General enlists Hollywood to ignite campaign
By Julian Coman in Washington
(Filed: 30/11/2003)

In an unlikely attempt to gain star backing for a slow-burning campaign, the Democratic presidential candidate, General Wesley Clark, is spending late nights talking politics with Madonna and wooing sympathetic supergroups such as The Eagles, with whom he recently shared the stage during a rendition of Hotel California.

Gen Clark, who had a cerebral and somewhat austere reputation during his military career, has spent much of the past month seeking out the late-night company of west coast rock stars, screen idols and movie producers. While his rivals preach to the worthy but unglamorous residents of early-voting Iowa and New Hampshire, Gen Clark is dressing snappily and going out on the town in LA.

After a 90-minute policy discussion with Madonna in her Los Angeles home recently, a friend of the star was authorised to disclose that "Madonna was very impressed with Gen Clark's intelligence and his vision for America". Another associate added: "Don't under-estimate this. Madonna is often ahead of the curve."

The showbusiness strategy reflects a change of direction by the Clark campaign team, which has already decided not to compete in the rural Iowa caucuses that launch the primary season.

The general's tacticians believe that Howard Dean, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, has already won the support of most left-wing grassroots activists. Gen Clark's goal is to emulate Bill Clinton in the 1990s by capturing the heart of Hollywood, a centre of liberal power and influence in America.

"He wants to be the chosen candidate of Tinseltown," said one sympathetic film producer. A Clark aide confirmed to The Telegraph: "We're reaching out to the entertainment community. Entertainers have a lot to offer any campaign. They have a platform, a pulpit, and they obviously get more attention than the average citizen."

They also earn a great deal of money. Gen Clark has calculated that popularity on the West Coast would help him to catch up with his rivals financially, after a late entry into the race, as well as achieve a nationwide "buzz" to match Mr Dean. Before his second election victory in 1996, Mr Clinton benefited from a $500,000 cheque from Steven Spielberg alone.

The apparent decision by Hillary Clinton to stay out of the 2004 presidential campaign has reinforced the Clark campaign's conviction that the general has the chance to fill a "charisma gap" on the moderate wing of the Democrats.

Gen Clark's Eagles night was judged a political triumph by his team and a model for similar events throughout next year. The group, who hope to influence a future Democratic president on environmental issues, agreed to play for over an hour at the Hollywood fundraiser.

Dressed in black, the general told the audience that Hotel California had been his favourite song since the days of his military service in the state. The Eagles obligingly placed it first on their playlist. According to a campaign aide, "Gen Clark and his wife, Gert, stood by the stage, holding hands and singing along."

The concert, hosted by the original founder of the Hard Rock Cafe, Peter Morton, attracted sympathetic film stars such as Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, and raised $500,000 for the campaign. Ms Lopez spent a quarter of an hour with the candidate and reportedly emerged a confirmed Clark fan.

Mr Morton, who has also thrown a dinner party for Gen Clark with Aaron Sorkin, the creator of the hit television series, West Wing, said: "I haven't been this moved by a politician since I had lunch with Bill Clinton prior to his becoming President. Clark is the Democrat's best chance."

After the concert, Gen Clark and his wife went directly to Madonna's mansion, where the discussion ranged from Iraq to President Bush's recent tax cuts.

The general's strategic incursion into Hollywood appears to have caught his chief rival rival, Mr Dean, off-guard. In Iowa, the fight for the nomination is expected to be a two-horse race between Mr Dean and mid-west candidate Richard Gephardt. Mr Dean is also the overwhelming favourite to win the New Hampshire primary.

To stay in the race, Gen Clark needs both the funds and the profile to play a longer game. His team claims that he is finding both on the West Coast. Taking advantage of the time freed up by the decision not to fight Iowa, Gen Clark has even worked to win the support of Hollywood figures who, during the summer, had declared an interest in Mr Dean.

Norman Lear, the creators of some of America's most famous sitcoms, gave Mr Dean a $2,000 campaign contribution last April. Last week, he was at Gen Clark's Eagles concert, having declared: "I'm inclined to the general."

A lunch with Mr Spielberg has also taken place. According to Mr Spielberg's spokesman, Andrew Spahn: "Gen Clark was a very bright articulate guy. We talked about Iraq, North Korea, foreign policy and tax cuts."

Mr Dean may be winning the early battles in Iowa and New Hampshire, but Gen Clark has taken the lead in Hollywood's unofficial "primary". In a Democratic race constantly criticised as lacklustre, an injection of star quality on the side of the General may yet prove a tactical masterstroke.

Clinton says, 'Stay the course'
By DOUGLAS TURNER
News Washington Bureau Chief
11/29/2003

She must have contracts, which will enable her to realize profits from the movement of both personnel and supplies. Wonder where her dirtbag husband ate turkey?

The New York Democrat has spent two event-filled days meeting soldiers, leaders and citizens in Afghanistan and Iraq, and she spoke in a telephone interview from Kuwait.

Event filled days? Give me a break. She's thinking about running. Testing the water.

"We have to exert all of our efforts militarily, but the outcome (in Iraq) is not assured," she said.

All of our efforts? Right. Not assured, right. This woman has no clue!! If it weren’t for her party, we would've CRUSHED 'em already. That's a fact!

Clinton said it is still an open question whether the Bush administration can make the transition in Iraq from a war zone to an independent, representative government. In an interview with the Associated Press, she called for United Nations assistance in the process.

Let's get this straight. Open question = No agenda.

The morale of the troops, she said, "is very high," but she said the military personnel with whom she spoke in meetings and during "two turkey dinners" wanted to know "how the people at home feel about what we are doing."

" "Americans are wholeheartedly proud of what you are doing,' " Clinton said she replied, " "but there are many questions at home about the (Bush) administration's policies.' "

BULLSHIT - Shameless Hussy!

Clinton is on an official congressional tour of the war zones with another member of the Armed Services Committee, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.

Double Bullshit! and Jack Reed can kiss my ass!!

Clinton and Reed, who left Washington on Tuesday, met with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai in Karzai's presidential palace in Kabul.

"I left Afghanistan feeling very positive about what our military personnel had accomplished there, but I am not very confident that we have adequate forces to accomplish the many missions we have been asked to handle," Clinton said.

Why don't you send your jet setting daughter over there to take Jessica Lynchs' place? Hypocrite. And by the way, nobody asked you to handle anything.

Clinton's trip to Iraq was overshadowed by President Bush's quick visit to Baghdad Airport on Thanksgiving. Asked to comment, Clinton said, "It's a positive for the commander in chief to visit the troops in the field."

Surprise! Bush has class, and you are a dirtbag. Sorry, but that's a fact. Cut you out on that one, eh?

Arriving in Baghdad on Friday, Clinton met with L. Paul Bremer III, the top U.S. civilian official in Iraq, and with Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the senior military official there.

I can't believe he even granted her an audience.

Bremer has been criticized for dismissing the Iraqi army and for failing to work more effectively with Iraq's majority Shiite Muslim community, especially Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani. He has criticized the administration's plan for granting more power to the American-appointed governing council.

While declining to comment directly on Bremer's performance, Clinton said, "The administration didn't fully appreciate what they would be encountering in Iraq," although many members of the Bush administration had been preoccupied for years with former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein.

What I do appreciate is this. Your party was looking for a deal first. Second, with no deal in hand you need to save face, and finally - bash the current administration because you have no agenda.

"Now we're playing catch-up," she said.

What? She is clueless!!

