It's about freakin' time!

Hezbollah acknowledged targeting civilians in rocket attacks on Israel, but said it fired in response to Israeli attacks - rejecting an Amnesty International report Thursday that accused the guerrillas of "serious violations of international humanitarian law, amounting to war crimes."

During the conflict, Hezbollah fired nearly 4,000 rockets into northern Israel, killing 43 civilians, seriously injuring 33 others and forcing hundreds of thousands of civilians to take refuge in shelters or flee.

"The scale of Hezbollah's attacks on Israeli cities, towns and villages, the indiscriminate nature of the weapons used, and statements from the leadership confirming their intent to target civilians make it all too clear that Hezbollah violated the laws of war," Amnesty International's Secretary General Irene Khan said in a comment on the report.

The article basically repeats what those three paragraphs say a number of times, but you've got the gist.

The claim that the targeting of Israeli civilians by Hezbollah was a reaction to their own civilians being targeted is ridiculous. First of all, Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that is in the business of killing civilians and that is what they did for this entire war. That's how they roll. Israel, on the other hand, fires at terrorist fighters. It just so happens that those terrorists hide behind woman and children and fire their weapons from residential rooftops. Essentially the majority of civilian Lebanese deaths aren't even "collateral damage", rather they were killed by the Hezbos themselves, but making them targets.

This is just like Iraq. Our troops are less safe when they won't fire in to a Mosque, school, or hospital even thougth the terrorists will fire out at them. If the Israelis were being that weak, they'd have been screwed. They attack the enemy where they are, and it just so happens that the Hezbos hide amongst civilians for the PR. That way they can have Green Helmet parade dead childrens bodies around the next day, directing cameras, reseting for better angles, etc. etc.

 

*SCROLL FOR UPDATES*

***UPDATE 5PM - Bloomberg says 20 injured, 8 critically***

***UPDATE - A Jewish school in Montreal was firebombed last week... SCROLL for details***

***UPDATE - PHOTOS***
***UPDATE - Only One Gunman (previous reports as many as 2 or 3)***

*UPDATE* - CTV now reporting 2 gunmen dead. SCROLL for details

This story is still breaking, and few details are known, but this is what has been reported so far, via AP:

MONTREAL - A suspect in at shooting at a Montreal college turned the gun on himself, police said Wednesday. Several shots were heard Wednesday at a building at Dawson College, and students told a radio station that four people had been hit.

One student at the school told radio station 940 News that she saw two people who had been shot, including one who was hit in the neck. The student said a friend told her four people had been shot.

TV footage showed students fleeing the building, which is near downtown.

Probably just some random crazy, but it raises an interesting point that goes to the heart of why I will never watch a Michael Moore film again. Before he was famous, I went and saw Bowling for Columbine, thinking it was a documentary on the Columbine tragedy. I wasn't that political at all at the time, but I had an uneasy feeling from the minute the film began.

If you've never seen it don't waste your time, because I'd hate to rob a couple hours of your life so that you could listen to a bunch of spun statistics misleading splicing of video, out of context quoting. It's the usual Moore mantra, America sucks, America is evil, America causes all violence in the worldl, take away guns, why does the show "COPS" only show black people (even though almost everytime I've ever seen it it's a shirtless drunk guy picking up a Mexican transvestite hooker, or trying to escape his trailer with some pills after beating his wife, etc. etc.)

It wasn't until a year later that I thought back on how off that movie had seemed, and what an anti-American vibe it gave off that I found this link that helps unspin what Moore spun. Not as thorough as Fifty-nine Deceits in Fahrenheit 9/11, but definitely worth using as a guide if you have seen the movie or decide to watch it.

Anyway, my issue is with the fact that Moore keeps treating Canada as some sort of model for us. He keeps pounding this "point" that we are so much more violent than other countries, but using shady methods like using raw numbers, versus homicide rates to account for big differences in population from country to country.

Moore's deception goes from beginning to end, but I just wanted to point out that he continues to bash us for not being more Canada-like, yet here we have an example of some nutty shooter in Canada. Is there a chance that the shooter (or shooters, as FNC is now reporting) is not Canadian? Yes. But my point stands about Moore's deception, and I thought this story gave me an opening to link you to that Bowling for Columbine debunking.

