Gunmen kidnap 25 at Baghdad company...sm
Posted By: Democrat on 2006-08-01
In Reply to:
Instability and civil war. This does not come as a surprise. We should have a limited role, if any, in civil war in Iraq.
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By Aseel Kami and Omar Ibadi
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen wearing uniforms of Iraqi security forces kidnapped 25 people from an office in central Baghdad in broad daylight on Monday, police said.
The gunmen pulled up in 15 four-wheel-drive vehicles and kidnapped employees and customers at the office on a street in Arasat, once a thriving commercial district that has seen many businesses close due to violence ravaging the country.
Some witnesses said the offices were those of the Iraqi-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry and al-Rawi mobile telephone company.
I was on the first floor of the Iraqi-American Chamber of Commerce and they took all the men downstairs. They were in camouflage army uniforms. They handcuffed the men and blindfolded them, said a witness who asked not to be named.
Me and five others were left behind because all the cars were full.
Police said among those kidnapped were the head and 11 employees of the chamber, which represents companies seeking to boost trade between postwar Iraq and firms in the United States.
Two gunmen stayed outside and the others entered the building. They dragged the employees and put them in the cars, said another witness.
President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki have agreed to send thousands more troop to tackle sectarian and insurgent violence in Baghdad, where criminal gangs and kidnappers feed off the instability.
FAILED SECURITY CRACKDOWN
Maliki has already launched a crackdown but it has failed to ease communal violence which has raised fears of civil war.
More and more neighborhoods are being carved up along sectarian lines in the capital, once a melting pot of Iraq's sects and ethnic groups. And a growing number of shops and businesses have closed, including many on Arasat Road.
Officials have acknowledged that sectarian militias and insurgents have infiltrated security forces and vowed to tackle the problem.
Underscoring concerns over sectarian strife, Iraqi Defense Minister General Abdel Qader Jassim and General Babaaaker Zebari, general commander of joint forces, urged army personnel and civilian employees of the military to avoid sectarianism.
Joining the military and implementing national obligations need loyalty and people should discard party, sectarian and racial affiliations and stay away from politicizing the army, they said in a speech released on Monday.
In typical bloodshed in Baghdad, gunmen killed Fakhri Salman, a brigadier in the Iraqi National Intelligence Service, said an Interior Ministry source.
Maad Jihad, an advisor to the health minister, was also killed in the Mansour district, the source said.
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U.S. Troops Secured Baghdad Rally for Hezbollah...sm
So our troops are in Iraq securing an anti-American rally. Can someone shed some logic on this whole thing?
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U.S. Troops Secured Baghdad Rally for Hezbollah
U.S. troops provided some of the security for the rally in Baghdad today where thousands of Iraqi Shiites demonstrated for Hezbollah:
Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr summoned his followers around the country to attend a mass rally today in the city's Sadr City district in support of the Shiite militants of Hezbollah battling Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.
Iraqi government television said the Defense Ministry had approved the demonstration, a sign of the public anger over Israel's offensive in Lebanon and of al-Sadr's stature as a major player in Iraqi politics.
Crowds of young men began arriving in eastern Baghdad's Sadr City late Thursday and were housed in mosques and Shiite community centers. U.S. Army vehicles guarded approaches to the slum to prevent clashes between Shiite and Sunni extremists.
Dressed in white shrouds to indicate their willingness to die for the cause, demonstrators waved Hezbollah flags and chanted death to Israel and death to America:
I consider my participation in this rally a religious duty. I am proud to join this crowd and I am ready to die for the sake of Lebanon, said Khazim al-Ibadi, 40, a government employee from Hillah.
Al-Sadr followers painted U.S. and Israeli flags on the main road leading to the rally site, and demonstrators stepped on them with relish. Alongside the painted flags was written: These are the terrorists.
So the U.S. is simultaneously supplying bombs to Israel for use against Hezbollah; encouraging a ceasefire to stop the bombing; working with Sunni Arab states who fear a Shiite alliance across Iran, Iraq and Lebanon; propping up a Shiite-dominated Iraqi government; and protecting Iraqis eager to join Hezbollah and wipe Israel off the map.
No matter which side you've taken in the Middle East, America is on your side.
What you say about his company
love Tom Sawyer
the company we keep ??
