Very cool. Right Thinking Girl has an interview with an anonymous source who claims to be an interrogator at Camp X-Ray. Here is a little taste:

RTG: Okay, the report goes on to say that in “most times” the detainees have urinated or defecated on themselves and left for 18-24 hours or more. How accurate is this?

Smith: Patently false. We donÂ’t leave them unattended for that long. If they defecate or urinate, well, we canÂ’t be held responsible for that. If it comes to our attention, we let them take care of that and clean themselves up. I would also like to note that they do get regular bathroom breaks. They are also given some exercise, and their health is constantly monitored.

Posted by: Rusty at 11:06 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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New motto for The Jawa Report, thanks to Professor Chaos and Thomas Mann:

Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil.

Via the New Editor (thanks for link Basil) we learn that al Qaeda has finally been able to convince a few native Iraqis to blow themselves up for Allah and for 72 Virgins. Evan Kohlmann has a translation of the communique.

Sept. 11th co-sonspirator acquitted in Germany, deported--will either be rearrested and thrown in real gulag as he gets off the plane, or will return to jihadi brothers to kill infidels.

Is the U.S. at fault for suicide bombings? Yes, says one newspaper. Is there any bad thing in the world that can't be blamed on the U.S?

Yes, every detainee at Gitmo has had a hearing. This is why I love Michelle Malkin. And here is a Nazi-Gitmo analogy that actually works. Because of the hypocrisy.....

Did Pol Pot have one of these signs in the killing fields???

Sir George finds a photo of the latest effort by Syria to keep terrorists out of Iraq. Apparently they hired the US Border Patrol to build it.

It's like Tom Clancy is a modern prophet or something: Drug money used to blow up Jews. Columbia may be doing their part to end this, but the PA certainly isn't. I have a novel idea, why don't we legalize drugs and put these guys out of business?

Dhimmis in the Academy: An organization that claims to speak for me defends an accused terrorists right to indoctrinate your children.

Dhimmis eating Vegamite: Australians put Christians on trial for telling the truth about that child molester and mass-murderer Muhammed.

If this is a consular ship, then where is the Ambassador? Al Qaeda not rolling out red carpet for new U.S. Ambassador.

Christopher Hitchens is a Jawa Reader: The Downing Street Memo and the Conspiracy Theories of the Moonbat Left (via QandO)

Leftards are idiots. Nuff said.

An interview with Thomas Lippman of The Middle East Institute on his recent visit to Saudi Arabia.

Boo-hoo: Islamaphobia.

Non-Religion of Peace:

Save our State to rally againts Mexican fascist landmark in Baldwin Park, CA--my old digs.

Brain Dead woman being kept alive to save baby, no comment from NARAL.

The only reference to Jennifer Wilbanks you'll ever see at the Jawa. Click here.

Posted by: Rusty at 10:26 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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I found a similarity between Senator Durbin's apology and Senator Kerry's opinion of Operation Iraqi Freedom (and maybe some media bias to go along with it). Please tell me what you think.

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Ace says no, but Sobek says yes. Either way, just offending them would be good enough to try Sobek's idea in my book....

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Jeff Quinton notified me that Dick Durbin has publicly apologozed. Ian from the Political Teen has the video. When I first saw the video, I thought, just like Charles Johnson seems to be thinking, wait, this isn't an apology at all. This is an I'm sorry I got caught and you took me wrong non-apology. However, after reading a more thorough account of his apology, the apology does seem genuine.

Ok, here is some of what he says. AP:

Some may believe that my remarks crossed the line," the Illinois Democrat said. "To them I extend my heartfelt apologies."

I'm sorry that you believe my remarks crossed the line.

Then he goes on to what seems to be a non-apology to the soldiers he offended:

They're the best. I never, ever intended any disrespect for them,"

And if that was all he said, then I would be forced to conclude, as Rob Porter does, that this was no apology at all.

However, at one point he does fess up and realize just how morally depraved his remarks were.

