Target Centermass

Author: Gunner

  • Mbeki Attacks ‘Racist’ Churchill

    It seems the South African president is embracing the long-held Arab tradition of placing blame on outsiders in an attempt to shrug off local shortcomings, in this case those of Sudan.

    President Thabo Mbeki has made a withering attack on Winston Churchill and other historic British figures, calling them racists who ravaged Africa and blighted its post-colonial development.

    The South African president was addressing the Sudanese assembly, and he was criticised for not dealing with the government’s human rights violations in Darfur.

    He said British imperialists in the 19th and 20th centuries had treated Africans as savages and left a “terrible legacy” of countries divided by race, colour, culture and religion.

    He singled out Churchill as a progenitor of vicious prejudice who justified British atrocities by depicting the continent’s inhabitants as inferior races who needed to be subdued, and pointed out that Kitchener and Wolseley had waged ruthless campaigns in Sudan and South Africa.

    “To some extent we can say that when these eminent representatives of British colonialism were not in Sudan, they were in South Africa, and vice versa, doing terrible things wherever they went, justifying what they did by defining the native peoples of Africa as savages that had to be civilised, even against their will.”

    The speech was made on New Year’s Day but the full text was made available in South Africa only this week.

    As an exile in Britain in the 1960s Mr Mbeki was educated at Sussex University and worked in the London office of the African National Congress.

    Once considered an Anglophile, his admiration for South Africa’s former colonial power seems to have been cooled by spats over the Iraq war and strife in Zimbabwe.

    ….

    Mr Mbeki said this attitude [exhibited by Churchill] conditioned the behaviour of British empire-building in South Africa, including the crushing of the Zulu people and the scorched earth policy and concentration camps of the Anglo-Boer war.

    He was in Sudan after attending last week’s signing in Kenya of a peace accord between the Khartoum government and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement .

    He visited Darfur, where Khartoum is accused of massacres and ethnic cleansing.

    Mr Mbeki said he had seen the “challenges” in the region, and he thanked the government for cooperating with the African Union and moving towards peace and reconciliation.

    South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, said the speech was a missed opportunity to press Khartoum to rein in the Janjaweed militias.

    “Mollycoddling the Sudanese government is hardly appropriate in the face of its failure to put a stop to the Janjaweed terrorism,” he said.

    Douglas Gibson, a party spokesman, said: “It amazes me that President Mbeki feels that he should insult the memory of the greatest Briton by associating him with British colonial policy of 120 years ago.

    “All this in order to create some superficial similarity between Sudan and South Africa.

    “There is no similarity at all. South Africa has a liberal democratic constitution … Sudan is a country which is hardly governed and where the Arab north dominates the African south and west.”

    And just what was Mbeki’s beef with ol’ Winston? Simply this:

    As a young man Churchill served in Africa as an army officer, he was colonial secretary in 1921-22, and wrote articles and books about the continent.

    Mr Mbeki quoted a passage from The River War, Churchill’s account of Kitchener’s campaign in Sudan, which described shortcomings in “Mohammedanism” – Islam.

    It said: “Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.

    “The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.

    “A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity.”

    Winston Churchill — though not perfect, right so many times in history about so many things. And as right today as he was then about the state of the Islamic world.

  • Kuwait Charges Troops With Plotting Attack

    Talk about ingratitude.

    Kuwait has arrested up to four members of its armed forces who are suspected of plotting to attack allied troops, a Kuwaiti military spokesman said.

    Kuwait has witnessed several small-scale attacks on U.S. troops and civilians in the past three years. But this is the first time in many years that serving members of the armed forces have been detained on such charges.

    “The security apparatus in Military Intelligence is investigating some officers following information that they intended to work against friendly troops,” Brig. Youssef al-Mullah said Monday.

    “They are fewer than five,” al-Mullah said, adding they were arrested late last week. “A number have been released after investigation.”

    He would not say how many remained in custody. Nor would he identify the troops they were suspected of plotting against. But the targeted troops are believed to be American.

