LONDON, England (Reuters) — Hours before the ringleader of London’s 2005 suicide bombings blew himself up on an underground train, his wife tried desperately to phone him to tell him her pregnancy was going wrong.
Mohammad Sidique Khan, shown here in a matrydom video, was the ringleader of the July 7, 2005 bombings.
…
Khan had taken his wife to hospital for a scan of what was to be their second child two days before the bombings. He dropped her home and said he was off to see his friends.
“That was the last time I saw him,” she said. “(It was) just a normal goodbye — see you later, I’m going out, I’ll be back in a few hours.”
In a will and handwritten note, Khan asked for her forgiveness and understanding.
“You have tried to be a good wife, but I have deceived you,” the letter said, according to Patel. It also contained £400 ($820) to buy toys.
“It was really sad because he mentioned ‘children’ and he obviously thought that the pregnancy had gone ahead.”
Anti-terrorist police arrested Patel in May on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.
Although she was released without charge days later, the arrest “turned her life upside down,” she said.
She “completely condemned” the July 7 attacks and said she now wants to rebuild her life with their young daughter.
The immediate legacy of the Bush Administration? The American public now trusts the Democrats more on issues like National Security and Taxes. Oh and they also hold leads in all other issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen.
Good job, George.
Jamie posted this at 5:24 PM HKT on Thursday, July 26th, 2007 as George Bush Sucks!
Everything I hate about this administration is pretty much summed up in this video:
For the love of god just answer the damn question! When I find myself agreeing with Chuck Schumer I find myself hating everything this administration has done for “conservatism”.
Jamie posted this at 1:21 PM HKT on Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 as Uncategorized
I have a few posts I’d like to write, but haven’t had time to get around to it. You know you’re a hopeless dork when life gets in the way of your blogging. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. So here’s a few random thoughts.
First the popped collars, now the hideous plaid shorts. Why, God, why?
My favorite scene in Mel Brooks’s Silent Movie is when the one spoken line is delivered by Marcel Marceau. No spoilers here, but the most recent Harry Potter had a similar moment: the only foul muggle language (as opposed to wizard curse words like “mudblood”), in I believe the entire series, comes from the most unlikely character in the Potterverse. It was funny, and in its own way, as shocking as the death in book 6. It’s still an awesome scene, and you’ll know it when you see it.
Incidentally, I wonder how a wizard winds up with a particular patronus. I suppose it must be something that makes you happy. I think mine would be a bassett.
Nearing the 4 month point of my new job, I’m still not used to the bureaucracy. At the old place, if a certain project with multiple steps needed to be done, I’d do it all myself. Since I’m not allowed to do some of those steps at the current place—the computer has been set up so I can’t—I have to fill out request forms and carbon copy various people with updates, and it takes significantly longer than if I’d done the silly thing myself. I’m finding that even though I’m supposed to be doing less work thanks to specialization, I’m spending more time filling out paperwork.
I saw a great Bumper sticker the other day: “Dear God, help me to be the person my dog thinks I am.” It reminds me of Mark Twain: “Heaven goes by favor; if it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.”
I greatly enjoyed Knocked Up, and by the end of the movie I felt a certain soft spot for Ben Stone, played by Seth Rogen. Then I looked him up and saw that he was born in 1982. So I got a crush on a movie star younger than I am; chalk up another first. I suppose there’s a first time for everything, but I still feel old.
I don’t have a TV and have thus missed the first million presidential debates. I’m still tired of them.
I was sitting on the metro the other day listening to a pair of Orthodox Jews (complete with yarmulkes) talk. The younger of the two was listing all the things he needed to do, and the older one smiled and said, “So young, and already Jewish!” They both laughed. I wonder if John Paul II had heard something similar when he told the Jews as “You are our elder brothers.” It does seems like Christianity is most popular when it’s childish (see Christmas, the celebration of which is rife with pagan recrudescence). Hmm. Perhaps this needs a longer blog post, if not a book.
