Theodore's World

I guess waterboarding is worse then this…………….Hello Senate!!!!

The Senate narrowly passed a ban on waterboarding as part of their intelligence bill, setting up a showdown between Congress and the White House on limitations for interrogation techniques. The bill clearly states approved and disapproved procedures, ending the ambiguity that has created much of the controversy over whether anyone has ever broken the law in interrogating terrorist suspects.
The Senate voted yesterday to ban waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics used by the CIA, matching a previous House vote and putting Congress on a collision course with the White House over a pivotal national security issue.
In a 51 to 45 vote, the Senate approved an intelligence bill that limits the CIA to using 19 less-aggressive interrogation tactics outlined in a U.S. Army Field Manual. The measure would effectively ban the use of simulated drowning, temperature extremes and other harsh tactics that the CIA used on al-Qaeda prisoners after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Congress banned any military use of waterboarding and other harsh tactics through the Detainee Treatment Act of 2006, which was co-sponsored by Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), now the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination.
But McCain sided with the Bush administration yesterday on the waterboarding ban passed by the Senate, saying in a statement that the measure goes too far by applying military standards to intelligence agencies. He also said current laws already forbid waterboarding, and he urged the administration to declare it illegal.
The problem with McCain’s position is that the executive branch can’t simply declare something illegal. Congress has to pass the law before the executive can enforce it. The DTA 2006 bill left enough room for the argument to be made either way.
When Congress did what was necessary if they wanted to make waterboarding an illegal interrogation process. However, they did more than that in this bill, which is why McCain rightly opposed it, and why Bush will wind up vetoing it. They basically gave terrorists a manual for American interrogation preparation. They went too far; they could have passed a very specific ban on waterboarding without having to publish the CIA’s approved list of techniques.
Senate Votes to Ban Waterboarding
sfgate.com (AP)

Congress on Wednesday moved to prohibit the CIA from using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods on terror suspects, despite President Bush’s threat to veto any measure that limits the agency’s interrogation techniques.
The prohibition was contained in a bill authorizing intelligence activities for the current year, which the Senate approved on a 51-45 vote. It would restrict the CIA to the 19 interrogation techniques outlined in the Army field manual. That manual prohibits waterboarding, a method that makes an interrogation subject feel he is drowning.
The House had approved the measure in December. Wednesday’s Senate vote set up a confrontation with the White House, where Bush has promised to veto any bill that restricts CIA questioning.
Arguing for such restrictions, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said the use of harsh tactics would boomerang on the United States.

“Retaliation is the way of the world. What we do to others, they will do to us — but worse,” Rockefeller said. “This debate is about more than legality. It is also about morality, the way we see ourselves … and what we represent to the world.”

The legislation bars the CIA from using waterboarding, sensory deprivation or other harsh coercive methods to break a prisoner who refuses to answer questions. Those practices were banned by the military in 2006.
CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden said last week that current law and court decisions, including the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, cast doubt on whether waterboarding would be legal now. Hayden prohibited its use in CIA interrogations in 2006; it has not been used since 2003, he said.
The Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 prohibited cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment for all detainees in U.S. custody, including CIA prisoners.
In comments last week to the House Intelligence Committee, Hayden acknowledged for the first time publicly that the CIA has used waterboarding against three prisoners.
The technique is still officially in the CIA tool kit but it requires the consent of the attorney general and president on a case-by-case basis.
Hayden warned Congress that if the CIA were limited to military techniques, it would adhere to them without wavering, even if it meant failing to get urgent and crucial information. He contends the CIA has different interrogation needs than the military and requires more latitude.