    The United States stations several thousand troops in Kuwait and used the oil-rich country to launch its March 2003 invasion of Iraq. Kuwait continues to serve as a staging ground for U.S. troops and equipment going into Iraq.

    “It is just an investigation,” al-Mullah said. “The military judicial proceedings will take their course.”

    Al-Mullah gave no further details.

    The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait warned American citizens Dec. 15 that it had “credible information that terrorist groups are developing near-term plans for attacks against unspecified targets in Kuwait.” The embassy urged nationals to exercise caution and report any suspicious activity.

    Kuwait has stepped up its internal security in recent days, stationing armed military and police vehicles at street junctions, hotels and embassies.

    Seriously, the world of Islam is a festering sore right now.

    That is not a condemnation of the religion, but rather a statement on the Arab world that has been built in its name. Radicalism went too long unchecked, generations were raised on poisonous words, blame for self-inflicted suffering was always scapegoated outward.

    That an ally would have such snakes in their midst is no surprise and is only more evidence why the Mideast needs an opportunity to embrace democracy, freedom and civilization.

    Or die before it can savage all of humanity.

  • U.S. Limiting Prisoner Numbers in Afghanistan after Complaints

    The fallout of the overblown prisoner abuse scandals continues.

    The U.S. military is taking as few prisoners as possible in its campaign against al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan, partly to prevent more complaints about its conduct after at least eight prisoners died in custody, an American commander said Monday.

    ….

    Col. Gary Cheek, the U.S. commander for eastern Afghanistan, said the troops under his command would be “relentless” in their pursuit of insurgents, including about 20 unidentified top leaders, through the bitter Afghan winter.

    But following a review of the military’s policy on detentions last summer, the soldiers were taking as few prisoners as possible as they try to win stronger support from the local population.

    The U.S. military, which still commands 18,000 troops here, has taken thousands of prisoners in Afghanistan since Operation Enduring Freedom, Washington’s anti-terrorism drive, began after the Sept. 11 attacks.

    Those not released quickly are transferred to larger jails at U.S. bases in Bagram and Kandahar, and many have been sent from there to the U.S. prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

    However, allegations of mistreatment – dating to before the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq – have hurt efforts to win over ordinary Afghans.

    Maj. Mark McCann, a military spokesman, said fewer prisoners were now being sent to Guantanamo, reflecting a decline in militant activity in Afghanistan. Also, detainees could be freed this year under a planned amnesty, he said.

    The story doesn’t specify exactly how the number of prisoners taken is being reduced. Perhaps the troops are refusing to take into initial custody those considered the smallest of the small fish. Perhaps they are avoiding surrender opportunities via standoff engagements.

    It really doesn’t matter to me. Dead men don’t wear plaid, and they don’t go whining to the media either.

  • Man Charged Under Patriot Act for Laser

    The first arrest has been made in a recent rash of laser devices dangerously being beamed into cockpits.

    Federal authorities Tuesday used the Patriot Act to charge a man with pointing a laser beam at an airplane overhead and temporarily blinding the pilot and co-pilot.

    The FBI acknowledged the incident had no connection to terrorism but called David Banach’s actions “foolhardy and negligent.”

    Banach, 38, of Parsippany [N.J.] admitted to federal agents that he pointed the light beam at a jet and a helicopter over his home near Teterboro Airport last week, authorities said. Initially, he claimed his daughter aimed the device at the helicopter, they said.

    He is the first person arrested after a recent rash of reports around the nation of laser beams hitting airplanes.

    Banach was charged only in connection with the jet. He was accused of interfering with the operator of a mass transportation vehicle and making false statements to the FBI, and was released on $100,000 bail. He could get up to 25 years in prison and fines of up to $500,000.

    Banach’s lawyer, Gina Mendola-Longarzo, said her client was simply using the hand-held device to look at stars with his daughter on the family’s deck. She said Banach bought the device on the Internet for $100 for his job testing fiber-optic cable.