Via Will Collier this from Yahoo News:

During his apology, which Durbin delivered while looking directly into a TV camera broadcasting the proceedings, the senator said: "I made reference to Nazis, to Soviets, and other repressive regimes. Mr. President, I've come to understand that's a very poor choice of words."

He also reached out directly to Holocaust survivors, adding: "I'm sorry if anything that I said caused any offense or pain to those who have such bitter memories of the Holocaust, the greatest moral tragedy of our time. Nothing, nothing should ever be said to demean or diminish that moral tragedy."

Further, iff Durbin is sincere or not is not important to me. What was offensive was not whether or not he actually believed his disgusting analogy, but rather that his made the analogy.

Durbin has apologized. I'm with Chris Short and Citizen Smash on this. I accept the apology at face value. Now let us see him try and undo all the damage that has been done.

UPDATE: Funny. No, very funny. And funny again!

Oh, and as long as we're talking Gitmo. Hey, Kos. Read this.

UPDATE II: No wonder I'm a RINO. I guess I'm going to feel the wrath of angry readers on this one. But look, seriously, this seems to be a legitimate apology. Trust me, I've said equally stupid things in the past and I hope that when I try to correct them and apologize people will be somewhat charitable. If Durbin's deeds in the following months indicate otherwise, we will hold his feet to the fire again. Until then, chill.

UPDATE III: I guess I disagree with Captain Ed and Ed Driscoll and think that M.H. King accepts the apology.

UPDATE IV 6/22/04: I knew I would be in the minority on this one, but that doesn't bother me. There is a solid argument against giving Durbin a pass. Further, just because I accept Durbin's apology does not mean that he should not be censured. I think he still should be censured. Whether or not he should resign or be forced out of his role as Minority Whip is inconsequential to me. That's just politics. I'm interested in people doing the right thing, not politics.

As you may recall, I was personally offended and outraged by his remarks. And now, I personally forgive him for offending me.

A lot of great points made below in the comments section and also by checking the fatwas issued below. Michelle Malkin also has a good roundup.

I'm also glad to see I agree with Dean Esmay.

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From SouthCoastToday:

New research indicates parts of the brain that govern fear and anxiety are switched off when a woman is having an orgasm but remain active if she is faking.

In the first study to map brain function during orgasm, scientists from the Netherlands also found that as a woman climaxes, an area of the brain governing emotional control is largely deactivated.

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A while back I cross-posted this long post about how the accusations of "torture" at Gitmo would soon rebound on the accusers, since most of America is just flippin' fine with fighting this war "the Chicago Way". And just as importantly, because what was alleged to be torture is no worse than what happens to new pledges in fraternity houses across America.

I had given some anecdotal support for this claim here, but now the lovely, the talented, the Malkin has poll data backing me up.

Gitmo's a loser for the left. "Set the terrorists free!" loses elections for them. Hopefully they won't learn this too quickly.

Posted by: seedubya at 03:15 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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1 It may be a loser for the US voters, but it's a BIG win for the propagandists in the ME.

Posted by: rabidfox at June 21, 2005 03:39 PM (CAVPy)

2 That poll also says the public is almost wholly unsupportive of the war. Does this mean we should end it now?

Posted by: Terrence at June 21, 2005 04:00 PM (7tpGj)

3 Both are good points. See-Dubya only invokes polls when they are favorable to his view.

Posted by: greg at June 21, 2005 04:02 PM (/+dAV)

4 Also, I think murder and rape go beyond frathouse pranks. I'm sure if your son were sodomized with a chemical stick, you'd feel the same way. But he's probably not brown, right? So sodomize away!

Posted by: Terrence at June 21, 2005 04:03 PM (7tpGj)

5 My daughter's a little brown, a little red and a little white, Terrence, you classless racebaiting fuck. Leave my family out of this.