Speaking out as William Ayers becomes an increasingly controversial figure in the presidential campaign, a woman charges the former Weather Underground radical locked her in his attic apartment when both were college students and intimidated her into having sex with his brother and his black roommate. Read the latest now on WND.com.
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=77407
WorldNetDaily
http://wnd.com
Yup, you got company on that one!.....nm
nm
It is the same company, old-timer....
do what I said. Google it. ACORN has a poltiical arm as well as an affordable housing arm. It is the SAME company. They are under indictment in Missouri for voter fraud and under investigation for what has been described as the largest mass voter fraud in history in Detroit. Obama was their lawyer in Chicago and defended them in voter-related issues. He also did training for these folks who go out and try to register new Democratic voters. I am not saying he trained them to commit fraud...what I am saying is that they have been indicted in Missouri and are under heavy investigation in Detroit.
global company
http://www.gm.com/corporate/about/global_operations/asia_pacific/chin.jsp
No Oil Company Profits Left Behind
What counts more in Bush's America? Oil company executive bonuses/company profits or education?
Ga. Schools to Close Two Days to Save Gas
Georgia's Public Schools to Close for First Two Days of Next Week to Conserve Fuel After Rita
By DICK PETTYS
The Associated Press
Sep. 24, 2005 - Most of Georgia's public schools will be closed Monday and Tuesday, taking two early snow days, in an effort to conserve fuel in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Gov. Sonny Perdue asked for the closings on Friday, estimating that closing all of the state's schools would save about 250,000 gallons of diesel fuel by idling buses, plus an undetermined amount of gasoline by allowing teachers, staff members and some parents to stay home. Electricity also would be conserved by keeping the schools closed, he said.
If Georgians stick together, work together and conserve together we can weather whatever problems Rita brings our way with the least possible inconvenience, Perdue said.
All but four of the state's 181 school districts said they would comply with the governor's request.
One of the four, Floyd County Schools, refused to join the effort because it already planned to close for a weeklong break starting next Friday. Closing would give us two days of school next week, district spokesman Tim Hensley said.
As he did in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Perdue also asked residents and ordered government agencies to limit nonessential travel and use commuting alternatives including telecommuting, car pooling and four-day work weeks.
If demand is reduced, he said, we will have enough market power to hold prices down. All together, we can influence demand within our state.
Tim Callahan, spokesman for the 61,000-member Professional Association of Georgia Educators, said he worried that Perdue's announcement would prompt panic buying.
I wonder if it's going to create the type of panic that we saw a few weeks back that drove prices over $3, said Callahan, referring to the long lines and record-high prices following Hurricane Katrina.
During the price escalation, Perdue and the legislature suspended the state's gas tax, saving motorists an estimated 15 cents per gallon. While several other states considered taking similar action, Georgia was the only one to suspend the tax.
The state's monthlong gas-tax holiday expires this Friday, but Perdue has ruled out extending that tax break because the state's $75 million gas-tax surplus has been drained.
AAA reported the state's average price for regular unleaded was $2.59 per gallon as of Wednesday, but increases of up to 28 cents per gallon were reported Friday.
Does your husband work for a company
or is he independent? Do you live in a rural area, small town or city?
You know what they say . . . misery loves company!!
xx
Bush and Company ignored the red flags!
The Bush administration was notified about Moussaoui wanting to learn to fly but not to land, and they totally ignored it. There was a lot intelligence information prior to 9/11 that was ignored, yet some people on this forum continue to thank George Bush for keeping us safe. Personally, I think Bush deserves much of the blame for 9/11.
GM considering Chapter 11 filing, new company
CHICAGO (Reuters) - General Motors Corp, nearing a Tuesday deadline to present a viability plan to the U.S. government, is considering as one option a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing that would create a new company, the Wall Street Journal said in its Saturday edition.
"One plan includes a Chapter 11 filing that would assemble all of GM's viable assets, including some U.S. brands and international operations, into a new company," the newspaper said. "The undesirable assets would be liquidated or sold under protection of a bankruptcy court. Contracts with bondholders, unions, dealers and suppliers would also be reworked."
Citing "people familiar with the matter," the story said that GM could also ask for additional government funds to stave off a bankruptcy filing.
