Theodore's World

I coulda been a contender

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A Haggard Saddam Forced to His Trial
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) –
(some text from the article)

Saddam Hussein was forced to attend his trial Monday, looking haggard and wearing an Arab robe rather than his usual suit but walking in on his own, shouting “Down with Bush!”
His top co-defendant and half brother Barzan Ibrahim – dressed only in an undershirt and long underwear – struggled with guards bringing him in and sat on the floor, his back to the judge, for much of the session.
Asked whether the signature and the handwriting at the bottom of the document were his, al- Samarrai said he could not be sure . “I don’t remember,” he said. “I don’t remember anything at all.”
“This is terrorism,” Saddam said of how the court treated the witness.
Ibrahim was physically forced into the room, shouting and struggling with guards holding him by the arms. Saddam and the other defendants walked in on their own, apparently having decided to comply with the judge’s order without guards compelling them.
But they made clear their opposition to being ordered to attend, shouting chants against President Bush and arguing vehemently with the judge. “Down with Bush. Long live the nation,” Saddam yelled, waving his finger, before sitting down.
Even their dress signaled their defiance. Ibrahim wore white undershirt and brown long underwear, his head bare without the Arab headdress he insisted on wearing in past sessions as a mark of dignity.
Saddam carried a Quran and wore a blue galabeya – a traditional Arab robe – with a black overcoat, a stark contrast to the tailored black suits he has worn to past sessions. He had dark bedroom slippers.
The defendants had vowed not to participate in the trial until the return of their lawyers. “Why have you brought us with force?” Saddam shouted at Abdel-Rahman. “Your authority gives you the right to try a defendant in absentia. Are you trying to overcome your own smallness?”
“The law will be implemented,” Abdel-Rahman replied.
“Degradation and shame upon you, Raouf,” Saddam yelled. Later, he called the investigating judges “homosexuals.”
Ibrahim, Saddam’s one-time intelligence chief, argued with the judge, who ordered him to sit, then he sat on the floor with his back to the judge and there until al-Samarrai took the stand, when Ibrahim got back in his chair.

Wild Thing’s comment……
“I don’t remember,” he said. “I don’t remember anything at all.”
Why does that sound so familiar? Clinton’s script I wonder? good grief!

GOP Congressman and Former POW Rips John Murtha
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
Washington

