This is an unofficial translation of Document Number ISGQ-2005-00022470, released as part of Project Harmony. It is a memo dated July 13, probably 2003; the author is an Iraqi opposition source located in Syria.
Subject: we have information about the location of Mass Destruction Weapons
On Moharram 10th (Arabic calendar), prior to US/allied invasion to Iraq, fifty (50) Iraqi trucks entered Syria as convoys (or groups), I met some the drivers of those trucks, they got no idea about the content of their trucks.
The loads basically came from some where in Baghdad, Iraqi intelligence were escorting the loads. During their tripe, those truck drivers were stopped and asked frequently by the intelligence officers about whether or not they got any idea about the content of their loads, the divers replied “we have no idea," then the officers would say “thank you."
Upon their arrival to Deayr Ezoor city/ Syria, the drivers were ordered to get down, elements from Syrian intelligence got into the trucks, they took the trucks to big barracks for downloading.
After that; Iraqi drivers got their trucks back, they got $200 as a reward. The drivers told me that it was their second time to bring such secret shipment; the first shipment was Moharram 1st.
I have a friend in Syria working in Syrian company, the man has ½ of the company, and the other ½ belongs to a Syrian businessman.
This Iraqi person, a former counselor at Iraqi embassies, has strong connections with Iraqi embassy in Syria, he knows all Iraqi intelligence men there, and he has no idea that I am working with the Iraqi opposition in Syria.
I used to visit him daily during that period to listen to the important news. When the trucks arrived to Syria, I visited him, told him “Iraqi weapons got inside Syria," he replied “who told you." I said “I have my own resources," he replied “don’t tell any one about that because actually it is inside."
Based on this and a number of other reports, it seems likely that some, at least, of Iraq's WMDs were shipped to Syria shortly before the war started in 2003.
This headline is just too funny. According to the UN Security Council Resolution 1559, those blue helmets were supposed to be routing out and disarming Hezbollah. What's the point of an unarmed post except to act as a crossing guard for terrorists? UN abandons unarmed posts in southern Lebanon [Telegraph News | Breaking News]
I don't know why it isn't already patently obvious that John Bolton is the right man to represent the President and the United States at the United Nations. That is, of course, if you've ever seen him in action as Alan Dershowitz has. At any rate, his temporary assignment is about to expire and there's the usual hand wringing going on on the left side of the aisle. His confirmation hearing began this week. So who listens to Joe Biden any more?
Democrats who actually think for themselves are realizing that John Bolton is an able and worthy U.S. ambassador to that den of iniquity called the U.N. Alan Dershowitz is one.
As a liberal Democrat, I listened carefully to the opposition voiced by many Democratic senators to the nomination of John Bolton as our chief representative to the United Nations. Mr. Bolton has been representing us at the United Nations since August. During the current Middle East crisis, I have been able to listen for myself to what Mr. Bolton has been saying at the United Nations.
On the basis of his performance, I have become a Bolton supporter. He speaks with moral clarity. He is extremely well prepared. He is extraordinarily articulate. He places the best face on American policy, particularly in the Middle East during this crucial time...
at this point in history, the United States needs a public advocate who can further its case in the court of public opinion. No one does that better than John Bolton.
While the City of Brotherly Love examines what to do about the rising violent crime rate, the city's Mayor Street wants to evict the Boy Scouts of America from the city-owned building that they've occupied since 1928. Since 1928. Their reason is because the scouts don't accept gays to be scout leaders. They can be scouts, just not scout leaders. All this, despite the fact that the SCOTUS has adjudicate that the scouts have a right to qualify who and what their members can and cannot do.
Mayor Street pleaded to the city's youth: "You are the future of this city. Lay down your weapons. Do it now."
Seems obvious that their goal of evicting the scouts would just add to the city's crime problem. Mayor Street ought to be finding ways to promote scouting instead of promoting a gay agenda possibly at the expense of the city's youth and families.
Or so they believe. At the forefront of the tinfoil hat conspiracy war-for-oil crowd is Greg Palast and the Ring of Fire duo, Mike Papantonio and RFK Jr..