***UPDATE - CTV.COM***

Two suspected gunmen are dead in a chaotic shooting scene at a college in downtown Montreal that has left three people in critical condition.

"Government sources are saying two of the gunmen are dead," said CTV's Jed Kahane, reporting from Montreal. "One may have taken his own life, the other was shot by police."

"All of a sudden I turned around and saw a man dressed in black with a huge assault rifle," she said.

"I saw the gunman who was dressed in black and at that time he was shooting at people. It was probably one of the most frightening moments of my life," Boyer said.

Sound familiar?

Today's incident is horrifyingly reminiscent of another school shooting in Montreal. On Dec. 6, 1989, Marc Lepine shot 27 female engineering students at the Ecole Polytechnique, killing 14, before fatally shooting himself.

I'd be interested to hear Moore's comments on that. Nah, instead he'll wheel a paralyzed Columbine victim in to a Walmart and then Walmart's corporate offices to throw a fit and make a scene because they sell ammunition. You know, because it wasn't the fault of the kids who shot everyone. It was Walmart.

***UPDATE***
This as the story develops it seems to be a much bigger deal than initially reported. If you're near a TV flip on one of the cable news channels. Sounds like there are quite a few injured.

CTV now reporting multiple injuries:

Two suspected gunmen are dead in a chaotic shooting scene at a college in downtown Montreal that has sent 12 victims in hospital.

Twelve victims of the shooting have been taken to hospital for treatment, including six in critical condition, two considered serious, and four listed in stable condition.

Earlier I heard Shep Smith ask someone in Montreal if Dawson was a predominently Jewish school after he'd received emails stating that. The woman on the phone said "no", but I figured I'd do a news search on "jewish" and "montreal". Well I quickly found articles about a firebombing of a jewish boys school just last week. I'm not saying they're related or that today's incident is any kind of Islamic Terrorism (though I think it certainly should be considered a terrorist act, just not necessarily connected to Islamofascism). But it's important to keep all incidents in mind:

MONTREAL -- With tensions still high over the war between Israel and Lebanon, Jewish community leaders in Montreal promised Tuesday there will be heightened security and increased vigilance following the firebombing of a Hasidic school.

They were careful to point out the motive for the attack is still unknown but said they worry there will be further violence directed toward the Jewish community.

But "it's a fair question to wonder whether or not the gathering of 15,000 Quebecers under the flag of Hezbollah, unfortunately further legitimized by the presence of politicians, whether that creates an atmosphere where fanatics draw the conclusion that violence against Jews is somehow acceptable."

Thousands, including some politicians, marched in the city earlier this summer in support of Lebanon during the Israeli bombardment.

In support of Lebanon? Or in support of Hezbollah. Let's be real.

Security cameras, installed after another Jewish school was firebombed two years ago, were rolling as a man threw a Molotov cocktail through the window of the front doors at the Skver-Toldos Orthodox Boys School early Saturday morning.

So who were the 2004 firebombers? Lone firebombmen? "Mentally ill" people?

Many security measures were put in place after the United Talmud Torahs elementary school library was torched in April 2004.

Sleiman El-Merhebi was released from prison in May after serving two-thirds of his 40-month sentence for arson.

His mother, Rouba El-Merhebi Faud, will return to court Sept. 25, when she is expected to have a date set for her trial on being an accessory after the fact.

Wait, they sound like Muslims, hands off! They were just expressing their free speech and delivering the message of the "religion of peace" to the violent Jewish elementary school students. You know, the resistance! Damn those elementary school CANADIAN Jews and their military killing Muslims and occupying their land.. oh wait.

And why was this guy only sentenced to 40-months, and worse only made to serve two-thirds of that. What is that, like 24 months? For something that is at miminum a hate crime! I wonder if an unhinged right-winger were to firebomb a gay building or abortion clinic, they'd get the same deal? Somehow I don't think so.

Read the rest...

Arutz Sheva at least reports that the incident last week is being called a "hate crime" by local police.