“I guarantee you we will live within those confines of any statute of that nature. But you have to understand there would be no exceptions,” he said.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, backed by Senate Republicans Olympia Snowe of Maine and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, inserted the provision in December into a bill providing guidelines for the running of U.S. intelligence agencies this year.
The 19 approved interrogation techniques in the military field manual include “good cop/bad cop,””false flag” — making prisoners think they are in the custody of another country — and the separation of a prisoner from other prisoners for up to 30 days at a time.
It prohibits military interrogators from hooding prisoners or putting duct tape across their eyes. They may not be stripped naked or forced to perform or mimic sexual acts. They may not be beaten, electrocuted, burned or otherwise physically hurt. They may not be subjected to hypothermia or mock executions. It does not allow food, water and medical treatment to be withheld, and dogs may not be used in any aspect of interrogation.

Republican presidential contender Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who was tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, voted against the measure Wednesday.

Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York dared Bush to veto the bill, saying that the president’s Iraq war commander, Gen. David Petraeus, rejects harsh interrogation.

“If it’s good enough for General Petraeus and FBI Director Robert Mueller, it’s good enough for all of America,” Schumer said. “If the president vetoes this, he will be voting in favor of waterboarding.”

Feinstein noted Bush’s repeated declarations that the United States does not torture. “If he means what he says this is the bill to sign,” she said.

This is an UPDATE:
Justice Dept: Waterboarding not legal
A senior Justice Department official says laws and other limits enacted since three terrorism suspects were waterboarded has eliminated the technique from what is now legally allowed, going a step beyond what CIA Director Michael Hayden has said.

“The set of interrogation methods authorized for current use is narrower than before, and it does not today include waterboarding,” Steven G. Bradbury, acting head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, says in remarks prepared for his appearance Thursday before the House Judiciary Constitution subcommittee.

“There has been no determination by the Justice Department that the use of waterboarding, under any circumstances, would be lawful under current law,” he said. It is the first time the department has expressed such an opinion publicly.

This will carry some weight; Bradbury was the man who signed off on waterboarding in 2005, before the DTA. It could be enough for the veto to get accepted by Congress without a big fight over an override.

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Wild Thing’s comment……..
This is what I don’t get about all of this. We have the military it should be the one to decide what it will do and won’t do about anything to do in warfare period. That should include all aspects of war, how they treat prisoners etc. Why are politicians that for sure have an agenda get to put their two cents in to someting that so many of them have not even served in the military and don’t have a clue what our troops are up against.
The liberals sure like to ban stuff that helps us win against our enemy’s…eavesdropping, water-boarding. What a great bunch of fools!
Interrogation technique under Dems new plan: “Would you like tea with that?”
It’s very apparent that our Senate doesn’t take this war serious enough yet.
You can check out the names of the 51 (terrorists) senators who think special rights for terrorists are more important than American lives.
HERE is the roll call vote:

Obama’s Global Tax Proposal Up for Senate Vote (Obama wants $90b a year for foreign aid)
A nice-sounding bill called the “Global Poverty Act,” sponsored by Democratic presidential candidate and Senator Barack Obama, is up for a Senate vote on Thursday and could result in the imposition of a global tax on the United States.
The bill, which has the support of many liberal religious groups, makes levels of U.S. foreign aid spending subservient to the dictates of the United Nations. Senator Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has not endorsed either Senator Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in the presidential race.
But on Thursday, February 14, he is trying to rush Obama’s “Global Poverty Act” (S.2433) through his committee. The legislation would commit the U.S. to spending 0.7 percent of gross national product on foreign aid, which amounts to a phenomenal 13-year total of $845 billion over and above what the U.S. already spends.
The bill, which is item number four on the committee’s business meeting agenda, passed the House by a voice vote last year because most members didn’t realize what was in it. Congressional sponsors have been careful not to calculate the amount of foreign aid spending that it would require.
According to the website of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, no hearings have been held on the Obama bill in that body. A release from the Obama Senate office about the bill declares, “In 2000, the U.S. joined more than 180 countries at the United Nations Millennium Summit and vowed to reduce global poverty by 2015.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
If they are wanting to put us under control of the UN so bad that they refuse to put their names on the voting record, we are royally screwed.
Global welfare checks to countries that poke us in the eye with a stick. What the heck is wrong with these people?
The part that bites my butt is this “rushed through by voice vote” and the “passed by voice vote”. That took Republican cooperation! Anyone of those sorry bastards could have said they wanted a recorded vote and it would have to be done. The Democrats wouldn’t have any options once one person, Democrat or Republican asks for the recorded vote.
This isn’t a measly build a bridge to nowhere Bill. This sob puts a permanent tax on your wages, and mine for eternity. This Bill gives the politicians UN permission to try to take away our 2nd Amendment.