July 29th, 2006. The not-so-hidden agenda behind both wars: Greg Palast, author of the New York Times bestseller Armed Madhouse, says the Iraq war is about the oil -- but it's not what you think. And Washington investigative reporter Wayne Madsen traces the current Bush support for Israel to a game plan mapped out Cheney years ago. Georgia Democratic insider Andy Childers examines the mixed messages of Ralph Reed's electoral defeat. [Ring of Fire | Air America Radio -]
Taking his only shot at upstaging the State visit of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, DNC Chair Howard Dean calls the Iraqi Prime Minister an anti-Semite. Some in his party also attempted to prevent the Prime Minister from addressing the joint session of Congress because of their attempt to inject themselves into the official State visit, the topic of which was the war in Iraq and to thank us, the United States, for all we have done in that regard. It was not about Hezbollah and Israel. But that wasn't good enough, they felt it necessary to insult him, belittle him, and call him names. And they claim to be the experts in diplomacy?? They seem to treat our enemies a lot better than our ally.
Howard Dean chose to inject himself into the visit by demanding (imagine that, a DNC political figure) a visiting head of state to condemn Hezbollah, and since he wouldn't stoop to his level, Dean attaches the 'anti-Semite' label to him.
Were you aware that on July 20, 2006 there were seven democrats who also refused to condemn Hezbollah in Congress. That would be representatives Abercrombie, Conyers, Dingell, Kilpatrick (MI), Baghdad Jim McDermott, Rahall, and Stark. Did Dean call them anti-Semites? Of course not.
So Howard Dean called the Iraqi prime minister an "anti-Semite" yesterday as a result of his failure to condemn Hezbollah. Somewhat closer to Dean's jurisdiction as chairman of the Democratic Party, ranking Democratic Congressmen including John Dingell, John Conyers, Nick Rahall, Pete Stark, and Neal Abercrombie voted against House Resolution 921 condemning Hezbollah's attacks against Israel last week. I don't recall Dean commenting on their vote against the resolution.
AP - Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean on Wednesday called Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki an "anti-Semite" for failing to denounce Hezbollah for its attacks against Israel.
As for the United Nations, and Kofi Annan. Did you know that the UN 'peacekeepers' have been in Lebanon for the last 28 years? They have nothing but terrorism and thousands of missiles from a well armed and supplied Hezbollah to show for it. To think that the UN has any purpose left for the free world is pretty much quashed. Instead, they have stood by and watched genocide from afar, permitted if not facilitated Iran's Hezbollah in gaining power in Lebanon. Which is the exact opposite of what UN Security Council Resolution 1559 says the UN should be doing.
The war Israel is waging now would not have been needed if the corrupt and ineffective United Nations had actually complied with their own resolution. Gee, where have I heard that before? (res. 1441) Debbie Schlussel shares more below.
In response to all the whining regarding Israel's accidental killing of a few U.N. "peacekeepers," we present this pic of U.N. leader Kofi Annan and Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah:
When you need something bad to report, play a re-run from last year if you have to. CBS, apparently not satisfied that 'The Airport Road' security has improved since last year, and, not to take away from the current Israeli / Hezbollah fight, CBS's weekly news magazine '60 Minutes' replays (on July 23, 2006) a show they originally aired Nov. 6, 2005.
A lot of milestones in the war in Iraq have happened since the program aired for the first time. Why would CBS waste a third of their air-time on a re-run to pass as news in Iraq? If you missed the brief mention of the original air date at the very beginning of the segment, that's the only time it was mentioned, you wouldn't know that what you were watching was from last year. It's pathetic, but as Walter said, 'that's the way it is.'
I guess every government has it's own version of John Kerry (D-Mass) and John Murtha (D-Pa). Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a member of the NEW DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED PARLIAMENT OF IRAQ, is Iraq's.
Israel should do exactly what it believes it needs to do, to protect their country and citizens, and, to defeat their enemy. Their enemy in Lebanon is Hezbollah. If there's anything we've learned in the war on terror so far about these terrorists it is this, when they start talking cease fire, it means they're getting whooped and need time to escape and/or re-arm to fight another day. Tora Bora comes to mind. Don't just say no, say hell no.
Hezbollah isn't asking for a cease fire though, the Lebanese government is. The Lebanese government, new as it is, has to realize the big favor Israel is doing for them, by getting rid of Hezbollah when they (and the United Nations) said they would (2 years ago) but are incapable of doing. The fact that some of the terrorists have been elected to political office there does not absolve the government from its obligations to shut down the militant group, nor does it make legitimate its existence.
Israel, take all the time you need. And if you need the help of the United States, please don't hesitate to ask.
