Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Let's Start The War And Get It Over With -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Vitas who wrote (655)	3/7/2003 9:10:14 AM
From: PROLIFE	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 808

Here is another good example of your basic "peace" protester: EYE ON THE GULF College peace protest turns violent Anti-war demonstrators allegedly attack Jewish students -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: March 7, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com A college protest against a U.S.-led war in Iraq turned violent when students with an American flag were attacked and two Jewish students were harassed by anti-war demonstrators, reports the National Post. According to the report, Miriam Levin, who is Jewish, was intimidated and roughed up by protesters when she tried to drive onto the campus of York University in Toronto. The protesters were picketing entrances to the campus and blocking traffic on Wednesday morning. "I told the guy, 'Making me 20 minutes late for class isn't helping the people in Iraq,' and then he started calling me a terrorist and an occupier," Levin told the Post. She said she could not understand why the man was shouting anti-Semitic remarks at her until her friend, Hannah Wortsman, saw that she was wearing earrings with a Star of David design. According to Cim Nunn, spokesman for the university, protesters had agreed not to block traffic. York has as many as 35,000 cars passing through its property every day, he said. Three protesters were arrested but released without being charged. A group of protesters then attempted to occupy the university president's office, according to the report. Levin said she and Wortsman also were heading to the president's office to file a complaint when protesters again confronted her. Wortsman said student demonstrators surrounded them. "The floor was completely full of protesters, who weren't letting us go anywhere," she said. Levin pulled out her camera to take photos of the scene and the group tried to take it away from her, she said, adding a security guard did nothing when she and Wortsman called for help. "I asked why he didn't do anything and he said, 'Well you shouldn't have been there,'" Levin said. It was only after she called 911 that she and her friend were able to escape. She said she would be pressing charges against one woman who allegedly assaulted her. Later, the protesters entered classes for a few minutes to talk to students, said Joel Duff of the Canadian Federation of Students told the paper. It was when the line passed a booth set up by the Young Zionist Partnership and the Canadian Alliance that a confrontation occurred. Students who ran the booth claim protesters shouted insults before charging them. "Hundreds of people basically swarmed three people," said Paul Cooper, president of the Zionist group. He said only a few people were confrontational, but everyone else "watched and did nothing to stop it." Duff said his group did not instigate the incident, saying it began with name-calling from the booth. "We attempted to keep moving. Our message was we shouldn't be distracted, but the goal of those people who set up the booth was to disrupt and distract us today." Another Jewish student claims protesters singled him out because of his faith. Said Yaakou Rath, campus president of the Canadian Alliance: "They chose to attack me, and I'm identifiably Jewish, but they didn't attack Paul [Cooper], who's not, and that's scary." He said the group also stole the booth's U.S. flag and tried to set it on fire. worldnetdaily.com