Posted by: See-Dub at June 21, 2005 04:22 PM (GQ7mI)

6 What is it with you and sodomizing brown-skinned guys, Terrence? Hmmmmm???

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at June 21, 2005 05:57 PM (0yYS2)

7 Hmmm -- you seem to get angrier at my comments than at our soldiers raping and murdering innocent people. I guess that's why we'll never see eye to eye. Cheerio!

Posted by: Terrence at June 21, 2005 06:25 PM (7tpGj)

8 Terrence, You do realise that those particular cases are isolated events? As no order was given for those actions, the responsibility belongs with the individual soldier -- much like if you did it on the street. When you tar all soldiers, and question their honor, you do tend to piss people off. You are happy to live under their protection but concider them butchers, and murders? please go live in France.

Posted by: dave at June 21, 2005 09:17 PM (fsJ2z)

9 "But he's probably not brown, right? So sodomize away! " Is it the belief in the left/anti-war crowd that all who disagree with them are racists? I suspect it is, which only helps to prove how out of touch they are.

Posted by: Defense Guy at June 22, 2005 08:17 AM (lVjfM)

10 If they were "innocent", they wouldn't be there. Isn't it AMAZING how many attack us again when we release them. We should just extract what info we need from them and then shoot them. We're supposed to be fighting a WAR, not holding a seminar.

Posted by: Scott in CA at June 22, 2005 09:41 AM (UVsOz)

11 You guys have been misinformed. check this out: http://psychoanalystsopposewar.org/resources_files/Scant_Evidence_Cited_in_Long_Detention_of_Iraqis.html And here: http://www.duckdaotsu.org/abu_ghraib_free.html Lesson: membership at Abu Ghraib does not mean anything, other than you're brown and don't like the United States.

Posted by: terrence at June 23, 2005 12:59 PM (SEFvy)

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A recent article in the American Political Science Review (APSR) by John R. Alford, Carolyn L. Funk, and John R. Hibbing claims that political orientation is, to some extent, genetic. The New York Times reviews the APSR piece here. A number of bloggers are also commenting on the piece, however, what they respond to is not the APSR article, but the New York Times review of the article. Since I am a subscriber to the APSR (yes, I know, hard to believe) I thought it might be worth something to throw in my two cents. After all, I seem to be the only blogger who's actually read the study (although I can't say this definitively, e-mail me or send a trackback if you also have read it).

I normally avoid this kind of discussion at this blog, but the topic was just so compelling.

The purpose of the article is summed up by the authors:

"In this article, we combine relevant findings in behavioral genetics with our own analysis of data on a large sample of twins to test the hypothesis that, contrary to the assumptions embedded in political science research, political attitudes have genetic as well as environmental causes."

The literature review for the piece sums up what all political scientists already know, namely that:

"Conspicuously absent is consideration of the possibility that certain attitudes and behaviors may be at least partially attributable to genetic factors."

Still, the connection is rarely so simple that a given genetic allele can be seen as causing a certain behavior. More typically, findings in modern behavioral genetics reveal the effect of genes to be interactive rather than direct, let alone determinative.

The issue is not nature versus nurture but the manner in which nature interacts with nurture.

Count me a little skeptical: For one, unless these are studies on twins raised apart, you need to account for the fact that being raised as someone's identical twin is a difference in family environment that could conceivably shape one's attitudes in various subtle ways.

Other evidence against the exclusive environmental argument is that the empirical results suggest MZ twins reared together are often less likely to share behavioral traits with their twins than are MZ twins reared apart, presumably because of extra efforts to establish distinct identities when the twins live together. In addition, as adult MZ [identical] twins living apart age, they tend to become more, not less, similar (Bouchard and McGue 2003), a finding that is difficult to reconcile with the belief that only the environment matters.