Clinton said she was "moved and inspired" by the gritty courage of uniformed American men and women in both difficult theaters.

Seriously, does anyone believe that she was moved and inspired?

But she and Reed said the Pentagon needs to speed the delivery of more body armor for American troops and deployment of the armored version of the Humvee truck.

Hypocrite - It was the Clintons who stopped production in the first place.

A Reed amendment to the defense budget bill requires the Pentagon to send 318 armored Hummers to Iraq. The Senate's leadership killed a Reed bill that would expand the size of the Army by 10,000.

"There is no question we need a larger Army," Reed said, to deal with the problems in both Afghanistan and Iraq, sentiments Clinton said she shared.

Today, Clinton aides said, she and Reed travel from Kuwait back into Iraq to meet with more troops in Kirkuk, a northern oil center.

The Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade, employing aggressive tactics, have recently restored Kirkuk to order, including the installation of a 2,200-member Iraqi police force.

Earlier in an interview with the Associated Press, Clinton and Reed said the Bush administration needs to work harder to bring a more broad-based international coalition to Iraq.

Both said the expense and political burden in administering Iraq would be made easier with the U.N.'s stamp of legitimacy and help in transferring power to Iraqis.

"I'm a big believer that we ought to internationalize this, but it will take a big change in our administration's thinking," the former first lady said. "I don't see that it's forthcoming."

Does anyone believe her?

washingtonpost.com

2004 Is Now for Bush's Campaign
Early Advantage in Funds, Voters Sought

By Dan Balz and Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, November 30, 2003; Page A01

President Bush's reelection team, anticipating another close election, has begun to assemble one of the largest grass-roots organizations of any modern presidential campaign, using enormous financial resources and lack of primary opposition to seize an early advantage over the Democrats in the battle to mobilize voters in 2004.

Bush's campaign Web site already has signed up 6 million supporters, 10 times the number that Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean has, and the Bush operation is in the middle of an unprecedented drive to register 3 million new Republican voters. The campaign has set county vote targets in some states and has begun training thousands of volunteers who will recruit an army of door-to-door canvassers for the final days of the election next November.

The entire project, which includes complementary efforts by the Republican National Committee (RNC) and state Republican parties, is designed to tip the balance in a dozen-and-a-half states that both sides believe will determine the winner in 2004.

"I've never seen grass roots like this," said a veteran GOP operative in one of the battleground states.

Dean, a former governor of Vermont, has made major strides in organizing a grass roots-based campaign in a bid for his party's nomination. His advisers say it is the largest in the history of presidential politics.

While saying he is not familiar with all the details of Dean's grass-roots and Internet efforts, Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman said, "Our goal is for the largest grass-roots effort ever."

Organization alone cannot elect Bush to a second term. Given the reality that the president's campaign team cannot control such potentially decisive factors as the economy or events in Iraq, officials are determined to maximize their advantage in areas they can control. Rarely has a reelection committee begun organizing so early or intensively -- or with the kind of determination to hold state party and campaign officials, and their volunteers, accountable for meeting the goals of the Bush team.

In Ohio, for example, more than 70 elected officials and volunteer workers dial into a conference call every other Wednesday at 7 p.m. to report on their efforts to recruit leaders and voters, and to hear updates from Bush's campaign headquarters in Arlington. Roll is called, which initially surprised participants used to less regimented political operations.

The massive ground war now in the early stages underscores the latest turn in political campaigns, in which there is renewed interest in applying the shoe-leather techniques of an earlier era, enhanced with advances in technology. Campaigns, both Democratic and Republican, have rediscovered the importance of putting people back into politics, after years of focusing on television commercials.

"We live at a time of the greatest proliferation of communications technology in history, and in an ironic way that technology has taken us back to the politics of an earlier time," said Ralph Reed, former Georgia GOP chairman and now a regional official in Bush's reelection campaign.

Having the biggest presidential campaign treasury ever -- more than $105 million raised already and heading toward $170 million -- and no primary opposition gives Bush the luxury of focusing now on general-election organizing. The RNC and the Bush team have begun planning across a wide range of fronts, even including an analysis of which supporters are likely targets for absentee ballots or early voting, an increasingly critical aspect of turning out the vote.

The Bush campaign not only has started early, but also has set deadlines for developing its organization. In Ohio, there is a Dec. 1 deadline for recruiting county chairmen in the state's 88 counties. In Florida, the first three of a dozen planned training sessions have been held, and two campaign staffers are working out of an office in Tallahassee; county offices -- complete with plenty of lines for phone banks -- are scheduled to open shortly after Jan. 1.

In Iowa, the campaign's state chairman, David M. Roederer, said volunteers have been identified in all 99 counties, and they are working to expand their rosters down to the precinct level.

The Bush team hopes to build on techniques first employed in 2000 and honed in 2002 through what is called the "72-hour project," which is shorthand for mobilization operations during the final days before the election. Democrats acknowledge these techniques proved highly effective as a counter to their mobilization efforts in earlier campaigns.

"They've proven they can do it," said Gina Glantz, of the Service Employees International Union, who will join the Dean campaign as a senior adviser next month.

The absence of unlimited "soft money" donations to parties and tighter rules on coordination between a presidential campaign, the national committee and state parties -- all part of the new campaign finance law -- make this organizing more difficult and put a premium on volunteer labor. Mehlman said that, despite those challenges, "we want to take it a step further in this campaign" than in 2002.

Republican officials say these efforts are necessary to counteract voter mobilization by Democrats and their allies in organized labor and liberal interest groups, who plan to spend substantially more than $100 million on get-out-the-vote efforts.

Although Republicans have their own network of outside groups, from the National Rifle Association and the National Federation of Independent Business to the Christian Coalition, GOP strategists say privately none of them comes close to matching the resources, sophistication or fealty of organized labor and liberal groups.

"This party has no infrastructure," one Bush adviser said. "We have to build it from the ground up."

Both parties have rediscovered the importance of communicating personally with people, rather than assuming that television ads or direct-mail brochures will motivate someone to vote. From their analysis of previous contests, including this month's gubernatorial elections in Mississippi and Kentucky, GOP officials said someone who votes only infrequently is four times more likely to go to the polls after having a face-to-face conversation with a campaign volunteer about a candidate than after receiving a phone call or direct-mail brochure.

Thus, the Bush team is trying to build an army of millions of volunteers to go door-to-door next year to talk to potential voters. Officials have concluded that old-fashioned literature drops should be replaced by in-person contact with voters whenever possible, and they are trying to change old habits among veteran GOP workers in the states.

The Bush campaign will devote a portion of the estimated $170 million it will raise during the primary season to grass-roots organizing, although spending on television ads will still outstrip expenditures for the ground war. Any excess money in the Bush account can be given to the RNC at the time of the national convention next summer for get-out-the-vote efforts for Election Day in November.

The Bush campaign is focused now on building its state organizations, while the national committee is working on a variety of organizing efforts, including voter registration. Registration is important because, at a time when Bush enjoys about 90 percent support from self-identified Republicans, GOP officials believe there is no surer way of producing votes than getting more people registered with the party. The party is registering voters at NASCAR events and naturalization ceremonies, on college campuses and in targeted precincts.

The RNC has set state-by-state goals for registering voters, based on a formula that attempts to determine Bush's maximum potential vote percentage, all with an eye toward turning states that he narrowly lost or won in 2000 into winners next year.

In Oregon, which Bush lost to Al Gore by about 7,000 votes in 2000, the national committee's goal is to register 45,000 GOP voters by next year, enough to provide a cushion in a close election.

