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This guy just signed up today.
This was his first post.
Phone used to track bin Laden
By Zahid Hussain in Islamabad
08mar03
PAKISTANI security forces and the FBI have stepped up the hunt for Osama bin Laden in southwestern Baluchistan province after intercepting messages indicating the al-Qa'ida chief may be hiding in the border region.
Pakistani security officials said the arrest of September 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed had provided vital information about al-Qa'ida's links in Pakistan and other countries.
Phone numbers taken from Khalid's mobile phone are also being tracked. The phone contained numbers inside and outside Pakistan, said a Pakistani government official.
"The people he contacted in Pakistan have naturally been put under surveillance and we suspect the American agencies are doing the same," the official said. Since Khalid's arrest, joint Pakistani and US forces have been searching for bin Laden and his son, Saad, along the 563km stretch of border from the Baluchistan town of Chaman to the Iranian border, a Pakistan military source said.
Pakistani intelligence has also captured letters purportedly written by bin Laden in recent weeks and showing that he was guiding the terrorist network
http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,59...
How important is it that about 100 Suicide Bombings were prevented? Just multiply the number prevented by the latest Suicide Bombing.
Here is the latest statististic for the Haifa bombing:(more to come)
"Name Of 16th Haifa Terror Victim "
http://www.arutzsheva.org/news.php3?id=40132
Here is a paragraph that appears in an Israeli Internet publication about a Suicide Bombing thwarted just yesterday,which is probably not reported in the US.
"Less than an hour later, soldiers securing the settlement of Negohot, 15 kilometers southwest of Hebron, saw two suspicious figures near the security fence. A general alert was announced and soldiers backed by local emergency response squad, attacked the two Palestinians and killed them.They were found to be carrying assault rifles and grenades, while one had an explosive belt. Presumably they planned to carry out a suicide bombing. No Israeli injuries were reported. "
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=270509&contrassID=2&subContrassID...
Ban Him
The Palestinians are victims of all the wars that were fought against Israel in order to eliminate the Jewish state.
They were not satisfied with the peace that Barak and Clinton offered,but instead unleashed a lethal Intefada that continues to take its toll on Israelis including Israeli Arabs and foreigners.
I am sorry for the Palestinian innocents that are losing their lives,but unless a faction comes to the fore which controls those murderers in their midst,they will continue to suffer.
The Palestinain murderers continue:
Terrorists infiltrate Kiryat Arba settlement;
some injuries reported
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service
At least eight people were wounded Friday night when terrorists infiltrated the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba.
Two of the wounded were in very serious condition, Israel Radio reported.
A large number of Israel Defense Forces troops arrived at the scene of the attack and killed two terrorists in a gunbattle that ensued. It was unclear if there were others involved in the attack.
Magen David Adom officials said that the terrorists entered a building in the settlement, Israel Radio reported.
Reports said the terrorists opened fire and threw grenades during the attack
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/270441.html
Killing your own people - IDF says Gaza casualties caused by bomb blast, not tank fire
Mar. 6, 2003
By THE JERUSALEM POST INTERNET STAFF
The IDF on Thursday denied that its tank shells had killed 8 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip refugee camp of Jabalya, saying that the casualties were caused by a Palestinian detonating a bomb in a crowd.
Early Thursday morning IDF soldiers backed by attack helicopters and tanks stormed the Jabalya refugee camp in raids that left at least 11 Palestinians dead and came a day after a suicide bomber blew himself up on a crowded bus, killing 15 Israelis.
However, Gaza Division Commander, Brigadier General Gadi Shamni said in an interview Army Radio tank shells that were fired during the operation were aimed at terrorists attempting to fire RPG rockets at IDF forces and after a terrorist holed himself inside a structure.
Shamni emphasized that the IDF has no intention of harming innocent civilians, and operates in a precise and exact manner as much as possible in order to ensure this.
The Gaza raids came hours after a suicide bomber blew himself up Wednesday aboard a bus in the northern city of Haifa, killing 15 Israelis.
In response to the bombing, Israel's Security Cabinet closed the West Bank and Gaza Strip, banning most Palestinians from entering Israel.
Shamni said that the operation in Jabalya was approved prior to the suicide attack in Haifa and it was aimed at the Hamas' terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip
The incident occurred toward the end of the incursion. Hundreds of Jabalya residents poured into the streets, believing Israeli troops had withdrawn. Many crowded around a furniture store that was on fire.
Fadl Nadi said he was watching the scene from his apartment when he noticed two gunmen firing from near the burning building at an Israeli tank.
"From the direction of the tank, I saw a projectile flying past and ... I saw a fireman flying in the air," Nadi said.
Tahsin Azzam, 30, said he saw an Israeli tank parked near a mosque in the camp. "All of a sudden, I saw smoke come out of the turret," he said.
Part of the incident was captured by TV crews. At first, two firefighters aim their water hoses at the burning building, and the sound of gunfire can be heard nearby. At one point, streaks of light - apparently from a projectile - hit near the burning building. A firefighter is thrown to the ground, and frenzied bystanders flee the scene. Several men carry a body.
Doctors later confirmed that a firefighter was among those killed.
The Israeli military acknowledged that it fired two tank shells in the Jabalya raid - one early on in the operation and the second toward the end.
An Israeli battalion commander, who identified himself as Lt. Col. Moshe, said troops were at a major intersection in the camp. "From inside a store, a very large bomb was detonated at us. It was a very big bomb," the officer told The Associated Press, adding that he believed the blast could have killed some people.
As firefighters tried to douse the burning building, another explosion was heard just up the alley.
The tank commander in the area, who identified himself as Lt. Col. Dotan, said that a tank fired a shell around that time - around 7:15 a.m. - in the direction of a masked man who was preparing to fire a rocket-prepelled grenade at the retreating Israelis' position several dozens of meters (yards) down the street.
Khaled Abu Kheir, a 25-year-old ambulance driver, said he had just arrived in the camp when he heard the blast. "The sound of a huge explosion shook the land and I saw human parts ... flying in front of me," he said.
Dotan said he was certain that only the militant was hit by the shell. However, doctors at Shifa hospital said eight people were killed, apparently in the street, all by shrapnel. They said none of those killed had been in the burning building.
