A Peek into Others' mind » June 23, 2008

Last week, in an unpublished summary order, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the 2005 conviction of Uzair Paracha in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) on charges of providing material support to Al-Qaida. Paracha's defense attorneys had sought on appeal to challenge the admission of expert testimony during the trial from myself addressing various relevant aspects of the organization and structure of Al-Qaida. Summary of decision as follows:

United States Court of Appeals,Second Circuit
UNITED STATES v. Uzair PARACHA,
No. 06-3599-cr.
June 19, 2008.
(Cite as: 2008 WL 2477392 (C.A.2 (N.Y.)))
[4] Admission of Expert Testimony
"*3 Paracha asserts that the district court erred by admitting Evan Kohlmann's expert testimony on the organization and structure of al Qaeda. The record evinces, however, that Paracha waived his challenge to the relevance and utility of such testimony during a pre-trial conference. Even if not waived, and even with respect to Paracha's preserved challenge to the reliability of Kohlmann's methodology, in light of our deferential standard of review, see United States v. Wexler, 522 F.3d 194, 204 (2d Cir.2008) (noting that we review a district court's evidentiary rulings for manifest error), and the considerable leeway the Supreme Court has afforded district courts in deciding whether to admit expert testimony, see Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137, 152 (1999), the court was well within its discretion in ruling that Kohlmann's methodology was sufficiently reliable and his testimony relevant to the jury's understanding of al Qaeda so as to be admissible under Fed.R.Evid. 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993).See United States v. Paracha, No. 03-cr-1197, 2006 WL 12768, at *20-22 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 3, 2006). Indeed, the court limited the government's use of the expert testimony, demonstrating that it carefully considered Kohlmann's reliability and expertise, as well as the proper scope of his testimony. Id. at 22-24."

John Bolton says J'lem likely to attack in the window between the 2008 vote and the 2009 inauguration.

WP's Hiatt: "Senior officials at the State Department and beyond are mulling a proposal to open an interest section in Tehran, similar to the one the United States has operated in Havana since 1977. This would fall short of full...

PM expected to urge Egyptian president to press Hamas into being more flexible on prisoner list.

Officials tell 'Post' 2 senior members resisting PA police attempts to persuade them to halt activities.

I knew it, it’s a boy! I’m so excited

Who were the real culprits in the story of the scouts, and what was the nature of their transgression?

The Arabs have squandered their public relations victories in the West.

while i am drenched to the core here in costa rica from terential rains.. i read this and feel like a part of our culture has just been self mutilated.. i need a bucket..

I read this a few days ago, and it really brings up some good issues.  Most of us here know the issues, but it seems for the first time on a pro-Palestinian site that the issue of Judaism is b

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When the door opens, which side will you be on?

UPDATE at 6/23/08 6:27:32 pm:

The door has closed for the evening.

An IAEA team has arrived in Syria to probe allegations that an installation destroyed by Israel last September was a nuclear reactor.

NYT: US embassy, ambassador to Albania implicated in DoD contracting scandal?...

The Gaza 'cease fire' was broken by the 'Palestinians' late Monday night. A mortar shell fired from the Gaza Strip landed in the western Negev despite the recent ceasefire agreement signed by Israel and armed Palestinian groups in Gaza. No injuries or damage were reported. The IDF will undoubtedly be ordered to turn the other cheek. After all, no casualties.

Yes, it’s another science thread, a hybrid post if you will, as web technology visualizes the connections among political blogs: PresidentialWatch08 - Map. (Takes a little while to load.)

(Hat tip: AP, who got it from Karl.)

An extraordinary fossil discovery in Australia reveals a fish with live offspring attached by an umbilical cord—dating to 380 million years ago, making it the oldest example of vertebrate live birth on record. Scientists at the Museum of Victoria have dubbed her Materpiscis attenboroughi, or “mother fish.”

Here’s the Museum Victoria news release page on this discovery, with some interesting videos.

Today the team announced its latest discovery: a remarkable 380 million year old fossil placoderm fish with intact embryo and mineralised umbilical cord.

The discovery, published in Nature and one of the most significant ever made by Australian scientists, makes the fossil the world’s oldest known vertebrate mother. It also provides the earliest evidence of vertebrate sexual reproduction, wherein the males (which possessed clasping organs similar to modern sharks and rays) internally fertilised females.

This fossil has been named Materpiscis attenboroughi, meaning ‘mother fish’, in honour of Sir David Attenborough, who first drew attention to the significance of the Gogo sites in his 1979 series Life on Earth.

