General Aoun returns to Lebanon

Martyrs Square on his arrival after days of supporters posting flags, posters, etc.,

.... and we still don't know how Hariri was killed..car bomb, underground bomb

... or who did it. Anyway they have some "free and fair" elections on the way.

Myabe he sees himself as the new General De Gaulle...

Bush Liberates Latvia - victory speech in Riga

“From the vantage point of this new century, we recognize the end of the Cold War as part of an even broader movement in our world We have learned that governments accountable to citizens are peaceful, while dictatorships stir resentments and hatred to cover their own failings. ….We have learned that even after a long wait in the darkness of tyranny, freedom can arrive suddenly, like the break of day. And we have learned that the demand for self-government is often driven and sustained by patriotism - by the traditions, and heroes, and language of a native land.”

He did not choke on a pretzel when he said this… Wilsonian "sel determination", is OK unless you have oil in the soil rather than carrots.

These Baltic lands were under the Teutonic Order, or Sweden, or Poland or Russia or Germany since 1500. They had a very short-lived existence between WWI and WW2 as a result of the dismantling the German Empire at Brest-Litovsk in 1918.

They fared just as badly in the early part of WWII and did not fight as did the Finns.

Constantin Päts , who some see as a traitor, believed he was rescuing the Estonian people when he submitted to pressure from Moscow and signed the fateful naval and air base agreement (a mutual assistance treaty) with the Soviets in September 1939, just a month after the secret protocol to the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact (signed by Molotov and Ribbentrop) had given a free hand to the Soviets in Latvia, Estonia, and Finland. It brought 25,000 Red Army soldiers into the country.

Päts remains a popular figure in the country, in spite of the fact that Estonia, which had only been an independent republic for some two decades, was annexed by the Soviet Union in June 1940 without a shot being fired. Päts himself, along with his family and other civil and miltary leaders, was arrested by the Soviet Secret police, the NKVD, and was subsequently deported to the Gulags. He died in 1956 in a mental hospital in Kalinin (now known as Tver), to the north-west of Moscow.

Augustinas Voldemaras was a controversial leader in Lithuania tried to return after exile when the Russians took Lithuania from the Germans , he was arrested at the border by the Bolsheviks and was not heard from again. Only in the past decade did family members learn that he had died in a Moscow prison on May 16, 1942.

His name is said to have been pinched by Rowling for Lord Voldemart...unlikely.

In in Latvia 1936 K Ulmanis seized the Presidency concentrating the legislative rights and the executive authority in one person - encouraged no doubt by the success of Hitler.

By means of political and legal violence, though without bloodshed in , the parliamentary republic was liquidated and a regime of authoritarian dictatorship was established. Eventually under the terms of the Molotov Ribbentrop act the Russians seized the country. On October 5, 1939, Latvia and the USSR signed a pact on mutual assistance, later also an agreement on trade. According to the provisions of the Pact in the territory of Latvia (mainly in Liepaja and Ventspils) the Soviet military bases were located (25000 persons). The Pact was imposed on Latvia and the government of Latvia without resistance submitted to the demands of the Soviets.

K Ulmanis was exiled during the war and died in 1942, in prison in Krasnovodsk.

Operations Group 2005 IED Defeat Seminar - 13-17 June 2005

The Operations Group at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California will host the 2005 IED Defeat Seminar from 13-17 June 2005.

The purpose of the IED Defeat seminar is for selected US DOD officials and selected industry officials to review and discuss problems and solutions relevant to the IED challenges faced by US forces around the globe.

Looks like a punishing schedule..

Sunday, 12 June: Registration for Senior Engineer Leaders Council
Monday, 13 June: Registration, Vendor set up, Senior Engineer Leaders Council, lunch, Ice Breaker Social at the Leaders Club.
Tuesday, 14 June: Displays and discussions at Leaders Club – attendees will be provided breaks, lunch and evening social.
Wednesday, 15 June: Down-range demonstrations and live fire, includes refreshments and lunch.
Thursday, 16 June: Selected break-out & training sessions. Topics include: .... eating probably

Fancy attending? .. then try AEA point of contact Julius Nutter, email: flw@armyengineer.com or call 573.329.6678. More at>>>

Like the IED Task Force logo. Neat heh?

Meanwhile out in Iraq, Afghanistan...

House Armed Services Committee meet on IED's May 5.

"Kids are needlessly dying,” raged Gene Taylor, D-Miss., a vocal critic of the military’s process of supplying protective equipment to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I come to this hearing with a sense of outrage,” said an equally testy Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa.

Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., the committee’s top Democrat, said the Bush administration “started the occupation of Iraq without a post-combat plan and without the right equipment for the fight. Furthermore, we were too slow to react when it became clear that post-combat operations would be just as dangerous as the combat phase."

Insurgents in Iraq are "very adept, and very smart, very learning, very innovative," said Army Brig. Gen. Joseph Votel, chief of DoD's Joint IED Defeat Task Force. The task force was created in October 2003 as an Army agency. It now has representatives from each of the U.S. armed services, plus British military advisers. This group - to make it clear - is called.. Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Task Force Integrated Capabilities Development Team (JIEDDTF ICDT)
so that's alright then.

Improvised Explosive Devices in Iraq get smarter

This is a photo of a device after it had been exploded, by controlled explosion. The circuitry, most of which seems glued not soldered incorporates an opto-isolation device. These units using the readily available mobile phones (no land lines due to destruction by bombing in invasion) which contractors and Army use are difficult to jam. They have been able to cascade devices by getting one phone to call another etc., Units made in Iraq are said to turn up in Afghanistan.

So far, the strongest push to silence the bombs has come from the Army, which has ordered thousands of radio-frequency jammers from Simi Valley, California, firm EDO Communications & Countermeasures. The devices, called Warlock Green and Warlock Red, intercept "the signal sent from a remote location to the IED instructing it to detonate," an Army official told military newsletter Inside Defense. The signal "cannot make contact, therefore when it can't make contact it doesn't detonate," he added. "(It's like) the cell phone never gets through, but (enemy forces) think it goes through."

On 18 December 2003 EDO Communication and Countermeasures, Simi, Valley, Calif., was awarded on Dec. 17, 2003, a $15,923,908 firm-fixed-price contract for 167 Warlock Greens and 1000 Warlock Reds for Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom. The U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, Fort Monmouth, N.J., is the contracting activity (W15P7T-04-C-L001).

On 01 March 2004 EDO Communication and Countermeasures, Simi Valley, Calif., was awarded on Feb. 27, 2004, a $6,753,000 increment as part of a $45,287,633 firm-fixed-price contract for 132 Warlock Green electronic countermeasure devices. Work will be performed in Simi Valley, Calif., and is expected to be completed by Jan. 31, 2006. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, Fort Monmouth, N.J., is the contracting activity (W15P7T-04-C-L001).

On 30 November 2004 EDO Communications and Countermeasures, Westlake Village, Calif., was awarded on Nov. 29, 2004, a $7,911,400 modification to a firm fixed price contract for 100 Warlock Green and 500 Warlock Red Electronic Countermeasure Devices. Work will be performed in Simi Valley, Calif., and is expected to be completed by May 30, 2005. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, Fort Monmouth, N.J., is the contracting activity (W15P7T-04-C-L001).

Thats $28Mn (ish) for 1,500(ish) devices.

Iran due for some more help towards democracy ? Read about the last time it happened.

The CIA history of operation TPAJAX was first disclosed by James Risen of The New York Times in its editions of April 16 and June 18, 2000, and posted on its website

BBC Radio 4 Today programme interview with Home Secretary David Blunkett, November 13, 2004

David Blunkett: "Well people do not open their hearts, and minds, and hear messages, particularly Progressive messages if, underpinning that, subliminally, is a fear of what's happening around them, and if they're more insecure when they go out, and they walk on the street, if they fear, because of the eleventh of September, and its aftermath, what is happening in terms of the, er, the new forms of threat, from outside, then we have to provide that stability and security, if they're going to be able to the messages about opening your hearts and minds to other, about reducing the fear of difference, about being able to create a civilised and caring"
John Humphreys: [interrupting] "Alright"
David Blunkett: "and compassionate society"
(official BBC transcript)

It is for dispensing such wisdom that people were dancing in the streets tonight at the news that family wrecker, David "Bonker" Blunkett, is to sort out their pensions - our advice...don't let him near your wife..or your pension.

...if you au pair however needs a visa....


Mrs Quinn's other half

Clampdown 'prevented vote fraud' reports BBC

Ballot rigging by using forged postal votes may have been stopped because of a clampdown leading up to the general election.

Birmingham City Council's returning Officer Lin Homer said around 20,000 postal votes (approx 1/3 rd applied for) applied for were not cast on 5 May. (A similar proportion was announced in Blackburn).
“..the rigorous measures that the council and the police have taken against possible fraud may have deterred anyone on the list from using a vote which they obtained unlawfully.".... she said to the BBC.