Republicans are using several techniques to reach and register voters. In New Hampshire, new homebuyers receive a postcard from the state GOP welcoming them to their neighborhood, explaining the party's historic opposition to higher taxes and urging them to register as Republicans. Party officials follow up with phone calls, often from volunteers in the same community, and next spring will begin going door to door.

In Arkansas, RNC officials recently hosted a breakfast for nearly 100 ministers, outlining ways they can assist parishioners in registering. Party officials plan to follow up by identifying volunteer coordinators in the churches to oversee those efforts.

In Illinois, Republicans have hired field operatives who will concentrate their efforts -- by telephone and sometimes face-to-face -- to identify and register likely GOP voters.

"If you've got a precinct where 50 percent [of registered voters] are Republicans and 30 percent are independents, there's probably gold to be mined in that precinct," said Bob Kjellander, one of 11 regional chairmen for the Bush reelection committee.

The campaign has staged splashy events to announce leadership teams in 14 of its targeted states, usually featuring Mehlman or campaign chairman Marc Racicot. The campaign's ambitions are evident from the depth of the organizations being assembled.

In each county, for example, the Bush operation will include an overall chairman; chairmen for surrogates, volunteers and voter registration; and an "e-chairman," whose responsibility is to communicate with supporters registered with the campaign Web site.

Campaign officials look for specific tasks to keep people involved. Team leaders have been asked to recruit five other team leaders and sign up 10 friends to receive campaign e-mails.

The campaign Web site includes an easy way for supporters to send letters in support of Bush's policies to local newspapers and has generated 28,000 letters since August. At training sessions, campaign workers are urged to help recruit participants for coalitions the campaign plans for teachers, farmers, Hispanics, African Americans, disabled people, law enforcement officials and sportsmen.

Bush officials say they have one advantage over Democrats: Enthusiasm for the president among the GOP base makes it far easier to organize a grass-roots army.

Sally D. Florkiewicz of Cleveland has signed up 196 people since mid-September to serve on Bush's committee, and has a list of 225 more e-names she wants to call. "They're so surprised we're calling them this early," she said. "I tell them it's going to be a very, very close election."

The former first lady and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., have both been critical of the administration's handling of post-combat problems in the war on terrorism, particularly after major military operations ended in Iraq.

Wonder what kind of Cigar he prefers?

Clinton and Reed said Tuesday they were concerned about the current efforts to win the "hearts and minds" of Iraqis.

Like they can make a difference.

"This administration is run by people who have been obsessed with Saddam Hussein for more than a decade," Clinton said. "And the fact that they could have been so poorly informed and prepared raises a lot of serious questions about the decisions they are making now."

A decade? - That would be Bill, right? Poorly informed - kind of like you when your husband was tagging the staff and promoting Cuba. Cigars, that is.

Reed said he is worried "the administration seems to be rushing toward an exit strategy" in Iraq by transferring power as quickly as possible to civilian police authority.

"rushing toward an exit strategy?" Hypocrite! You speak with "forked" whatever.

The trip marks Clinton's first fact-finding mission abroad as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

While in Afghanistan, Clinton, D-N.Y., plans to spend time with members of the 10th Mountain Division, which is based in Fort Drum, New York and is now serving in Afghanistan.

I hope the 10th Mountain Division puts a little "fox and hound" on 'em. Remember, she's visiting a division from her bought state. If it was an Arkansas division, they'd kill her.

The division suffered casualties last weekend when an Army transport helicopter crashed near Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, killing five U.S. soldiers and injuring seven others.

"I'm still very worried about Afghanistan ... The Taliban and al-Qaida are clearly making a comeback," Clinton said. "I'm very honored that we'll be spending Thanksgiving with our 10th Mountain Division troops."

Honored, you were not invited! Bitch!

New York's junior senator said she wants to "see and hear for myself what people tell me on the ground," adding she will "be supportive where I can be supportive and I'm going to have questions where I think it's in our national interest to ask those questions."

You mean to say - "I have no interest except my own, and only if it will benefit me, and my dirtbag husband." And by the way, "I'm staying with that bastard because CUBA is paying us a bunch of money to lobby for them. Must be the cigars. Who cares."

Reed has already visited Afghanistan and Iraq within the past year, and wants to compare what he saw then with current conditions.

The Rhode Island senator said the United States is now at "a very critical moment" in its international military efforts. After his visit to Iraq, Reed complained vociferously that some units from his home state weren't getting sufficient armor protection. While more have that protection now, Reed said, "the equipment is still slow flowing."

Help 'em out asshole, and quite bitching!

Reed said he is concerned that too many reserve and National Guard units are having to "make do" with insufficient equipment and protection, and wants to hear from individual soldiers about what they believe they need to complete their mission.

Idiot - That is what we do as Americans - make do, make the best out of bad situations - Adapt. How in the hell do you think we made it this far?

The two have criticized aspects of the administration's oversight of the U.S. military during the war on terror. Clinton voted for both the authorization to use force in Iraq and the $87 billion package to help rebuild that country and Afghanistan.

But even as she voted for the spending measure, she called it "a bill for failed leadership."

Hypocrite!

Reed, a West Point graduate who was once a company commander with the 82nd Airborne Division, voted against the force authorization and for the spending measure.

Traitor and not worthy. Should be deported to a villa to live with Coffee Noman.

For Clinton, the trip is also a chance to bring attention to one of her long-time public causes: the advancement of women in the political systems of other nations.

I trust women. I believe women have an intuition men do not. I believe women are equal to men. I believe any problem can be solved more efficiently with the help of a woman. I believe when a woman and a man agree, it's right. But not in this case - this bitch is bad JuJu.

She plans to meet with different groups of women leaders of both countries, and lobby for their inclusion in the nation-building effort.

"I want to be sure that women are involved in all levels," she said, adding she wants to take advantage of Reed's military experience as she tours military operations.

What?, and to take advantage of a traitor - Par for her course! This looks good in print, and that is all.

"I do know a little about winning the hearts and minds of people and developing a political strategy that gets people on your side, and I've been amazed and disappointed at how poorly our government has carried that out."

What?, bring IslamoFascists over to our side. This DemoHomo is way way out there! He is still watching cartoons.

Reed said the nation's attention has "focused dramatically away from" Afghanistan since Taliban forces were routed, and said he is worried "we may have lost some ground in light of the resurgence of the Taliban and the appropriate integration not only of our forces, but NATO forces."

Move to France or Canada and infiltrate a mosque, asshat. Shut up and help us out.

Citing security concerns, the exact itinerary of the trip was not disclosed. Clinton, who travels with Secret Service protection, said she was not concerned about her safety, but her office would not discuss what, if any, extra protective efforts were made for her trip.

You know what is sad, people believe she holds their best interests at heart. DAMN! Is the public that stupid?

NEWS STORY
Canada's first space probe may miss its target -- Mars

Tom Spears
Canwest News Service

Monday, November 24, 2003
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Click here to find out more!

OTTAWA -- Canada's first space mission to another planet -- a science instrument riding on a Japanese probe heading to Mars -- is likely doomed as the Nozomi spacecraft is escaping control and may miss Mars completely.

Nozomi has been flying for five years and has already missed Mars once. It carries a Canadian-built instrument that would measure the gases in Mars' thin atmosphere. Nozomi is designed to orbit Mars.

But Japan acknowledges it can barely control Nozomi, and the spacecraft may crash on Mars within a few weeks, or miss the planet and drift aimlessly around the sun forever.