Armour-plated shark-like fishes with no modern relatives, a second placoderm specimen containing three embryos was found earlier in 1986 and only recently recognised. These embryos also provided the first data on their developmental biology, indicating the early sequence of bone formation in the placoderm’s growth stages.

Studied using an ultra-fine CT scanner at the Australian National University in Canberra, such extraordinary preservation in such an old fossil is unprecedented. The team had also previously announced the first 3-D preserved muscle, nerve and circulatory tissues in a Devonian age (380 million year old) fish in 2007 paper in Biology Letters.

In a paragraph that somehow didn't make it into the English edition of the same article, Haaretz reports in its Hebrew edition on ridiculous new 'open fire' (link in Hebrew) orders that were given to IDF troops operating on the Gaza periphery this past weekend. (Translation by IMRA): "Last weekend new shooting orders were issued for the area around the Gaza Strip. The soldiers are permitted to

Conference in support of Palestinian Civil Security and the Rule of Law meant as followup to Annapolis.

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A leader of a Somali insurgent group that signed an agreement with the interim govt has dismissed an al-Qaida leader's criticism of the deal

Arab Information Ministers: Arab Media Should Focus on Serving Palestinian
Cause Date : 23/6/2008 Time : 12:10
http://english.wafa.ps/?action=detail&id=11843

CAIRO, June 23, 2008,(WAFA - PLO news agency)-Arab information ministers
stressed that the Arab media bodies should focus on combating terror and
serving the Palestinian cause in its broadcasting programs.

At the end of the session of the Arab League information ministers council
at the headquarters of the Cairo-based pan-Arab body, the participants
called on Arab programs to focus on celebrating selecting east Jerusalem as
the capital of Arab culture for 2009 and highlighting Israel's digging works
in the vicinity of al-Aqsa mosque, an old historic Islamic shrine in
southern Palestinian territories.

The Arab information ministers called for repairing the Palestinian radio
and TV stations shelled by Israel, underlining the Israeli occupation of the
Golan Heights and offering media support to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Sudan and
Somalia.

They also decided to form a team of experts to screen fake concepts from
Arab media and endorsed the bylaws of an Arab e-media committee. The AL
general secretariat will take all needed measures for the committee to come
into force.

The Ministers also announced that the Arab States Broadcasting Union was
tasked with considering the establishment of a multilingual Arab satellite
TV channel.

A U.S. federal appeals court has struck down the U.S. military's classification of a Guantanamo Bay detainee as an enemy combatant

European Union members have approved new sanctions against Iran in response to Tehran's refusal to freeze its nuclear program.

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DoD announced Lt. Gen. Dunwoody is nominated for appointment to the rank of general & assignment as AMC commanding general.

French leader urges concessions while offering support on Iranian issue.

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U.S. Institute of Peace's Mona Yacoubian: Dealing with Damascus....

Two reports released today continue the "more good news but remaining bad news" pattern that we've seen in the past year, since the surge in U.S. troops was fully implemented. In "Iraq Report 9: The Battle For Basra," published by the Institute for the Study of War in conjunction with The Weekly Standard, Marisa Cochrane (no relation) discusses the forces that enabled militias to control Basra, why Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki initiated "Operation Knight's Charge" to secure Basra, and the continuing dangers ahead. Here are excerpts from the report and a press release by ISW:

"By the end of the first week, the offensive reached a stalemate. In the face of Iranian-supported enemy resistance, the Iraqi Security Forces were unable to take control of the Jaysh al-Mahdi’s heavily fortified neighborhood strongholds. The intense clashes continued with neither side gaining momentum. An agreement between Muqtada al-Sadr and representatives from rival Shi’a parties, brokered in Iran by the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), seemed to calm the violence in Basra at the end of March. The next day, Iraqi Security Force reinforcements arrived in Basra and prepared for larger-scale clearing operations...

The militias and Iranian-backed fighters have suffered great losses, but not total defeat. They have likely gone underground to regroup and evade the current security crackdown. This has made the security gains tentative...

Operation Knight’s Charge illustrated the progress that the Iraqi Security Forces have made over the past year while also serving to underscore remaining challenges in their development. Most importantly, the Basra operation has strengthened the Iraqi central government and security forces vis-à-vis criminal militia elements and their Iranian sponsors. While lasting success is by no means assured and important challenges remain, the gains in Basra over the last few months are significant and palpable..."