John Adams once argued, “Liberty can no more exist without virtue and independence than the body can live and move without a soul.” I somehow imagine him sitting on a cloud, looking at Iraq, and telling Jefferson: “I told you so.” I’d imagine Jefferson (and everyone else) gets that a lot from Adams.
After reading David Frum’s takes on Novak’s Prince of Darkness (Part I, Part II, Part III), I’m morbidly curious. Throw in Daniel Casse’s assessment, and it sounds like it could be one of those books you enjoy even when you disagree with or loathe the subject. I’ll look for it used, though, since I’m feel no need to give Robert Novak my money.
So there is a new Pew poll out showing that only 49% of Americans believe that military strength ensures peace.
Why the follow up question wasn’t “What are you, retarded?” to the other 51% is beyond me. How anyone could believe that the relatively long peace periods in history Pax Romana or Pax Americana weren’t maintained by the mightiest military forces known to man is beyond me. Every single stable society in the history of the world was built on the backs of a strong, well managed military.
Its simple history folks – bare facts – not really hard to figure out. Then again I guess I’m relying on our country’s stellar government run education system to actually teach history to people.
Naked force has resolved more issues throughout the course of history than any other factor. The contrary opinion that violence doesn’t solve anything is merely wishful thinking at its worst. Those who forget that always pay. – Robert A. Heinlein.
As far as I can tell, I am writing this post from the Las Vegas airport, though if I should learn that I was actually sitting in a lab somewhere, the subject of some bizarre psychological experiment, or in the fiery bosom of Perdition, I would not be surprised.
For future reference, does anyone here know of an airline that does not abuse and mislead its customers at every stage of the journey? I’ll give you a hint: the answer is not US Airways, nor United.
Geoff posted this at 10:12 AM HKT on Tuesday, July 24th, 2007 as Uncategorized
The International Herald Tribune has a nice summary of Japan’s remilitarization. They are a spirited, baseball-loving people, and it’s time they used that spiritedness for things other than game shows and strange sexual practices. Though their tap-dancing around Article 9 might seem a little infuriating to those of us who like honesty:
Colonel Tatsuya Arima, commander of the Japanese squadron, said that bombing could protect Japanese ground troops or vessels. “Bombing does not always mean offensive weapons,” Arima said. “They can also be used for defense, which, put another way, is what we mostly train for.”
Um, yeah. At any rate, I can think of no better ally for us to add to the coalition of the willing than a remilitarized Japan. They are a friend of America, and a friend of liberty worldwide. Us, them, and the Aussies…come what may with Korea, China, or Iran, we would stand in good company.
At what point does it become hate speech to label political opponents as hateful? Nice to see that National Council of the Race’s idea of “civic outreach” does not involve persuading others but simply registering more voters. Guess there’s no use in trying to persuade people who hate you, right?
And while I’m on the subject, here’s a shout out to my man W, for framing the immigration debate in such a manner as to best run Hispanics out of the GOP.
Setting: Just south of the Louis XIV arch on Rue St-Denis; about 2300 on a Friday.
Apollo: [Walking while reading aloud from a book] Turn right into Boulevard St-Denis and then into Rue St-Denis, once renowned as the handsomest street in Paris. It was probably laid out in the 8th or 9th century, leading to the Basilica of St-Denis, where the kings of France are buried, but became important in the 12th century, taking over from the nearby Rue St-Martin as the main route north out of the city while also being [suddenly becomes aware of passing within a foot of two prostitutes, and then the half dozen or so drug dealers/pimps on the other side of the street, and then the three prostitutes down the block, and myriad sketchy looking characters milling about.] the kings’…official…entrance…into…the city… Dorothy: [Moves closer to Apollo]
[Silence for a block, until the two have cleared the sketchy-looking characters] Apollo: [Resumes reading] It has lost a lot of its old magnificence.
Apollo posted this at 4:17 PM HKT on Saturday, July 21st, 2007 as Ourselves