Nozomi means "Hope," and the little spacecraft could use some.

It has experienced a series of failures that kept it from reaching Mars on its first trip. Unfazed, its operators swung it around for a second pass at the Red Planet, but now say the probe is in its "final challenge" and may never arrive.

Translation: Nozomi, and the Canadian-built Thermal Plasma Analyzer, may continue a tradition of man-made probes that don't survive the trip to the bad-luck planet.

Canada's instrument is the country's first participation in a mission to another planet. In theory, once Mars orbit is established, the Thermal Plasma Analyzer will be extended out from the satellite on a boom, and its measurements of the Martian atmosphere will begin.

It is designed to measure low-energy particles and gases considered vital to the understanding of the origin and composition of the Martian atmosphere. Other instruments will study the magnetic field of Mars and take pictures of the planet's surface.

The Canadian Space Agency is funding this research. It involves scientists from the University of Calgary (the co-Principal Investigators of the TPA are Dr. Andrew Yau and Dr. Greg Garbe, professors of physics and astronomy at the University of Calgary), as well as scientists from the Universities of Alberta, Western Ontario, and Victoria. Others on the research team include scientists from Hokkaido, Nagoya and Tokyo.

Nozomi's troubles began in December 1998 during an Earth fly-by that was to "slingshot" the craft toward Mars, and arrive there in October 1999.

But the plan went wrong. A stuck valve forced controllers to do extra manoeuvres, leaving Nozomi too low on fuel to steer safely into orbit around Mars at the scheduled arrival time.

The Nozomi team was forced to steer a more indirect path, and the probe is now closing in on Mars, and is due to arrive next month. As well, the probe's main transmitter stopped working, so scientists now depend on a backup.

Also, a large solar flare a year-and-a-half ago damaged its power system.

Nozomi isn't dead yet. On Friday the Japanese Space Agency had this to say:

"Nozomi right now is under 'the last challenge' to repair its malfunction on which must be concentrated all [the] task force of scientists and engineers of Nozomi mission team until its outcome is clearly known. Upon recovering from the damage, we will then work on putting the probe to orbit around Mars and resume its exploration."

But if they can't repair the damage they will steer away from Mars. "Nozomi will, after once approaching Mars, escape from Martian gravitational sphere to become an artificial planet going around the orbit of the sun forever."

The Ottawa Citizen

Nov 23 2003

Exclusive By Terry O'Hanlon

THE Queen is furious with President George W. Bush after his state visit caused thousands of pounds of damage to her gardens at Buckingham Palace.

Royal officials are now in touch with the Queen's insurers and Prime Minister Tony Blair to find out who will pick up the massive repair bill. Palace staff said they had never seen the Queen so angry as when she saw how her perfectly-mantained lawns had been churned up after being turned into helipads with three giant H landing markings for the Bush visit.

The rotors of the President's Marine Force One helicopter and two support Black Hawks damaged trees and shrubs that had survived since Queen Victoria's reign.

And Bush's army of clod-hopping security service men trampled more precious and exotic plants.

The Queen's own flock of flamingoes, which security staff insisted should be moved in case they flew into the helicopter rotors, are thought to be so traumatised after being taken to a "place of safety" that they might never return home.

The historic fabric of the Palace was also damaged as high-tech links were fitted for the US leader and his entourage during his three-day stay with the Queen.

The Palace's head gardener, Mark Lane, was reported to be in tears when he saw the scale of the damage.

"The Queen has every right to feel insulted at the way she has been treated by Bush," said a Palace insider.

"The repairs will cost tens of thousands of pounds but the damage to historic and rare plants will be immense. They are still taking an inventory.

"The lawns are used for royal garden parties and are beautifully kept. But 30,000 visitors did not do as much damage as the Americans did in three days.

"Their security people and support staff tramped all over the place and left an absolute mess. It is particularly sad because the Queen Mother loved to wander in the garden just as the Queen and Prince Charles do now.

"Some of the roses, flowers and shrubs damaged are thought to be rare varieties named after members of the Royal Family and planted by the Queen Mother and Queen.

"Other Royals had their own favourite parts of the garden as children and some of those areas have been damaged."

The Queen's insurers have told her she is covered for statues, garden furniture and plants she personally owns, but the bill for repairing damage to the lawns and the structure of the Palace will probably have to be picked up by the Government.

The Americans made alterations to accommodate specialised equipment. The mass of gadgetry meant the Royals couldn't get a decent TV picture during the visit.

By DANIEL YEE
Associated Press Writer

November 23, 2003, 3:02 PM EST

ATLANTA -- A North Carolina outbreak of hepatitis A probably came from green onions, which also have been blamed for outbreaks linked to restaurants in Georgia, Tennessee and Pennsylvania, according to a preliminary state health report.

The Georgia Division of Public Health found that the hepatitis A strain that sickened 16 people in North Carolina was the same as the one that afflicted 259 people in Georgia and likely came from the same source.

The Georgia outbreak had previously been traced to green onions shipped from Mexico, and the report said a single Atlanta Farmers' Market distributor provided green onions from California suppliers to three Georgia restaurants where multiple people got the liver infection.

Health officials have said that water can contain several different strains of the virus that could contaminate a harvest during irrigation or processing. The vegetables also could have been contaminated by infected workers.

There were no deaths stemming from the Georgia outbreak in September and October. This month, three people have died and more than 600 have been sickened in Pennsylvania in the nation's biggest known outbreak of the disease.

"We were very lucky in Georgia that people that got sick have gotten better or are continuing to recover," said Richard Quartarone, health division spokesman. "We were able to act very quickly on it."

Federal health officials said Friday that green onions from Mexico were probably responsible for the Pennsylvania outbreak, but stopped short of saying they came from one of three Mexican companies known to have supplied the onions blamed for other outbreaks.

Is there any significance to what Web server/platform combinations 2004 presidential candidates are using?

As we swing into the thick of the 2004 electoral playoffs, it's interesting to see what kinds of platforms are running under the candidates' official campaign Web sites. Netcraft has a handy feature called "What's that site running?" that lets us see combinations of Web servers and OS platforms. So here's a quick rundown, in alphabetical order:

* George W. Bush: Microsoft IIS on Windows 2000

* Wesley Clark: Apache on Linux

* Howard Dean: Apache on FreeBSD

* John Edwards: Microsoft IIS "behind a computer running NetWare"

* Richard Gephardt: Microsoft IIS on Windows 2000

* John Kerry: Apache on Linux

* Dennis Kucinich Apache on Linux

* Carol Mosely-Braun: Apache on FreeBSD

* Al Sharpton: Apache on Solaris 8

* Joe Lieberman: Apache on FreeBSD

For what it's worth, the Republican National Committee is running Microsoft IIS on Windows 2000, while the Democratic National Committee is running Apache on Linux.

As of this writing, November 5, 2003, the RNC has an uptime of 4.26 days (maximum of 39.04) and a 90-day moving average of 16.91. The DNC has an uptime of 445.02 days (also the maximum) and a 90-day moving average of 395.38 days.

Draw your own conclusions.

Doc Searls is Senior Editor of Linux Journal

As you know from our repeated meetings over many years, we have repeatedly done our best to accommodate your incessant demands regarding employment, compensation, housing allowances, health benefits, and other items of mutual interest as we have endeavored to work together on "Project Peace in the Middle East."

We have, with your agreement and assurances of a better performance, given you time, money, professional help, medication and a more than reasonable offer of land for you to live in while you work out "your issues." In the course of these meetings we feel we have been more than forthcoming in our attendance to your "special needs."

