Watching al-Jazeera today, the biggest news was not Katrina, although the graphic pictures of the destruction wrought in the southern United States proved too great, and the channel showed a fair amount on that subject as well. The marquee spot was saved for Link in Arabic (those are the shoes of the victims in that lead picture, for some reason), or Link for you English-only (or at least non-Arabic) types. Hundreds killed in a panic on a bridge. I'll tell you, al-Jazeera see...
A CNN article: Link "Determined to win the airwaves, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday inaugurated a special Gaza-withdrawal media center, complete with live-feed points for TV crews, a 24-hour text messaging service for news updates, maps, and free hats and T-shirts." Seriously. Have you seen the official Hamas hats? Is it wrong of me to want a hat? (Probably.) Good info on Hamas: Link Gots to love wikipedia. Please note the Arabic bit at the top, which I was g...
Fox News Link CNN Link Found this while perusing the 1AUG Army Times. "Charles Chibitty, the last survivor of the Comanche code talkers who used their native language to transmit messages for the Allies in Europe during World War II, has died. He was 83." -- Army Times ' "It's strange, but growing up as a child I was forbidden to speak my native language at school," Chibitty said in 2002. "Later my country asked me to. My language helped win the war and that makes me very proud...
[hat tip to Greyhawk at the Mudville Gazette Link and Smash Link , both of whom have done a better job of this than I could hope to] Perusing CNN for a future understanding of the news I would watch later today in Arabic (always easier to infer a definition of an unknown word if you know the subject matter), I read an article detailing the suicide bombing deaths of fourteen Marines Link . True to CNN's style, they had a second article below that one, with the summary bullets ("in rel...
I was going to do a little research on the fatwa issued earlier this week by a fair number of cooperating US Islamist groups, but it seems someone has already done a bit of research on it. Link (found through Smash Link , who I really want to put back on my favorites' list once that's back up) Sorry, grey. I'll try and do something insightful later.
Sometimes, even the good guys aren't. Link Someone you think maybe you could trust, someone who is supposedly responsible enough to have served aboard an aircraft carrying the Veep, Secretary of State, and other high-ups, someone who should know better. Sometimes those guys aren't right. To me, it doesn't really matter that she was 17; she's "almost legal", right? Does that make it better? No. And his attorney's statement: "Walizer had sex with a 17-year-old girl," Garrett s...
New York Times Link As the gunmen emerged from their cars, Dhia and his young relatives shouldered their Kalashnikov rifles and opened fire, the police and witnesses said. In the fierce gun battle that followed, three of the insurgents were killed, and the rest fled just after the police arrived. Two of Dhia's nephews and a bystander were wounded, the police said. Again, I saw it first on the Early Bird News, and it was so cool I had to share. While the article does point out the ...
Compare and Contrast: CNN Link 85 Insurgents dead, the rest fled. Al-Jazeera Link Link Initial estimates of 84 insurgents killed, but those estimates were given by the Iraqi Interim Government (specifically the Interior Ministry). The insurgents say otherwise: Link The Secret Islamic Army was on hand at the site to talk to the French press.
which is a better title than, say, "Drunken Assclown Tells Bullshit Story at Main Gate." Link - 10FEB05 Traffic was backed up along 190 to the Fort Hood Street exit, and back past the Clear Creek Gate entrance. Traffic through the main gate was eventually redirected through the Tank Destroyer Avenue entrance and over to Clear Creek as well.
Go to this Link . It's a good read... my favorite part was: In the afternoon, protesters standing outside al-Hariri's palace were heard chanting: "There is no God but Allah and Syria is the enemy of Allah." Then, cars with young men honking horns, holding al-Hariri's pictures and waving black flags poured into the streets until there was such a traffic jam that cars could not move. Whether directly or indirectly responsible, Syria done messed up, folks.
After putting it off for months, the Sauds couldn't help but jump on the bandwagon after what went down in Iraq: Link Hay, look! al-Jazeera has something to say, too! Link Way to be upbeat about the strides your Arab brethren are taking, Al-Jay! If you can't go all the way, why bothering taking small steps, amirite? While some were calling for the Suadis to take Democratic steps just this past month Link ("The government of Saudi Arabia can demonstrate its leadership in the...
I'm so glad I have the Early Bird news service the military provides me. What they do, see, is collect all sorts of pertinent news articles from various publications, and post them on the web for the perusal of the armed forces. It is because of this service that I now link you to the Washington Post: Link (Note: I was warned that a subscription was required, but I could view it without one) I was first alerted to the story of this hero in an article (reproduced in the Early Bird) wri...
English: Is it accurate to compare the US position in Iraq with Viet Nam? (start date 7FEB05) Yes 61% No 35% Unsure 4% Total 2375 as of 7FEB05, 1426Z Yes 53% No 43% Unsure 4% Total 7192 as of 7FEB05, 2229Z Arabic: Did Bush's state of the union address foreshadow another war in the area? (start date 5FEB05) Yes 74.4% 10646 No 25.6% 3661 Total 14307 as of 7FEB05, 1426Z (only slightly more towards "No" as of 2230Z) I think the accuracy of the statement posed ...
Another funny way to read it is, "US Girl Soldiers ' Mud Fight Shame." (Thank you, UK Mirror Link ) Originally, I ran across this while surfing al-Jazeera for some language training today. Of course, I couldn't find it on the Arabic side, but I was trying to cross reference with their English language articles. Link The actual title doesn't have the commas (commas added for comedic effect). I figured, well, this can't be as bad as it sounds, right? Wrong. Google News broug...
Iraq election-at-a-glance Link and Q&A: Iraqi election Link The above are two good summaries of the basics of the Iraqi election, both from the BBC. The most definitive information I've seen in one place yet. Besides that, I'm worried about the violence. I'm worried about our soliders, about the Iraqi Security Forces and the police, about the voters who even think of braving the crossfire to get to the polls. It seems the insurgents are very scared of democracy. ...