Related - Canadian CEO blasts wide-spread anti-semitism in Canada.

*UPDATE*
More on past Canadian school shootings.

 

***UPDATE - Fonda and Friends delusional, start their own network. Why do they think they have a shot?***

***UPDATE - Brian Maloney the blogosphere's anti-Air America guru has all the details.

***UPDATE - AAR Denies. Sounds to me like they are on the verge of having no other option but bankruptcy, if no one buys up their assests.

While Malkin doesn't have a post up on this yet, she has been following the failures of liberal radio network "Air America" since the beginning, so I'm sure she'll have something to say later. Anyway, hat tip to Malkin's associate AllahPundit for pointing me to this story/spin job by Think Progress. Bad boyz for life... can't stop, won't stop...

NRO mocks here:

Wanting to make sure that no one thinks a bankruptcy declaration by Air America would be bad news, ThinkProgress adds:

The right wing is sure to seize on Air America’s financial woes as a sign that progressive talk radio is unpopular. In fact, Air America succeeded at creating something that didn’t exist: the progressive talk radio format. That format is now established and strong and will continue with or without Air America. Indeed, many of the country’s most successful and widely-syndicated progressive talk hosts — Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller, for instance — aren’t even associated with Air America.

Radio giant Clear Channel is so committed to progressive talk radio that, this week, it will announce a partnership with the Center for American Progress, Jones Radio, and MSS Inc., to conduct a nationwide search for the next Progressive Talk Radio Star.

Pathetic. I can some up my feeling on this with a monologue from Joe Dirt character "Robby", played by Kid Rock:

"Don't get smart with me, you motherless dirtbag. You've been here long enough. Nobody wants you in this town. Nobody wants you around, period! (Joe Dirts begins to run away) Aw, look at him, fellas.…You cryin', boy? You cryin', boy? Maybe you should go back down to McDonald's and get yourself a whine burger and some french cries. How 'bout a 'Whine-a-ken?' You little sissy boy. Def Leppard sucks!"

*UPDATE*
As was predicted, Malkin is all over it and includes a long link list of her previous coverage which I see as some deserved gloating. Malkin has hammered the NY Times' coverage of Air America since the beginning, and is still waiting for them to get with the program:

First question: Will the New York Times fiiiiinally get around to covering this story? Hmmm?

You might recall that the Times, obviously friendly with the views of Air America, wrote glowing pieces on them even though they've continued to tank almost since they day they launched. The Times has been noticably absent in reporting on AA's continued and worsening failures.

Others:
Wizbang, Sensible Mom, Texas Rainmaker, Appalachian Scribe, Considerettes, Macsmind, The World According to Carl, American Princess

 

*UPDATE - LOCAL COVERAGE - Burlington Free Press Sets The Stage*

Republican Richard Tarrant made quick work of two rivals in his party’s Senate primary Tuesday and will face off against independent Bernie Sanders in what is already the most expensive race in the state’s history.

Tarrant was leading his closest rival, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Greg Parke, by nearly a 2-1 margin at 10:20 p.m. when Parke called him to concede the race. Cris Ericson, a third candidate in the GOP primary, trailed far behind.

“It looks very positive,” Tarrant told cheering supporters at his Colchester campaign headquarters earlier in the evening. “We’re in pretty good shape.”

Sanders easily won a five-way race in the Democratic primary Tuesday, the first time he has let his name be on the Democratic ballot. He said he’ll decline the Democratic nomination today under an agreement he made with the party in January. Sanders will appear on the November ballot as an independent.

“I am an independent and proud to be an independent,” Sanders said after greeting supporters at his campaign headquarters in downtown Burlington. “But I have worked very closely with the Democrats and will be a part of their coordinated campaign.”

The looming contest between Sanders and Tarrant is expected to be heated and expensive. Sanders led Tarrant by 21 percentage points in the most recent statewide poll.

Rich Tarrant and Socialist Congressman Bernie Sanders both won their primaries tonight, making official the Senate race that we all knew was coming and one that Bernie should fear due to the obvious and shocking amount of support for the Republican Tarrant (or maybe it's just support against Bernie).