    “He wasn’t trying to harm any person, any aircraft or anything like that,” she said.

    A laser to look at the stars? Does he really think that load of crap will hold up to any sort of scrutiny?

    The jet, a chartered Cessna Citation, was coming in for a landing last Wednesday with six people aboard when a green light beam struck the windshield three times at about 3,000 feet, according to court documents. The flash temporarily blinded both the pilot and co-pilot, but they were later able to land the plane safely, authorities said.

    ….

    Similar incidents have been reported in Colorado Springs, Colo., Cleveland, Washington, Houston and Medford, Ore., raising fears that the light beams could temporarily blind cockpit crews and lead to accidents.

    Last month, the FBI and the Homeland Security Department sent a memo to law enforcement agencies saying there is evidence that terrorists have explored using lasers as weapons. But federal officials have said there is no evidence any the current incidents represent a terrorist plot.

    A prank is throwing rolls of toilet paper into someone’s trees. A prank is filling a co-worker’s umbrella with paper refuse from a three-hole punch (highly recommended for its delayed reward). This is not a prank — it is an attempt to kill.

    A malicious act? We’ll find out soon. A dumbass? We already know.

  • Baghdad Governor Assassinated

    More blood to halt democracy in Iraq.

    Insurgents shot and killed Baghdad’s provincial governor and struck at the headquarters of an elite police unit yesterday in a series of attacks against Iraqi government targets aimed at disrupting the January 30 elections.

    With only four weeks to go, the increase in violence, particularly in the capital, led to renewed calls for the poll to be delayed. Ghazi al-Yawer, interim president, suggested that the United Nations should decide whether elections would be held on time. However, a senior US state department official said that “absolutely” the elections would go ahead as planned. The security situation was not deteriorating and was actually “a little better” than six weeks ago.

    ….

    Iraq’s electoral commission has also insisted that the Transitional Administrative Law governing the elections states they must be held before January 31, with no mechanism for delay.

    The growing insecurity has already diminished participation in the elections. There are virtually no activists out canvassing in the capital and some parties have not even announced a candidate list for fear their members will be targeted.

    The shooting of Ali al-Haidari, provincial governor, was the latest in a string of assassinations of local officials that appears to be deterring influential Iraqis, particularly in the Sunni Arab areas, from seeking high-profile political roles. Witnesses said three cars loaded with gunmen pulled alongside Mr Haidari’s four-car motorcade as he drove through the north-east part of the city and then opened fire.

    Insurgents associated with the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the killing, warning that “every traitor and supporter of the Jews and Christians” would suffer the same fate.

    Do. Not. Delay. The. Vote.

    To do so now would trumpet the message that assassination can prevent putting the government into the hands of the Iraqi people.

  • One Blog Fits All

    Jeff at Beatiful Atrocities is the Absolute Master of Link-Whore Posts.

    I have, with great effort, restrained in the past. However, this drop-down, generic blogosphere “one-blog-fits-all” form is too rich to avoid. That, and he kindly just updated his blogroll to my .net link (hint)

    Enjoy. And remember: your answers may affect exit polling in Ohio.

  • Reciprocity VII

    This will be a special Reciprocities entry. As of this afternoon, my old site (targetcentermass.com) was closed by my former hosting company, Bloghosts. I still have been unsuccessful in getting the domain transferred to my control, so will be spending a chunk of the evening asking (read begging) other blogs to update their links.

    However, I first want to extend a special thanks to those who had previously blogrolled me and have already updated their links to the .net address:

    I also want to acknowledge those who have newly linked to Target Centermass.net:

    I even want to thank a new link to Target Centermass.com, though I hope the link will be updated to .net:

    Also, 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 unrewarded.

  • Man Charged in UK Tsunami Death Email Probe

    This man is just freakin’ sick.

    British police said on Monday they had charged a man with sending hoax emails to relatives of people missing since the Asian tsunami, saying their loved ones had been confirmed dead.

