Posted by: Fake Ben | http://rocknerd.org | Thu Jan 9 22:48:55 2003

I don't think WorldNetDaily - and this story in particular - is a credible source of information. The story itself is sourced from the website of a bunch of anti-Chavez generals - not exactly an unbiased source of information. A quick check on Google News reveals all the stories on this are from the same source. None of the major agencies appears interested in picking it up.

And looking at the WorldNetDaily front page, it becomes obvious they're a conservative spinmill; they run Trent Lott apologia and that horrible racist Ann Coulter. Conclusion: at this stage, it's all a bit too Kuwaiti-incubator-babies to be believable.

Posted by: alex | http:// | Fri Jan 10 01:20:42 2003

for the uninitiated, what does 'kuwaiti-incubator-babies' mean?

Posted by: mitch | http:// | Fri Jan 10 02:09:53 2003

Just ask Google: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=kuwaiti+incubator+babies

The folk version of the story is: During the 1990 debate over war against Iraq, the US Congress was influenced by the testimony of a 15yo Kuwaiti girl, who said she had seen dozens of babies ripped from their incubators by Iraqi soldiers. After the war, it turned out that she was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador, incognito, that the incident was a fabrication, and that a Washington PR firm called Hill & Knowlton played a role in making the whole event happen. It's a classical example of 'manufacturing consent'.

Posted by: mitch | http:// | Fri Jan 10 02:22:05 2003

And for once the folk version seems to be accurate. I've found precisely one attempt to defend the accuracy of the testimony: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/cm/member-reviews/-/A3R2VO3M52IE09/cm_aya_rev_more/104-8849283-8246301

And they say nothing about whether Princess Nayirah actually saw these things.

Posted by: mitch | http:// | Fri Jan 10 02:40:06 2003

As for Venezuela, you can find all sorts of remarkable allegations at http://www.militaresdemocraticos.com. I balked at the Al Qaeda story, but maybe it's true. Here's a story saying Chavez put the brother of Carlos the Jackal in charge of an energy-and-mines portfolio: http://www.petroleumworld.com/story9511.htm

Carlos and Osama may actually have ties. They both lived in Sudan in the early 1990s; and here a retired Indian intelligence officer claims that Osama modelled his International Islamic Front on Carlos's Marxist "united front": http://www.saag.org/papers6/paper529.html

Posted by: Ben | http://www.cloakanddagger.ca | Fri Jan 10 03:38:26 2003

well seeing as how there are strong documented ties between Osama bin Laden and George W Bush (as well as Bush Snr), Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld (all of whom are major shareholders of the Carlyle Group), what of it?

Posted by: mitch | http:// | Fri Jan 10 06:29:42 2003

It gets worse! The actor who played the Carlos-like character in "The World Is Not Enough" is called ... Robert Carlyle. And the middleman between Arbusto and Salem Bin Laden was a James B with a four-letter surname.

"Bath. James Bath." (And it's the Baath Party that runs Iraq, isn't it?)

Posted by: alex | http:// | Fri Jan 10 19:01:32 2003

Shit! i'd run and hide in a bunker if i didn't know the B2s were about to drop a bunch of B61/11s on it.

B61/11? That's the illegal 'bunker busting' nuke the media won't tell us about.

B666 (^_^)