(Xinhua) -- Egyptian security authorities on Monday arrested 26 members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood movement in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, the official MENA news agency reported. The Muslim Brotherhood members were detained on charges of attempting to spread the Islamic group's ideas and possessing leaflets containing their ideology, which was termed by the authorities as "misleading" to the country. The detainees have been referred to the prosecution for investigation, said the report.
Officially banned in 1954 for its attempt to set up an Islamic government, Egypt's biggest Islamic opposition group the Muslim Brotherhood won 88 seats in the 454-member lower house of parliament after its members ran as independents in 2005 legislative elections. An Egyptian constitutional amendments adopted by a national referendum last March prohibited the forming of any political party on a religious base.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood
Overstretch within the armed forces is driving away experienced personnel and damaging morale, MPs have warned. The strain of operating at full capacity in Afghanistan and Iraq has left the services "deteriorating", a defence select committee report says. Personnel do not get enough rest time, and budgets are spiralling out of control, its annual MoD report adds.
Defence minister Bob Ainsworth said the forces were achieving "our highest priority - success on operations".
The committee's annual report on the Ministry of Defence warns that neither the Army nor the RAF are likely to make their personnel targets for 2008 because of problems with recruitment. The forces have been operating at or above the level of resources they have been given for seven of the last eight years, including every years since 2002, it says. As a result, the MPs conclude, personnel appear to be leaving in growing numbers.
"We are concerned that there are signs that voluntary departure in the armed forces, in particular the Army, is increasing and that in the RAF personnel are not extending for a further engagement to the extent that had happened in the past," the report adds.
So-called "harmony" guidelines within the Army and RAF for how long troops should remain on active duty during any one year are also being exceeded, the MPs say. "This is another clear indicator of the pressure on our armed forces from the continuing high level of operations," the report says. "Shortages remain within many specialist trades in all three armed services and, in particular, within the Army Medical Service."
The report also says that the estimated costs for the Astute submarine and Type 45 destroyer projects have shot up by £500m since March 2006 and the projected bill for the new Nimrod MRA4 is also rising. "Such cost increases put further pressure on the future defence budget, which is already heavily committed," the committee warns.
Although the defence budget has been allocated an extra £7.7bn by 2011, cuts are "likely" because of commitments to new projects, the report adds. Committee chairman James Arbuthnot said: "The continuing pressure on our armed forces personnel is likely to have an impact on retention and there are some disturbing signs of an increase in early departure in the Army."
Defence minister Bob Ainsworth said that scaling back commitments in Bosnia, Northern Ireland and Iraq would help the services meet the harmony guidelines.
Posted by: lotp ||
01/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
Might also have something to do with what is "driving" citizens "Away" from the UK in record numbers.
#2
MPs are redirecting their high salaries and generous vacation benefits to those military personel who they feel deserve it more than they.
[/dreaming]
#3
Maybe it is because, just like when Carter lived in the WH, the troops and prospective troops saw very clearly that the gov't did NOT have their back. That recent Iranian Sailor retrieval mission went so well didn't it, cousins????
spineless fuc@s
#4
If you want a decent military, you have to fund it, support it, support the families, provide appropriate services (health, safety, etc.), and show respect for it. Britain - all of Europe - fails in every respect. One of these days, they're going to need the military, and it won't be there because of stupid short-sightedness by the pols. Too bad - I liked Europe.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/28/2008 17:28 Comments ||
Top||
#5
The UK has "downsized" so much Hurricane Katrina would have stretched them past their limit. The government's money is being sucked dry by the migration in of unemployed and underemployed and the imgration out of the productive people.
#7
No problem, the Royal Navy can just reintroduce the press gangs like they used to have 200 years ago. I'm not sure - did the army have something similar?
#8
utiny on the Bounty" comes to mind, the mutineers got away clean, sank the bounty, Captain Queeg was court marshaled, and the mutineers decendants still live on Pitcairn island today.