A longer status report on Iraq, the latest in a long line by the Government Accountability Office, provides more details on the security successes brought about by the surge and continuing failures of the Iraqi government- some excerpts:

"Overall violence, as measured by enemy-initiated attacks, fell about 70 percent in Iraq, from about 180 attacks per day in June 2007 to about 50 attacks per day in February 2008. Security gains have largely resulted from (1) the increase in U.S. combat forces, (2) the creation of nongovernmental security forces such as Sons of Iraq, and (3) the Mahdi Army’s declaration of a cease fire... Average daily attacks were at higher levels in March and April before declining in May 2008. The security environment remains volatile and dangerous. The number of trained Iraqi forces has increased from 323,000 in January 2007 to 478,000 in May 2008; many units are leading counterinsurgency operations. However, the Department of Defense reported in March 2008 that the number of Iraqi units capable of performing operations without U.S. assistance has remained at about 10 percent.

The Iraqi government has enacted key legislation to return some Ba’athists to government, give amnesty to detained Iraqis, and define provincial powers. However, it has not yet enacted other important legislation for sharing oil resources or holding provincial elections. Efforts to complete the constitutional review have also stalled...

For example, although The New Way Forward stated that the Iraqi government would take responsibility for security in all 18 provinces by November 2007, only 9 of 18 provinces had transitioned to Iraqi control as of May 2008...

Between 2005 and 2007, Iraq spent only 24 percent of the $27 billion it budgeted for its own reconstruction efforts. More specifically, Iraq’s central ministries, responsible for security and essential services, spent only 11 percent of their capital investment budgets in 2007—down from similarly low rates of 14 and 13 percent in the 2 prior years. Violence and sectarian strife, shortage of skilled labor, and weak procurement and budgeting systems have hampered Iraq’s efforts to spend its capital budgets.

Although oil production has improved for short periods, the May 2008 production level of about 2.5 million barrels per day (mbpd) was below the U.S. goal of 3 mbpd. The daily supply of electricity met only about half of demand in early May 2008."

A mortar round fired from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip landed on the Israeli side of the border overnight without causing casualties or damage, the first reported breach of an Egyptian-brokered truce that took effect last Thursday. "We are familiar with a mortar shell that landed near the

Kuwait's supreme court on Tuesday upheld a death sentence against a member of the emirate's ruling al-Sabah family for drug trafficking. The sentence against the royal, named only as Sheikh Talal, was already upheld by an appeals court in December. The final decision can only be carried out

Israel's high court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by the family of captured soldier Gilad Shalit that the government keeps up its blockade of Gaza until they are assured of his release. The court rejected the appeal of Noam and Aviva Shalit, who demanded the government not reopen crossings into

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said on Tuesday that he believes Israel will attack Iran's nuclear facilities if Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama wins the upcoming presidential elections, according to a press report on Tuesday. "I think if they are to do

An Israeli police officer fatally shot himself in the head on Tuesday at a Ben-Gurion airport departure ceremony for French President Nicolas Sarkozy, authorities said, sparking fear of an assassination attempt and prompting bodyguards to whisk Sarkozy and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert away

Kevin Drum makes a good point. Perhaps in some Strangelovian way, the right and left are both coming to learn to love in some way fearmongering over bombing Iran. Everyone's pretty much already convinced of what they already believe, reporting...

Oil prices rise after emergency talks between oil powers and consumers in Jeddah over the weekend end without resolution.

Over two years ago, in a post entitled Nice Jewish Girl, I posted how Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow was getting back to her Jewish roots.

Gwyneth Paltrow has started taking her Jewish roots seriously after missing out on two years of fasting during the religion’s high holy days.

The actress was pregnant with baby Apple in 2003 and breastfeeding her daughter in 2004, so she made sure she honoured Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in style in 2005.

And Paltrow plans to pay tribute to her ancestors every year from now on.

Now, as blogger Debbie Schlussel shows, she isn’t doing a very good job. Unless she was descended from Neturei Karta.

(thanks to Shy Guy for the heads up).

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This is a quite lengthy article, so i only copied and pasted part of it.

There are some interesting diagrams that didn't transfer with the article.

Jewish Studies 2004

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As we noted Friday, the media were reporting that IAEA “watchdog” Mohamed ElBaradei warned that an attack on Iran would turn the Middle East into a “ball of fire” (goodness gracious), and threatened to quit his job.

