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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neeka who wrote (35110)	3/17/2004 2:07:55 PM
From: RinConRon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793824

He's beginning the attack now. He's only a few minutes from my house. Wish I could be there. Body armor issue. Kerry's dismal votes. Go Cheney. "Freeing 50 million souls."

To: Neeka who wrote (35110)	3/17/2004 2:52:42 PM
From: John Carragher	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793824

kerry voted against military pay increases twelve times.

To: Neeka who wrote (35110)	3/17/2004 8:32:35 PM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793824

Who and What is Abu Mu'sab al-Zarqawi?? Emerging face of al-Qaeda's man in Iraq February 11, 2004 A bomber on the loose in Iraq may be the first hard link between al-Qaeda and a threatened civil war. US officials believe Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian suspected of ties to the terrorist group, played a role in at least three car bombings in Iraq that have killed more than 100 people in the past six months. Intelligence, some of it gathered in recent weeks, has provided "mounting evidence" to suggest Zarqawi was involved in the bombings, including the attacks in August on a Shiite mosque in Najaf and the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, and the attack in November on an Italian police headquarters. At the same time, US officials have warned that al-Qaeda operatives are plotting to disrupt a US power transfer to Iraqis by pitting Sunni against Shiite Muslims and plunging the country into civil war. One official cautioned that the evidence against Zarqawi fell short of firm proof about his involvement in the bombings. But another said Zarqawi was now "really viewed as the most adept terrorist operative in Iraq, in terms of foreigners planning terrorist activities". Zarqawi had been in and out of Iraq since the invasion last March, but at last report was operating inside Iraq, a third official said. One of Zarqawi's lieutenants, Hassan Ghul, a Pakistani, was arrested by US officials near the Iranian border last month, and has been interrogated since by US military and intelligence officials. The US officials who described Zarqawi's suspected role would do so only on condition of anonymity, and they declined to discuss the nature of the information pointing to a role by Zarqawi in the bombings. But they include some who have been sceptical in the past of the idea that foreign militants play an important role in the violence in Iraq. The officials spoke of "mounting intelligence". In Baghdad, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the deputy operations chief for the US-led coalition, said a seized 17-page memo detailed plans to target Shiite leaders to spark a violent backlash before the June 30 deadline for self-rule. The memo was "credible", he said, confirming a New York Times report that Zarqawi was believed to be the author. "We take the threat seriously," he said. "It is our understanding that this letter was being taken out of the country for delivery abroad." A coalition spokesman, Dan Senor, said the letter lamented al-Qaeda's inability to rid Iraq of US troops. The document requested help in directing attacks against the Shiite majority in an effort to trigger counter-attacks against Sunni Muslims. This would provoke a sectarian war that would draw Sunnis closer to the extremists. After the transfer of power, the writer says, attacks on Iraqi targets will be seen merely as Muslims killing Muslims. The writer boasted of already organising 25 "martyrdom operations", or suicide attacks, against coalition and Shiite targets. If confirmed as genuine, the document would be the first proof of a link between Islamic insurgents in Iraq and Osama bin Laden's network. The US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, said of the letter: "It certainly lends, I think, some credence to what we said at the UN last year, that [Zarqawi] was active in Iraq in doing things that should have been known to the Iraqis" before the invasion. But he added: "We're still looking for those connections and to prove those connections." There was uncertainty about the origins of the document. US officials in Iraq said the Arabic text was seized on a computer disk carried by Ghul when he was arrested. Senior US-based intelligence officials said it was found in a raid on a suspected al-Qaeda safe house in Baghdad. The New York Times; AFP; Los Angeles Times; The Telegraph, London This story was found at: smh.com.au

To: Neeka who wrote (35110)	3/17/2004 8:44:33 PM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793824

Haven't found Cheney's full speech yet...Here is part: Cheney Says U.S. Will Never Ask Permission to Defend Itself By John D. Banusiewicz American Forces Press Service defenselink.mil WASHINGTON, March 17, 2004 – Though the United States always will seek cooperation from allies in the global war on terror, there's a difference between leading a coalition of many nations and submitting to the objections of a few, Vice President Dick Cheney said in California today. "The United States will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country," Cheney told an audience at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley. He was there to mark delivery of a former Marine One presidential helicopter for display. American resolve has not escaped notice in other countries, Cheney said. "Three months ago, after initiating talks with America and Britain, and five days after the capture of Saddam Hussein, the leader of Libya voluntarily committed to disclose and dismantle all of his weapons of mass destruction programs," Cheney said. "As we meet today, the dismantling of those programs is under way." The vice president said he doesn't think Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qadhafi just happened to decide to abandon his WMD programs. "He was responding to the new realities of the world," Cheney said. "Leaders elsewhere are learning that weapons of mass destruction do not bring influence, or prestige, or security. They only invite isolation and carry other costs." Calling it a "great and urgent responsibility" to protect the nation from terrorist attack and to keep weapons of mass destruction out of terrorists' hands, Cheney said the stakes are high. "If terrorists ever do acquire weapons of mass destruction -- on their own or with help from a terror regime -- they will use those weapons without the slightest constraint of reason or morality," he said. "Instead of losing thousands of lives, we might lose tens or even hundreds of thousands of lives in a single day of horror." The past practice of prosecuting terrorist events one by one as a series of crimes is not the right approach, he said, and a good defense is not enough. "The terrorist enemy holds no territory, defends no population, is unconstrained by rules of warfare, and respects no law of morality," the vice president said. "Such an enemy cannot be deterred, contained, appeased, or negotiated with. It can only be destroyed." Cheney said work remains to be done in Iraq, and he pledged that the United States will see it through. "Our forces are conducting swift precision raids against the terrorists and regime holdouts who still remain. The thugs and assassins in Iraq are desperately trying to shake our will," he said. "Just this morning, they conducted a murderous attack on a hotel in Baghdad. Their goal is to prevent the rise of democracy. But they will fail." He called Iraq's interim constitution an essential step in building a democracy in the heart of the Middle East and said it's part of a "forward strategy of freedom" the United States is pursuing throughout the region. "By helping nations to build the institutions of freedom and turning the energies of men and women away from violence," he said, "we not only make that region more peaceful, we add to the security of our own region." The vice president said the terrorists responsible for the March 11 deadly train bombing in Spain intended to undermine the transition to democracy in Iraq, and that they would fail in that aim. "Our determination is unshakable," he said. "We will stand with the people of Iraq as they build a government based on democracy, tolerance and freedom."