McCain Refuses To Pander
Washington Times
John McCain’s campaign manager yesterday said the candidate will not pander for conservative support, even as his surrogates have made a second overture to see why chief competitor Mike Huckabee has not dropped out of the Republican presidential race.
Former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, a McCain supporter, called former Arkansas Sen. Tim Hutchinson on Friday to inquire why Mr. Huckabee was still running. That was in addition to last week’s call to Mr. Huckabee from Texas Gov. Rick Perry, another McCain supporter, asking him to drop out of the race.

“Frank and I are old friends, good friends. He called and said: What’s Governor Huckabee thinking, what’s he want to do, why’s he still in the race?” Mr. Hutchinson said. He said Mr. Keating did not ask for Mr. Huckabee to drop out of the race — something the Huckabee campaign says the Texas governor did.

“Frank did not do that. Frank was asking more along the lines of: John wants to know, what’s the governor thinking, what’s his goal in this, does he have a different agenda,” Mr. Hutchinson said. “They would like to have Governor Huckabee out but they are being very careful not to unnecessarily antagonize.”

In both cases, Mr. Huckabee’s answer why he’s still in was simple, according to Mr. Hutchinson and other campaign sources familiar with the calls: “To win.”
A spokeswoman for Mr. Perry said he wouldn’t discuss the call.
Mr. Keating’s office at the American Council of Life Insurers, where he now works, said he was traveling and couldn’t return a phone call.
Mr. Huckabee told reporters he is in the race until someone reaches the 1,191 delegates needed to secure the nomination, and says voters deserve to have a choice on the ballot.
Mr. McCain has a nearly insurmountable lead in the race for the Republican nomination, but Mr. Huckabee’s repeated strong performances among conservative voters — on Tuesday he won a majority of self-identified conservatives in Virginia’s primary, though Mr. McCain won a plurality in Maryland —is a theme the press has focused on. And it is a theme Mr. McCain would like to end.
But Rick Davis, Mr. McCain’s campaign manager, told reporters at a luncheon hosted by the Christian Science Monitor yesterday that Mr. McCain is happy to have Mr. Huckabee in the race.

“Governor Huckabee’s campaign, although we believe rather unnecessary in the process of winning delegates, is perfectly fine with us,” he said, adding that having a contested nomination earns them needed press attention.

He also disputed the sentiment from some conservatives that Mr. McCain needs to make a specific gesture to conservatives, such as selecting a vice-presidential nominee they can be excited about, to win their support. Instead, Mr. Davis said the important move is conservatives joining the McCain campaign, including defense, economic and social conservatives.

“Every single thread of the Republican blanket has covered John McCain,” he said. “The grand gesture I think is really being made on the part of conservatives to John McCain, saying, we believe that you would make a good president and are willing to put our political capital to your disposal.”

He said Mr. McCain’s reception at the Conservative Political Action Conference, and endorsements from high-profile names such as former Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson, prove that.

Mr. McCain didn’t use the word “conservative” in his victory address in Alexandria on Tuesday night, but he did send out an e-mail ad through Human Events, the conservative weekly newspaper, titled “We must unite as a party,” pleading for financial support.

“I cannot succeed in this endeavor without the support of dedicated conservatives like you. And today, I write to ask for your support,” he wrote.