Amid cheers, whistles and two standing ovations, U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) took fellow Congressman John Murtha (D-Pa.) and the U.S. media behind the proverbial woodshed for a verbal walloping.
“Most of you know, at the end of last year, a liberal congressman from Pennsylvania insisted we immediately withdraw our troops from Iraq,” Johnson told the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday. “When I heard this, it made my blood boil.”
Johnson was referring to Murtha, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, who has been quoted as saying that the U.S. Army is “broken, worn out” and may not be able to meet future military threats to the nation.
“It hurt to think what the men and women in harm’s way would believe when they heard the news that someone in Congress was not behind America’s mission,” Johnson said. “It hurt to think what the military families here at home would believe when they learned that people in Washington did not support the troops. And it hurt me to think that some people would just give up on our men and women in uniform.
“What would Iraq be like if the United States pulled out?” Johnson asked. “What would Iraq be like if we left and allowed dangerous people like the head of al Qaeda, (Abu Musab al-)Zarqawi, to run the country?”
Johnson, without naming Murtha, compared criticism of the war and demands for withdrawal with his own experience during the Vietnam War. A 29-year Air Force veteran and highly decorated pilot, Johnson fought in both the Korean and Vietnam wars. After being shot down over North Vietnam, Johnson spent nearly seven years as a prisoner of war in Hanoi, half of that in solitary confinement.
“I do know what it’s like to be far from home, serving your country, risking your life and hearing that America doesn’t care about you,” Johnson said, choking back tears.
“Hearing your Congress doesn’t care about you. Your Congress just cut off all funding for your war. They’re packing up and going home and leaving you.” Johnson added he was “scared to death” by such talk because years ago, he was afraid he would be left in Vietnam “forever.”
“I know what it does to the mission,” said Johnson, “and so help me God, I will never, ever let our nation make those mistakes again.”
Johnson told the packed hall that Congress needs to give U.S. troops “the tools for ultimate success,” including “the best armored trucks they can drive, the best weapons they can fire, and the best ammunition they can use.”
The troops need something else though, Johnson said — “Full faith that a few naysayers in Washington won’t cut and run and leave them high and dry.” Knowing they are fully supported by Congress, is “mandatory for mission success and troop morale,” Johnson argued.
“Any talk, even so much as a murmur, of leaving now or political timelines just emboldens the enemy and weakens the resolve of our troops in the field.”
Johnson accused the U.S. media of predicting “gloom and doom” and ignoring or giving inadequate coverage to successes in Iraq. “What makes me angry at the critics is that we are making great progress in Iraq,” said Johnson. He listed last January’s election in Iraq and the December vote on the Iraqi Constitution.
“Remember the December vote on the constitution,” Johnson asked, “when people came out in droves to make their voice heard? You wouldn’t have known about it because there was so little mention of it here in the American press.”
War on terror
Johnson also connected the Iraq mission to both 9/11 and the wider war on terror. “We were attacked. We are at war against terrorists. We need to stay there for as long as it takes if we want democracy to take root in tyranny’s back yard.”
The Republican congressman picked up an earlier theme from President Bush’s second presidential campaign: “We must fight the bad guys over there, not over here.”
Johnson told the crowd that there are confirmed reports of al Qaeda cells “plotting here on U.S. soil.”
“What part of al Qaeda do you want operating here in America?” he asked.
Insisting withdrawal was not an option, Johnson called criticism of the war “Democratic nonsense” and compared it to the “peaceniks and people in Congress and America” who “started saying bad things about what was going on in Vietnam.
“The people of Iraq are thirsting for something more. They are risking their lives in the name of a new government. We must stay the course if we want to foster a stable Iraq and create hope for millions in the Middle East,” Johnson said.
Last November Murtha told reporters, “It is time for a change in direction. Our military is suffering; the future of our country is at risk. We cannot continue on the present course. It is evident that continued military action in Iraq is not in the best interests of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or the Persian Gulf region.
“The war in Iraq is not going as advertised,” Murtha added, according to the A.P. report on his comments. “It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion.
Last December the Associated Press also reported that Murtha, who is the top Democrat on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, predicted President Bush would “make it look like we’re ‘staying the course'” but that troops would be “withdrawn within a year anyway.”
Murtha was also the subject of a recent Cybercast News Service investigation of his political and military record.

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Sam Johnson returned home to Texas after serving in the U.S. Air Force for 29-years as a highly decorated pilot. He flew combat missions in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars and was a prisoner of war in Hanoi for nearly seven years.
It was on Major Johnson’s 25th mission in April 1966, that he was shot down and taken prisoner. Major Johnson remained a prisoner until February 12, 1973. It was early in his second tour in that war.
“…I did spend 29 years in the Air Force, and I served in Korea and Vietnam and spent 7 years as a POW in Vietnam and more than half of that in solitary confinement.”

American POWs at Hanoi’s Gia Lam Airport, awaiting flights for home, Feb. 12, 1973.
Congressman Johnson is fifth in line.

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Congressman Johnson and his wife, Shirley,
embrace after nearly seven years apart,
Sheppard Air Force Base.
(U.S. Air Force photo)

Wild Thing’s comment……
Thank you U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson!

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Jerusalem News Wire
Iran to West: Remove Israel, or we will
If the West fails to peacefully remove the “Zionist entity” from the Middle East, the “Palestinians” and their Islamic allies will do so through violent fury, warned Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a mass demonstration in Tehran Saturday.
Addressing the hundreds of thousands who turned out to mark the 27th anniversary of Iran’s “Islamic Revolution,” the virulent leader, said:

“We ask the West to remove what they created sixty years ago and if they do not listen to our recommendations, then the Palestinian nation and other nations will eventually do this for them. Remove Israel before it is too late and save yourself from the fury of regional nations.”

Islam dictates that formerly-Muslim dominated lands cannot revert to permanent non-Muslim control. It is this cornerstone of their faith that drives the murderous anti-Israel policies of Hamas and most of the Jewish state’s Middle East neighbors.
But the threat is not only to Israel and other non-Muslim nations that have regained their sovereignty. Reconquering them is only the first step.
According to the Muslim faith, jihad must be waged until the entire world is under the thumb of Islam. Ahmadinejad declared that now is the time for the West to bow to this reality and submit to Allah:

“On the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian nation, numbering in the millions, calls upon those governments to worship Allah.”