(Montpelier - AP) - Congressman Bernard Sanders and businessman Richard Tarrant breezed to victory Tuesday in their U.S. Senate primaries, setting the stage for a general election battle to replace retiring US Senator James Jeffords.

Sanders, who has said he plans to run as an independent in the November 7th general election, captured 94 percent of the vote with 61 percent of the precincts reporting, coasting past his four opponents in the Democratic primary.

Tarrant, meanwhile, took a 63-33 lead over Greg Parke in the GOP primary, with 62 percent of precincts reporting.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Previous:
VIDEOS: VT Senate Candidate Bernie Sanders Is Anti-Intelligence
VIDEO: Bernie Sanders - Against Amber Alert & Child Porn Laws. For Visas For Drug Dealers.

HotAir is live blogging primaries across the country tonight... (h/t Malkin)

*UPDATE*
Tarrant actually cast his ballot in the gym of my old high school:

 

Doesn't seem to be any damage, or any concern over tsunamis:

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A strong, 6.0 earthquake in the Gulf of Mexico was felt throughout the Southeast but caused no apparent damage, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The earthquake occurred at a depth of 6.2 miles, the USGS said.

The quake, about 250 miles west of Tampa, Florida, was "pretty unusual" for the area, although a 5.2 magnitude quake was recorded nearby in February, said USGS seismic analyst Jessica Sigala.

People as far away as Stone Mountain, Georgia -- an Atlanta suburb -- reported feeling the quake at 10:56 a.m. ET.

 

*UPDATE - This is also odd, considering early this morning Iran ruled out suspending enrichment.

I don't post this as some "good news" breakthrough kind of story, because I'm not buying it just yet, but Fox is reporting a story apparently coming across the AP wires, that unnamed diplomats have said Iran is considering a temporary, two month, suspension to their uranium enrichment program.

First of all, I'll believe it when I see it. Second of all, what good is more stalling? They laughed in our faces over the first UN deadline. The EU gave them a new... deadline (shouldn't they have been dead after the first line?). Then we've just had more "talks", and suddenly this? What's the long-term outcome?

So he stops suspending for two months, and then what? He resumes. He's a couple years off from having "the bomb" anyway, so it really doesn't mattre to him. All it does is make him feel like he's a puppeteer of the world. Another great victory brought to you by the always useful and relevant UN, that is good for nothing but raping little girls around the globe. Way to go guys.

 

Looks like it. And it looks like someone dropped the ball by lettin' this one get a way, more specifically, deporting him. Quick review: deport those with ties to 9/11 hijackers, keep 10-20 million illegal immigrants.

Sounds to me like this guy may be a bigger player than Moussaoui ever was.

Senior U.S. law enforcement officials tell NBC News that the FBI is again actively investigating a good friend of the 9/11 hijackers — two years after the U.S. allowed the man to be deported to his home country.

His name is Mohdar Abdullah, a Yemeni student who admits befriending two 9/11 hijackers — Nawaf Al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar — when they lived in San Diego.

NBC News has learned that the renewed FBI investigation was triggered, in part, by surveillance videotapes from inside the Los Angeles Airport shot in June 2000 — a year before 9/11.

Law enforcement officials tell NBC the grainy tapes show terrorist Nawaf al-Hazmi with Abdullah and an unidentified man. Sources say the men appear to be scouting out the airport. Some FBI agents believe that one of the men may be holding a video camera and rotates in a circle while secretly videotaping near the security area.

"This is very consistent with what the hijackers did," says 9/11 Commission former co-chair Tom Kean, adding, "if he's on tape here with the hijackers, then this is something that should really be investigated further."

The only reason to think he could be an innocent bystander is because the 9/11 Commission had their eye on him, sense the Commission got virtually everything wrong, protected Clinton's hide, and refused (and continues to refuse) to acknowledge Able Danger. Not going to get off on the Gorelick tangent, but I just want to make the point that the 9/11 Commission was a joke, so anything involving them requires much scrutiny.

The 9/11 Commission says Abdullah had extremist sympathies, helped the two hijackers get drivers licenses and flight training and, after 9/11, "expressed hatred for the U.S. government."