The authors do not argue that genetics makes one a Republican or Democrat. Indeed, people like me who are Libertarian with Republican leanings may not fit at all into the study if such were the assertion. Rather, they base the study on the notion that certain character traits are to some extent inherited. Character traits such as openness in turn are translated into social attitudes. These social attitudes are then transformed, to some extent, into political attitudes and later into political behavior. The genetic component, they predict, should be an important factor but certainly not the only one or even the most important one.

The image below is Table 1 of the study (I have the study in both .PDF and .html versions). Click on the image for a larger version. The variables are controlled for sex since obviously fraternal twins sometimes are of opposite sex.

more...

Posted by: Rusty at 01:23 PM | Comments (24) | Add Comment
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For the last year burning your wife and daughter alive in an honor killing has been illegal in Pakistan. Hey, at least it's illegal.........

What's white and red and kills while surrendering? French suicide bomber.

Most suicide bombers in Iraq NOT French.

And now we pause for this musical interlude. Brought to you by Suicidal Tendencies

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming

Spain arrests 5 more misunderstanderers of the Religion of Peace.

New terms set for Gitmo detainees. Heh.

Another word from our sponsors. Again from their 1983 self-titled album

Syria?? Letting people finance terrorism??? Are you sure we're talking about the same Syria here????

Coming soon to NBC Wednesday nights: Rafsanjani Based on the stand up comedy of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Don't miss the pilot where Rafsanjani's quirky neighbor, Achmed, loses the 'master of his domain' bet and gets his hand chopped off.

UPDATE: e-mail a terrorist!! Click here to e-mail site owner of The Official Jihad Support Group.

UPDATE II: Preston has the funny, even if that pic is a little, you know, G-A-Y...

Posted by: Rusty at 11:09 AM | Comments (47) | Add Comment
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Sullie was kind enough to throw me a link last week in a rare show of solildarity with those who think clearly, understand that words mean things, and that the rhetoric coming out of the Left is dangerous to the lives of our soldiers. He now backtracks and says he supports Dick Durbin's disgusting and immoral comments.

It is this administration that has brought indelible shame on America, and it's people like Dick Durbin who prove that some can actually stand up against this stain on American honor and call it what it is. Good for him. Thank God for him.

Related graphic.

Hat tip Unconventional Wisdom who sent the TB with no *cough* link.....

UPDATE: Slublog also taking Sullie to task. And as long as we're on the subject of criticizing other bloggers, The Commissar takes Cousin Ollie to task here and Kevin Drum here........

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Who do I think is screwing up America? Last week John Hawkins of Right Wing News e-mailed 200 right-of-center bloggers asking them to come up with a list of the 20 people most responsible for screwing up America. 57 bloggers responded, including myself.

Here is the list I sent John. You can check out the results of John's poll here.

1 George Soros
2 Michael Moore
3 Noam Chomsky
4 Ted Kennedy
5 Nancy Pellosi
6 Oprah Winfrey
7 Simon Cowell (of reality TV fame)
8 Markos Moulitsas 'Kos' Zunigas
9 Jesse Jackson
10 Marie F. Smith (President of AARP)
11 Howard Dean
12 Howard Zin
13 John Aravosis (Americablog)
14 Anthony Romero (ACLU Executive Director)
15 Ruth Bader Ginsburg
16 Stephen Breyer
17 David Souter
18 John Paul Stevens
19 Sandra Day O'Conner
20 Harry Reid

Any disagreements or people I left out?

Posted by: Rusty at 09:25 AM | Comments (46) | Add Comment
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Howdy folks.

Check out Evan Coyne Maloney's fine little point here. Why isn't the ACLU all upset about taxpayer dollars funding those Korans in Gitmo?

I mean, if there was a state-funded program to distribute bibles to every prisoner in a state prison, they'd blow a gasket.

Posted by: seedubya at 04:58 AM | Comments (22) | Add Comment
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Quick!! Somebody call the ACLU!!! Get Senator Durbin on the line!!!! Before Bush-Hitler's Rethuglican forces torture more innocent followers of the Religion of Peace!!!!!!!!