Israel says fight could last weeks. Israel declared yesterday that it was ready to fight Hezbollah guerrillas for several more weeks, raising doubts about international efforts to broker an immediate cease-fire in the fighting that has killed more than 260 people and displaced 500,000. The military said early today that it had sent some troops into southern Lebanon to search for tunnels and weapons. [Front Page -- Philadelphia Inquirer]
They're the ones who killed hundreds of our U.S. Marines in Lebanon back in the 80's by blowing up their barracks one night, among a long list of bombings. They have the same goals as the al-Qaeda terrorist group, which is Muslim (their version) domination of the world. And it's just fine to kill anyone who doesn't 'believe' as they do. They are not financed or trained by Bin Laden. Hezbollah is a product of the Iranian government. That's the one who is after nukes, and has enough material now to make dirty bombs.
And, they are here in the United States.
HEZBOLLAH IS HERE. My syndicated column today begins: Sheeple thought of the day: "Hezbollah is not my problem." You think Hezbollah is only Israel's headache? Wake up. Iranian Hezbollah's spokesman Mojtaba Bigdeli's threat on Tuesday to dispatch 2,000 operatives "to every corner of... [Michelle Malkin]
The same federal judge who threw out Georgia's voter ID law last year blocked the state Wednesday from enforcing its revised law during this year's elections.
The ruling came less than two hours after the Georgia Supreme Court denied the state's emergency request to overrule a state court order that blocked enforcement of the new photo ID law during next week's primary elections and any runoffs.
U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy's ruling, which he delivered verbally from the bench, was much broader, also including the Nov. 7 general elections and any runoffs.
If the rulings stand, Georgia voters will not have to show a government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot this year. The state's primary election - which would have been the first election for which the IDs were required - is scheduled for Tuesday. The general elections are Nov. 7.
Murphy said the state's latest attempt at requiring voter photo IDs discriminated against people who don't have driver's licenses, passports or other government IDs.
With the aid of electrodes implanted in his brain, a man paralyzed from the neck down was able to perform certain everyday activities - move a computer cursor, open e-mail, turn on a TV set - merely by imagining them. [Front Page -- Philadelphia Inquirer]
This is great. Look how the George Soros, Al Franken-Air America, Moveon.org wing of the democrat party view Joe Lieberman, their VP candidate in the 2000 election. The Al Frankens of the world view Lieberman as a threat, who is undermining their party. I contend it is they who have undermined the Democrat Party, it is they who have moved so far left that they have left many Democrats behind. Just look at the love from these liberals, below.
In Hour One, Al talked about some of the problems with Joe Lieberman and how he's undermining the Democratic Party. Here's a quickie summary of how he's voted in office, and what he said recently on the war. (Paragraphs are quoted from the source)
ROVE-LIKE CRITICISM OF ANTI-WAR DEMOCRATS. "It is time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge that he will be commander-in-chief for three more critical years, and that in matters of war we undermine Presidential credibility at our nation's peril." [Speech, December 6, 2005]
PROTECTION OF ENRON-STYLE ACCOUNTING Nervous regulators recognized early on that the profusion of stock options had the potential to deceive investors while cheating the tax system--illusions that could drive company stock prices to impossible heights. Tech startup firms, as well as established names like Microsoft, were issuing a growing volume of stock options as a substitute for wage compensation, especially for top executives. These companies did not have to report the billions in new options as an operating cost, thus making their earnings seem much greater than they were. Yet when employees eventually cashed in the options, the companies claimed them as tax deductions. This two-way mirror is symptomatic of the deceptive bookkeeping that permeated corporate affairs during the boom and the bubble.
Back in 1993, when the Financial Accounting Standards Board proposed to stop it, Lieberman went to war. [...] Accounting professor Itzhak Sharav of the Columbia University Business School describes Lieberman's intervention as the first step on "the slippery slope that got us mired in the Enron swamp." [The Nation, September 2002]
Lieberman and other New Dems joined with Gingrich and Republicans to pass securities "reform," a centerpiece of Gingrich's Contract With America, over President Clinton's veto. The measure, which the DLC touts to this day, made it harder for shareholders to hold executives and accountants liable for misleading reports. Clinton is surely right to now point to this measure as contributing directly to the current scandals. [The Nation, July 2002]
CONTRACEPTIVES FOR RAPE VICTIMS Lieberman said he believes hospitals that refuse to give contraceptives to rape victims for "principled reasons" shouldn't be forced to do so. "In Connecticut, it shouldn't take more than a short ride to get to another hospital," he said. [The New Haven Register, March 2006]
SCHIAVO Lieberman sided with Republicans interceding in Terri Schiavo's care, telling the AP at the time that he felt “very strongly that we ought to honor life and we ought not to create a system where people are being deprived of nutrition or hydration in a way that ends their lives.” [Source]
SUICIDAL GAY TEENS In August 1994, Lieberman voted in favor of a proposal by Republican Jesse Helms to cut off all federal money from schools that offer counseling to suicidal gay teens by referring them to gay support groups or in any way suggesting it's OK to be gay. [Paul Bass, Hartford Courant, June 4, 2006]
LOBBYISTS How many Connecticut Democrats remember that their senator was one of only two Democrats who voted with Republicans in 1995 to kill a lobbyist-gift ban? [Paul Bass, Hartford Courant, June 4, 2006]
LIBERAL PROFESSORS. Lieberman helped Lynne Cheney found a McCarthy-style group called the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, which hounded liberal university professors for criticizing American foreign policy, including the president of Wesleyan University. [Paul Bass, Hartford Courant, June 4, 2006]
An FBI raid on a Louisiana congressman's Capitol Hill office was legal, a federal judge ruled Monday.
Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan said members of Congress are not above the law. He rejected requests from lawmakers and Democratic Rep. William Jefferson to return material seized by the FBI in a May 20-21 search of Jefferson's office.
In a 28-page opinion, Hogan dismissed arguments that the first-ever raid on a congressman's office violated the Constitution's protections against intimidation of elected officials.
He still has a ways to go to top Ron Artest in the violence-in-sports category, but France captain Zinedine Zidane (the guy in white still standing) won the sport's Golden Ball award for the World Cup's best player. The voting for this award came after the last game. That is to say, after this assault and battery took place. Video.
Training 70 state troopers with the power to arrest illegal immigrants.
Arizona
Required U.S. citizenship or legal immigrant status to receive health benefits. Illegal immigrants can receive emergency care only. Sent troops to assist with vehicle inspections along Arizona's border with Mexico.
Approved ballot initiatives to be decided by voters in November:
Making English the official language of Arizona.
Prohibiting undocumented immigrants from receiving state services such as adult education, child care and in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities.
Prohibiting undocumented immigrants from receiving punitive damages in civil lawsuits.
Requiring judges to deny bail to undocumented immigrants arrested for serious offenses.
Arkansas
Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
California
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature agreed on a $131 billion state budget after dropping proposals to provide health care to children of undocumented immigrants.
Sent National Guard troops to the Mexico border.
Colorado
Continued a special legislative session Sunday on illegal immigration. Made smuggling people into the USA a felony.
Barred state agencies from awarding contracts to businesses that knowingly employ illegal immigrants.
Required businesses seeking state contracts to verify immigration status of workers.
Created a $50,000 civil fine for counterfeiting identification documents.
Connecticut
Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
Delaware
Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
Florida
Required proof of legal immigrant status for driver's license applicants.
Georgia
Required, in a phased-in program that will begin July 1, 2007, that contractors doing business with state or local governments verify citizenship status of new workers.
Required adult applicants for public benefits to verify eligibility. Required all Georgia employers to verify the legal status of employees hired on or after Jan. 1, 2008, in order to claim a state income tax deduction on such employees' salaries.
Required jails to determine the legal status of prisoners charged with a felony or driving under the influence.
Idaho
Limited unemployment benefits to citizens and legal immigrants.
Illinois
Required that people be citizens or legal immigrants to receive state health plan coverage.
Kansas
Limited unemployment benefits to citizens and legal immigrants.
Kentucky
Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
Louisiana
Authorized the state to investigate contractors suspected of hiring illegal immigrants. The state can order such workers fired and fine businesses that don't comply.
Maine
Tightened requirements for issuing driver's licenses to non-citizens.
Maryland
Required the governor to fund health care services for certain legal immigrant children and pregnant women.
Massachusetts
Gov. Mitt Romney said he would seek federal authority to empower state police to detain illegal immigrants encountered during normal law enforcement activity.
Minnesota
Will send up to 200 National Guard troops to Mexico border.
Missouri
Denied unemployment benefits to workers who aren't citizens.
Montana
Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
Nebraska
In an effort to assist illegal immigrants, made unauthorized immigrant students eligible for in-state tuition at public universities.
New Hampshire
Required proof of citizenship to register to vote.
New Jersey
Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
New Mexico
Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
New York
A state appeals court ruled that the state Department of Motor Vehicles can require immigrants to prove they are in the USA legally before obtaining driver's licenses.
Will send 150 National Guard troops to the Mexico border.
North Carolina
Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
Oklahoma
Denied unemployment benefits to illegal immigrants.
Pennsylvania
Prohibited use of illegal immigrants on state projects.
Rhode Island
Effective Jan. 1, children who are not U.S. citizens will not be added to the state's health care program for the poor, even if they are in the USA legally. Children who enroll by Dec. 31 will keep their benefits.