To: Vitas who wrote (655)	3/7/2003 5:00:29 PM
From: paret	Respond to of 808

Facts on Who Benefits From Keeping Saddam Hussein In Power The Heritage Foundation ^ \| February 28, 2003 \| Carrie Satterlee FRANCE According to the CIA World Factbook, France controls over 22.5 percent of Iraq's imports. French total trade with Iraq under the oil-for-food program is the third largest, totaling $3.1 billion since 1996, according to the United Nations. Roughly 60 French companies do an estimated $1.5 billion in trade with Baghdad annually under the U.N. oil-for-food program. France's largest oil company, Total Fina Elf, has negotiated a deal to develop the Majnoon field in western Iraq. The Majnoon field purportedly contains up to 30 billion barrels of oil. Total Fina Elf also negotiated a deal for future oil exploration in Iraq's Nahr Umar field. Both the Majnoon and Nahr Umar fields are estimated to contain as much as 25 percent of the country's reserves. From 1981 to 2001, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), France was responsible for over 13 percent of Iraq's arms imports. GERMANY Direct trade between Germany and Iraq amounts to about $350 million annually, and another $1 billion is reportedly sold through third parties/countries. It has recently been reported that Saddam Hussein has ordered Iraqi domestic businesses to show preference to German companies as a reward for Germany's "[F]irm positive stand in rejecting the launching of a military attack against Iraq." It was also reported that over 101 German companies were present at the Baghdad Annual exposition. During the 35th Annual Baghdad International Fair in November 2002, a German company signed a contract for $80 million for 5,000 cars and spare parts. German officials are investigating a German corporation accused of illegally channeling weapons to Iraq via Jordan. The equipment in question is used for boring the barrels of large cannons, and is allegedly intended for Saddam Hussein's Al Fao Supercannon project. RUSSIA According to the CIA World Factbook, Russia controls roughly 5.8 percent of Iraq's annual imports. Under the U.N. oil-for-food program, Russia's total trade with Iraq totaled somewhere between $530 million and $1 billion for the six months ending in December of 2001. According to the Russia's Ambassador to Iraq, Vladimir Titorenko, new contracts worth another $200 million under the U.N. oil-for-food program are to be signed over the next three months. Soviet-era debt of $7 billion through $8 billion was generated by arms sales to Iraq during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. Russia's LUKoil negotiated a $4 billion, 23-year contract in 1997 to rehabilitate the 15 billion-barrel West Qurna field in southern Iraq. Work on the oil field was expected to commence upon cancellation of U.N. sanctions on Iraq. The deal is currently on hold. In October 2001, Salvneft, a Russian-Belarus company, negotiated a $52 million service contract to drill two oil fileds in southern Iraq; the Tuba field and the Suba-Luhais field. In April 2001, Russia's Zaruezhneft company received a service contract to drill in the Saddam, Kirkuk, and Bai Hassan fields to rehabilitate the fields and reduce water incursion. A future $40 billion Iraqi-Russian economic agreement, reportedly signed in 2002, would allow for extensive oil exploration opportunities throughout western Iraq. Russia's Gazprom company over the last few years has signed contracts worth $18 million to repair gas stations in Iraq. The former Soviet Union was the premier supplier of Iraqi arms. From 1981 to 2001 Russia has supplied Iraq with 50 percent of its arms. CHINA According to the CIA World Factbook, China controls roughly 5.8 percent of Iraq's annual imports. China National Oil Company has negotiated a deal for future oil exploration in the Al Ahdab field in Iraq. Total estimate of the contract is unknown. In recent years, the Chinese Aero-Technology Import-Export Company (CATIC) has been contracted to sell "meteorological satellite" and "surface observation" equipment to Iraq. This contract was approved by the U.N. oil-for-food program. CATIC also won approval from the U.N. in July 2000 to sell $2 million worth of fiber optic cables. This and similar contracts approved were disguised as telecommunications gear. These cables can be used for secure data and communications links between national command and control centers and long-range search radar, targeting radar, and missile-launch units, according to U.S. officials. In addition, China National Electric Wire & Cable and China National Technical Import Telecommunications Equipment Company are believed to have sold Iraq $6. million and $15.5 million worth of communications equipment and other unspecified supplies, respectively. According to a report from SIPRI, from 1981 to 2001, China was the second largest supplier of weapons and arms to Iraq, supplying over 18 percent of Iraq's weapon's imports. Carrie Satterlee, Research Assistant in the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies at The Heritage Foundation, prepared this fact sheet from numerous sources.

To: Vitas who wrote (655)	3/7/2003 5:08:02 PM
From: paret	Respond to of 808

State bans former head imam from prison for 9-11 remarks The Post Standard ^ \| 2/6/03 \| MICHAEL GORMLEY ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- The state has banned its prison system's one-time head Islam chaplain from further prison visits after a published report quoted him as saying even Muslims opposed to terrorism "admire and applaud" the Sept. 11th terrorists. Warith Deen Umar, 58, who retired from his $67,919-a-year prison job in 2000, won't be allowed in the system he has tried to visit at least three or four times, state prisons spokesman James Flateau said Thursday. "The comments that he has made since leaving our employ are nothing short of reprehensible, disgusting and rejected by virtually all Americans regardless of race, creed or color," Flateau said. "There is no room in this prison system for anyone who expresses those kinds of viewpoints. So yesterday, the commissioner (Glenn Goord) ordered that he be barred from ever entering a correctional facility again for any purposes." Umar's comments were reported in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal. Umar was quoted as saying the United States risks further attacks because it oppresses Muslims around the world. "Even Muslims who say they are against terrorism secretly admire and applaud" the World Trade Center's destruction, the Journal reported, quoting an unpublished memoir written by Umar. Through a spokeswoman at his home in Glenmont, Albany County, Umar declined immediate comment. Umar told the Journal that the Koran holy book doesn't condemn terrorism against oppressors of Muslims, even if it results in the deaths of innocent people. "This is the sort of teaching they don't want in prison," the Journal reported Umar saying. "But this is what I'm doing." The New York Post first reported Umar's ban from prisons in Thursday's editions. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the state has tried to fire two other imams or Islamic prayer leaders for pro-terrorist comments, Flateau said. One was dismissed and another imam appealed and was instead suspended for 90 days then retired shortly after. In March, chaplain Sufwan El Hadi was fired for comments to inmates and staff at the Cape Vincent Correctional Facility on Sept. 11, 2001. The imam appeared to suggest that sins by the victims caused the attacks. His dismissal was upheld by an arbiter. "We are not going to put up with insensitive comments or racist remarks from anyone," Flateau said. When Umar retired after 25 years on the state payroll, the state Department of Correctional Services changed the process of hiring Islamic prayer leaders. Previously, Umar hired them through an Islamic organization he ran from his home. Now Islamic leaders from several centers statewide have a hand in hiring, Flateau said. There are now 40 Muslim chaplains on the state payroll in the prison system serving 9,862 Muslim inmates, or about 15 percent of the prison population. Many of them were hired by Umar, but Flateau said no action is being taken against those chaplains and no special monitoring of their activities will occur. Flateau said it would be a "dangerous philosophy" to assume they shared Umar's "extremist views." Starting salary for prison chaplains is $50,399 a year. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- According to the article, this guy said the other imams share his opinions, it's just that some of them don't say it openly.