From time to time we have accepted your written word that, given adequate resources, you would be working to resolve "your issues." We note, for the record, that at no time has your word proven to be worth the paper which we both so ceremoniously signed. Indeed, it has been our bitter experience that the working out of "your issues" most often involves explosive episodes on the streets of our country.

It has come to our attention, through a continuing rain of the body parts of our citizens onto our streets, that "your issues" do not seem to be resolvable through considered and mutually agreeable negotiations. The outcome of these 'negotiations' in the recent past seems to us to be one of we give and you take and then you kill us. We have decided that this is not a program that we wish to continue.

Indeed, it would seem to be the case that your "central issue," although internally generated within your institutions and religion, seems to be the eradication of the state of Israel and the extermination of the Jewish people here and abroad. We mention 'abroad' since it would seem to us that your goal is to first create a base that includes the entire state of Israel, kill the Jews within those borders, and then use that land as a base to kill Jews throughout the world. Perhaps we are wrong in this but we find that a people is best known by the company they keep.

We have had a similar experience with this "central issue" as a "final solution" towards the middle of the last century. We discovered, after millions of us had been slaughtered, that mollification, negotiation, and submission was not a successful policy. Indeed, we created the state of Israel around the central concept of 'Never again.'

Please note that after no little reflection and soul searching, we have decided to return Israel to this concept as the foundation of our internal and international policy from this moment forward.

Because we are a reasonable people we have decided to issue this memorandum in order to give you one chance to reform yourselves and become fit to be included in the human race. Should you choose not to pursue this path, we will at least have a record that you were notified in a fair and timely manner before termination.

"Never Again" was our first principle and is now our final position. This memo serves to note the end of all negotiations with the Palestinian People.
Your problems and your issues as of this date are yours and yours alone. You must solve whatever bipolar instability and manic-depressive disappointment and psychotic tendencies towards homicidal violence plague your society among yourselves. You will not, from this date forward, use the People of Israel as targets for your own internal demons.

Your "issues" will no longer be allowed to become our "episodes."
Should you choose act out, even once, we, the People of Israel, hereby notify you that we are prepared to and shall, without any further notice, over-react towards all Palestinian people and interests within our sphere of influence.
Bear in mind that we have not in recent memory over-reacted against your unremitting efforts to exterminate us. We have been patient and measured in our responses, cognizant of a watching world and not wanting to seem, even for a moment, to be as savage and violent as those who have been waging a coward's war against us for decades. We have, at all points, been as honorable in war as possible -- even when the wars in which we were engaged were not fought by honorable adversaries.

As you know, our military power, both conventional and nuclear, is immense. We won't detail here the helicopters, missiles, tanks, aircraft, and troops which we can mobilize and move to the west as far as the shores of the ocean if we wish.

Mere mention of these items has not gotten your attention.
The restrained use of these items has not gotten your attention.
Because we are weary of having our streets used as your martyr's mausoleums, because we are extremely angered when we must place the shredded bodies of children into body bags, because we would feel a lot better getting up in the morning if we knew we'd be coming home at night, we have decided we must, regretfully, engage in methods which will, finally, either get your attention or leave you without the capacity for attention in the first place.

This then is your single choice:

If you know of those among you who seek to kill even one of us by any means, you would be well advised to render them incapable of killing anyone immediately. Should you wish to ever have a bit of land to call your own and you are aware of an organization of any kind that seeks to take our land outright, you would be well advised to render them powerless forthwith.
Should you fail to do so and, as we stated above, even one more of our citizens should be killed by the cowardly methods you have perfected over the years, we will conclude that your entire society values martyrdom more than life and peace and endeavor, to the limit of our ability, to supply you with same.
We will begin our program of over-reaction without delay and without reference to our allies or world opinion. We will deal with that in the days that follow the completion of our strategic exercises in what you quaintly term "the occupied territories." Please notify those whom you consider your allies that, should they chance to intervene, we have sufficient resources to deal with them expeditiously.

Should individual Palestinians feel that these terms are unrealistic, we would advise them person to seek an exit visa and to remove themselves as far from 'the occupied territories' as is feasible and as quickly as possible. When we over-react to the west we will not be checking ID cards.

Please reflect upon these conditions as seriously as we have in drafting them.
Remember, in the final analysis, we are a people with no little experience of genocide.

Sincerely,
The People of Israel
CC: USA, EU, UN and others whom it may con

What will begin with panic in the energy markets will likely proceed to other commodity markets, from precious metals to food staples, and from there the road will be short to mayhem across the major stock, currency, bond, and derivatives markets.

Other side effects - like the inability to sell jets, tanks, and vessels to a newly anti-American Riyadh - may initially win less attention, until it emerges that those alone will cost thousands of American jobs.

Fortunately, some people - including George W. Bush - do get the imminence and gravity of this nightmare scenario. Unfortunately, even they, and even now, still think that the root of the Saudi malaise is in that vast country's politics. In fact, that is merely the symptom: The root of the problem - there as elsewhere in the totalitarian Middle East - lies in its sociology.

In Saudi Arabia, the regime has skillfully kept the people at arm's length, throwing in their direction crumbs from the massive wealth with which Allah blessed the country that is the center of His worship, while clutching the lion's share to their own princely bosoms.

Yes, during those increasingly distant years when the local per-capita income was higher than $20,000 (it is now well under half that level, and still declining) the government generously offered free health-care and education. In reality, however, life expectancy (63) and the per-capita number of doctors remained low even by Middle Eastern standards, while infant mortality remained high.

The reason is simple: While Riyadh abolished tuition, it never instituted what the Jews decreed already 2,000 years ago: compulsory education. And when people are not raised to value self-development nor led to actively seek enlightenment, they indeed avoid them. The result is a catastrophic rate of illiteracy (40 percent according to the Encyclopedia Britannica) and a widespread lack of basic tools with which to accomplish social mobility and personal fulfillment.

The royal house will hopefully forgive us for suspecting that this policy was neither coincidence nor miscalculation; rather, it was, and remains, part of a cynical ploy aimed at shackling those with humble origins, much the way serfdom served that purpose for medieval Europe's feudal nobility.

THE DESIRE to freeze the anti-meritocratic social order so that a family of several thousand princes can perpetuate its grip on power was applied even more sinisterly in the labor markets.

There, the royal house engineered a system whereby 70% of the economy's jobs are handed to foreign workers, mainly ones from beyond the nearby Indian Ocean, who in turn are evicted within three years of their arrival.

As would befit the outlook of a regime for whom social paralysis has become an article of faith, the financial and industrial systems have also been structured in ways that were expedient for the select few, and catastrophic for the rest. That is why the local stock market was sealed for foreigners, while the industrial sector was chained to the oil industry.

Sadly, no single mineral or crop can, in the long run, sustain an entire nation. Cuba has learned that about its sugar, Zambia has learned that about its copper, and the US Confederacy learned that about its cotton. Mexico, by contrast, was wise enough to industrialize and diversify its oil-rich economy, ultimately offering more future with less crude to a population more than four times the size of Saudi Arabia's.

The Saudis, of course, knew better, and thought the riches they found under their feet without even shedding a drop of sweat to mine them, would generate them fortunes endlessly, even as they squandered every third petrodollar on arms and much of the remainder on princely hedonism, while repressing their subjects and funding troublemakers the world over.

One is at a loss to seek throughout history a comparably brazen, stupid, and criminal combination of theft, waste, oppression, obscurantism, hypocrisy and belligerency. Morally, economically, and socially - it is predestined to collapse.