Via LGF this from the Miami Sun Sentinal:

Attorneys for two terrorism suspects tied to an alleged al-Qaida dirty bomb suspect are asking for the dismissal of a federal indictment against them based on a jailer's mishandling of a Quran and intimidating jail cell searches that removed handwritten papers in Arabic.

The defense claims the seizures from the cells of Adhan Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi in May and June amount to government misconduct and an unconstitutional intrusion on trial preparation.

Jailers also disrespectfully tossed Hassoun's Quran on his bunk and left 8,000 pages of trial papers in disarray, his attorney Kenneth Swartz said in motions filed Friday....

On the Quran, a jail officer took a piece of paper with Arabic writing, but Hassoun explained that he had copied an excerpt from the holy book and showed him the matching text. The officer returned the paper and tossed the Quran on the bed.

Posted by: Rusty at 08:26 PM | Comments (22) | Add Comment
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Austin Bay:

We picked up GEN John Abizaid, who was already in Djibouti, and flew from East Africa to Afghanistan. While waiting for a chinook (Ch-47) helicopter to pick us up, I got a chance to check out the flight line. That included a quick look at the Dutch Air Force F-16s deployed to Afghanistan. At the moment I am north of Kabul at Bagram Air Base. The flight to Bagram is spectacular. At the moment the central valley is lush with crops. The Himalayas literally wall the valley, quickly leaping from rough, brown cliffs to the snow-capped peaks.

Posted by: Rusty at 08:20 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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Kos--"So we are stuck in an unwinnable war, with a Right Wing that's increasingly shrill as they hold on desperately to the what last straws they have ("they hate America!" "Last throes!")."

Kos--"The insurgency is becoming more deadly, more effective, and it's nowhere near being defeated."

Kos readers, see this for debunking of claims terrorists, who you, like the MSM, like to call 'insurgents' are getting more effective.

Kos--"Yet the same idiots who now claim Saddam's torture rooms gave them justification to invade Iraq (while ignoring torture rooms in allied countries, like Uzbekistan), they now claim torture by our side is no big deal."

What TORTURE asshole? We are not claiming 'torture is no big deal', what we are claiming is that almost every single case of 'torture' you cite is not, in fact, torture. Abuse, maybe, but not 'torture' you fool!

The American military is in the business of rescuing prisoners from torture chambers, not in the business of putting prisoners in them. Example here (hat tip: Tim at Opinion Bug).

These are fighting words. The kind of words that in previous wars would have been censored (yes, there used to be actual, real, honest to goodness censorship during WWII). The kind of words that would land you in jail during times of total war.

If I sound shrill, it's only because I am tired of Kos and company. While they claim there is nothing worse than a soldier dying they forget there is one thing worse: a soldier dying in vain. To claim the Iraq war is lost is to turn the self-sacrifice of our brave soldiers into a futile mockery. Kos even goes so far as to make the claim that the Afghanistan war may have been a mistake since the insurgency is still very much alive there. As if we hadn't already won the Afghanistan campaign.

Kos is a disgusting human being, with no realization that the GWOT will never be won in the conventional sense. There is no nation-state the terrorists belong to to sign a cease-fire with. The truth is that we have already won in Iraq and Aghanistan. What we are fighting now is not the same war. Now it is a war against terrorist forces.

Wait. Maybe Kos does understand this. Maybe he just wishes we would surrender?

[Yes, this post keeps getting longer the more I think about it]

Posted by: Rusty at 01:59 PM | Comments (66) | Add Comment
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An al Qaeda linked group has threatened to behead a captive Iranian security officer named Shahab Mansouri if the new President did not release all members of 'The Organization of God's Soldiers' from Iranian jails. Al Arabiya television ran parts of the video in which the group is described as saying:

....it would send the hostage's head as a gift to the elected president if its demands are not met,

Posted by: Rusty at 01:28 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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It's stories like these that make me want to become an anti-immigration advocate. WaPo:

Sixteen foreign-born construction workers with phony immigration documents were able to enter a nuclear weapons plant in eastern Tennessee because of lax security controls, a federal report said Monday.