Among those killed were three youngsters ages 12, 13 and 14 and a 40-year-old firefighter. Doctors said most of the injuries were caused by tank shell shrapnel as well and that 29 of the 110 injured were in serious condition of them 12 minors.
A Reuters cameraman and photographer were among the wounded.
Photographer Ahmed Jadallah underwent surgery to repair a severed artery. Both of his legs had been broken by shrapnel pieces but he was in stable condition, the news agency said. Shams Odeh, the cameraman, also underwent surgery for a fractured foot but was in good condition.
Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat condemned the army's raid, calling it the "Israeli government's revenge" for the suicide bombing in Haifa.
"We hold the Israeli government fully responsible for such acts of revenge," Erekat said. "We urge President Bush to reshift his focus from war on Iraq to helping the Palestinians and Israelis break this vicious cycle."
Ron Prosor, a spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry, said the Gaza strike was part of ongoing operations targeting militants. "The operation is not a revenge for what happened in Haifa," he said.
(With The Associated Press)
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No,I am talking about the BUTCHER Moslem Homicide Bombers,
who have brought this disaster on their Palestinian "brothers".
So,you think that the Moslem murderers taking over Palestinian Christian houses in Beit Jala so that they could shoot into the Israeli neighborhood of Gilo has not done nothing to make the Christians leave?
Yes,there are Palestinian Christians,but not many left.
This is due to the Muslimization of the Palestinian territory by the criminal Muslim Extremist elements running aound.
From Briefing:
10:14 ET More on bin Laden
ABC News reports that the CIA and Pakistani Army are electronically tracking a large caravan of people which could include Usama bin Laden through the rugged mountain area of Pakistan between the borders with Iran and Afghanistan; U.S. officials say they are not 100% sure that bin Laden is in the caravan, but they have a high degree of probability that he is and have closed off the area to all other traffic. The area is so rugged that officials may not be able to move in with military vehicles, but instead could launch an operation with CIA paramilitary forces attacking the caravan from helicopters if it is determined that bin Laden is there.
French are selling aircraft parts to Iraq illegally
March 7, 2003
Iraq strengthens air force with French parts
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A French company has been selling spare parts to Iraq for its fighter jets and military helicopters during the past several months, according to U.S. intelligence officials.
Full Story:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20030307-545570.htm
I found this on SI:
"France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country. France has usually been governed by prostitutes."
--Mark Twain
"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me."
--General George S. Patton
"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion."
--General Norman Schwartzkopf
"We can stand here like the French, or we can do something about it."
--Marge Simpson
"As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure"
--Jacques Chirac, President of France
"As far as France is concerned, you're right."
--Rush Limbaugh,
"The only time France wants us to go to war is when the German Army is sitting in Paris sipping coffee."
--Regis Philbin
"The French are a smallish, monkey-looking bunch and not dressed any better, on average, than the citizens of Baltimore. True, you can sit outside in Paris and drink little cups of coffee, but why this is more stylish than sitting inside and drinking large glasses of whiskey I don't know."
--P.J O'Rourke (1989)
"You know, the French remind me a little bit of an aging actress of the 1940s who was still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn't have the face for it."
--John McCain, U.S. Senator from Arizona
"You know why the French don't want to bomb Saddam Hussein? Because he hates America, he loves mistresses and wears a beret. He is French, people."
--Conan O'Brien
"I don't know why people are surprised that France won't help us get Saddam out of Iraq. After all, France wouldn't help us get the Germans out of
France!"
--Jay Leno
"The last time the French asked for 'more proof' it came marching into Paris under a German flag."
--David Letterman
It is just amazing how a person can be so one sided.
YOU DON'T SEEM TO UNSERSTAND THAT THERE ARE MANY PALESTINIAN FACTIONS WHO WANT THE TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL.
I admit that civilian Palestinians have died during the Intefada,but you will not admit that the Homicide Bombers were able to kill many Israelis as well as some Arab Israeli civilians.Those Homicide Bombers caused instability in all of Israel because of the fear of not knowing who would be the next victim.
The Palestinians are paying the price for this,and will continue to pay the price until the terrorists are destroyed,or are able to be controlled by a Palestinian faction sick of the useless violence,and willing to take responsibility for controlling these murderers.
This is an eerie photo I found from a post on SI:
http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/fi/00000168.htm
You are out of your F'N mind.
Can someone get rid of this crap?
That's funny.I thought it was the Palestinians who cast the first stones in this recent Intafada.
You would think that your becoming an Atheist would make you conclude that all this "Chosen ones" stuff is garbage.
But hatred has no bounds.
You continue to refer to the "Chosen Ones" in your diatribes.
The "Chosen Ones" is a reference in a prayer that men make when they are called to the "Torah",the holy scroll.
The prayer says that "Thank you G-d for choosing us from all the nations and giving us the Torah...."
The fact is that many of the teachings of the Torah have been taken up by Christians and Moslems,so as far as that is concerned,"We" have done a good job,and that statement is no longer relevant.It had meaning in ancient times before Christianity and Islam came about
It is very interesting that you have come to the aid of such a POS.
I see your trades,and it is obvious that you are a bright person.It saddens me that someone as bright as you, has your views.
I believe that this hatred is genetic.
I submitted the post for discussion.I am not about eliminating a whole culture but the extremism which it fosters.
The Moslem extremists have got to learn to live in a world of Christians,Jews,Hindus etc.,or the world will naturally find a means for their destruction.
Here is someone who sees a bigger picture on the war with Iraq.
I don't see him blaming the Israelis.
You are one huge bigoted anti-Jew.
I am bringing it to this board for discussion.
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/stocktalk/msg.gsp?msgid=18556233
A CASE FOR WAR
I will not attempt to explain the reasons for attacking Iraq because Iraq is part of a bigger picture, and the attack there will be one battle in a much longer war. Trying to understand one particular battle without the context of the larger war is an exercise in futility. (By analogy: what excuse is there in 1942 for the US to attack Vichy France in Morocco? Vichy France wasn't our enemy; Germany and Italy were. Taken out of the context of the larger war, the Torch landings in Africa make little sense. It's only when you look at the bigger picture of the whole war that you can understand them.)