Sadly, the kingdom's recent toying with reform - like the much-heralded live broadcasts from the king's rubber-stamp "consultative council" of royally appointed political eunuchs, and the pathetic plan to hand over the labor market to the local population - are too little and way too late.

To be effective, Saudi Arabia's heavily unemployed workforce (an estimated 40%) would have had to be educated decades ago, and allowed economic access to the country's riches.

Similarly, the kingdom should have fashioned itself as a modern immigrant state, by welcoming and quickly naturalizing newcomers from nearby, overpopulated and fellow Sunni Muslim Egypt.

Yet to do that the Saudis would have had to cease being the selfish anti-developers that they so tragically were, and remain.

For their part, however, Westerners seeking Mideastern emancipation must understand that before they can participate in democratic elections, the region's masses must first be educated and employed, albeit nominally. The people who toppled communism were such. That is exactly why the people who currently oppress the Middle East are so loath to spread enlightenment and prosperity: from their viewpoint, those are bad for business.

Like the fall of the Berlin Wall, the fall of the Saudi kingdom will reflect a widespread sense of disgust with a morally bankrupt regime. Yet, unlike the fall of the Wall, which offered the West moral vindication and strategic breakthrough, the fall of the house of Saud will generate geopolitical chaos and moral perplexity.

Hopefully, the next time it recruits allies, Washington will evince interest not only in what their leaders do for America, but also in what they do for their subjects.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: MAY I INTRODUCE TO YOU THE THEME PARK OF THE NEXT GENERATION (ASSUMING THAT THE SOCIALISTS IN DEMOTURD CLOTHING HAVE THEIR WAY):

S P R O U T W O R L D
A VISION, by Key Monroe.
Come one. Come all to the magical land of tofu and bean sprouts, where animals roam free rather than lay gutted and deep-fried on a platter before you. We have many lands of promise that have been built with love for your enjoyment.

ENVIRO-LAND
Come see what the world would be like without the oppression of mankind constantly bearing itself down upon it. Explore the forests that haven't been touched in decades. Experience thick underbrush, swamps brimming with mosquito larvae, areas so rich with oil that it bubbles at the surface, wildlife so thick that it costs taxpayers a million a day to keep the boogers alive. For some reason, if we don't feed them, then we find dead, mangled, carcasses laying about everywhere drawing flies and buzzards, and the stench....Oh, the stench! But, no worries, all that is taken care of. So come and join us, bring your boots, and guys, leave the bug spray at home. It's bad for Enviroland.

THE LAND OF INDOCTRINATION
A favorite. This is where our precious youth learns everything that they need to know to carry this beautiful legacy on to the next generation. We must thank our programmers for giving up their own beliefs long ago and dedicating themselves to this noble cause.

PEACE-KEEPING LAND
We are most proud of our success in this arena. Countries and people alike are coming together to discuss their problems rationally. Ambassadors are a thing of the past. They have been replaced by certified counselors that are teaching the world how to communicate. Weapons have become an antique. In fact, if you'd like to view one, we have several museums that showcase primitive weaponry.

SMARMYLAND
Meet our great country's leaders. Enter the smarmy gates and come face to face with the individuals who are responsible for creating the paradise that you see before you. (Please note: if you hear moaning, please wait until the intern leaves the room before entering. Thank you.)

LAND OF STANDARDIZED HEALTHCARE
Finally, a land where everyone has the same medical benefits. Now everyone suffers equally under a new plan that gets us all a little nostalgic when we think of the good 'ol HMO. Discover the program that sent the Canadian doctors RUNNING back to the border with many American doctors on their heels. Meet the ONLY two dozen doctors left in the country, and please, do not feel obligated to give to their children's college fund. Yes, they ask everyone.

ABORTIONLAND
Well, the name says it all. Come here and watch our county's women exercise their right to choose. But please, make reservations early. We have precious few doctors and limited space in the viewing area.

LAND OF INFLATION
The most fun of the park! Take a ride on the yo-yoing economy, or belt yourself in to the coaster of doom!*

Enjoy all of this with your FREE admission to Sproutworld. Don't worry about a thing! All of the fun that you can stomach--for that matter all of the sprouts that you can stomach are ON US! That's because we've had you bent over a barrel for years now until we finally managed to finance our billions a day project. (We apologize if this has affected your standard of living.)

*Sorry, we've had to temporarily close the coaster. It seems that a rebel brat from Georgia escaped from the School of Indoctrination, stole a bazooka from the Museum of Antiquities, fired it into Enviroland, turned it into an inferno, and sent the overpopulated animal kingdom scurrying into the Land of Inflation where they met their demise on the tracks of the coaster of doom! We apologize for the delay. We are sending our clean-up crew--who make as much as the doctors do, because that's only fair--to the scene, and the guts and ash should be out of your way in no time. I hope everyone realizes that this is the fault of that damn rebel. We had everything set up perfectly.

via CBS news.

A Web designer was sentenced to community service for hacking into the Web site of the Arab satellite news channel Al-Jazeera and redirecting its traffic to a site showing an American flag and the words "Let Freedom Ring."

John William Racine II, 24, was ordered Wednesday to perform 1,000 hours of community service and pay $2,000. He pleaded guilty in June to felony charges of wire fraud and unlawful interception of an electronic communication.

U.S. District Judge A. Howard Metz said during the sentencing hearing that he believed Racine "immediately recognized how much terrible havoc" was caused by the hacking.

Racine's plea agreement indicated that he acted after learning in March that Al-Jazeera's Web site had posted photos of American prisoners of war and soldiers killed during the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Representatives at Qatar-based Al-Jazeera have said they believe more than one person was responsible for hacking their site during the invasion.

Aljazeera.net was subject to several attacks in March, including one where visitors were redirected to a pornography site. But authorities suspect Racine acted alone, forging documents to have the Web site's password changed. That provided unhindered access to the site and blocked access by its legitimate administrators, according to the plea agreement.

Web traffic from Al-Jazeera's site was redirected by Racine for about three days ending March 27, prosecutors said.

SAVANNAH, Ga. Nov. 14 — When Roy Williamson hit a tee shot off the fairway, the lie turned out to be much rougher than he thought.

Williamson, 60, was bitten in the head by a rattlesnake when he went to retrieve his ball from some wetlands. "I saw my ball pretty much in plain view," Williamson said Thursday, a week after the encounter. "Unfortunately, it was being tended to by a rattlesnake that I didn't see." He said he picked up the ball and felt something scratch at his right temple as he stood up, slapping at what he thought was a briar. He saw blood and then the rattler, "a good 6 1/2 or 7 feet long. "The men Williamson was playing with his son, brother and brother-in-law came running in response to his screams. He remembers reaching the clubhouse, but the next thing he knew, it was three days later.
Doctors determined that the snake bit him twice, and the venom quickly spread throughout his body. Alan Cale, general manager of Henderson Golf Club, said his employees roped off the area and posted warning signs. Professional snake handlers were called to assist in rounding up any snakes at the course.
"It's an unfortunate accident, but on a golf course out in nature you're going to have wildlife," Cale said. Scott Courdin, wildlife curator at Georgia Southern University, said golf courses can be deceptive because they are so well kept.
"Golf courses may be in the middle of a neighborhood or surrounded by development, but that doesn't mean there's not going to be snakes there," Courdin said. He said rattlers, water moccasins, copperheads and coral snakes are plentiful in Georgia. Williamson said he will play golf again but will be much more careful. "If I go out now and hit a ball off of the fairway in any fashion or form, I will not go after it," he said.

