the following fine blogs for adding TCm to their blogrolls:

    Second, thanks to the following for recent links to TCm:

    As always, if you’ve linked or blogrolled Target Centermass and I haven’t found you, please send an email or post a comment. No good deed should go unacknowledged.

  • Just in Case You Haven’t Heard

    The Michael Jackson verdict was announced today.

    That’s all I have to say about that.