We must attack Iraq. We must totally conquer the nation. Saddam must be removed from power, and killed if possible, and the Baath party must be shattered.
But Saddam isn't our enemy. bin Laden (may he burn in hell) is not our enemy. Iraq isn't our enemy. al Qaeda isn't our enemy. The Taliban weren't our enemies. They are merely symptoms of decay.
In most wars, there's a government or core organization which you can identify as the enemy. It isn't always a single person; in World War II it was Hitler and Mussolini in Europe, but it wasn't Tojo in Japan. Tojo was deposed in 1944, but the war went on. It also wasn't Hirohito; he mostly kept his hands off of policy. Still, it was the Japanese government, and that could still be understood.
But in this war there is no single government or small group of them, no man, no organization. Our enemy is a culture which is deeply diseased.
It's really difficult to exactly delineate who our enemies are, but they number in millions. They're Arab and Muslim, but not every Arab is among them, and most Muslims are not.
But even to discuss it in these terms is to cross the boundaries of political correctness. Not that I care, but it isn't politically possible for our leaders to say things like these, which makes the political wrangling all the more difficult. I think that they know what I'm about to say, and I at least am free to say what I believe whether others find it offensive or racist.
Islam is larger than greater Arabia, and the majority of Muslims are not Arab. But in the beginning, Islam was both a religion and a political movement. The Qur'an is a source of moral teachings for everyday life, telling people how to live and how to act towards one another. But it's also a manual for conquest, describing how to face enemies, how to fight, how to treat those who have been conquered, how to treat prisoners, how to treat enemy soldiers.
It lays a dual obligation on Muslims: to live a good life and to spread Islam to the entire world, by any means necessary. All successful widespread religions are evangelistic to a greater or lesser extent (with Judaism being the notable exception), but I know of no other major religion whose holy teachings include instructions for how to go to war to spread the faith.
Until Mohammed, the Arab tribes were divided and spent most of their time fighting one another. The great achievement of Mohammed was to unite the Arabs and face them outwards, strengthened and given will by his new religion. And for two hundred years, nothing could stand in their way; they created one of the great empires in the history of the world which was bounded on the south by the Sahara, on the west by the Atlantic ocean, on the north by Christendom, and on the east by the Hindu nations. Extending from Spain to Iran, from Turkey to Egypt it was much larger and more powerful than was the Roman Empire before it, and it lasted longer. Within its borders art and science and poetry and architecture flourished.
But like all empires, it eventually fell. Unlike other empires, this was against the word of God, for the Qur'an says that Islam will eventually dominate the entire world. In reality, it's been in retreat for more than three hundred years, and its decline became far more precipitous with the collapse of the Ottomans. Once-great Arab nations became little more than colonies for heathen Europeans, or economic dependents of America.
Our enemy is those who inherit the culture and heritage of that empire. Not everyone within the empire's physical realm now partakes of that culture, but many do.
I am having a difficult time coming up with a pithy term for our enemy. It's hard. It isn't really greater Arabia. It certainly isn't Islam. Islamic fundamentalism is a symptom of it, not the core. Arab nationalism and imperialism is also a symptom of it, not the core. Each of those can and does exist without the other, but they're both expressions of the real enemy we face, something deeper than that.
To refer to it as Arab nostalgia is wrong, for many of those within the body of our enemy inherit the beliefs and dogma which make them our enemies without knowing where they came from. They aren't necessarily traditionalists, for the same reason, though that's perhaps closer.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to use the partly-fallacious term "Arab culture", accepting that not all Arab culture is our enemy and not all Arabs are among our enemies.
Our enemy holds to a traditional belief, a traditional culture. Islam is a core piece of that, but it isn't the whole thing, and not everyone who believes in Islam is part of the enemy. Our enemy is the majority of the people who live in what we think of as the large Arab nations, plus certain other groups. Our enemy is concentrated in Egypt, Libya, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Syria, plus the Palestinians are part of it. There are lesser concentrations of our enemy in Morocco, Algeria, Yemen, Oman and (non-Arab) Pakistan.
And Iran is, as usual, a complicated aspect of it. While not being Arab, it is closer culturally to the Arabs, and to a great extent our enemy also holds sway there. The traditionalists and theocrats in Iran are part of our enemy, even though not being Arab, because Persian Iran was a key part of the original Arab/Islamic empire, and still retains much of that culture.
The problem with our enemy's culture is that in the 20th century it was revealed as being an abject failure. By any rational calculation, it could not compete, and not simply because the deck was stacked against it. The problem was more fundamental; the culture itself contained the elements of its own failure.
The only Arab nations which have prospered have done so entirely because of the accident of mineral wealth. Using money from export of oil, they imported a high tech infrastructure. They drive western cars. They use western cell phones. They built western high-rise steel frame buildings. They created superhighways and in every way implemented the trappings of western prosperity.
Or rather, they paid westerners to create all those things for them. They didn't build or create any of it themselves. It's all parasitic. And they also buy the technical skill to keep it running. The technological infrastructure of Saudi Arabia (to take an example) is run by a small army of western engineers and technicians and managers who are paid well, and who live in isolation, and who keep it all working. If they all leave, the infrastructure will collapse. Saudi Arabia does not have the technical skill to run it, or the ability to produce the replacement parts which would be needed. It's all a sham, and they know it. Everything they have which looks like modern culture was purchased. They themselves do not have the ability to produce, or even to operate, any of it.
The diseased culture of our enemy suffers from all seven of the deep flaws Ralph Peters identifies as condemning nations to failure in the modern world. Peters makes a convincing case that there is a correlation approaching unity between the extent to which a nation or culture suffers from these flaws and its inability to succeed in the 21st century.
He lists them as follows:
Restrictions on the free flow of information.
The subjugation of women.
Inability to accept responsibility for individual or collective failure.
The extended family or clan as the basic unit of social organization.
Domination by a restrictive religion.
A low valuation of education.
Low prestige assigned to work.
And carrying all seven of these, our enemy is trying to compete in the 21st century footrace with both feet cast into buckets of concrete. They are profoundly handicapped by the very values that they hold most dear and that they believe make them what they are.