In regard to rumors about a large-scale attack against the U.S. during the month of Ramadan, Al-Hijazi said that "a huge and very courageous strike" will take place and that the number of infidels expected to be killed in this attack, according to primary estimates, exceeds 100,000. He added that he "anticipates, but will not swear, that the attack will happen during Ramadan."

I do not recognize Ramadan as a month. Can you be a little more specific?

He further stated that the attack will be carried out in a way that will "amaze the world and turn Al Qaida into [an organization that] horrifies the world until the law of Allah is implemented, actually implemented, and not just in words, on His land... You wait and see that the balance of power between Al Qaida and its rivals will change, all of a sudden, Allah willing."

You cannot turn scum into anything but more scum! Scum is Scum, plain and simple.

Regarding Al Qaida detainees, Al-Hijazi said: "We follow their situation closely... the collaborating governments will pay the price for capturing these heroes who want to revive the glory of their nation and shake off the dust of humiliation and disgrace." Al-Hijazi added that the "collaborating and treacherous" governments should know that Al Qaida has a long reach and its members enjoy popularity that will not end just because apostate governments detain hundreds of Al Qaida's members. "As soon as the governments detain one of our people, ten like him join us... this is no secret."

Proves your way of life is hopeless. Ask the Saudi Royal asshats for some cash - they are the people who screwed you in the 1st place!

Al-Hijazi said that Al Qaida instructed its members not to confront the governments of Islamic countries and clarified that Americans are the main target of the organization, wherever they may be, in order to cause their disintegration and collapse, even if it takes a long time. "We are patient," he added, "our patience will only end with the collapse of America and its agents."

No, you are a bunch of Chicken Shits! You have no Honor!

Al-Hijazi also said: "There is no doubt that the demise of America and its collapse will lead to the collapse of these fragile regimes that depend on it... We will not stop until we establish the Islamic Caliphate and until Allah's law is implemented in His land."

Fragile Regimes - Give me a break!

When asked about the recent bombing in Riyadh, Al-Hijazi referred to Saudi media reports — which claimed that in the attack Muslim women and children were killed — as "merely media deceit." He added: "This place was under surveillance for many months. Following a thorough investigation, it became perfectly clear to us that the people living there were at least 300 Americans and a large group of Lebanese Christians who had tortured Muslims there, in Lebanon, during the civil war. After consultation, we decided it was appropriate to attack this place and destroy it, including the people who lived there, because it housed Americans and a large majority of Christians holding Lebanese citizenship.

Merely Media Deceit - you really are stupid! Even CNN got this one right. Idiots, all of you.

"Since the Saudi government is aware of the sensitivity of this place and that it is a declared target for Al Qaida, it surrounded it with very heavy security. However, we gave our people in Riyadh a green light to destroy it on top of those inside. Allah facilitated breaking into the place and bombing the part in which mostly Americans stayed. As a result, praise Allah, at least 40 Americans were killed, as well as 27 Christians from Lebanon, and a group of citizens who were Muslim; also, at least 70 Americans were injured, as well as more than 30 citizens of other countries, most of them Christians from Lebanon."

Liars!!!!

According to Al-Hijazi, a Saudi religious scholar who is wanted by Saudi authorities will claim responsibility in a televised communiqué for the bombing "and for other operations to come." He added that the wills of the attackers will be published, apparently, in the month of Shawwal — the month following Ramadan according to the Muslim calendar - when Al Qaida's main website, Al-Nida, is due to be reactivated.

Bring it on! Suicide is a coward’s way out. You all have no honor!!!

'The Plan'
November 5, 2003

THE DEMOCRATS' new method of opposing the war on terrorism while pretending not to oppose the war on terrorism is to keep demanding that Bush produce a "plan." Wesley Clark recently complained that Bush had put American troops in harm's way, "without a plan." Of course, Clark's "plan" would have been to create a quagmire, just like in Bosnia.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said the difference in how he would have prosecuted the war in Iraq is: "I would have planned." Yes, the invasion of Iraq was the usual unplanned, spur-of-the-minute thing that took 14 months.

Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., noted for the record that when he voted for war with Iraq, "I said at the time that it was critical for us to have a plan. ... This president has no plan of any kind that I can see." Maybe it's that Beatlemania mop-top that's blocking Edwards' view.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn. – the one Democratic presidential candidate too conservative for Barbra Streisand – said that President Bush gave the American people "a price tag, not a plan." He said that "we in Congress must demand a plan." You know, like that incredibly detailed plan the Democrats have in place to spend $400 billion buying prescription drugs for elderly millionaires.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said: "The administration had a plan to fight the war, but it had no plan to win the peace." Kennedy's idea of "a plan" consists of choosing a designated driver before heading out for the evening.

Interviewing Vice President Dick Cheney on "Meet the Press" about a month ago, Tim Russert echoed the theme, asking: "What is our plan for Iraq? How long will the 140,000 American soldiers be there? How many international troops will join them? And how much is this going to cost?" When will we be there, Daddy? Can I go to the bathroom? Are we there yet?

The same questions were asked of FDR over and over again by the American people after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. "How much will this cost?" "My husband's a sailor – how long will he be gone?" "What's your exit strategy, you warmonger?" Wait – no. My mistake. That didn't happen.

The Democrats' incessant demand for a "plan" tends to suggest there is something called "The Plan," which would magically prevent bad things from ever happening – especially something as totally unexpected as violence in the Middle East. Violence in the Middle East constantly comes as a bolt out of the blue to liberals.

Bush said deposing Saddam Hussein and building a democracy in Iraq was an essential part of the war on terrorism. He did not say that invading Iraq would instantly end all Muslim violence and rainy days that make liberals blue. We're at war with Islamic lunatics. They enjoy blowing people up. What further insights do liberals have to impart about this war?

A war is not as predictable as, say, a George Clooney movie (although generally more entertaining). Historian Stephen Ambrose described Gen. Dwight Eisenhower's genius as a soldier, noting that "he often said that in preparing for battle, plans were essential, but that once the battle was joined, plans were useless." Transforming a blood-soaked police state dotted with mass graves and rape rooms into a self-governing republic might take slightly longer than this week's makeover on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy."

This is not the first time an evil tyrant was deposed only for bloody elements of his regime to remain. For example, it's been nearly five months since Howell Raines was removed as editor of the New York Times. No quagmire there! What is Bill Keller's "plan" to turn the New York Times around, and how long will it take?

The U.S. military has had considerably more success in turning Iraq around than liberals have had in turning the ghettos around with their 40-year "War on Poverty." So far, fewer troops have been killed by hostile fire since the end of major combat in Iraq than civilians were murdered in Washington, D.C., last year (239 deaths in Iraq compared to 262 murders in D.C.). How many years has it been since we declared the end of major U.S. combat operations against Marion Barry's regime? How long before we just give up and pull out of that hellish quagmire known as Washington, D.C.?

The Democrats' urgent need for an "exit strategy" apparently first arose sometime after 1993, when Bill Clinton sent all those U.S. soldiers to Bosnia – who are still there. The Democrats' conception of a "plan" is like the liberal fantasy that there's a room somewhere full of unlimited amounts of "free" money that we could just give to teachers and hospitals and poor people and AIDS sufferers and the homeless if only the bad, greedy Republicans would give us the key to that wonderful room. Republicans should claim the "plan" is in that room. In a lockbox.

