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 : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alighieri who wrote (217104)	2/3/2005 2:44:18 PM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1571058

General counseled for saying it's 'fun' to shoot enemies Marine commandant praises Mattis' service By Scott Foster NBC News Updated: 11:44 a.m. ET Feb. 3, 2005The head of the Marine Corps on Thursday said he had counseled a Marine general who "often speaks with a great deal of candor" — a reference to comments in which the general said "it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot" the enemy in Afghanistan. advertisement The commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Michael Hagee, issued a written statement in response to those comments, praising Lt. Gen. James Mattis' bravery and military experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying that Mattis was trying to reflect the "unfortunate and harsh realities of war." Mattis, who is now based in Quantico, Va., where he is in charge of the Marine Corps combat development, made the comments Tuesday at a panel discussion in San Diego attended by 200 defense personnel and experts. Mattis, a former commander of the First Marine Division known for his "off the cuff" remarks, talked about operations in Afghanistan, saying, "You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil ... you know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." Near the beginning of his speech, which covered military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mattis said, "Actually, it's a lot of fun to fight. You know it's a hell of a hoot. I like brawling." Hagee stated that "I have counseled him concerning his remarks and he agrees he should have chosen his words mare carefully ... I remain confident that he will continue to serve this nation with dedication and distinction." © 2005 MSNBC Interactive

To: Alighieri who wrote (217104)	2/3/2005 2:44:50 PM
From: Skywatcher	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 1571058

If the COFFINS were seen on a DAILY BASIS....there would be faster recognition of THE REALITY OF THE FAILURE and the PAIN of this war CC

To: Alighieri who wrote (217104)	2/3/2005 3:49:11 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1571058

Shiite Leaders to Challenge Allawi by Paul McGeough Iraq's religious Shiite parties are challenging an attempt by supporters of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to slide him into the post-election leadership as a consensus candidate. In the absence of any breakdown of Sunday's national voting, List 169, the religious coalition blessed by the spiritual leader of all Shiites, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, claimed a "sweeping victory". One of its most likely challengers to Dr Allawi's claim to the top post, Husain Shahristani, branded the Allawi interim Government as the most corrupt in Iraq's history. Dr Shahristani, a nuclear scientist, was jailed by Saddam Hussein for 10 years and is one of four List 169 contenders for the prime ministership. Dr Shahristani said: "It is very well known that corruption is very widespread from the police to the judicial system. Iraq has never known the level of corruption prevailing now. A lot of public funds have gone missing under the Coalition Provisional Authority and even now." The scientist used Dr Allawi's Defence Minister, Hazem al-Shaalan, as a proxy target, resurrecting questions about an unexplained airlift of a reported $US300 million ($A387 million) from Baghdad to Beirut in the weeks before the election. The Defence Minister said it was a weapons deal. After it was reported by The New York Times, some cash was returned. Dr Shahristani said: "The fact that the Minister of Defence, on the day there were four suicide bombings in the capital, spends all his day at the airport trying to take a few hundred million dollars in cash out of the country before the elections doesn't speak very well for the Government's performance." The head of List 169, Abdul Azziz Hakim, said that his team had won more than 50 per cent of the vote but denied that it planned to install clerics in the new government. His comments aimed to assuage anxiety in the displaced Sunni minority, which enjoyed power under Saddam and supports the insurgency. On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars declared the elections to be flawed and announced that its 3000 affiliated mosques would not take part in writing a new constitution. "We will consider the new government - if all the parties participating in the political process agree on it - as a transitional government with limited powers," he said. But the biggest Sunni political party, the Islamic Party of Iraq, has intimated that it will join the process. For the first time in nearly a decade, the US Marine Corps missed its monthly recruiting goal in January. Officials blamed it on the war in Iraq. Militants ambushed and killed 12 Iraqi soldiers near the northern oil city of Kirkuk Copyright © 2005 The Age Company Ltd