It is evident that the general public brou ha ha will have frightened off any large scale attempts at fraud as returning officers took every possible precaution to stop any form of vote rigging. There are many people who see the massive non use of postal votes as evidence of the preparations for wide scale fraud.

Turkey slips the veil, Carriers mass, Abdullah gives his orders...where is Sharon ?

Turkish President Ahmed Necdet Sezer signed a decree authorizing the United States to use the Incirlik (South Turkey) air base. The terms and conditions for US access to the Incirlik airbase near Adana, include the requirement that information on planes and their entire cargo using the base be submitted to Turkish authorities one month in advance. A limit on basing no more than six cargo C-17 planes at Incirlik has also been set.
Ankara will retain the right of control for each flight and if any operation is seen as being against the national interests of Turkey they could be stopped at anytime.
According to information released, these requirements are part of the finalised term of the agreement reached between Ankara and Washington.
Turkish Foreign Minister Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Wednesday, 4th May 2005, ``we have decided to accept the request of the United States to use the Incirlik Air Base, and provide it with the necessary facilities. Flights at the base will be restricted to transportation of unlethal cargo to Afghanistan and Iraq.``

Incirlik Air Base (37°00'N 35°26'E) is a Turkish Air Base.It’s home to the Turkish Air Force’s 10th Refueling Wing (KC-135Rs). is close to many of the world’s potential trouble spots—Iraq, Armenia and Iran to name a few—offers a 10,000-foot main runway and 9,000-foot alternate runway, both sitting amidst 57 hardened aircraft shelters. A request for a logistics hub at Incirlik was submitted formally to the Turkish government last year, in June, 2004. The request is for a transhipment cargo hub. Currently, US C-130s and C-17s fly out of Iraq to Germany to pick up cargo to take back into Iraq. Because of safety issues (preventing overly long days and providing sufficient rest) aircrews can only make one such round trip per day. With a cargo hub at Incirlik, the same crews with the same number of aircraft can fly two sorties per day, doubling the amount of cargo that can be airlifted into Iraq.

Note 1. The 173rd Airborne is currently staging forward from the huge US base at Caserne Erdele (Vicenza) in Italy to Afghanistan.

Note 2. Iran will read it as a building military threat. Kyrgyzstan may see it as either a peacekeeping lifeline– or the launchpad for western troops. Syria is only “slightly east” of Adana (more south, actually).


Note 3. The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt group is in the Eastern Mediterranean. The USS Carl Vinson group after mopping up the tsunami is currently in the Indian Ocean placed handily for the Middle-East. That mean there are 3 major carrier groups stationed on and around Middle East. Each carrier battle group will include nuclear submarine protective cover. The battle groups can act independently and can stay on station indefinitely.

Each group carries nearly 85 aircraft and can deliver precision-guided munitions. In addition there are anti-submarine aircraft, airborne-early-warning and rotary-wing aircraft. Because of the air refueling capabilities these aircrafts can operate from a long distance. The carrier groups are independent and can operate indefinitely.
U.S. military air bases in Turkey, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and British Inoidan Ocean Territory of Diego Garcia and the three carrier groups will create a formidable force far superior to any military in the region.



Note 4 April 25, 2005 · President Bush meets Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah at Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.

The White House wants Saudi Arabia to step up oil production to ease prices.(?)












The way they are holding hands and whispering to each other they may have had soemthing else on the agenda.

Note 5 Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, on March 20, 2005, the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, in two TV appearances, blamed Turkey’s refusal to permit the U.S. Fourth Infantry Division to use its territory to open a northern front against Iraq with preventing the capture or killing of future insurgents hardest and reducing their number. If that had happened, he said “the insurgency today would be less.” It follows that if that had happened fewer American soldiers would have been killed by the insurgents.

Note 6 Mr. Feith, (now Former) Defense Under Secretary for Policy Douglas Feith an assistant to Mr. Perle at the Defense Department in the 1980’s, is a former paid agent of Turkey who headed International Advisors Inc. (IAI) from 1989-1994 and received $60,000 annually. IAI was registered with the U.S. Department of Justice as a foreign agent for Turkey.

Pic shows Feith (on left, with glasses), Rumsfeld shaking hands with President Karimov of Uzbekistan - who boils people to order for the CIA / MI6 - whoever pays best I guess.