Mr. McCain yesterday held a closed-door meeting with House Republicans to consolidate his support and begin unifying the party’s elected leaders behind him.
Even though many of those Republicans have fought Mr. McCain bitterly on immigration, campaign finance reform and other issues, Mr. Davis said the meeting was so congenial it was “almost like a rally.”
Mr. Davis was asked about the difference in enthusiasm between Republicans and Sen. Barack Obama, who draws giant crowds to his rallies and had thousands attend his victory speech in Wisconsin on Tuesday night after he swept the Maryland, Virginia and District primaries.
Mr. Davis said there’s plenty of room to undercut Mr. Obama’s support by pointing out information such as his ranking by National Journal as the most liberal senator in 2007.

“I don’t know if all 17,000 of those people who were in his audience last night know that — but they will,” he said. “I promise you, by the end of this campaign, you know, that will be right there on your refrigerator, under one of those magnets.”

Wild Thing’s comment……..
McCain Refuses to pander
So do I McCain ole boy!
McCain continues to charm Consevatives…. NOT!
I don’t think it’s pandering to tell concerned conservatives what he plans to do with respect to certain key issues and not how he feels about them or what principles inform him. For example, now he agrees that the borders need to be closed. Fine. How?
This isn’t asking too much. It’s what a politician must do to win over the skeptics – propose specific steps and at least make a fair attempt to take them. But to McCain this would be pandering. To me it just shows how little he truly respects the conservatives.
For Mad John to pander now would be silly, he has taken what positions that he has so why bother. Plus if he tired now it would just be politics to try and get my vote. The say anything to get elected then not do what he said once in the White House.
McCain is a George Soros man.. why should he pander to other than George Soros. Add into that McCain refuses to admit mistakes. Why would mcCain pander to conservatives when he is pandering to the illegals.

Obama Proposes $210 Billion for New Jobs
JANESVILLE, Wis. (AP)
Democrat Barack Obama said Wednesday that as president he would spend $210 billion to create jobs in construction and environmental industries, as he tried to win over economically struggling voters.
Obama’s investment would be over 10 years as part of two programs. The larger is $150 billion to create 5 million so-called “green collar” jobs to develop more environmentally friendly energy sources.
Sixty billion would go to a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to rebuild highways, bridges, airports and other public projects. Obama estimated that could generate nearly 2 million jobs, many of them in the construction industry that’s been hit by the housing crisis.
“This agenda is paid for,” Obama said as the Republican National Committee promoted an “Obama Spend-O-Meter” online to track his proposals and portray him as a tax-and-spend liberal. Obama explained that the money for his spending proposals will come from ending the Iraq war, cutting tax breaks for corporations, taxing carbon pollution and raising taxes on high income earners.
Obama, who has faced criticism that he doesn’t have enough policy specifics, asked autoworkers at the General Motors plant in Janesville, Wis., to “bear with me” as his began a policy speech that he said would be unlike his typical rousing addresses to rallies. He read from a TelePrompTer in a cavernous training room, flanked by sparkling new vehicles and a large American flag.
“Today I want to take it down a notch,” Obama said. “This is going to be a speech that’s a little more detailed. It’s going to be a little bit longer, not as many applause lines.”
Obama pointedly did not include one of his biggest applause lines, that he would require vehicle manufacturers to raise fuel economy standards. Obama often points out that he delivered that message straight to the automakers during a speech last year in Detroit.
But he didn’t mention it on the plant visit that came a day after GM reported the largest annual loss ever for an American automaker — $38.7 billion in 2007.
“I know that General Motors received some bad news yesterday,” Obama said. “I also know how much progress you’ve made, how many hybrids and fuel-efficient vehicles you’re churning out. And I believe that if our government is there to support you, and give you the assistance you need to retool and make this transition, that this plant will be here for another hundred years.”
Obama explained that the money for his spending proposals will come from ending the Iraq war, cutting tax breaks for corporations, taxing carbon pollution and raising taxes on high income earners.