Not the Royal Navy's finest hour, what?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/28/2008 21:39 Comments ||
Top||
The president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, urged his Latin American allies to begin withdrawing billions of dollars in international reserves from U.S. banks, warning of a looming U.S. economic crisis. "Si se puede!"
Chávez made the suggestion Saturday as he hosted a summit aimed at increasing Latin American integration and countering U.S. influence. "We should start to bring our reserves here," Chávez said. "Why does that money have to be in the north? You can't put all your eggs in one basket." "I'll hold it for you. Really. It'll be safe"
To help pool resources within the region, Chávez and other leaders launched a new development bank at the summit of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA. Since ABBA was already taken...
The left-leaning regional trade alliance supported by Chávez is intended to offer an alternative, socialist path to integration while snubbing U.S.-backed free-trade deals. "The empire doesn't accept alternatives," Chávez told the gathering, attended by the presidents of Bolivia and Nicaragua, the vice president of Cuba, Carlos Lage, and other leaders. Chávez warned that U.S. "imperialism is entering into a crisis that can affect all of us" and said Latin America "will save itself alone."
Rice left Colombia on Friday after a trip aimed at reviving a free-trade deal that has stalled in the U.S. Congress. She sidestepped an opportunity to confront Chávez, who accused Colombia and the United States of plotting "military aggression" against Venezuela.
Chávez took up the issue again Saturday, saying, "I warn the world of the following: The U.S. empire is creating the conditions to generate an armed conflict between Colombia and Venezuela." "So we should defend ourselves by shooting first!"
Formerly cordial relations between the two nations have been tense since November, when Colombia's U.S.-allied president, Álvaro Uribe, said Chávez was no longer welcome to continue mediating a hostages-for-prisoners swap with Colombia's leftist rebels. Hoogo needs a bogeyman, first the US and then Columbia, next Guyana
Daniel Ortega, the president of Nicaragua, joined Chávez in his criticism of U.S.-style capitalism, saying "the dictatorship" of global capitalism "has lost control." Three days earlier, Ortega had shouted "Long live the U.S. government" as he inaugurated an American-financed section of highway in his country.
The leaders signed a series of accords at the end of the meeting pledging cooperation in areas from energy to agriculture, plus a document denouncing "the warlike attitude of the U.S. government and its attacks against our governments."
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Caracas rejected that characterization. "A door is always open to dialogue and cooperation on issues of mutual concern," Robin Holzhauer said. "but doors close too, and sometimes one loses a finger or dictator in it"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
South American free trade deal?
You can only trade bananas and cigars so many different ways until you die of malnutrition.
#3
Daniel Ortega, the president of Nicaragua, joined Chávez in his criticism of U.S.-style capitalism, saying "the dictatorship" of global capitalism "has lost control." Three days earlier, Ortega had shouted "Long live the U.S. government" as he inaugurated an American-financed section of highway in his country.
Its funny watching Danny boy try to straddle the fence.
#5
I say "Take your money and go" they don't realize that it works both ways, you remove your cash, you also remove your influence, it's a one-time threat, once removed, you also remove the threat.
Go, be damned, don't come back when you've spent it all and are starving.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/28/2008 15:08 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Hugo instituted currency controls a while back, trying to prevent the middle class from moving their money off shore. I wonder if that's pinching right now.
#7
What Hugo doesn't understand is the money is in US banks because they don't get nationalized or suddenly lose the money. Even if you hate us the investment is safe, although if we hate you it might get frozen but then again you can't hide from that anywhere really.
#8
This assumes Hugo has any financial reserves left after mismanaging his oil industry.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/28/2008 20:58 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Frozen Al is right, Hugo's probably living on "Future Earnings" anticipated from oil.
"I'll gladly pay you Thursday for a Hamburger Today", immediately pops to mind, take whatever money you have and vanish into the obscurity of History Books.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/28/2008 21:47 Comments ||
Top||
The Dutch ministry of domestic affairs takes into account that possible riots caused by the Wilders Koran movie might last for more than one day. The Domestic Affairs Department has issued a letter to emergency services and municipalities across The Netherlands indicating the measures that they can take.