Bring 'em on says Dubya

Bring ‘em on: 4 Americans, 13 Iraqis killed, 35 wounded (including 5 schoolgirls) in car bomb attack on security convoy in Baghdad.
Bring ‘em on: 31 Iraqis killed, 34 wounded by car bomb in Suwayrah.
Bring ‘em on: 7 Iraqi policemen killed, 15 wounded by car bomb in Tikrit.
Bring ‘em on: 13 Iraqis killed, 15 wounded by bomber at Iraqi recruiting center in Baghdad.
Bring ‘em on: 4 Iraqi commandos killed, five wounded by car bomb in Mosul.
Bring ‘em on: 10 Iraqi policemen killed in two Baghdad ambushes.
Bring ‘em on: 1 US soldier and six Iraqis killed by car bomb at Baghdad’s Green Zone.
Bring ‘em on: Turkish truck driver killed in ambush near Baghdad.
Bring ‘em on: Oil pipeline ablaze near Balad.
Bring ‘em on: Insurgents execute 14 Iraqis in Baghdad.
Bring ‘em on: Mortar attack on joint US/Iraqi checkpoint near Fallujah.
250 Iraqis killed in the last week.

War Takes Heavy Psychological Toll

May 7, 2005, 01:31 AM report by Mary McDermott Wish TV

Hoosiers (that’s folks from Indiana) who served in Iraq or Afghanistan are in the Roudebush Veterans Administration Medical Center in Indianapolis getting treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
PTSD is a term and a medical condition that originated in the Vietnam War. Soldiers brought home more than physical injuries, symptoms include flashbacks, anxiety, lack of sleep and uncontrolled anger.

"They're 19 or 20 and maybe they've never even been to their grandfather's funeral. And now they're seeing their friends die. They're seeing things they never had to deal with before,” says VA Combat Vets co-ordianator Cheryl Proper to Wish TV .

USMC Sergeant NB was badly hurt in a rocket attack, but he's seeking more than just physical healing. "Last Wednesday I was sitting there at the table eating breakfast and you don't know what brings it on but you just sit there and I just envisioned rockets coming through my kitchen window,” he said.

Physical therapy has helped Sgt. NB who wounded his leg and arm. To heal his spirit, he takes a different path. He visits local schools and talks to kids about Iraq. Bennett shows the captivated children his Purple Heart and explains what American soldiers are doing in Iraq.
NBennett also gets mental health counselling at the VA Medical Center.

From poetry, to therapy, to talking to school kids about the war, every veteran has a different path to emotional recovery. Their recovery may be aided by a public that has welcomed them home with open arms. ... after their lives have been destroyed by the lying bastards like Bush, Blair, Straw, Hoon, Rumsfeld, Bolton, Feith, Rice, Powell, .......

"Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over.
Everybody knows the good guys lost."
Leonard Cohen – “Everybody Knows”

Rammell free to fight off the terrorists again

e -mail bill billrammell4harlow@hotmail.co.uk
or call 01270 431001 to support his fearless and frank stand against terrorists and terrorism....... wipe that bloody grin off his face.

40 year old Martin Torrijos took office on September 1st 2004 as President of Panama.

The inauguration was attended by officials from around the world, including Secretary of State Colin L. Powell (his 2nd visit in 10 months) and Bill Rammell, UK Foreign Office Minister for Latin America whilst on his way to North Korea (DPRK)..

Torrijos criticized Moscoso for her pardoning 4 Cuban exiles accused by the Cuban government of trying to kill President Fidel Castro at a summit in Panama in 2000. “For me, there are not two classes of terrorism, one that is condemned and another that is pardoned. . . . It has to be fought no matter what its origins,” Torrijos said.

On August 26 Panama's outgoing president, Mireya Moscoso, pardoned the 4 four Cuban-born right wingers arrested in November 2000 in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate Castro. The four - Luis Posada Carriles, Gaspar Jiménez Escobedo, Guillermo Novo Sampol and Pedro Crespín Remón-were convicted of lesser offences in April and given prison sentences ranging from seven to eight years.

Curiously Nether Powell nor Rammell were moved to criticize this wholesale export fo terrorists to the US.

Rammell does not reply to letters asking why we he does nothing about these terrorists at large in the US.

It was therefore with some satisfaction that he only narrowly was re-elected after 3 recounts with a majority of 92 in Harlow.