Wild Thing’s comment ……..
This man is the Anti-Christ, I swear. He is, at the very least, a milk chocolate Jimmy Carter, and worse if that is possible.
What a bunch of BS. This will totally trash the economy.

Iraq Vet Comes Home, Gets Evicted
Couple Asks Property Manager To Add Husband Onto Wife’s Lease
OMAHA, Neb
KETV.com
VIDEO is also at the website
A Nebraska National Guard soldier recently back from Iraq is fighting an eviction notice from his landlord.
Trista Jelinek rented an apartment at Villa Vinee, near 78th and Harney streets, in August.
The couple has spent most of their marriage apart as Tommy Jelinek served in the military.

I was looking for an apartment, and I say straight up, ‘My husband is in Iraq. He’ll be living with me when he comes back in October,'” Trista Jelinek said. “They at no time said, ‘Hey, if your husband doesn’t qualify for an application, he can’t live here.”

When Tommy Jelinek returned from Iraq in October, he said he introduced himself to apartment management and moved in with his wife.

“They gave me the key,” said Tommy Jelinek. “They gave me the parking pass, said, ‘Welcome back,’ and at that point we figured we’d done everything to let them know the situation.”

Last month, Villa Vinee informed Tommy Jelinek that he must apply to be on the lease. He did. But when a credit check came back showing delinquent debt, Jelinek was denied a lease.
Management sent Trista Jelinek a notice warning her of an unauthorized resident living in her apartment, and said she must rectify and remedy the breach. In other words, the wife was welcome to stay, but the husband must go. If not, Trista Jelinek would be evicted.

“Give me a break,” said the couple’s attorney Richard Dinsmore. “They pay their rent. They’re model citizens. He serves in Iraq, and this is the welcome home you get back?”

Dinsmore said that Tommy Jelinek was unable to pay some medical bills while overseas, but said that most of that debt has been paid off. Dinsdale filed for a temporary restraining order to stop the eviction and a judge granted it.

“As we said in the petition, to require a wife to evict her husband after they’ve been separated for 18 months is humiliating. It’s debasing. It’s unconscionable, and some other words I can’t come up with,” Dinsmore said.

The couple said they hopes they can settle the matter out of court.

“We definitely feel obligated to fight this, because we believe we are truly in the right, and were up-front with these guys,” said Tommy Jelinek. “We just want to be treated fairly.”

The attorney for Villa Vinee property manager Robert Hancock and Co. said the company’s leasing policies are based on fair housing laws. She said the property is reviewing the policies to make sure they meet intentions. She said the property manager is hopeful it can reach a resolution in the best interest of both the Jelineks and Robert Hancock and Co.
If not, a hearing is scheduled for Feb. 20.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
If a person truly support our troops I think they should work with this couple after all they have paid their rent on time like it says. It is bad enough that Vets and our active duty troops even have to pay any of their medical bills. They should have complete care and coverage after all they have done for all of us and for our country.

….Thank you Lynn for sending this to me.

A Marine’s Berkeley Valentine Limerick
Contributed by Bill Faith of Old War Dogs Blog

There once was a mayor; Master Bates,
Who chided Marines; whom he hates,
He prefers cunning runts,
Who play Cupid stunts,
And wear nothing but pink on their dates.

Security needs went unplugged,
Film rolled while Medea still mugged,
The council would meet,
While thugs roamed their beat,
Flags burned in the streets as Bates shrugged,
Like Nero who played with his fiddle,
Bates’ actions remain a big riddle,
His city would host,
A leftist’s pig roast,
But the meat still is pink in the middle.
We all hope and pray for a quake
That will give Bates’ poor city a shake,
And then we’ll ignore,
As he stands to implore,
“Send help! For humanity’s sake!”
We’ll watch as you shake and you cry,
When help is slow, you’ll ask “Why?”
Without reason or rhyme,
And despite your foul crime,
We’ll be there, save your ass, “Semper Fi!”
The Gray Dog

Wild Thing’s comment……..
I LOVE this! Thank you The Gray Dog.