South Dakota
Required passport or another government-issued identification card when voting.
Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
Tennessee
Barred state contracts for a year from businesses that knowingly employ illegal immigrants.
Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
Texas
Prohibited businesses from deducting the costs of salaries and benefits for undocumented workers from their taxable revenue. Spent $20 million to expand Operation Rio Grande, a border security initiative.
Will spend $5 million to put hundreds of surveillance cameras along the border at hot spots for criminal activity and routes frequently used to enter the USA.
Virginia
Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
Wisconsin
Pledged to send troops to the Mexico border.
Wyoming
Barred non-citizens from certain state-funded scholarships.
***
Be proud our States are taking action against illegal immirgration. It is time this pro-illegal/pro-amnesty attitude be put to rest.
It's official. Howard Dean, Chm. of the Democrat National Committee, has announced today the party's position on the New York State Appellate Court's ruling on same sex marriage. He writes 'Today's decision by the New York Court of Appeals, which relies on outdated and bigoted notions about families, is deeply disappointing, but it does not end the effort to achieve this goal. '
The court ruled that it is up to the legislature to address same sex marriage, not the courts. So that is what is 'outdated and bigoted?'
Who thinks the DNC has drifted so far left that they have left a lot of people behind? I do. And that is something that would be impossible to do if the party believed what it believes from the bottom up.
Dinesh D'souza, an Indian immigrant, wrote about his coming to America and what America meant, and means to him. His story is not unique among legal immigrants, its just a story that is never printed in a MSM venue.
Thanks to HipHopRepublican for bringing it to our attention again. It's a story that explains exactly what is worth fighting for.
Excerpt:
The immigrant cannot help noticing that America is a country where the poor live comparatively well. This fact was dramatized in the 1980s, when CBS television broadcast an anti-Reagan documentary, People Like Us, which was intended to show the miseries of the poor during an American recession. The Soviet Union also broadcast the documentary, with the intention of embarrassing the Reagan administration. But it had the opposite effect. Ordinary people across the Soviet Union saw that the poorest Americans had television sets and cars.
Dana Priest, a reporter for the 'Washington Post,' was on 'Meet the Press' today defending the 'New York Times' outing of the financial tracking tool used so effectively in the war on terror. No surprise there. She also revealed to us what her role is as a journalist. I guess I'm old school on this, but journalists for newspapers, report on news and events that happened, and they can do that until they are blue in the face. Ms. Priest, however, is of the belief that the framers of the Constitution guarantee her role to oversee, to act as an overseer of the government. Unelected of course. Making it her mission to expose government secrets. Any interest there in finding out some al-Qaida secrets Dana?
No pretense on Dana's part, yet no one seemed to notice. That the press is full of themselves, to the point of undermining the war effort, is becoming more obvious with each leak of a national security secret.
Full Transcript here, quote below is on page 5. (emphasis added)
MS. PRIEST: Well, it’s not a crime to publish classified information. And this is one of the things Mr. Bennett keeps telling people that it is. But, in fact, there are some narrow categories of information you can’t publish, certain signals, communications, intelligence, the names of covert operatives and nuclear secrets.
Now why isn’t it a crime? I mean, some people would like to make casino gambling a crime, but it is not a crime. Why isn’t it not a crime? Because the framers of the Constitution wanted to protect the press so that they could perform a basic role in government oversight, and you can’t do that. Look at the criticism that the press got after Iraq that we did not do our job on WMD. And that was all in a classified arena. To do a better job—and I believe that we should’ve done a better job—we would’ve again, found ourselves in the arena of...
Then she assumes some guilt for 'not doing our job on WMD'. Dana, who died and left you President?
Thanks to PowerLine Blog and one of his readers for this little gem. It is John F. Kennedy speaking on the subject of the press and the president in 1961.
On April 27, 1961, President John Kennedy delivered a speech before the American Newspaper Publishers Association at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. He addressed the issue of the press's role in preserving national security in the Cold War. President Kennedy lamented the fact that secret information about America's covert operations had routinely appeared in American newspapers, to be read by friend and foe alike. He noted that the Communists had openly boasted of gaining information from American newspapers that they would otherwise have had to use spies to attempt to steal. And he called on newspapers not to publish stories based on the single test, Is it news? but rather to add a second test: How does it affect national security?
The speech can be both read and listened to in its entirety here. The speech is around 19 minutes long. Click on the audio player below to hear the brief excerpts that are most relevant to the present controversy.
I would encourage you to listen to the entire speech. It is, in several ways, a relic of a better time.