The nations and the peoples within the zone of our enemy's culture are complete failures. Their economies are disasters. They make no contribution to the advance of science or engineering. They make no contribution to art or culture. They have no important diplomatic power. They are not respected. Most of their people are impoverished and miserable and filled with resentment, and those who are not impoverished are living a lie.
They hate us. They hate us because our culture is everything theirs is not. Our culture is vibrant and fecund; our economies are successful. Our achievements are magnificent. Our engineering and science are advancing at breathtaking speed. Our people are fat and happy (relatively speaking). We are influential, we are powerful, we are wealthy. "We" are the western democracies, but in particular "we" are the United States, which is the most successful of the western democracies by a long margin. America is the most successful nation in the history of the world, economically and technologically and militarily and even culturally.
Our culture as exported is condemned as being lowbrow in many places, but it's hard to deny how pervasive and influential it is. Baywatch was total dreck, but it was also the most successful syndicated television program around the world in history, racking up truly massive audiences each week.
Our culture is seductive on every level; those elsewhere who are exposed to it find it attractive. It isn't always "high culture"; but some of it is, and with the world revolution in telecommunications it's impossible for anyone in the world to avoid seeing it and being exposed to it.
Nor can anyone ignore our technology, which is definitely not lowbrow, nor our scientific achievements.
We're everything that they think they should be, everything they once were, and by our power and success we throw their modern failure into stark contrast, especially because we've gotten to where we are by doing everything their religion says is wrong. We've deeply sinned, and yet we've won. They are forced to compare their own accomplishments to ours because we are the standard of success, and in every important way they come up badly short. In most of the contests it's not just that our score is higher, it's that their score is zero.
They have nothing whatever they can point to that can save face and preserve their egos. In every practical objective way we are better than they are, and they know it.
And since this is a "face" culture, one driven by pride and shame, that is intolerable. Nor is it something we can easily redress. The oft-proposed idea of increasing aid and attempting to eliminate poverty may well help in South America and sub-Saharan Africa, but it will not defuse the hatred of our Arab/Islamic enemies, for it is our success that they hate, not the fruits of that success.
It isn't that they also want to be rich. Indeed, the majority of the most militant members of al Qaeda came from Saudi Arabia, out of comfortable existence. What they want is to stay with their traditional culture and for it to be successful, and that isn't possible. We can make them rich through aid, but we can't make them successful because their failure is not caused by us, but by the deep flaws in their culture. Their culture cannot succeed. It is too deeply and fundamentally crippled.
Everything they think they know says that they should be successful. They once were successful, creating and ruling a great empire, with a rich culture. God says they will be successful; it's right there in the Qur'an. God lays on them the duty to dominate the world, but they can't even dominate their own lands any longer. They face a profound crisis of faith, and it can only resolve one of three ways.
First, the status quo can continue. They can continue to fail, sit in their nations, and accept their plight. By clinging to their culture and their religion they may be ideologically pure, but they will have to continue to live with the shame of being totally unable to compete. Solution one: they can stagnate.
The second thing they can do is to accept that their culture and their religion are actually the problem. They can recognize that they will have to liberalize their culture in order to begin to achieve. They can embrace the modern world, and embrace western ways at least in part. They can break the hold of Islamic teachings; discard Sharia; liberate their women; start to teach science and engineering in their schools instead of the study of the Qur'an; and secularize their societies. Solution two: they can reform.
Some Arab nations have begun to do this, and to the extent that they have they have also started to succeed. But this is unacceptable to the majority; it is literally sinful. It is heresy. What good does it do to succeed in the world if, by so doing, you condemn your soul to hell?
Which leaves only one other way: become relatively competitive by destroying all other cultures which are more capable. You level the playing field by tearing down all the mountains rather than filling in the valleys; you make yourself the tallest by shooting everyone taller than you are. Solution three: they can lash out, fight back.
It's vitally important to understand that this is the reason they're fighting back. It's not to gain revenge for some specific action in the past on our part. It isn't an attempt to influence our foreign policy. Their goal is our destruction, because they can't keep hold on what they have and still think of themselves as being successful as long as we exist and continue to outperform them.
al Qaeda grew out of this deepening resentment and frustration within the failed Arab culture. It is the first manifestation of solution three, but as long as the deep disease continues in the culture of our enemy, it won't be the last. Its initial demands to the US were a bit surprising, and not very well known. (And obscured by the fact that as their struggle continued recently, they kept changing their stated demands in hopes of attracting allies from elsewhere in the Arab sphere.)
The original demand was for a complete cessation of contact between America and Arabia. Not just a pullout of our soldiers from holy Arab soil, but total isolation so that the people of greater Arabia would no longer be exposed in any way to us or our culture or our values. No television, no radio, no music, no magazines and books, no movies. No internet. And that isn't possible; you can't go backward that way.
But it's interesting that this shows their real concern. If they're no longer exposed to us, they are no longer shamed by comparing their failure to our success, and no longer seduced by it and tempted to discard their own culture and adopt ours.
Solution three manifests, and will continue to manifest, in many ways. Another way it manifests is in a new Arab imperialism, an ambition in some quarters to recreate the Arab empire and by so doing to regain political greatness. Arab nationalism doesn't directly spring from Islam, but it does spring from this deep frustration and resentment caused by the abject failure of the enemy culture, and it's most prominent practitioner is Saddam Hussein.
Both al Qaeda's terrorist attacks, and Saddam's attempts to incorporate other Arab nations into Iraq, spring from the same deep cause. But when I say that al Qaeda and Saddam are not the real enemy, it's because they both arise due to a deeper cause which is the true enemy. If we were to stamp out al Qaeda as a viable organization and reduce it to an occasional annoyance, and remove Saddam's WMDs no matter how, by conquest or inspections, someone else somewhere else would spring up and we would again be in peril. We cannot end this war by only treating the symptoms of al Qaeda and Saddam, though they must be dealt with as part of that process. This war is actually a war between the modern age and traditional Arab culture, and as long as they stagnated and felt resentment quietly, it wasn't our war.