* Old War Dogs

Republicans walk out on contempt vote
The Hill
House Republicans Thursday left the chamber ahead of a vote seeking to hold White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify before a panel investigating the firing of several United States attorneys.
The move was intended to show that Republicans want to work on a permanent update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act rather than be part of a “partisan fishing expedition,” as House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) put it.
At a press conference following the walkout, Boehner said “Before Congress leaves town, we must give our intelligence officials the tools they need to keep America safe.

“The president will delay his trip to Africa to deal with this critical issue. And Republicans are prepared to stay here as long as it takes to complete our work,” Boehner added. “The terrorist threat to our country is not going away. We must do everything we can to protect the American people, and we should start by passing the bipartisan Senate bill.”

Wild Thing’s comment……..
Bush was on TV today to talk about this and how important it is and he did some shame on you to the lefties not getting this done. They have had TWO different dates to get this voted on. Cheney said the other day on Rush Limbaugh that they did not meet the first due date and were given another 15 days to get it done. He said he felt they would for sure get it done in the additional 15 days.
BUT they haven’t and the 15 days are up.

Iran: ‘Zionism octopus threatens Muslims’—Hamas: Mughnieh murder ‘Zionist gangsterism’
Mughnieh murder ‘Zionist gangsterism’: Hamas
AFP
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas joined Hezbollah on Wednesday in accusing Israel of murdering one of the top commanders of the Lebanese Shiite movement, saying it was a “new example of Zionist gangsterism.”
In the Syrian capital, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command accused Israel’s Mossad spy agency of being behind the killing.
“Imad Mughnieh was assassinated by the Zionist Mossad … which was aware of the important status of the martyr and the privileged role he played in the jihad (holy war),” said a statement faxed to AFP.
“The Zionist murderers and their agents should know that the resistance will respond by aiming its bullets and its explosives at the leaders of Zionist terrorism and their agents,” the statement added.

From Meir Javedanfar
To say that Mughniyeh was a sought-after man would be an understatement. He had been on U.S. and Israeli wanted lists since the early 80s for having participated in operations such as the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847, during which U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem was killed, as well as the 1994 AMIA bombing in Argentina, which killed 85 people.
Furthermore, he had managed to plan the successful expansion of Hezbollah’s military capability and operations in Lebanon, as well as its supply routes and relationship with Syria. He was seen as someone loyal and capable with whom the Iranians could work. To top it all, unlike some Shiites in Lebanon, Mughniyeh was a firm believer in the velayat-e faqih (absolute rule of the supreme jurisprudence) model of Iranian Islamic leadership. According to this model, the supreme leader (the faqih) is viewed as the representative of God to all Shiites on earth.
To protect him, the Iranian government spared little expense. He was provided numerous safe houses and identities. To make it doubly difficult to find him, he was given numerous plastic surgeries. According to foreign sources, on at least two occasions in the 1980s, Western intelligence services came close to assassinating him. One was when a bomb was placed near the garage of his brother in Beirut. The bombers killed his brother instead of him. The second time was at his brother’s funeral. Suspecting a trap was laid for him, Mughniyeh refused to turn up.
Although Iran has managed to win numerous battles in the intelligence war against the West in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan, the recent setbacks are likely to make Iran’s intelligence chiefs more careful, and quite possibly, more violent in their next operations against the West.
Where the response will take place will be of Iran’s choosing. However the Iran of 2007 is different to the Iran of 1994, when it struck at Western and Israeli targets around the globe in response to attacks against its operatives. Unlike then, Iran has a bigger priority: its nuclear program. Tehran knows that an attack in the West could cost it dearly in the UN Security Council, a forum which Iran takes very seriously. Therefore, if and when Tehran does decide to retaliate, it is quite likely that the location will be the Middle East, where the US and Israel are most unpopular, and its governments are least likely to want to confront Iran.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
Iran is just so upset about this and is putting out tons of propaganda and we will fight back threats. This kill is not making Iran’s Intelligence Agency happy, nope not one little bit.