But before the 9/11 Commission could question him, the U.S. deported him.

"He should not have been let out of the country when the 9/11 commission wanted to interview him," Kean says.

The airport tapes were not found until after Abdullah was deported. The grand jury subpoena for the tapes, obtained by NBC news, is dated October 2004 [PDF link].

Some law enforcement officials now regret deporting Abdullah. One official tells NBC he is now "more suspicious" that Abdullah had some prior knowledge of the 9/11 attacks.

Again, even though it's not the subject of the post, I can't totally let this go - why are you whining about not getting to interview him, but you all but totally blew off Able Danger, and don't include the explosive truth that they had identified a number of the 9/11 hijackers, including the ringleader Atta, as potential terrorists back during the Clinton administration, but because of the wall that Jamie Gorelick strengthened, intelligence groups couldn't pass information to the proper law enforcement agencies. The left still doesn't have a problem with this senior Clinton justice department official, responsible for building up that wall, being commissioner of the 9/11 commission. But anyone seeking honest finds it suspect at the very least, especially when coupled with Sandy Berger's pants dance.

At any rate, this is an interesting story, hopefully the press will follow it. At least the FBI is on it now, though no one knows what took them so long to find the tapes:

Law-enforcement officials tell NBC News that the FBI is now re-examining all of Abdullah's contacts with friends and associates in the U.S., especially anyone he's contacted since returning to Yemen.

Why didn't they find these tapes until 2004 isn’t known — especially since the FBI knew that on the day these tapes were shot in June 2000, one of the hijackers went to Los Angeles Airport for a flight home to Yemen. Critics are certain to question whether the FBI again missed an important clue, and let a possible accomplice get away.

And a little fun at the expense of the "Truthers".... Pssssssst! You know why it took so long to find the tapes? Because Rove had to learn how to use the video editing software to create them, and up until now they've been busy first making the fake phone calls from 9/11, then the fake videos of the hijackers passing through airport security, then brainwashing the thousands of people who had to be involved to pull off such a conspiracy so that none of them would talk, and of course making all the fake Bin Laden and Zawahiri videos. Rove's had a full plate, and after recently making the fake pre-9/11 video of two of the hijackers meeting with Bin Laden and issuing their video wills, he finally got around to creating this fake LAX tape.......... uh........ yeah, that sounds about right...... um......ILLUMINATI! FREE MASONS! LOOK AT THE OWL HIDDEN ON THE DOLLAR BILL! WASHINGTON DC IS LAID OUT LIKE A PENTAGRAM! GOTCHA BUSH CO.!

 

***UPDATE - ALLAH HAS VIDEO***

***SCROLL FOR UPDATES***

This is big, if it is true. Prepare for "Truthers" to add a new twist to their fairytale. Bush/Rove Productions somehow had to stage this event, and make these "fake" suicide videos by the hijackers...

Arabic TV channel Al-Jazeera has broadcast what it says is unseen footage of Osama Bin Laden meeting some of the 9/11 hijackers.

The channel said it showed al-Qaeda leaders "preparing for the attacks and practising their execution".

The footage also shows the al-Qaeda leader meeting senior figures Ramzi Binalshibh and Mohammed Atef.

Binalshibh was captured in 2002 and Atef was killed by a US air strike in Afghanistan in 2001.

Al-Jazeera also showed "suicide" videos by two of the hijackers who crashed planes into the World Trade Center.

Developing...

***UPDATE***
Michelle Malkin links to Allah's "mega-post".. I'm on my way to dig around...

*UPDATE*
Rusty notices a 9/11 ringleader missing from the video:

Dick Cheney does not appear on the video. No comment from Democratic nominee for Congress Bob Bowman.

Come on Rusty, that's him in the Bin Laden mask!

I'm actually on the edge of my seat here, waiting to see how the "truthers" will spin this. Will it be that this tape was just made recently, because there were no hijackers because we know Bush Co. was behind 9/11? Will it be that Bush/Rove "put them up to it", like they do for every UBL tape when Dubya's polls sink? I really can't wait to see what they say.