Controls at the Y-12 weapons plant have since been tightened and there was no evidence the workers had access to any sensitive documents, said the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees nuclear weapons facilities for the Department of Energy.

However, the DOE inspector general's office said in the report issued Monday that its field agents found "official use only" documents "lying unprotected in a construction trailer which was accessed by the foreign construction workers" at the plant.

"Thus, these individuals were afforded opportunities to access ... (this) information," the inspector general wrote. "We concluded that this situation represented a potentially serious access control and security problem."

The report, initiated by a tip in 2004, said the workers had fake green cards that certified them to work in the United States. Their cases were turned over to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency for deportation.

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UPDATE 6/21/05Yesterday we reported that Bilprasad "Binkumar" Gurung was Japanese. The name did not sound Japanese, but all media reports were that the victim was from Japan. Today, thanks to Chad Evenas for e-mailing me the story, we learn that Bilprasad "Binkumar" Gurung was probably from Nepal.

The Army of Ansar al-Sunna murdered 12 Nepalese civilians in August of last year. If you can stomach scrolling passed the images from the snuff-murder video made by the jihadis, take a minute to check out all the comments from Nepalese readers. The Nepalese may be Buddhist, but they certainly are not pacifists.

Khaleej Times:

Japan said Tuesday that a man Islamic extremists in Iraq said they had killed in an ambush on a convoy serving US-led forces was not Japanese, as stated by the militants.

“The name of the individual is clearly not Japanese. We believe the person was from another country,” said an official with the foreign ministry’s terrorism prevention division....

Gurung is a common name in Nepal.

The only group of terrorists worse than Abu Musab al Zarqawi's al Qaeda in Iraq are The Army of Ansar al Sunnah. These are some evil sadistic dudes. While they don't get as much press as Zarqawi's group (and they actually are loosely linked with Zarqawi) they do just as much damage and specialize in murdering Kurds and Turkish civilians. They announced today that they murdered a Japanese man Bilprasad "Binkumar" Gurung.

This is the same group that murdered Japanese hostage Akihiko Saito. It was Zarqawi who personally beheaded Japanese hostage Shosei Koda.

Developing.....

SITE:

Ansar al-Sunnah claims responsibility for the murder of Bilprasad (alias Binkumar) Gurung, a Japanese contractor for the America-Iraqi Solutions Group, and six of his guards who worked for the same corporation. The ambush of this convoy was executed yesterday, as the group was coming out of al-Walid Base near Ramadi, west of Baghdad.

According to the message, Gurung and his bodyguards were ambushed and the ensuing battle “killed them all, and also this dirty Westerner.” Two of the guards were indicated to have been captured and an “investigation” divulged that Gurung and the guards were on a “mission to distribute the non-believers’ guards (National Guards) salaries.” [SITE has more for subscribers]

American-Iraqi Solutions Group (AISG) is a specific grouping of international firms within Iraq and consists of a core American-Iraqi team all under Iraqi and American ownership. AISG is an assembly Iraqi and international firms that have come together to jointly work towards the reconstruction of Iraq.....

Due to security issues that currently exist in Iraq we are obligated to protect the safety and well being of our Iraqi staff, teams, and personnel. So as you read and learn more about AISG, please remember that some facts, names, pictures and specifics have been intentionally left out to protect our Iraqi staff who place their lives on the line to be partners in the reconstruction of their nation. We work hard towards the day when the security Iraq is stabilized and this concern will no longer be an issue.

AISS built an organization of professionals with cross cultural diversity who have years of experience in multiple levels of security development. AISS employs over 250 foreign professional security operators and managers. They coordinate missions with over 2000 personally trained Iraqi security forces making AISS the most unique security provider in Iraq. AISS tactfully designed a "Low Profile" mission attitude, there achieved goal allows them to move in and about Iraq with the least amount of attention with the greatest success. They designed 200 "Low Profile" vehicles for a varying number of missions each day.