GM declined to comment, the story said.
General Motors and Chrysler LLC face a Tuesday deadline to file restructuring plans to the government in exchange for receiving $17.4 billion in federal loans.
Automakers have struggled as U.S. auto sales have tumbled amid a recessionary economy. U.S. auto sales in January tumbled to a 27-year low.
GM has been in talks with bondholders and the United Auto Workers union to get an agreement on a restructuring that would wipe out about $28 billion in debt for the auto maker, sources have told Reuters. However, it appears unlikely a deal could be reached by the Tuesday deadline, they said.
GM has already announced plans to cut 10,000 salaried workers worldwide, or 14 percent of its staff, impose pay cuts for most remaining white-collar U.S. workers and has offered buyouts to its 62,000 U.S. workers represented by the UAW.
In addition, it is trying to sell its Hummer SUV and Swedish Saab brands and is reviewing the status of its Saturn brand.
GM to Offer Two Choices: Bankruptcy or More Aid
General Motors Corp., nearing a federally imposed deadline to present a restructuring plan, will offer the government two costly alternatives:
commit billions more in bailout money to fund the company's operations, or provide financial backing as part of a bankruptcy filing, said people familiar with GM's thinking.
The competing choices, which highlight GM's rapidly deteriorating operations, present a dilemma for Congress and the Obama administration.
If they refuse to provide additional aid to GM on top of the $13.4 billion already committed they risk seeing an industrial icon fall into bankruptcy.
Some experts and members of Congress say bankruptcy reorganization ...
Used to work for ocean company
Pirates have been rampant for many years, mostly in African and Asian areas. Most ships, both Navy and private, are armed and trained to deal with them. Heck, when there was a swim call, 2 crewman would sit on deck, armed, to shoot any sharks that might come into the area.
But, everyone is right, something needs to be done, and should have been done years ago. I have been out of the business for almost 7 years. You really didn't hear too much about it before, but it happened, a lot.
I believe the phone company can still find the caller....sm
or at least the number from which the call originated. Phone records are accessible to law enforcement agencies when there is a reason for investigation.
You hit that right on, BB. Talk about misery loves company!!
WC is not a government program - it is insurance that the company's pay
nm
So are you saying the company took the case pro bono, but paid Roberts.
If he wasn't paid, he did the work pro bono.
Swiftboating continues; you're in good company.
Walter Cronkite may be next...
Cronkite: Time for U.S. to Leave Iraq
By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television WriterSun Jan 15, 6:47 PM ET
Former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite, whose 1968 conclusion that the Vietnam War was unwinnable keenly influenced public opinion then, said Sunday he'd say the same thing today about Iraq.
It's my belief that we should get out now, Cronkite said in a meeting with reporters.
Now 89, the television journalist once known as the most trusted man in America has been off the CBS Evening News for nearly a quarter-century. He's still a CBS News employee, although he does little for them.
Cronkite said one of his proudest moments came at the end of a 1968 documentary he made following a visit to Vietnam during the Tet offensive. Urged by his boss to briefly set aside his objectivity to give his view of the situation, Cronkite said the war was unwinnable and that the U.S. should exit.
Then-President Lyndon Johnson reportedly told a White House aide after that, If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America.
The best time to have made a similar statement about Iraq came after Hurricane Katrina, he said.
We had an opportunity to say to the world and Iraqis after the hurricane disaster that Mother Nature has not treated us well and we find ourselves missing the amount of money it takes to help these poor people out of their homeless situation and rebuild some of our most important cities in the United States, he said. Therefore, we are going to have to bring our troops home.
Iraqis should have been told that our hearts are with you and that the United States would do all it could to rebuild their country, he said.
I think we could have been able to retire with honor, he said. In fact, I think we can retire with honor anyway.
Cronkite has spoken out against the Iraq war in the past, saying in 2004 that Americans weren't any safer because of the invasion.
Cronkite, who is hard of hearing and walks haltingly, jokingly said that I'm standing by if they want me to anchor the CBS Evening News. CBS is still searching for a permanent successor to Dan Rather, who replaced Cronkite in March 1981.
Twenty-four hours after I told CBS News that I was stepping down at my 65th birthday I was already regretting it and I've regretted it every day since, he said. It's too good a job for me to have given it up the way that I did.
Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
*****************************
AND MURTHA:
Web Site Attacks Critic of War
Opponents Question Murtha's Medals
By Howard Kurtz and Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, January 14, 2006; A05
Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), the former Marine who is an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, has become the latest Democrat to have his Vietnam War decorations questioned.
In a tactic reminiscent of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth assault on Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) during the 2004 presidential campaign, a conservative Web site yesterday quoted Murtha opponents as questioning the circumstances surrounding the awarding of his two Purple Hearts.
David Thibault, editor in chief of the Cybercast News Service, said the issue of Murtha's medals from 1967 is relevant now because the congressman has really put himself in the forefront of the antiwar movement. Thibault said: He has been placed by the Democratic Party and antiwar activists as a spokesman against the war above reproach.
Cindy Abram, a spokeswoman for Murtha, said, We certainly believe that the questions being raised are an attempt to distract attention from what's happening in Iraq. As for how Murtha won the Purple Hearts, she said: We think the congressman's record is clear. We have the documentation, the paperwork that proves that he earned them, and that he is entitled to wear them proudly.
Cybercast is part of the conservative Media Research Center, run by L. Brent Bozell III, who accused some in the media of ignoring the Swift Boat charges, but Thibault said it operates independently. He said the unit, formerly called the Conservative News Service, averages 110,000 readers, mainly conservative, and provides material for other Web sites such as GOPUSA. We won't run anything against anybody if we don't have the goods, he said.
Former representative Don Bailey (D-Pa.), who was quoted in the article, confirmed his account to The Washington Post yesterday.
In a conversation on the House floor in the early 1980s, said Bailey, who won a Silver Star and three Bronze Stars in Vietnam, Murtha told him he did not deserve his Purple Hearts. He recalled Murtha saying: Hey, I didn't do anything like you did. I got a little scratch on the cheek. Murtha's spokeswoman would not address that account.
Bailey, who lost a House race to Murtha after a 1982 redistricting, said Jack's a coward, and he's a liar for subsequently denying the conversation. That just really burned me, he said.
While saying he has only responded to reporters' questions and is not bitter toward Murtha, Bailey said the congressman's approach to Iraq is not responsible and that it just turned my stomach to see Murtha acting as a spokesman for veterans.
He said he shared the information with Republican William Choby, who ran against Murtha four times beginning in 1990 and made the Vietnam decorations an issue. Choby raised the issue again during Murtha's 2002 reelection campaign.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, citing Marine records, reported that year that Murtha was wounded during hostile actions near Da Nang, Vietnam: In the first incident, his right cheek was lacerated, and in the second, he was lacerated above his left eye. Neither injury required evacuation. The Cybercast article cites a 1994 interview in which Murtha described injuries to his arm and knee.
The article included a 1996 quote from Harry Fox, who worked for former representative John Saylor (R-Pa.), telling a local newspaper that Murtha was pretending to be a big war hero. Fox, who lost a 1974 election to Murtha, said the 38-year Marine veteran had asked Saylor for assistance in obtaining the Purple Hearts but was turned down because the office believed he lacked adequate evidence of his wounds.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, The Swift Boat-like attacks on an American hero, Congressman Jack Murtha, are despicable and have no place in politics.
In November, when Murtha called for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the congressman was endorsing Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic Party and called his stance a surrender to the terrorists. Days later, President Bush called Murtha a fine man and said they simply disagreed about Iraq.
The Cybercast article appeared shortly before a segment scheduled for CBS's 60 Minutes tomorrow in which Murtha predicts that the vast majority of U.S. troops will be out of Iraq by year's end.
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
FOR DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES WHO OPPOSE THE WAR:
Bush to use speech in Kentucky to promote Republicans
January 11, 2006
LOUISVILLE (AP) -- President Bush will have an eye on the fall elections Wednesday when he heads to Louisville, Kentucky, to give a speech on Iraq.
Tuesday, the president told a veterans group that voters should punish any Democrat whose Iraq War rhetoric gives comfort to our adversaries. He said loyal opposition is one thing, but defeatism is another.
10% across-the-board. Rich or poor. Big company or small.
X
Amazing, a large, successful company with a heart and soul, putting America first?? Congrats to Int
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