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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: longnshort who wrote (6602)	10/5/2006 1:11:14 PM
From: Ann Corrigan	Respond to of 224728

The French refuse to help in Iraq, however it looks as though they can't avoid fighting the Islamic lunatics: Muslims are waging civil war against us, claims police union By David Rennie, Europe Correspondent Oct 5, 2006 Radical Muslims in France's housing estates are waging an undeclared "intifada" against the police, with violent clashes injuring an average of 14 officers each day. As the interior ministry said that nearly 2,500 officers had been wounded this year, a police union declared that its members were "in a state of civil war" with Muslims in the most depressed "banlieue" estates which are heavily populated by unemployed youths of north African origin. It said the situation was so grave that it had asked the government to provide police with armoured cars to protect officers in the estates, which are becoming no-go zones. The number of attacks has risen by a third in two years. Police representatives told the newspaper Le Figaro that the "taboo" of attacking officers on patrol has been broken. Instead, officers – especially those patrolling in pairs or small groups – faced attacks as soon as they tried to arrest locals. Senior officers insisted that the problem was essentially criminal in nature, with crime bosses on the estates fighting back against tough tactics. The interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, who is also the leading centre-Right candidate for the presidency, has sent heavily equipped units into areas with orders to regain control from drug smuggling gangs and other organised crime rings. Such aggressive raids were "disrupting the underground economy in the estates", one senior official told Le Figaro. However, not all officers on the ground accept that essentially secular interpretation. Michel Thoomis, the secretary general of the hardline Action Police trade union, has written to Mr Sarkozy warning of an "intifada" on the estates and demanding that officers be given armoured cars in the most dangerous areas. He said yesterday: "We are in a state of civil war, orchestrated by radical Islamists. This is not a question of urban violence any more, it is an intifada, with stones and Molotov cocktails. You no longer see two or three youths confronting police, you see whole tower blocks emptying into the streets to set their 'comrades' free when they are arrested." He added: "We need armoured vehicles and water cannon. They are the only things that can disperse crowds of hundreds of people who are trying to kill police and burn their vehicles." Mayors in the worst affected suburbs, which saw weeks of riots and car-burning a year ago, have expressed fears of a vicious circle, as attacks by locals lead the police to harden their tactics, further increasing resentment. As if to prove that point, there were angry reactions in the western Paris suburb of Les Mureaux following dawn raids in search of youths who attacked a police unit on Sunday. The raids led to one arrest. They followed clashes on Sunday night when scores of youths attacked seven officers who had tried to arrest a man for not wearing his seat belt while driving. That driver refused to stop, and later rammed a police car trying to block his path.

To: longnshort who wrote (6602)	10/5/2006 1:58:45 PM
From: Ann Corrigan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224728

Senile Murtha's opponent accuses him of bribe cover-up By Eric Pfeiffer WASHINGTON TIMES Oct 5, 2006 Rep. John P. Murtha's Republican challenger has accused him of negotiating a $50,000 bribe and of trying to cover it up for 26 years. A recently released FBI video recorded in 1980 shows the Pennsylvania Democrat talking with an FBI agent posing as a representative to an Arab sheik who offers Mr. Murtha $50,000 in cash in exchange for private immigration legislation. "When you see the video, there was every intent of taking the bribe," said Diana Irey, a Washington County, Pa., commissioner who is running to unseat Mr. Murtha. "For 26 years, John Murtha has been living a lie." Six members of the House and one senator were forced to resign because of their involvement in what became known as the "Abscam" scandal. The video was released last week on the American Spectator Web site (www.spectator.org), a conservative publication. The magazine says it received the video from a source close to the Abscam investigation. "It was widely reported that he provided testimony against others," Mrs. Irey said, when asked why Mr. Murtha was not prosecuted for his ties to the Abscam investigation. Mr. Murtha cooperated with officials in the prosecution of former Democratic Reps. Frank Thompson of New Jersey and John Murphy of New York. In July 1981, the House ethics committee ruled there was no evidence Mr. Murtha acted improperly, although E. Barrett Prettyman Jr., the special counsel assigned to the committee, resigned in protest. The FBI listed Mr. Murtha as an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the scandal. Near the end of the 54-minute video of the meeting, Mr. Murtha and Philadelphia lawyer Howard Criden return to the room after a brief absence. Mr. Criden then begins speaking to undercover FBI agent Anthony Amoroso, who posed as "Tony DeVito," the purported sheik's representative. "John says it's OK for you to give me what's in the drawer," Mr. Criden says, according to the Spectator's transcript of the video. "Is that all right, Tony?" Mr. Murtha asks Mr. Amoroso. Then, referring to Thompson and Murphy, Mr. Murtha says: "Let me make it very clear. The other two guys do expect to be taken care of. ... And you're gonna have to deal through [Mr. Criden]. Me, you've got my deal." Mrs. Irey played excerpts from the video at a press conference in Washington yesterday. "Leaving a room where one has just been offered $50,000 in cash, only to return two minutes later with a bag man saying, 'John says that it is OK for you to give me what's in the drawer,' is not something done by a man who's not aware he's trying to take a bribe," Mrs. Irey said. Mr. Murtha has long maintained he only met with the undercover agents to pursue legitimate investment in his district. The Irey campaign says Mr. Murtha wanted to use Mr. Criden as his middleman to accept the cash on his behalf.