Similar sentiment was expressed by Iran’s Hamas allies in the Palestinian Authority last week.
Speaking at a Damascus mosque on February 3, overall Hamas political leader Khaled Mashal declared:

“We say to this West… By Allah, you will be defeated… Tomorrow, our nation will sit on the throne of the world. This is not a figment of the imagination, but a fact.”

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Wild Thing’s comment……….
So by the power of the moon god (allah), and I suppose their pedophile prophet as well. …there might be some real substance behind that threat! I don’t know but this guy scares the heck out of me. Israel is his immediate goal, but as we have heard his aims are global. He knows there will be retaliation that will destroy his country and kill most if not all of it’s people and he does not care. This is not a game or someone just wanting to hear himself talk. This is deadly serious.

UN inquiry demands immediate closure of Guantanamo

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Taken from this article in the Telegraph
A United Nations inquiry has called for the immediate closure of America’s Guantanamo Bay detention centre and the prosecution of officers and politicians “up to the highest level” who are accused of torturing detainees.
The UN Human Rights Commission report, due to be published this week, concludes that Washington should put the 520 detainees on trial or release them.
It calls for the United States to halt all “practices amounting to torture”, including the force-feeding of inmates who go on hunger strike.
The report wants the Bush administration to ensure that all allegations of torture are investigated by US criminal courts, and that “all perpetrators up to the highest level of military and political command are brought to justice”.
It does not specify who it means by “political command” but logically this would include President George W Bush.
The demands are contained in the final report of the commission’s working group on arbitrary detention, which will be presented at its Geneva headquarters in the next few days. A copy of the report has been obtained exclusively by The Daily Telegraph.
The report is bound to intensify the already strained relations between the US and the UN over the Iraq war.
Washington officials yesterday denounced it as “a hatchet job” when informed of the contents by this newspaper.
“This shows precisely what is wrong with the United Nations today,” said a senior official. “These people are supposed to be undertaking a serious investigation of the facts relating to Guantanamo.
“Instead, they deliver a report with a bunch of old allegations from lawyers representing released detainees that are so generalised that you cannot even tell what they are talking about.
“When the UN produces an unprofessional hatchet job like this it discredits the whole organisation.”

Wild Thing’s comment…….
The UN has no credibility to demand anything from the United States, Period! The only Cuban jail the UN is worried about is the only one run by Americans.

AP Photo/KAMRAN JEBREILI
U.S. Former Vice President Al Gore talks during the 2nd day of Jeddah Economic Forum Sunday Feb. 12

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Gore said these things on FOREIGN SOIL! How long will this DEMOCRAT practice of knocking America on foriegn soil continue?………. Wild Thing comment

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Associated Press Writer
This is a portion of what was written………….
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) – Former Vice President Al Gore told a mainly Saudi audience on Sunday that the U.S. government committed “terrible abuses” against Arabs after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and that most Americans did not support such treatment.
Gore said Arabs had been “indiscriminately rounded up” and held in “unforgivable” conditions. The former vice president said the Bush administration was playing into al-Qaida’s hands by routinely blocking Saudi visa applications.
“The thoughtless way in which visas are now handled, that is a mistake,” Gore said during the Jiddah Economic Forum. “The worst thing we can possibly do is to cut off the channels of friendship and mutual understanding between Saudi Arabia and the United States.”
Gore told the largely Saudi audience, many of them educated at U.S. universities, that Arabs in the United States had been “indiscriminately rounded up, often on minor charges of overstaying a visa or not having a green card in proper order, and held in conditions that were just unforgivable.”
“Unfortunately there have been terrible abuses and it’s wrong,” Gore said. “I do want you to know that it does not represent the desires or wishes or feelings of the majority of the citizens of my country.”
Wild Thing’s comment……….
Gore is a complete idiot! Talk about a pure selfishness that places yourself before country. What a freakin’ a$$hole. How the hell does he get away with this inflammatory $hit?? Takie his Visa away, do NOT let him back in this country! How does our government keep allowing Carter Gore, Clinton to keep doing this and get away with it.
It is TREASON!
Al Gore needs to wear one of these!!!