UK democratic instututions need more people with the vision, honesty and ability to pursue terrorists in our midst like Rammell. For more info on Panama / terrorism and Bill Rammell's fearless pursuit of terrorists >>>>

Man makes his excuses and leaves

Sweeney makes his excuses and leaves - ace investigative reporter, master of the "provocative query" ..."Do you believe in boiling people" ? "Why do you support Craig Murray, he is not a Muslim?"... may we ask "Why does the BBC continue to employ this offensive and contemptible man ?
"To the tragedy of the falling cities in the sky, there must be added the sorrow from the killing yet to come."
Final words by JS of his fillum about the survivors of 9/11... priceless prose from the master

The mourning after

There is (apparently) no truth at all in the widely reported story that John Sweeney sleeps in his stained and tattered DOM raincoat. Here he is inking his stubby fingers on the Guradian whilst his dwarf Cyclopian recorder takes in the Craig Murray aftermath. The hard faced harridan from the Beeb , now dressed in a virginal white, takes on board a restorative tincture after a busy night in the shadows.
We now know the hard boiled, hatchet faced hackette is ace BBC Producer Giselle Portenir, from Canuckistan

Straw sweats it out at the count

An uneasy Jack Straw at the poll - his vote is down and tomorrow we all find out he retains his position as Gubment chief apologist for torture, stealing the Chagos Islanders home, prior knowledge of the attempted illegal overthrow (funded by terrorist activist Mark Thatcher - who is still at loose) of a foreign government, supporter of illegal occupation of Iraq...No wonder he looks worried.

Rumours of a new Lord to emerge from the brew of Labour Councillors in Blackburn.

John Sweeney BBC bully boy reduces 23 yr old girl to tears

John Sweeney the hectoring, posturing BBC hack reducing Nadera to tears insistently asking, not in a spirit of enquiry, but merely to provoke"Do you believe in boiling people". BBC hard faced harridan Giselle looks on and savours the humiliation of the 23 yr old Uzbek.

These media circus clowns have been following Craig Murray around Blackburn, like the smell of a festering turd on a shoe, they have hung around for days.

Sweeney says he is there to "provoke". He is here to produce tawdry theatre - to stimulate a response to his asinine questions that don't seek information or insight but mereley to produce an the everpresent camera, a response that meets the prurient audiences expectations.

Lord Jack Straw ?

Jack will have the last laugh (Letter in Lancs Evening Telegraph)

Ardent Jack Straw followers need not worry if MPAC campaigners manage to oust their beloved MP from parliament.I have no doubt that his best pal Tony will immediately make him a Lord.He will then join the hallowed ranks of loyal Labour accolytes such as Lord Patel.

Straw will win whatever happens at the next general election and will have the last laugh.

Aqeel Abbas, Arnold Close, Preston

Whatever can Aqeel Abbas mean ?

100's voteless in W London due to a clerical error.

Hounslow Council (160,000 electors on register) said several hundred people could be affected after names were deleted from the electoral register in two constituencies. The extent of the problem discovered lasy Thursday will be known after an audit.(pic of the lovely Ann, a nurse)

The affected constituencies are Feltham and Heston, and Brentford and Isleworth. Alan and Ann Keen,husband and wife Labour team with 23% majority (ish)

Staff apologised to the voters involved and polling stations had been briefed to explain the situation to the affected individuals.

...so that's alright then...?

Over 2,500 Oldham postal voters get 2 votes

JILL Barber with the two sets of ballot papers sent for her use.

CONCERNS over the postal voting system have intensified after more than 2,500 Oldham voters received two sets of ballot papers.

Constituents in the Oldham West and Royton seat were left confused after being sent a second set of forms following what Oldham Council is describing as a “technical printing error”.

And red-faced election officials have now had to write to each affected voter, asking them to complete only one form and destroy the other.
Which being decent, honest citizens they will do...100%...er...of course!!!!
Story in Oldham Advertiser. May 4th 2005
The sound of lawyers sharpening their tills can be heard everywhere.

Independent on Blackburn vote rigging

In the Lancashire constituency of Blackburn, where the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, is defending his 9,249 majority, the vote-rigging allegations have intensified as polling day nears.

"I've come from Uzbekistan to Blackburnistan," says Craig Murray, Britain's former ambassador to the central Asian republic who is campaigning to unseat the Foreign Secretary. He left the Foreign Office after speaking out against the Government's use of intelligence obtained by torture. approved by Jack Straw.

"This is very much a Labour rotten borough," he said. "There is a nexus of the police, the authorities and business - if we were in the Soviet Union, you would say mafia."(If you were in Blackburn you would say Mafia as well)

Craig in his election address posted to each named voter in Blackburn quotes the evidence of Independent coumnist Yasmin Alibhai Brown to a Commons committee where she fingers Lord Patel as the "fixer". So far no response. Contact us by e-mail for a copy of her evidence.