Hizbullah accused Israel on Wednesday of being behind the deaths of two of its top commanders killed in a car bomb blast in a Damascus neighborhood late Tuesday night. Imad Mugniyah the mastermind of numerous terror attacks including the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner, appeared on Israel and the United States wanted list, and was also believed to have been behind the kidnappings of IDF soldiers Eldad Regev and Udi Goldwasser in 2006. Haj Hussein Khalil the deputy general of Hizbullah’s political wing was killed along with Mughniyah in the blast.02/13/08

Israel’s No. 1 Most Wanted Terrorist Assassinated
“Hizbullah’s Imad Mughniyeh Killed, Israel Blamed”
An-Nahar
Beirut, 13 Feb 08, 11:32
The coffin holding Mughniyeh’s body was placed on a podium in Hizbullah’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where the Shiite militant group planned a memorial service for the “martyr” on Thursday.
It was not clear, however, where Mughniyeh, who was killed on Tuesday in Damascus, would be buried.
“He was a legend. We always heard of his victories against Israel although we never knew him personally,” said Ahmad, a 22-year-old man as he climbed an electricity pole to erect a black flag.
“American intelligence officials have described Mughniyeh as Hizbullah’s operations chief and was believed to have moved between Lebanon, Syria and Iran in disguise.
His last public appearance was believed to be at the funeral of his brother Fouad, who was killed on Dec. 12, 1994, when a booby-trapped car blew up in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Syrian security forces on Tuesday quickly sealed off the area of the blast and removed the destroyed Mitsubishi Pajero, which had its driver’s seat and the rear seat blown away by the force of the explosion.
Witnesses in Damascus said that a passerby was killed as security forces removed the body, but Syrian authorities would not give details.
Iran’s English-language satellite station Press TV said an Iranian school and a Syrian intelligence office were in the same area of Kafar Soussa where the explosion occurred.
Mughniyeh’s assassination was the first major attack against a leader of Hizbullah since the 1992 helicopter strike that killed the party’s secretary-general Sheikh Abbas Moussawi in southern Lebanon.(AP-AFP-Naharnet)”

(Responsble for the 1983 Marine Barracks bombing)
‘Mughniyeh co-founded Hizbullah’
Jerusalem Post
For 25 years, Hizbullah operations chief Imad Mughniyeh was one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, involved in endless attacks against Israel and the United States, including the abduction of two IDF reservists in 2006 and the bombing of US embassies in Africa.
Less known than Osama bin Laden but considered a greater outlaw, Mughniyeh was implicated in the 1983 bombing of the US Embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut that killed more than 300, as well as the 1994 bombing of the Israelite Mutual Association building in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people, and the 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in the same city, in which 29 died.
He apparently had strong ties with al-Qaida, and according to the testimony of Ali Muhammad – a senior al-Qaida operative who was arrested for involvement in the attacks on American embassies in Africa – Mughniyeh met with bin Laden in Sudan in 1993. Hizbullah, Muhammad said, provided explosives training for al-Qaida fighters. This relationship – and the fact that Mughniyeh was Hizbullah’s liaison to al-Qaida – has led Western intelligence agencies to raise the possibility that he was also involved in the September 11 attacks.
Born in Tyre, Lebanon, in 1962, Mughniyeh did not attract attention until 1976, when he joined the PLO’s Force 17 as a sniper targeting Christians on the Green Line dividing West and East Beirut.
Fatah officials told The Jerusalem Post that he had been very close to Yasser Arafat when the PLO was based in Beirut.
Mughniyeh was Hizbullah’s chief liaison with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and was believed to have spent most of his time in Teheran under tight Iranian security. Outside of Iran, he reportedly never slept in the same place twice and constantly looked over his shoulder.
In January 2006, Mughniyeh is believed to have traveled with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Damascus for a meeting with Nasrallah, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and Islamic Jihad chief Ramadan Salah.
“He knew that he was on the FBI’s list for many years, and he has lived many years according to this understanding – and this was strengthened following the Second Lebanon War,” said Col. (res.) Dr. Eitan Azani, deputy executive director of the Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the IDC Herzliya and a former head of the Lebanese Desk at IDF Military Intelligence.