***UPDATE***
Check out this screen shot from the New York 9/11 Truth group page:

As you can see from this search, the conspiracy theorists have run wild with this one. First of all, we have to assume that the quote is real, but even if it is, it didn't mean much. It was supposedly in response to someone inquiring as to why 9/11 isn't mentioned on Bin Laden's FBI's Most Wanted page. It makes sense, because there wasn't evidence (to my knowledge) of his "direct" involvement. It was just that the 9/11 terrorists were followers of his. This new video seems to reveal his direct contact and training of them.

This WAPO piece clears up the omission of 9/11 from the FBI's Most Wanted Bin Laden page:

The curious omission underscores the Justice Department's decision, so far, to not seek formal criminal charges against bin Laden for approving al-Qaeda's most notorious and successful terrorist attack. The notice says bin Laden is "a suspect in other terrorist attacks throughout the world" but does not provide details.

The absence has also provided fodder for conspiracy theorists who think the U.S. government or another power was behind the Sept. 11 hijackings. From this point of view, the lack of a Sept. 11 reference suggests that the connection to al-Qaeda is uncertain.

Exhaustive government and independent investigations have concluded otherwise, of course, and bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders have proudly taken responsibility for the hijackings. FBI officials say the wanted poster merely reflects the government's long-standing practice of relying on actual criminal charges in the notices.

"There's no mystery here," said FBI spokesman Rex Tomb. "They could add 9/11 on there, but they have not because they don't need to at this point. . . . There is a logic to it."

David N. Kelley, the former U.S. attorney in New York who oversaw terrorism cases when bin Laden was indicted for the embassy bombings there in 1998, said he is not at all surprised by the lack of a reference to Sept. 11 on the official wanted poster. Kelley said the issue is a matter of legal restrictions and the need to be fair to any defendant.

"It might seem a little strange from the outside, but it makes sense from a legal point of view," said Kelley, now in private practice. "If I were in government, I'd be troubled if I were asked to put up a wanted picture where no formal charges had been filed, no matter who it was."

The VT Truther group latches on to the quote as well. It appears they are having some sort of gathering Saturday. If I find the time, I may drop by to snap a few photos of moonbattery in action.

***UPDATE***
Earlier I posted the reaction I predict we'll see from the Truthers at HotAir:

Damn you stupid non-Truthers! Don’t you know that sense it was Bush/Rove/Cheney/Rumsfeld and the rest of the illuminati skull and bones free mason gang who attacked us on 9/11, that this tape could have been made any time? The guys who are blamed for the attack in the official version are alive and well and this tape was probably made yesterday.

***UPDATE***
Video as it appeared on Al Jazeera at CBS, in right sidebar. (h/t Allah)

***UPDATE***
In the event that CBS removes the video, or there are any issues with that link in the future, Ian has posted the video at HotAir.

 

Great news! We're letting two of our most prominent enemies in the country to speak at the United Nations! Who decided that this was okay? Fox News reporting, though no link yet, but Drudge has us covered:

Ahmadinejad to Cuba, New York Wed Sep 06 2006 20:23:38 ET

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to attend the summit of Non-Aligned Movement countries in the Cuban capital Havana in mid-September, an official said Wednesday.

"The president will take part in the summit of Non-Aligned countries in Havana," said the official from the president's office, who asked not to be named.

The summit of the 116-nation grouping is to take place between September 11-16, and Ahmadinejad is also expected to attend the UN General Assembly in New York that starts on September 12, the official said.

MORE

Ahmadinejad said in Tehran Wednesday that his attendance of the UN General Assembly would be a "suitable opportunity" to challenge Bush in a television debate.

"My forthcoming visit to New York for the UN General Assembly would be a suitable opportunity to hold the debate and all world people, especially the Americans, could hear and watch it without censorship," the news agency ISNA quoted the Iranian president as saying in a cabinet session.

Developing...

I'm having trouble digesting this right now, and I'm too hungry to think a whole lot about it. But there is nothing good about this.

*UPDATE*
Newsmax is on it too:

UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. officials tell NewsMax.com "they expect" Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to travel to New York City to attend the 2006 General Assembly.

The controversial Iranian leader attended the 2005 GA and held several "colorful" news conferences during that visit.