It's interesting that after we've finally gotten liberals to give up on seven decades of trying to plan an economy, now they want to plan a war. Extra-credit question for the class: Comparing a peacetime economy with a war, which do you think is more likely to shoot back at the planners and require subsequent readjustments? No, no, not the usual hands from the eager YAFers in the front row. Are there any liberals in the back rows who want to take a stab at answering this one? Paul Krugman?

Needless to say, the Democrats have no actual plan of their own, unless "surrender" counts as a plan. They just enjoy complaining about every bombing, every attack from Muslim terrorists, every mishap.

Back in the 1870s, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman told a group of graduating cadets: "There are many of you here who think that war is all glory. Well, war is all hell." We didn't start it, but we're going to win it.

I had one of those "point A to point B to point C flights. From point A to point B, I felt something (a vibration maybe) that just didn't seem right. I was thinking, "there is something wrong with this plane", but we landed safely. Now this point A to point B plane was supposed to continue on to point C, but after we landed an announcement was made for all passengers continuing on to point C to disembark with your luggage. This plane would not be used for the point B to point C leg.

Wierd? I fly often and I'm glad point A to point B was only a 20 minute flight.

Assad, Nasrallah and Abu Ala Scale up Threat Levels

DEBKAfile Special Report

October 29, 2003, 3:34 PM (GMT+02:00)

A shrill chorus of threats has been emanating from Syria, the Palestinians and the Hizballah as the Middle East heads toward another bleak winter.

President Bashar Assad is still smarting from Israel’s October 5 retaliatory air strike against a terrorist training camp at Ein Hatsav 15 miles from Damascus – the deepest Israeli raid inside Syria since the 1973 war. It followed the deaths of 19 Israelis in a suicide bombing in Haifa and Israeli accusations of Syrian support for terrorist groups and activities.

Not content with the warnings issuing from Syrian officials every couple of days, Assad dispatched his military chief, General Hassan Turkmani, and deputy chief of staff general Ali Habib – widely regarded as the Syrian army’s most professional commander -- to Beirut on Monday, October 27 for some straight talk with Lebanese leaders. They notified President Emil Lahoud, army chief of staff General Michel Suleiman and military intelligence chief General Michel Azar in no uncertain terms that any future Israel strikes would bring forth Syrian reprisals. In such a contingency, Lebanon would be required to stand shoulder to shoulder with Syria in a united front.

Syrian foreign minister Farouk a-Shara had already spelled out Syria’s intentions. In an interview with Britain’s Sunday Telegraph, he said: “Syria will strike back if Israel attacks again and could hit Israeli settlements on the Golan Heights. Our people will not stand for another attack and we will have to carry out the will of the people.” He added: "We have many cards that we have not played. Don't forget the many Israeli settlements in the Golan. I am not exaggerating but describing things as they might happen."

Israel captured the Golan Heights in 1967 after Syria joined a combined Arab offensive on its borders and was thrown back. The two countries are still at war.

For Damascus, artillery or missile attacks against Israeli targets on the Golan Heights would be regarded as legitimate military action inside Israeli-occupied Syrian territory. Hizballah uses a similar argument to justify its shelling attacks in the disputed Har Dov/Shebaa Farms region which remained in Israeli hands after the UN approved the pullback of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon to the international frontier in May 2000. On Monday, October 27, the Lebanese Shiite terrorists aimed several rounds of missile and shell fire at the Golan as well as at Israeli positions on Har Dov. Israel hushed up the incident, but Hizballah publicized it a day later.

According to DEBKAfile’s intelligence and military sources, the Syrian military visitors extracted from Beirut prior and unrestricted permission for the Syrian air force to use Lebanese airspace and for Syrian troops to redeploy in the central and southern Lebanese positions they have been evacuating in the past four months. This change in the strategic situation on its northern frontiers not only poses a challenge for Israel but represents a dramatic reversal for Washington’s efforts to stabilize the Lebanese government and strengthen its pro-US leaders, such as prime minister Rafik Hariri. The Americans based progress towards their goal of weakening Syrian and Hizballah influence in Lebanon on the phased withdrawal of the Syrian army. It now looks as though Syrian troops leaving through Lebanon’s front door are reentering from the back.

Palestinians

On this front, prime minister Ahmed Qurie, better known as Abu Ala, has decided to stay on after forging a seven-point pact with Yasser Arafat, according to which he will form a permanent government on November 4, when the mandate of the emergency cabinet expires.

DEBKAfile’s Palestinian sources reveal the key points of the pact:

1. The Palestinians will refuse to join Israel in peace negotiations as long as construction of Israel’s separation fence continues. “Its continuation makes any talk of a Palestinian state farcical,” our sources quote Abu Ala as saying.

2. Any Palestinian-Israeli ceasefire agreement must be based on terms quite different from the conditions of what Abu Ala calls “Abu Mazen’s failed hudna”.

3. The Palestinians will demand the evacuation of settlements as condition number one for a ceasefire.

4. The Palestinians will insist on advance notice of all of the Sharon government’s actions in relation to the Palestinians.

5. A ceasefire will be phased, taking effect in one zone after another.

6. No Palestinian administration will accept the demand to dismantle terrorist infrastructure.

7. Palestinian security forces will go into action only against ceasefire violators.

Arafat made the important concession of allowing Qureia to appoint a security affairs minister with real authority.

On the strength of this pact, Abu Ala asked to meet Hamas leaders to discuss a truce, sparking rumors that the way was clear for General Nasser Yousef to assume the security post.

DEBKAfile’s sources report that Abu Ala dismissed suggestions that he travel to Washington or a European capital. He told his associates that, unlike Abu Mazen – who was eased out by Arafat last month – he preferred to cast his lot in with the “rais” (boss) and does not seeks relations with the Americans or Europeans.

Hizballah

German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told visiting Israeli foreign minister Silvan Shalom last week that Hizballah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah believes Israeli prime minister Sharon had backed away from most of the points agreed in the German-mediated Israeli-Hizballah negotiations on a prisoner swap, especially those covering the repatriation of Lebanese prisoners and detainees held by Israel.

Nasrallah listed the top five men he wanted: Jawad Caspi, Hizballah’s operations officer, Anwar Yunes, Omas Balahis, Ali Baro - a drug dealer who fled a death sentence in Egypt in 1998 and was given an 18-year jail term after being caught by Israel – and Samir Kuntar.

In 1979, Kuntar was part of a four-man Palestinian terror squad which carried out a particularly savage attack on a civilian family in the northern Israeli town of Nahariya. The four broke into the Haran family apartment. One terrorist used his rifle butt to smash in the skull of 4-year old Einat Haran and then joined another team member to murder her father, Danny Haran aged 32. Her mother accidentally smothered two-year old Yael Haran to death to keep her from crying out in their place of hiding in an attic. Rescuers killed two of the raiders and captured the remaining two, one of whom was turned loose in a 1985 prisoner exchange deal. Kuntar stayed in jail and his release is now demanded by Nasrallah.

According to DEBKAfile’s sources, Nasrallah warned the German mediators he was giving Sharon one last chance to carry out the exchange as it stood in relation to the Lebanese prisoners. Otherwise, the Shiite group would resume its attacks against Israel, including kidnaps of soldiers and civilians. Official Israeli sources do not credit the Shiite extremist’s claim that the barrage Hizballah loosed on Monday was unrelated to the prisoner issue. Tuesday, October 28, Israeli defense minister Shaul Mofaz stated: “Israel has very deep information of the Hizballah’s intention to carry out a major attack in the north”.