It became our war when al Qaeda started bringing it to our nation. With a series of successively more deadly attacks culminating in the attacks in NYC and Washington last year, it became clear that we in the United States could no longer ignore it, and had to start working actively to remove the danger to us. We didn't pick this war, it picked us, but we can't turn away from it. If we ignore it, it will keep happening.
But the danger isn't al Qaeda as such, though that's the short term manifestation of the danger. This war will continue until the traditional crippled Arab culture is shattered. It won't end until they embrace reform or have it forced on them. Until a year ago, we were willing to be patient and let them embrace it slowly. Now we have no choice: we have to force them to reform because we cannot be safe until they do.
And by reform I mean culturally and not politically. The reform isn't just abjuration of weapons of mass destruction. It isn't just promising not to attack any longer. What they're going to have to do is to fix all seven of Ralph Peters' problems, and once they've done so, their nations won't be recognizable.
First, they will seem much more western. Second, they'll start to succeed, for as Peters notes, nations which fix these problems do become competitive. What he's describing isn't symptoms, its deep causes.
We're facing a 14th century culture engaged in a 14th century war against us. The problem is that they are armed with 20th century weapons, which may eventually include nuclear weapons. And they embrace a culture which honors dying in a good cause, which means that deterrence can't be relied on if they get nuclear weapons.
Why is it that the US is concerned about Iraq getting nukes when we don't seem to be as concerned about Pakistan or India or Israel? Why are we willing to invade Iraq to prevent it from getting nukes, but not Pakistan to seize the ones it developed? It's because those nations don't embrace a warrior culture where suicide in a good cause, even mass death in a good cause, is considered acceptable. (Those kinds of things are present in Pakistan but don't rule there as yet.)
It's certainly not the case that the majority of those in the culture which is our enemy would gladly die. But many of those who make the decisions would be willing to sacrifice millions of their own in exchange for millions of ours, especially the religious zealots. If such people get their hands on nuclear weapons, then our threat of retaliation won't prevent them from using them against us, or threatening to do so. Which is why we can't let it happen. The chance of Israeli or Pakistani or Indian nukes being used against us is acceptably small. If Arabs get them, then eventually one will be used against us. It's impossible to predict who will do it, or when, or where, or what the proximate reason will be, but it's inevitable that it will happen. The only way to prevent it is to keep Arabs from getting nukes, and that is why Iraq is now critically important and why time is running out.
It's wrong to say that this would be "irrational" on their part. It is a reasoned decision based on an entirely different set of axioms, leading to a result totally unacceptable to us. But they're not insane or irrational. Even though they're totally rational, deterrence ultimately can't stop them from using nuclear weapons against us.
All major wars started by someone else that you eventually come to win start with a phase where you try to consolidate the situation, to stop the enemy's advance. Then you go onto the offensive, take the war to him, and finish it.
Afghanistan and Iraq are the two parts of the consolidation phase of this war. al Qaeda had to be crippled and Saddam has to be destroyed in order to gain us time and adequate safety to go onto the offensive, and to begin the process which will truly end this war: to destroy Wahhabism, to shatter Islamic fundamentalism, to completely break the will of the Arabs and to totally shame them.
Because they are a shame/pride culture, that latter may seem paradoxical. But the reality is that we cannot win this by making them proud, for they are not a stupid people and they actually have nothing to be proud of. We can't make them proud because we can't give them anything to be proud of; they need accomplishments of their own for pride, and their culture prevents that. The only hope here is to make them so ashamed that they finally face and accept the thing they are trying to hide from in choosing to fight back: their culture is a failure, and the only way they can succeed is to discard it and change.
It may sound strange to say, but what we have to do is to take the 14th century culture of our enemies and bring it into the 17th century. Once we've done that, then we can work on bringing them into the 21st century, but that will be much easier.
But they've got to accept their own failure, personally and nationally and culturally. That is the essential first step. They've got to accept that the cause of their failure is their own culture, and that we're not. And they've got to accept that the only way to succeed is to change. That will be a difficult fight, and it's going to take decades. Along the way it's going to be necessary to remove many governments which come to power and yet again try to embrace the past and become militant, nationalistic, fundamentalist, or again attempt to try to develop nuclear weapons.
Saddam has to go not merely because of his programs for development of WMDs. He also has to go because he manifests Arab nationalism and imperialism. Even if he actually consents to disarm, he and the Baathist party must be destroyed. The reason that Iraq's nuclear weapon program is critical is that it means we have to do so immediately; it makes it urgent. But removing their program to develop nuclear weapons doesn't remove the deeper reason to destroy Saddam and the Baathists, for they are part of the deeper pathology which must be excised.
After the consolidation phase of this war is complete, with the destruction of the Taliban and occupation and reform of Iraq, then we will go onto the offensive and begin to strike at the deeper core of the problem. Part of that will be to force reform on Saudi Arabia, through a combination of diplomacy, persuasion, subversion, propaganda and possibly even military force.
What this shows is just how deeply I disagree with many who oppose this war. I am forthrightly proposing what some might call cultural genocide. The existing Arab culture which is the source of this war is a total loss. It must be shattered, annihilated, leaving behind no more traces in the Arab lands than the Samurai left in Japan or the mounted knights left in Europe.
I am forthrightly stating that it will be necessary to destabilize the entire middle east, which puts me exactly counter to European foreign policy. No band-aid will do. It isn't possible to patch things up with diplomacy because the rot runs too deep. Diplomacy now would be treating the symptoms and not the true disease.
I am forthrightly stating that no amount of aid to the poor will stop the aggression against us, which will anger liberals everywhere. It isn't our wealth they hate, it's our accomplishments. The only way we can appease them is to ourselves become failures, and that is a price I'm not willing to pay.
And I claim that the US bears essentially no blame for the fundamental source of their anger towards us. They don't hate us because of our foreign policy. They don't ultimately hate us because of past mistakes. They don't hate what we do or what we have done. They hate what we are, and what we show them that they are not. They hate our accomplishments and our capabilities because we force them to see their own lack of accomplishments and their incompetence and impotence.
And I'm saying that the US must do this, with help or without, because the US will be the continuing target of Arab solution number 3 as long as this resentment continues to boil, which it will do as long as Arab culture is not shattered and reformed. We will accept help from others if it's truly helpful, but we'll do it alone if we have to. (Or we will try and fail.)