What the media did not tell you: in this interview in Arabic with Al-Arabiya TV, ElBaradei also said, quite explicitly, that Iran is able to produce a nuclear weapon in six months to a year. (Courtesy of MEMRI TV.)

[Video]

Following are excerpts from an interview with IAEA Director-General Dr. Muhammad Al-Baradei, which aired on Al-Arabiya TV on June 20, 2008.

Muhammad Al-Baradei: If Iran wants to turn to the production of nuclear weapons, it must leave the NPT, expel the IAEA inspectors, and then it would need at least... Considering the number of centrifuges and the quantity of uranium Iran has...

Interviewer: How much time would it need?

Muhammad Al-Baradei: It would need at least six months to one year. Therefore, Iran will not be able to reach the point where we would wake up one morning to an Iran with a nuclear weapon.

Interviewer: Excuse me, I would like to clarify this for our viewers. If Iran decides today to expel the IAEA from the country, it will need six months...

Muhammad Al-Baradei: Or one year, at least...

Interviewer:... to produce [nuclear] weapons?

Muhammad Al-Baradei: It would need this period to produce a weapon, and to obtain highly-enriched uranium in sufficient quantities for a single nuclear weapon.

[...]

In my view, a military strike would be the worst thing possible. It would turn the Middle East into a ball of fire.

Interviewer: It would be worse than sanctions?

Muhammad Al-Baradei: Much worse, because a military strike would mean, first and foremost, that even if Iran does not produce nuclear weapons today, it would implement a so-called “crash course,” or an accelerated plan to produce a nuclear weapon, with the agreement and blessing of all the Iranians – even the Iranians living in the West.

[...]

Interviewer: Dr. Al-Baradei, what do the Iranian officials tell you when you confront them about the need for more transparency?

Muhammad Al-Baradei: They say there will be more transparency, but at the end of the day, I’d rather wait to see this transparency.

[...]

I always think of resigning in the event of a military strike.

Interviewer: You will resign in the event that...

Muhammad Al-Baradei: If military force is used, I would conclude that there is no mechanism left for me to defend.

Interviewer: This is a threat directed at the Americans – if you strike, I will resign.

Muhammad Al-Baradei: I am not doing this for material profit. If I was working in the private sector, I would... I am doing this out of the conviction that I am defending shared values. If we deviate from these shared values...

Interviewer: So there is no justification for an attack...

Muhammad Al-Baradei: The day I believe that the international system has begun to collapse is the day I will resign.

[...]

Interviewer: If the world reaches a consensus that there is no solution but to attack Iran, would you still resign? What if Europe, America, and the entire West agree that the only resolution is a military one?

Muhammad Al-Baradei: I don’t think that what we are seeing today in Iran poses a clear, imminent, and immediate danger.

Interviewer: But in a year or two, it could become...

Muhammad Al-Baradei: If this happens, it will be a different story, but if a military strike is launched against Iran now, in my opinion, I will have no choice but to...

Interviewer: So there is no justification for a strike against Iran today.

Muhammad Al-Baradei: None whatsoever. There will be no point for me to continue doing my work if military force is used at present.

Tonight on YES TV (YES STARS Channel) at 10 PM marks the debut of the "Srugim" TV series, directed by Laizy Shapiro.

Focusing on the religious singles scene in the Katamon area of Jerusalem, "Srugim" tackles many situations including; joint shabbat meals, young divorced singles, being shomer negiya (or not), life as a single when friends around you are all married with children, the dating scene, Ohel Nechama, and basically every situation of day to day life for Jerusalem's religious singles.

Though the actors themselves are not religious, the director and screen writers are -- and they needed to quickly get the actors up to speed on what to do...and not do, as religious singles. The previews and behind the scenes show look promising, so this looks to be a decent show.

Of course, personally knowing the director means I'm not biased in the slightest.

If you're going to watch TV, don't waste your time with Hisardut/Israeli survivor trash shows - watch a quality series, by a talented director and graduate of Ma'aleh, Israel's religious film and art school.

Ten Tonight.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

On Friday, it was reported that Israel conducted a massive training exercise to prepare for taking out Iran's nuclear weapons. Since then, several reports have given further indication that Israel is in fact preparing for such a scenario. It is clear by now that the Israeli government actually wanted Iran to know about the training exercise so that it would get the message that Israel is not

Conservative Anglicans open talks in Jerusalem with criticism of the Archbishop of Canterbury, amid a rift over gay priests.

A palestinian medical student has reportedly been murdered in the Ukraine.

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