Ahmadinejad will be at the U.N. at the same time key members of the security council will gather to decide what type of sanctions to impose on the Iranian regime for its refusal to suspend its "enrichment" of nuclear fuel.

Iran's U.N. mission in New York City had no comment on the expected presidential visit, however late Wedenesday evening, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) confirmed that Ahmadinejad told his cabinet in Tehran that he intended to visit New York City and speak at the United Nations.

In addition to the Iranian president, the U.N. also confirms that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, another Bush antagonist, also plans to visit the Big Apple at the same time.

Both Ahmadinejad and Chavez will first visit Havana to attend the summit of non-alligned nations being hosted by Fidel Castro the week of September 11.

President Bush is expected to address the U.N. General Assembly on the same day as Ahmadinejad, September 19. Bush will address the U.N. at 11:30 a.m., the Iranian takes to the same podium at 7 p.m.

At least there's a bit of good news:

The 2006 General Assembly will be Annan's last.

The U.N. chief expects to end his 10-year term January 1, 2007.

Let's hope that seeing Annan leave means less corruption and less little girl raping at a level Warren Jeffs could never dream of. I'm not holding my breath though.

*UPDATE*
Allah seems to think (correct me if I'm misreading) that this will backfire in the sense that it will open up the eyes of other western countries, about what sort of organization the UN is. I'm not that confident, because most of the west is in appeasement mode already.

 

I would have assumed this was more symbolic than anything, if not for the word "gigantic" being used. I guess it is a big step, even though it probably won't change anything regarding our troop presence for a while still:

Iraq will take control of its armed forces command on Thursday, a major step on its painful path toward independence and an essential move before international troops can eventually withdraw.

"This is such a huge, significant event that's about to occur tomorrow," U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said of the shift in the Iraqi command. "If you go back and you map out significant events that have occurred in this government's formation in taking control of the country, tomorrow is gigantic."

"It's the prime minister's decision how rapidly he wants to move along with assuming control," Caldwell said. In Thursday's ceremony, the prime minister will take control of Iraq's small naval and air forces, and the 8th Iraqi Army Division.

"They can move as rapidly thereafter as they want. I know, conceptually, they've talked about perhaps two divisions a month," Caldwell said.

I hesitate posting this next paragraph because it's a total guess, but I think if nothing else the positive thinking is a good thing:

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani predicted in a Tuesday meeting with visiting British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett that fighting in Iraq will have abated by the end of 2007, and that Iraqi forces will be able to handle any remaining violence.

Read the rest via ABC News here.

 

*UPDATE* - Not surprisingly the headline the MSM is running with: Bush acknowledges secret CIA prisons. Wasn't surprised at all to see that on the Yahoo! home page when I opened a new browser.

I mentioned earlier that custody of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would be transfered from CIA to the DoD (yes liberals, KSM is the mastermind, not that cartoon mascot Osama, who's capture you like to pretend would be some end all to terror simply because you know that name appeals to simple average Americans). President Bush is currently making the expected speech to announce it, but others are expecting 'significant news' based on statements made by Tony Snow this morning. I think we're going to be disappointed that the announcement is nothing more than a detailed elaboration on what we learned already.

He is talking a lot about getting congress to pass some type of military tribunals he's asking for.

I suppose it's somewhat interesting that these guys are actually going to Gitmo now that they've been transferred, but I don't think it's that exciting or surprising. The President also gave detailed explanations of what these guys were all about and their connections to attacks and planned attacks around the world, as well as defended his policies for dealing with these people. Other than that, there hasn't been a whole lot new (but he's still going).

Malkin and Allah are both liveblogging. Check them out for details, as they've been liveblogging from the start.

 

Not a huge story, but Romney is worthy of praise for this decision, and I thought it warranted a post:

BOSTON (Reuters) - Gov. Mitt Romney on Tuesday said Massachusetts would not provide any security support for former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami's weekend visit, calling his planned speech at Harvard "propaganda."

Khatami is due to speak on Sunday at Harvard University in Cambridge on the "Ethics of Tolerance in the Age of Violence."