We will be the primary target because we're the most successful. It's as simple as that. And that means that this ultimately will be a unilateral war by us; we're the ones with the most on the line. If the Arabs eventually do get nukes, the first one they use will either be against Israel or against us. It won't be against Europe, and if more conventional terrorist attacks continue, the most damaging ones will be directed against us. We will pay most of the price for this war, in staggering amounts of money, in losses on the field of battle, and in death and destruction at home, and therefore any talk of unified multilateral international action by a coalition of equals is nonsense. The other nations won't risk as much and won't pay as much and won't contribute as much and therefore deserve less say in what will happen.
In the mean time, now that al Qaeda has broken the ice, there will be further terrorist attacks against us as long as this war continues. They may be made by al Qaeda itself, or they may be made by other groups who will spring up. We can't totally prevent that until we've removed the true cause of those attacks: Arab cultural failure. Nothing short of that will stop the attacks. They're part of the setbacks which always accompany any major war. We'll do our best to foil such attacks, but inevitably some will succeed.
And those who don't understand the true issues will inevitably point to such attacks as proof that our campaign is a failure, that by our aggressiveness we raised further terrorist groups against us, that we should abandon the war and try appeasement, concession, aid, humanistic solutions.
And they'll be wrong, because they don't understand the real reason why we're being attacked and therefore why such approaches won't truly remove the source of the grievance..
They won't stop hating us until they become successful and begin to achieve on their own. We can't make them successful with material gifts, including aid to their poor. We can only make them successful with cultural changes, and they will resist that. Now that we've been attacked, we are ourselves compelled to force them to accept those cultural changes, because that is the only way short of actual genocide to remove the danger to ourselves. This war will end when they change, but not before
You said, "So do you think that the UN should feed them or not?"
YES.
I would like to see the Palestinians realize that they are wasting their lives,and look to make peace with Israel.
Once again a reply that has nothing to do with my statement.
If the Palestinians will look to make peace,their lives will brighten.If they continue to hide Suicide belts in Mosques,they will continue to suffer.
Where did I say that the UN should not feed the hungry?
Mr. ED had you pegged wrong.I didn't.
So how many of these unemployed,malnourished people still feel that Suicide Bombers,especially of civilians are a legitimate means of protest?
How many of these people feel that maybe Arafat should have made that deal with Clinton and Barak?
How many of these people realize that Palestinian workers have been replaced by foreigners because of the Intafada?
How many generations of Palestinians must waste away before they realize that they are nothing but pawns of their fellow Arab neighbors?
AJS,you are wasting your tme.If he doesn't have an answer,he will reply to you with some other argument.If he has an answer,he will bring proof from 50 and even 80 years ago.
Bull,
Thanks for your reply.
My simple question is,if the Dow goes up 100 points,approximately how much will the S&P 500 go up?
TIA,
Manny
Can someone tell me what is the approximate percent correlation of the S&P 500 and the Dow,up or down?
TIA,
Manny.
UN is guilty of anti-Semitism
February 9, 2003
Toronto Sun
Of all the shame the United Nations has brought down upon itself in recent decades, none matches its ongoing, obsessive, relentless and vicious attacks on the state of Israel.
Nothing - not the recent farcical election of totalitarian Libya to head the UN Commission on Human Rights, nor the bizarre appointment of Iraq, for gawd's sake, to co-chair a major UN forum on disarmament - so defines the moral bankruptcy of the UN as does its decades-long persecution of the very state it was instrumental in creating in 1948.
Writing in The Washington Times last May, Arnold Beichman, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, described Israel as the only one of 190 UN countries ever singled out by a majority of UN members for extinction. This may have been an overstatement. But not by much. Consider:
As Morris Abram, the late chairman of United Nations Watch, once observed, the UN has held only two special emergency sessions since 1982. No session was ever convened to condemn China's occupation of Tibet, Syria's occupation of Lebanon, the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, or the slaughters in Rwanda, the disappearances in Zaire, or any other global horror. Only Israel was so targeted - twice.
At the UN's urging, only one member state has ever been brought before the Geneva Convention. Not Cambodia for its genocide, Russia for its brutal repression of Chechnya or Sudan for its atrocities. Again, it was Israel.
The UN General Assembly, driven by a coalition of Arab, Muslim and other dictatorships, has passed more resolutions condemning Israel than any other nation on Earth. But it has never censured Israel's assailants for their three wars of aggression in 1948, 1967 and 1973.
The UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) passes at least five resolutions a year condemning Israel (last year it was seven) and spends about 30% of its time solely on the Jewish state. In contrast, as Beichman notes, each of the following countries or regions has been the subject of one resolution - Iraq, Iran, Russia/Chechnya, Afghanistan, Burundi, Congo, Cuba, Myanmar, Sierra Leone, Southeast Europe and Sudan. Manuel Prutschi of the Canadian Jewish Congress notes this double standard is compounded by the fact the UNCHR devotes one agenda item to focusing solely on Israel. All other nations are lumped together under a separate item.
Despite this, Israel, the only Mideast democracy, is not allowed to join the UNCHR, or the Security Council, while many of the world's worst dictatorships - Syria, Libya, Sudan, Saudi Arabia - can and do. As David Goldberg of the Canada-Israel Committee explains, membership on major UN bodies is conditional upon belonging to one of the UN's five regional groups. Israel is the only UN member excluded from this system because it has been prevented from joining its regional group - Asia - by an ongoing Arab boycott. Thus, it cannot even get a delegate appointed to the 53-nation UNCHR to defend itself from unfair attacks. Due to efforts by the U.S. and, to its credit, Canada, Israel now has partial membership in the "Western European and Others Group."
Israel, Beichman notes, is the only country to which the UNCHR assigns a special "rapporteur" to investigate human rights "violations." In other nations, rapporteurs investigate "situations." The reports by Israel's rapporteur are always one-sided because his mandate prohibits investigating Palestinian actions in addition to Israel's, even if they occur in the same area. The Israeli rapporteur's mandate is the only one not periodically reviewed by the UNCHR.