"Municipalities can apply for Army and Military Police deployment if a shortage of emergency services occurs due to long lasting problems"
The letter was leaked and the authorities call this an unfortunate event as they "rather want to prepare in silence towards these kinds of events" according to the Director General of Domestic Security.
Something happening here,
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down ...
#6
If they riot, gun them down in the streets. Then tell the rest it's time to head back to whatever foul pesthole they came from within 48 hours or they'll be forcibly deported. Following that, bulldoze the mosques and charge their worshippers the cleanup fees. Hit them hard and keep hitting them until they take their murderous moon god cult elsewhere.
#7
They've been worrying about, and been threatened with, riots ever since Mr. Wilders announced the film. This is non-news until the actual release date, when we'll finally find out what's going to happen. I don't have the energy to worry any more beforehand; but I am glad to know the rules of engagement ha been decided, whatever they may be.
In the meantime, I shall have a cup of tea and ponder thoughts of dinner.
#8
what a shame the media, political establishment and government tolerate this. If they made it clear that violence against free speech was not an option, the problems would be far less intense. Instead the liberals, once again, incite bloodshed through their encouragement of victimization and infantilization of migrant populations.
#9
Perhaps if it was pointed out (Very pointedly) to the MSM, that this action threatened the very bedrock of "Free Press" (The 'Free' part) they'd stop promoting it?
Or is that just wishful thinking, that the MSM actually "Thinks"?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/28/2008 21:34 Comments ||
Top||
A group of extremists in Frankfurt was planning an attack in Germany, according to a would-be suicide bomber captured by police in Spain, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Sunday.
The Frankfurt cell was one of several in European cities with orders to attack targets in Spain, France, Portugal, Germany and Britain, according to the would-be attacker turned police informant.
The Frankfurt cell was one of several in European cities with orders to attack targets in Spain, France, Portugal, Germany and Britain, according to the would-be attacker turned police informant, El Pais reported. The report did not make clear whether the German cell was to attack Frankfurt or another city.
Testimony from the same informant, who was captured after he arrived in Barcelona on January 16, led to the arrest of 14 South Asians on last Saturday in Barcelona after he told police an extremist cell planned to attack the citys metro and other targets in Europe, El Pais reported while quoting Spanish police. The informant told police that leaders of the Barcelona cell told him to travel to Frankfurt to meet up with a group planning an attack, El Pais reported. They told him, initially, he was going to travel to Frankfurt, El Pais reported. The informant thought he would travel to Germany to meet up with the group that was planning an attack there.
The plan changed and another member of the Barcelona cell, Akeel Abassi, was sent to Frankfurt on January 18 with orders to work alone, the informant told police.
This article starring:
AKIL ABASI
al-Qaeda in Europe
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Europe
#1
I do hope the Frankfurt bad guys were picked up before this report went to press.
#1
his message is resonating alright.
what a piece of slime he is.
I hope folks wake up and smell the coffee as they say
Posted by: Jan from work ||
01/28/2008 13:55 Comments ||
Top||
#2
5000 thousand road deaths/year are already caused by illegal aliens. What's a few thousand more for the glory that is Obama.
Posted by: ed ||
01/28/2008 14:09 Comments ||
Top||
#3
McCain would do the same. That's what it means to be a RINO. But then, so would Hildebeast even if she's too clever to come out and say so. "Comprehensive immigration reform" is her answer to this question nowadays but what do you think that means? The article is right about one thing, though. This is a very risky move for Obama. When California voters tossed Davis out on his keister they did so overwhelmingly and the driver's licenses for illegals was a big, big part of it. Kinda makes me wonder how McCain expects to win here but apparently he does.