Terror link of ‘moderate’ Muslims at London rally
Daily Mail
The Muslim campaigners behind a mass rally in Trafalgar Square today have close links to Islamic terror groups, the Daily Mail can reveal.
Despite promoting itself as the ‘moderate’ voice of Islam, the Muslim Association of Britain includes a former military commander of Hamas, the Palestinian organisation behind dozens of suicide bombings in Israel.
The Association has also been described in Parliament as the British wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, the banned Egyptian group whose former members include Osama Bin Laden.
The revelations raise serious questions about support given by London Mayor Ken Livingstone to the rally, expected to attract 10,000 protesters against cartoons of Mohammed published in European newspapers.
He hosted a press conference at his offices on Thursday to promote the demonstration as a chance to air the views of moderate Muslims.
However, Labour MP Louise Ellman said the MAB was an ‘extremist’ group whose members repeatedly advocated suicide bombings in Israel.
“They are an extremely dangerous organisation,” she said. “Leading members of MAB have indicated their links with Hamas and their support for suicide bombings abroad.
“It is not tenable for a group to support suicide bombings in another country while expecting to be seen as moderate in this country.”
Wild Thing’s comment……….
The Quran and hadith are abundantly clear that Islam must be spread by the sword; that in and that the only sure way to salvation is through martyrdom, that anything that advances Islam is not only acceptable but just. It seems London’s Mayor, “Red Ken” Livingstone, continues to preside over his own Londonistan.

(more…)

SYDNEY, Feb 12 (Reuters) –
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Sunday there was no exit date for his country’s troops in Iraq.
Australia was one of the first countries to commit forces to the U.S.-led war to oust Saddam Hussein, and still has about 1,370 forces in Iraq, including 450 troops guarding Japanese engineers in the southern Al Muthanna province.
“This idea of setting an exit date irrespective of the circumstances is wrong and we are not going to do that,” Howard told Australian television in an interview.
“That is a shortsighted policy which is not based on leaving behind a long-term secure situation in Iraq.”
Australia had previously hinted it may start scaling back its troops once Japan withdrew its roughly 550 non-combat forces which are involved in the rebuilding programme in Iraq.
Japan will begin withdrawing its forces in March and complete the pullout by May, Japanese media have reported.
Howard said he had not be told when Japan would pull out, but added whenever that occured it did not mean all Australian troops now guarding the Japanese would also be withdrawn.
“It should not be assumed that we would bring all of our forces home,” he said.
“It may well be that the best thing for us to do is to remain and do other tasks in relation both to training and also maintaining security, essentially in the southern part of Iraq.”
U.S. critics of President George W. Bush have demanded an exit strategy for the country’s 136,000 troops.
Bush, who has refused to set a timetable for any withdrawal, said in January that reducing troops was possible in 2006 but that it would be based on the situation on the ground and decisions by military commanders, not on politics.
In January, Britain said it would start withdrawing some of its 8,000 troops if local forces could keep the peace. Italy has 2,600 troops and is scheduled to withdraw 1,000 by June.
Australia has always said not would not pull out of Iraq until the job was done.
Howard said he believed the political and security situation in Iraq was progressing well following elections, but Australian troops would not leave the job to the United States or Britain.
“I don’t want to leave Australian troops in Iraq a day longer than is necessary, but I am not going to be part of a policy which leaves the job unfinished and leaves behind one or two other countries with the responsibility of completing the job, that is not the Australian way of doing things,” he said.
“It may not be a popular view and a lot of people will be critical of me, but that is the view that I have.”