Each year on Nov. 29, the UN holds a United Nations Day of International Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The day is always a vicious diatribe against Israel. There is no UN Day of International Solidarity With the Victims of Palestinian Terrorism. No other "people" on Earth, no matter how brutally oppressed, receive a similar day of UN solidarity.
While the anti-Semitic ravings aimed at Jews at the infamous UN conference ostensibly against racism held in Durban, South Africa in 2001 are well-known, Israel is also the only UN state to have been subjected to two blood libels. In 1991, the Syrian delegate to the UNCHR accused Israel of murdering Christian children to use their blood to make matzo, an ancient anti-Semitic canard. In 1997, the Palestinian delegate accused Israel of injecting 300 Palestinian children with HIV-infected blood. Neither of these lies was immediately denounced by the UN. From 1975-91, in what even UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called a "low point" in its history, a General Assembly resolution equating Zionism with racism stayed on the books until it was finally repealed due to a campaign by the U.S. By contrast, in 1997, the mere mention of an allegedly blasphemous reference to Islam by a UN expert from an academic source, was instantly rebuffed by the UNCHR and deleted from the record.
No fair-minded person argues Israel should be above scrutiny by the UN. No fair-minded person dismisses the suffering of the Palestinians in the Disputed Territories and the human rights abuses committed by Israel, albeit in the context of responding to the constant threat of terrorism.
But to pretend, as the UN does, year after year, that Israel is the world's worst human rights violator, is not only sheer nonsense, it is anti-Semitism. And it is the UN's stock in trade.
http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/goldstein_feb9.html
Saddam Hussein has already used weapons of mass destuction against the Iranians and his own people.(poison gas)
What potential?
A post from SliderOnTheBlack from SI on war with Iraq:
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/stocktalk/msg.gsp?msgid=18519947
["War isn't a game of paintball...]
...agreed.
The entire debate of whether the potential War with Iraq is just, or whether America has a right to be the World's Policeman revolves entirely around one word -
EVIL
...whether it exists, whether we, or anyone have not only the right; but the responsibility to stamp it out when it rears it's ugly head as a powerfull force that threatens not only America, but global peace as well.
Hitler was evil.
Communism and the terrible violent oppression of people in communist nations was and is evil.
The aggression of Japan in WWII was evil.
The World has America to thank (along with our longstanding alliance with our European Allies, especially England) for standing up to Evil throughout modern history.
It is our duty and it is our responsibility to respond to Evil when, where & how we can; especially the type of Evil that is represented by the threats that modern bio & nuclear weapons in the wrong hands present.
Hitler and his mad aggression could not be ignored.
Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor could not be ignored.
The attack by organized Global Terrorists and those who sponsored them on Sept 11th, could not be ignored.
And now Saddam and fundamental, radical anti-American Terrorists and the sponsors of those terrorists, can not be ignored.
EVIL has once again reared it's ugly head as a global threat and once again, America will not only act upon it's right, but it's responsibility as well.
And I see neither the need to apoligize, or rationalize, for once again rising as a Nation to lead the World in fighting EVIL.
...waiting is not an option.
Saddam has the weapons and has used them against his own people and has threatened to use them against the US.
He also has the global terrorist network to deliver those weapons; that both exists and is active within the USA presently.
The time to act; is not have thousands, or hundreds of thousands have died from VX gas, Smallpox, or a dirty nuke detonated in a major US City...the time to act is now and that is exactly what George W Bush is going to do.
Peace, Freedom and Democracy as we know them today; are only here today because of men like Roosevelt and Churchill, who rose against EVIL 60 years ago and Ronald Regan who finally brought down the EVIL of the Iron Curtain and the Soviet Empire.
George W Bush now faces his time in history and the challenge of EVIL rearing it's ugly head once again.
War isn't pretty and it's not without innocent casualities; but there can be no debate on the greater good in the face of EVIL and EVIL has risen again and once again; Thank God, that America will once again lead the fight against it.
Let's Roll ~
...and never have to read the headlines of 50,000 dead in NYC, London, or Frankfurt from VX gas, or Small Pox.
The time is now and there needn't be any apologies for once again, rising to the occassion and leading the World against EVIL.
When the Palestinians stop "living" their lives for the after-life,they will wake up to see that they have been dupes and pawns of their Arab brothers.Their lives and their children's lives are being wasted in the pursuit of a goal which can not be attained.Only when they compromise with the Israelis,will peace be possible.
Once again you don't reply to the post I made.
When tha Arab nations allow Israel to exist,and don't encourage Suicide Bombers,peace negociations can be held.
Until then,Israel will do what it needs to do to protect its people.
THe Palestinians are PAWNS in a deadly game for the survival of Israel.
When they will wake up and realize that violence will get them nowhere,there will be a chance for peace.
Nice reply.
You read things that don't exist.
Too bad that the Palestinians are victims of four wars in which Arab nations tried to destroy Israel.
It is time the Palestinians woke up and realized that they are the pawns of their Arab "brothers".
MLNM flying:
Millennium Plans To Submit a New Drug Application for Velcade(TM) (Bortezomib) for Injection
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec 4, 2002 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Millennium
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: MLNM) today announced that the Company intends to
file a New Drug Application (NDA) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) to market VELCADE as a treatment for relapsed and refractory multiple
myeloma by early 2003. Earlier this year, VELCADE was granted fast-track status
by the FDA as having the potential to treat a serious, life-threatening
condition and address an unmet medical need. The NDA is planned to be submitted
under the provisions of Subpart H - Accelerated Approval of New Drugs for
Serious or Life-Threatening Illnesses. The Company also plans to file a
Marketing Authorisation Application (MAA) to the European Agency for the
Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA) within the same time frame.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991220/MLNMLOGO )
The NDA filing for VELCADE will be based on the final results of the company's
major phase II clinical trial, which will be presented at the upcoming meeting
of the American Society for Hematology. Further, the Company is committed to
completing its international, multi-center, phase III (APEX) trial of VELCADE in
patients with multiple myeloma and moving ahead with ongoing and new phase I/II
trials in patients with various solid tumors.
"The Company's intention to move forward with an NDA filing for VELCADE
represents an important step in realizing our corporate mission of making new
treatment options based on novel mechanisms available to patients with
significant unmet medical needs," said Mark Levin, chairperson and chief
executive officer at Millennium.
Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the bone marrow in which white blood cells,
normally responsible for the production of antibodies (proteins that fight
infection and disease), are overproduced and cause decreased production of
normal red and white blood cells and normal disease-fighting antibodies, as well
as the growth of tumors that spread to multiple sites - hence the term multiple
myeloma. The decreased white blood cell production damages the immune system
while the myeloma tumors cause bone destruction that manifests as pain and
fractures.
About Millennium
Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading biopharmaceutical company, co-
promotes INTEGRILIN(R) (eptifibatide) Injection, a market-leading therapy for
patients with acute coronary syndrome, and has a robust clinical development
pipeline of product candidates. The Company's research, development and
commercialization activities are focused in four disease areas: cardiovascular,
oncology, inflammation and metabolic. By applying its knowledge of the human
genome, its understanding of disease mechanisms, and its industrialized
technology platform, Millennium is developing breakthrough personalized medicine
products. Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. Millennium also has facilities in
South San Francisco, Calif. and Cambridge, UK.
MU getting a buy here from Dan Niles,
14:38 ET MU Micron: positive comments by Lehman (13.92 +0.85) -- Update --
Dan Niles at Lehman says that although most people assume that by mid-Dec DDR DRAM prices will collapse to the same low level as SDRAM, he believes that in fact SDRAM prices are more likely to increase over time with some modest fallback in DDR prices to narrow the price gap; with a book value of $10.44, firm believes MU should be bought.
CORV,
Corvis aims to end fiscal year with $500 mln in cash
http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/021113/telecoms_corvis_1.html
10:01pm 11/05/02 CBS SAYS GOP TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OF THE U.S. HOUSE
BRCD,
Zeev,your thoughts on this acquisition,and how it might affect the stock price?
Brocade to Acquire Rhapsody Networks
Tuesday November 5, 5:09 pm ET
Storage Networking Leader to Deliver Industry's First Open, Intelligent Platform for Fabric Applications
SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (Brocade®) (Nasdaq: BRCD - News), the world's leading provider of infrastructure solutions for Storage Area Networks (SANs), announced today an agreement to acquire Rhapsody Networks, a privately-held provider of next-generation intelligent switching platforms. Through the acquisition, Brocade will extend its leadership position in the storage networking market to deliver the industry's first open, intelligent platform for fabric applications. By extending its intelligent platform, Brocade will help OEMs, application partners, and SAN customers unlock the next level of intelligence in the SAN fabric and further simplify the management of heterogeneous storage environments.
ADVERTISEMENT
"We are pleased to announce the acquisition of Rhapsody Networks. The powerful combination of Rhapsody's advanced technology and talented engineering team, coupled with Brocade's market leadership, installed base, experience, and partner ecosystem will further solidify Brocade's position as the reference platform of choice and accelerate the next phase of the SAN market's evolution," said Greg Reyes, Brocade Chairman and CEO.
As the result of this acquisition, Brocade expects to deliver to market a new class of intelligent fabric application switches, which will be fully interoperable with the Brocade SilkWorm® family of Fibre Channel fabric switches. Brocade will work with leading OEM and application partners to enable next-generation fabric applications, including fabric-based volume management, fabric-based data replication, and fabric-based data management. These new fabric applications will significantly extend the functionality, simplify management, and reduce the operational cost and complexity of managing and administering existing storage environments. By simply adding a new fabric application switch to an existing Brocade fabric, SAN customers will multiply the benefit of their investment in Brocade infrastructure. The Rhapsody intelligent fabric application development platform is available today to OEM partners. Brocade estimates that the first fabric applications based on these platforms will be available from specific OEM partners by the end of calendar year 2003.
The Rhapsody architecture is highly complementary to Brocade fabric switches. In addition to hosting fabric applications directly, it supports multiple protocols -- including Fibre Channel and IP -- and is accessed through an open API. The API will be integrated with the Brocade Fabric Access API to deliver a complete solution for the development of storage and data management applications.
Continued Reyes, "Through this open, intelligent platform for fabric applications, SAN customers will be able to centralize data management by integrating fabric applications into their existing environments, while protecting their investment in Brocade SAN infrastructure. The intelligent platform will provide our OEM and application partners with an increased market opportunity for new revenue from innovative fabric-based applications."
Conference Call Information
Brocade will host a conference call today, Tuesday, November 5 at 2:30 p.m. Pacific Time to discuss the acquisition. To participate in this conference call, please call 877-407-2753 or 706-634-7602, passcode "Brocade." A simultaneous webcast of the conference call will be available at www.brocade.com/investors. An archive of the conference call will be available through November 12 at 800-642-1687 or 706-645-9291, passcode 6503726.
Brocade will report final financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2002 on Thursday, November 21, 2002 after the close of market.
Acquisition Details
Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, Brocade will acquire all outstanding shares of Rhapsody in exchange for 23.4 million shares of Brocade common stock. This represents approximately 10 percent of outstanding common stock as of November 5, 2002. Final purchase price will not be determined until the closing date-which we expect to be in January 2003. Based on the closing price of Brocade stock as of November 4, 2002, the deal will be valued at approximately $175 million.
Development platforms from Rhapsody are shipping today to OEM partners. Brocade estimates availability of fabric applications based on these platforms by second half of fiscal 2003 from specific OEM partners. Based on this timing, we would expect revenue associated with the Rhapsody transaction to begin in late fiscal 2003, with anticipated acceleration of revenues in fiscal 2004.
Assuming that this transaction is completed by January of 2003, Brocade expects the transaction to be dilutive to fiscal 2003 earnings per share by $0.09; or $0.03 per quarter. This excludes one-time charges associated with the acquisition and the amortization of intangibles and deferred stock compensation costs. We expect the increase in ongoing operating expenses resulting from this transaction to be approximately $6 to $7 million per quarter. We estimate that the transaction will become accretive, on a pro forma basis, in the third or fourth quarter of fiscal 2004.
The Boards of Directors of Brocade and Rhapsody have unanimously approved the transaction. Subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, Brocade expects the transaction to close in January 2003.