Saudis battle terrorists.
DAMMAM, Saudi Arabia — Saudi security forces battled heavily armed suspected al Qaeda members holed up in a sea-front apartment building Monday, a day after two militants -- one of them the kingdom's No. 3 most-wanted terrorist -- died in clashes across this eastern city.
The American consulate in the city was closed during the gunfight. Saudi Zaid Saad Zaid al-Samari, who was killed, was on a list of 36 most-wanted terrorists sought in relation to multiple terror attacks launched in this kingdom since May 2003. The American consulate was closed during the battle.
Indonesian jet crashes in residential area
JAKARTA, Indonesia, Sept. 5 - An Indonesian passenger plane crashed into a crowded neighborhood shortly after takeoff in the northern city of Medan on Monday, killing 104 people aboard and 39 on the ground.
The operator, Mandala Airlines, said 13 people sitting in the rear had survived the fire that engulfed the plane, a Boeing 737, when it hit a busy road 500 yards from the airport in midmorning. About 20 houses caught fire, and cars on the road, a major route to the airport, were ablaze. People with their clothes on fire screamed for help, and drivers later described escaping their burning vehicles.
Several survivors said the plane, which had been headed for this capital, had made a shaky takeoff and crashed just as the flight attendant finished the announcement about safety procedures.
Katrina relief picks up the pace
If only the military had had jurisdiction in New Orleans instead of the incompetent corrupto pols Nagin and Blanco. But you know people get the local government they vote for, and stupid people vote for corrupt and incompetent fools like Nagin and Blanco. The stupid have to live with themselves. Smarter people are always forced to design work arounds, taking into account human stupidity.
Firefighters thought they were going to be deployed: Instead told to hand out fliers, stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas
http://www.informationliberation...dex.php? id=1010
ATLANTA - Not long after some 1,000 firefighters sat down for eight hours of training, the whispering began: "What are we doing here?"
As New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin pleaded on national television for firefighters - his own are exhausted after working around the clock for a week - a battalion of highly trained men and women sat idle Sunday in a muggy Sheraton Hotel conference room in Atlanta.
Many of the firefighters, assembled from Utah and throughout the United States by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, thought they were going to be deployed as emergency workers.
Instead, they have learned they are going to be community-relations officers for FEMA, shuffled throughout the Gulf Coast region to disseminate fliers and a phone number: 1-800-621-FEMA.
On Monday, some firefighters stuck in the staging area at the Sheraton peeled off their FEMA-issued shirts and stuffed them in backpacks, saying they refuse to represent the federal agency.
Federal officials are unapologetic.
"I would go back and ask the firefighter to revisit his commitment to FEMA, to firefighting and to the citizens of this country," said FEMA spokeswoman Mary Hudak.
Roger- you are an unapologetic apologist. Now instead of openning your eyes you can get back to making excuses.