Chijan said the badly decomposed bodies of another seven men, including one Iraqi and six believed to be "Asians," were brought to the hospital after being killed in a convoy ambush several days ago. Most had been shot in the face.

The slain Iraqi was identified as Ahmed Adnan, said his cousin, Hussein Ali.

Ali told the AP his cousin worked for the U.S.-owned American-Iraqi Solutions Group, a large company dealing in Iraqi reconstruction projects, with its headquarters in Carson City, Nev.

The company later sent the AP a statement saying 11 of its employees were killed Sunday when one of its five-vehicle supply convoys was ambushed east of Ramadi, 110 kilometres west of Baghdad, by up to 20 heavily armed bandits firing from an overpass.

In the Internet claim, the militant group Ansar al-Sunnah Army said its fighters attacked a convoy leaving a base near the town of Ramadi, killing the seven men and capturing two other Iraqi guards. The statement did not say when the attack took place.

The claim could not be confirmed. The statement, posted on a web forum often used by Ansar al-Sunnah and other militant groups, included pictures of the contractor's identification cards.

The cards identified him as Binkumar Gurung, working for the American-Iraq Solution Group, contracted by the Pentagon. The cards included a licence to carry weapons.

The statement said the contractor was Japanese, but no passport was included and his picture and name appeared to be South Asian. One of the cards also gave his name as "Gurung Bilprasad, alias Binkumar."

UPDATE: Apparently, Ansar al-Sunna is using an e-mail list these days. Vlad has a copy of the original posting here if you speak Arabic. Below are images posted along with the communique. Besides Bilprasad "Binkumar" Gurung, the following men were also murdered by Ansar al-Sunnah and photos of their identification badges posted by the terrorists:
Mahmoud Yasin Mahdi
Omar Khaery Haren
Farook Jamal Helal
Ahmed Adnan
Mohaned Khddayer Abbas more...

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Ok, I'm not 100% sure how to take Porter Goss' cryptic allusions to bin Laden's whereabouts. Here's the question: If the U.S. knows where bin Laden is yet refuses to bomb his location for fear of violating 'sovereignty', then haven't we already abandonded the Bush doctrine of making no distinction between terrorists and the nations that give them refuge?

Further, let us suppose bin Laden is in, say, Iran, and the Iranians would nab him if they could but bin Laden is in an area which is not fully under government control. Would bombing said area really be a violation of 'sovereignty' if the nation is not actually in control of the area? I recall that Grotius uses just such a circumstance in his defense of just war. Further, the case of U.S. troops going into Mexico after Pancho Villa is another example.

NY Times via Polipundit (subscription):

The director of the CIA says he has an ''excellent idea'' where Osama bin Laden is hiding, but that the United States' respect for sovereign nations makes it more difficult to capture the al-Qaida chief...

''When you go to the question of dealing with sanctuaries in sovereign states, you're dealing with a problem of our sense of international obligation, fair play,'' Goss said. ''We have to find a way to work in a conventional world in unconventional ways.''

Asked whether that meant he knew where bin Laden is, Goss responded: ''I have an excellent idea where he is. What's the next question?''

Bin Laden, wanted for the 9/11 attacks, is believed to be hiding in Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

My own gut feeling is that bin Laden is somewhere in Africa. I have speculated in the past that bin Laden, who is a mystical believer in his own prophetic powers, would return to the scene where his first 'vision' became a reality: Somalia. However, the recent upsurge in violence in the Western Sahara has led me to rethink that position. Al Qaeda in Iraq recently congratulated the SCMP for the expanding of their terrorist activities out of Algeria and into Mauratania. It is very possible that bin Laden, then, has found refuge with the SCMP.

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The end is near, James Joyner is engaged. Congrats dude.

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