Wild Thing’s comment………
This is a huge kill! Great news! The Mossad strikes again! Words cannot convey the SATISFACTION to know that he is dead! This piece of goat shit was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of unarmed innocents and fine US military personnel.
Mugniyeh taught Al Qaeda how to make truck bombs that actually go “BOOM”, (see Aden Hotel attacks for more info) and also taught Al Qaeda their supposed signature technique of mulitple, simultaneaus attacks, during AQ initited consultations in Sudan, circa 1994.
Some of his worh he was so proud of:
Marine Barracks in ‘83
US Embassy in ‘83
Hostages at the Sheik Abdallah Barracks in Baalbek
TWA 847
Col. Higgins in ‘87
Buenos Aires bombings in ‘92
Khobar Towers in ‘94
and Robert Dean Stethem’s murder has been avenged

Mughniyeh was one of the most dangerous and cruel terrorists,” Former Mossad head and Labor MK Danny Yatom said. “This is a huge achievement for the war against terror.”

“Mughniyeh was living on borrowed time,” Likud MK Silvan shalom said. “He is responsible for many deaths and his passing is a contribution to the international community’s war against terror.”

“When bastards like Mughniyeh, whose hands are covered in the blood of Israelis, Argentian Jews and Americans, go on to a ‘better place’, our world also becomes a better place,” Former chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud), said.”

Political strategist Mark McKinnon

McCain Adviser Won’t Fight Obama
abc news blogs
ABC News’ Teddy Davis Reports: A top adviser to John McCain said Wednesday that he will step down from the Arizona senator’s presidential campaign if the presumed GOP nominee faces Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in the general election.

“I would simply be uncomfortable being in a campaign that would be inevitably attacking Barack Obama,” said McCain adviser Mark McKinnon in an interview with NPR’s “All Things Considered.” “I think it would be uncomfortable for me, and I think it would be bad for the McCain campaign.”

McKinnon, who was a Democrat before serving as President Bush’s ad maker in 2000 and 2004, said that he plans to be behind McCain “100 percent” no matter who the Democratic nominee is.

He explained, however, that if the Democrats nominate Obama, he will be supporting McCain “from the sidelines.”

While saying that he does not agree with Obama on every issue, McKinnon gushed about the Illinois Democrat.

“I met Barack Obama, I read his book, I like him a great deal,” said McKinnon. “I disagree with him on very fundamental issues. But I think, as I said, I think it would a great race for the country.”

Wild Thing’s comment……..
This Obama-idolatry is getting ridiculous. He supports the candidate, but not the campaign?? Weird! OH but wait I keep forgetting, Obama is the Messiah, after all. More like the anti-Christ imo.
Does this mean that McNut’s top advisor is NOT a conservative??? You oknow John like you are NOT a Conservative?? Johnnie, tell me it isn’t so!! Tell me it isn’t so!!!
No pity here from me for McCain, with his Juan Hernandez and this guy he surrounds himself by what he is more comfortable with ……………democrats and those not putting America first.
Political strategist Mark McKinnon is best known for his switch from working with Democratic candidates to Republican George W. Bush.
He is a lifelong Democrat who is now working for McCain and is usually seen in the background wearing a creepy hat.
In 1997, McKinnon met then Gov. Bush at dinner and claims he changed his mind about him. He says that he liked him and that’s why he decided to cross-parties and work for his gubernatorial reelection campaign.
He was one of only a few top Bush staff that had access to the Bush debate prep tapes that somehow ended up being sent to the Gore campaign.