KIRKUK, Iraq — Approximately 100 Iraqi Army soldiers conducted a raid through Safra village today with support from Soldiers from Company D, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.
The Iraqi Army soldiers searched over 45 structures while Soldiers from Company D provided outer cordon security and served as tactical advisors throughout the operation. It was a combined effort to detain possible insurgents and disrupt terrorist and insurgent activity.
The Iraqi Soldiers detained a target known to be linked to the bombings of the oil pipeline, and talked to the village Muktar (religious leader) regarding further questioning for wanted possible insurgents.
“This operation was Iraqi Army planned, Iraqi Army lead, and is definitely the direction they need to be,” commented Cpt. Paul Witkowski, Commanding Officer for Company D.
Although this mission was successfully planned and completed by Iraqi Army soldiers, it is not the final step for them. According to Witkowski, there will be more in the future.
“Missions like this allow them to get more experience under their belt, and more comfortable with what to do placing us in a more over watching and assistance role,” Witkowski confidently said. “That’s where we want to be.
By 1st Brigade Combat Team – Public Affairs Office

Preparations Under Way for Final Flight of ‘Hanoi Taxi’
By Jeff Rhodes
LM Aero Communications

On May 6, 2006, the last C-141 Starlifter will be flown to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and retired, closing the book on the 43-year career of the Starlifter. But until then, the Hanoi Taxi, the flagship of the 445th Airlift Wing, will be flown over the museum, on missions around the country.
The C-141 was first flown on Dec. 17, 1963, the 60th anniversary of the first flight of the Wright Brothers. Since the aircraft’s operational debut on April 23, 1965, active duty, Guard and Reserve crews have played a critical role in every conflict, natural disaster and operation that Military Airlift Command or Air Mobility Command has been involved in. That includes delivering people, equipment and relief supplies to just about every point on the map.
However, one mission still stands above the rest.
With the signing of the Paris Peace Accords on Jan. 17, 1973, the U.S.involvement in Vietnam ended. On Feb. 12, crews flying three C-141 As landed at Gia Lam Airport in Hanoi, North Vietnam. Their mission:
To repatriate the first U.S. servicemen held as prisoners of war, some for close to seven years. The first aircraft to land that day was serial number 66-0177. The aircraft quickly picked up the nickname Hanoi Taxi. The aircraft was repainted in 2003 in the same paint scheme it wore 32 years ago to commemorate that event.
After undergoing two major modification programs during its career, 66-0177, now a C-141C, has become a flying museum. The 40 POWs on that first flight signed the aircraft under the wing box, and those signatures are preserved under Plexiglas. Framed photos mounted on the inside of the cargo compartment show POWs in Hanoi and aboard the aircraft. Aircrew headrest covers on the flight deck are embroidered with the black and white POW/MIA logo, and each of the crew positions has engraved plaques with the name of the crew member on that first Freedom Flight. The aircraft now has a total of 39,420 flight hours.
There are currently four C-141s still in service, but the other three aircraft will be retired early next year. Hanoi Taxi will be the last C-141, and the final flight will consist of a takeoff on the Patterson side of the field, where the 445th Airlift Wing is based, and a landing at the museum on the Wright Field side of the base. The 445th, an Air Force Reserve Commandunit, is now converting to C-5As and will eventually receive eight aircraft

Dukhtaran-e-Millat activists burn Valentine’s Day cards in Kashmir

An Islamic separatist women’s group, known for its fierce opposition to Western-style romance, vowed to prevent couples celebrating Valentine’s Day in revolt-hit Indian Kashmir

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An activist of the radical Kashmiri Islamic group, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, or daughters of the community, burns a Valentine card outside a card store in central Srinagar, India, Friday, Feb. 10, 2006. Nearly two dozen black-veiled Muslim women burned Valentine’s Day cards and posters showing couples together in the main city of India’s Kashmir protesting the day that they say imposes Western values on Muslim

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A veiled Kashmiri Muslim member of Dukhtaran-e-Milat (Daughters of the Muslim faith) holds a burning Valentine card after raiding a shop in Srinagar February 10, 2006. The squad on Saturday raided many shops and burnt Valentine cards as part of their campaign. REUTERS/Yawar Nazir

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Wild Thing’s comment…….
Well where do I begin with this BS of theirs. Do these women not like romance? Do they not like ways of expressing love for their husband and vice versa? NO I do not expect them to celebrate Valentines Day, but good grief first it was Piglet, and Charlottes Web book, then pastries, and now Valentines Day cards.
If we do go to war with these vile people I say let’s suggest to our troops to paint hearts on the bombs with Valentine greetings on them.
Here is my answer back to these so called ladies ……………….

Kiss My Ass and Happy Valentines Day!