Romney said Khatami will not receive a state police escort or any other state help. Federal officials will attend to his security.

Romney, a 2008 Republican presidential hopeful, called the visit "a disgrace to the memory of all Americans who lost their lives at the hands of extremists, especially on the eve of the five-year anniversary of 9/11."

"The U.S. State Department listed Khatami's
Iran as the No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism," Romney said. "For him to lecture Americans about tolerance and violence is propaganda, pure and simple."

This doesn't appear to have stopped Khatami's visit to Harvard, but it does send a message that should have been sent by the federal government. Read the rest...

 

No word on if we'll be seeing chubby Katie or skinny Katie, but according to Drudge she's lined up some high profile friends to help get her off the ground. Such a task was thought to require a forklift. Oh snap! Just kidding, obviously she's not "fat", but I couldn't resist after CBS deliberately photoshopped her to make her appear skinny. Usually photoshopping your new anchor is a great trust earning move by a channel who is still embarassed after their last anchor left amid a fake document scandal.

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN SEPT 03, 2006 19:41:35 ET XXXXX

BUSH, CLINTON, LIMBAUGH, CRONKITE TO LAUNCH COURIC

**Exclusive**

Plans for the opening week of CBS EVENING NEWS WITH KATIE COURIC have surpassed network executives' wildest dream: Presidents Bush and Clinton, radio king Rush Limbaugh and broadcast legend Walter Cronkite have all agreed to appear, a CBS insider reveals!

A top network source says scheduling of "guest editorials" are still in flux.

But the addition of Rush Limbaugh to the CBS EVENING NEWS is bound to generate maximum commotion and tune-in hits.

"It was Katie's idea to bring Limbaugh in," a top CBS source said on Sunday. "She is very excited he has agreed to appear."

Rudy Giuliani and Bill Maher have also signed on for early editions of Couric.

CBS will issue a press release on Monday confirming details of the EVENING NEWS all-star line-up.

Developing...

 

Who didn't see this coming? Anyone else getting Deja Vous?

LAPPEENRANTA, Finland (Reuters) - The European Union agreed on Saturday to try to clarify Iran's stance on halting uranium enrichment within two weeks and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan held talks in Tehran to try and settle the standoff.

Annan's visit to Iran takes place two days after the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reported Tehran had failed to meet the U.N. Security Council's August 31 deadline to suspend sensitive work.

The United States, which accuses Iran of seeking atomic bombs, said on Friday it was consulting European governments about possible sanctions against the Islamic Republic, but the EU signaled it wanted to see more dialogue with Tehran which says its atomic activity is aimed at producing power.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm excited about the prospect of more empty resolutions! My brother takes a tougher stance when one of his daughters doesn't share toys with the other. Maybe we should put him in the UN to put Iran in "time out" like he does with the girls. It would be tougher than what we're doing now.

But Solana told reporters: "There's no deadline, whenever we finish ... We are going to start in the coming days and I hope that it will be very short. We don't need many meetings."

So they had a deadline that they failed to meet. Now we've given them another 2 week deadline with absolutely no reason to believe anything will change, but even that two week deadline is really a non-deadline? Boy are we lucky to have the UN.

 

*UPDATE* - They've arrested 2 others in Manchester, not linked to the 14 in London. Suzie has more.

The Associated Press

LONDON - Fourteen people were arrested in London overnight on suspicion they were involved in training and recruiting for acts of terrorism, police said Saturday.

Police said the arrests were not linked to last month's alleged plot to bomb U.S.-bound passenger jets or to the July 2005 attacks on London's transport network.

Twelve suspects were arrested at a Chinese restaurant in south London that caters to Muslims, the British Broadcasting Corp. said.

About 40 officers raided the restaurant shortly after 10 p.m. Friday, when it was packed with diners, the BBC said. Police would not comment on the report but said the raids followed months of surveillance and investigation.

Peter Clarke, head of Metropolitan Police anti-terror efforts, said police and intelligence agents were now attempting to track thousands of people believed to be directly or indirectly involved in terrorism, according to comments made public Friday.

Read the rest...

*UPDATE*
Allah has a nice link round-up on this.

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