    The hoaxer, claiming to be from the “Foreign Office Bureau” in Thailand, targeted people who had placed appeals for information about relatives and friends on the Web site of TV station Sky News.

    Police said a 40-year-old man from Lincolnshire in northeastern England was charged with malicious communication and causing a public nuisance.

    He was due to appear at a London court on Monday.

    On Sunday, officers seized computer equipment in a joint operation by London’s Metropolitan Police and Lincolnshire police.

    All the messages came from one bogus email address, ukgovfoffice@aol.com.

    “The British government would not use email to convey news of the death of a loved one,” police said. “Anyone receiving such an email should treat it with utmost caution.”

    Sky News said it was “disgusted” at the abuse of the message board on its Web site and had contacted police as soon as it was alerted to the hoaxes.

    The death toll from the tsunami, triggered by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off western Indonesia a week ago, stood at almost 130,000 on Monday, including at least 40 Britons.

  • US Plans Lifetime Terror Detention

    The U.S. continues to wrestle with detritus of human civilization, that collection of terrorists and pondscum currently being detained at Guantanamo Bay. Neither prisoners of war nor criminals of any real value, what is to be done with them and those to be similarly detained in the future?

    A reported plan by the Bush administration to keep some suspected al-Qaeda members imprisoned for a lifetime without trial has come under attack.

    The Washington Post newspaper says the Pentagon and the CIA have asked the White House to decide on a more permanent approach for those it was unwilling to set free or turn over to domestic or foreign courts.

    Some detentions could potentially last a lifetime, the newspaper said.

    Influential senators quickly denounced the idea as probably being unconstitutional.

    “It’s a bad idea. So we ought to get over it and we ought to have a very careful, constitutional look at this,” Republican Senator Richard Lugar said.

    Democratic Senator Carl Levin, who serves on the Armed Services Committee, cited earlier US Supreme Court decisions.

    “There must be some modicum, some semblance of due process… if you’re going to detain people, whether it’s for life or whether it’s for years,” he said.

    I have little problem with achieving a “semblance of due process,” assuming there’s any actual applicable definition of the status of these pigs.

    The story claims the Defence Department, which holds 500 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, is about to ask Congress for $25m to build a new, 200-bed prison, dubbed Camp 6.

    The newspaper said its purpose will be to hold detainees who are unlikely to ever go through a military tribunal due to a lack of evidence.

    The new prison would allow inmates more comfort and freedom than they have now, and would be designed for prisoners the government believes have no more intelligence to share, the newspaper said.

    “Since global war on terror is a long-term effort, it makes sense for us to be looking at solutions for long-term problems,” Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, was quoted as saying.

    “This has been evolutionary, but we are at a point in time where we have to say, ‘How do you deal with them in the long term?’”

    The paper said the outcome of a current review would also affect those expected to be captured in the course of future counterterrorism operations.

    One proposal being discussed is transferring many Afghan, Yemeni and Saudi detainees – the majority of the 500 suspects at Guantanamo Bay – to new US-built prisons in their home countries.

    Those countries would still run the prisons, but the US State Department, where this idea originated, would monitor them for compliance to human rights standards.

    I agree with building more secure but humane facilities for the detainees. Perhaps we should also look for other isolated areas under U.S. control for future facilities.

    As to the return of nationals to prisons in their homelands, I am skeptical as to the level of security available for this to be a viable option for any sizable number.

    Human rights groups say there is little hard evidence against many of the Guantanamo Bay suspects.

    But the Pentagon and the CIA argue that the post-September 11 era requires a new tougher approach and that many of the suspects are hardened terrorists who, if released, would plot fresh atrocities.

    In fact, this has already been seen from previous detainees thought harmless enough for release.

  • Quote of the Week, 2 JAN 05

    The Navy’s a very gentlemanly business. You fire at the horizon to sink a ship and then you pull people out of the water and say, “Frightfully sorry, old chap.”

    —William Golding