#4
It's a trap, Licenses mean they have to identify themselves as illegals, easy to round up later,
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/28/2008 15:23 Comments ||
Top||
#5
"It's also a huge issue for the general electorate, which most vehemently does not. Obama's stand could come back to haunt him not only in a general election, but with other voters in California, where driver's licenses for illegal immigrants helped undo former Gov. Gray Davis."
What an idiot Obama is! He already got a lift among Hispanics through Kennedy's endorsement of him. I really hope this not only comes back to 'haunt' him but bites him in the ass to boot!
#6
Real ID is used for licenses except for 17 states, Arizona being one of them. It would reveal who was here voluntarily, probably the fruit pickers working filling a real labor need, but would keep it all voluntary. Meanwhile, watching this election is the most fun I've had without laughing for a long time.
#9
Giving illegal aliens a driver's license will become an an addendum to the Motor Voter Act of 1993 passed under Clinton. It will be an invitation to national election fraud.
Not content with spying on other countries, the NSA (National Security Agency) will now turn on the US's own government agencies thanks to a fresh directive from president George Bush.
Under the new guidelines, the NSA and other intelligence agencies can bore into the internet networks of all their peers. The Bush administration pulled off this spy expansion by pointing to an increase in the number of cyber attacks directed against the US, possibly from foreign nations. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) will spearhead the effort around identifying the source of these attacks, while the Department of Homeland Security and Pentagon will concentrate on retaliation.
The Washington Post appears to have broken the news about the new Bush-led joint directive, which remains classified. The paper reported that the directive - National Security Presidential Directive 54/Homeland Security Presidential Directive 23 - was signed on Jan. 8. Earlier reports from the Baltimore Sun documented the NSA's plans to add US spying to its international snooping duties.
The government points to cyber attacks against the State, Commerce, Defense and Homeland Security departments as the impetus for expanding the NSA's powers. "U.S. officials and cyber-security experts have said Chinese Web sites were involved in several of the biggest attacks back to 2005, including some at the country's nuclear-energy labs and large defense contractors," the Post reported.
Critics of the new directive will point to the NSA's ability to operate in total secrecy as cause for concern.
More troubling, however, may be the Pentagon and Homeland Security's aspirations to hit attackers with counter-strikes.
Proving that a nation rather than a rogue set of attackers are behind a cyber attack will likely be very difficult. In addition, the international community has yet to address the rules of cyber war in any meaningful way.
#1
More troubling, however, may be the Pentagon and Homeland Security's aspirations to hit attackers with counter-strikes.
How dare we retaliate against an attacker.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
01/28/2008 11:21 Comments ||
Top||
#2
More troubling, however, may be the Left Media's Pentagon and Homeland Security's aspirations to lie to the American people attackers with counter-strikes.
#7
Just like my employer is entitled to read my email. In fact, they could even read what I post on Rantburg if it wouldn't bore them to tears. That's because it's their system I'm using.
I suppose the Register is unconcerned about cyber attacks being mounted against US, UK and other government computers from China. They'd probably think it was Bush's fault if the Chicoms hacked into the Register's computers and then leaked some of their secrets.
#11
lotp, what good that does when the people that take the results of tech analysis spin it through their political paradigm (leftist) and then make decisions based on that?
The agency is rotten and should be sacked. Good people then transfered to where they may be needed and where result of their work would be used as intended, not as a buttress of political hackery. MHO.
#13
Go, President Bush, go!!! He's sprinting home and breaking all records. Interesting the WAPO broke this and not the NYSlimes. Accountability ought to really strike fear into any treacherous hearts within our own government!!!
#14
The agency is rotten and should be sacked. Good people then transfered to where they may be needed
Big problem here, if the orginazation is rotten, just how do you identify the 'good' folks within, seems that the "Bad" would just give each other very good grades and slip through?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/28/2008 16:17 Comments ||
Top||
#15
Big problem here, if the orginazation is rotten, just how do you identify the 'good' folks within, seems that the "Bad" would just give each other very good grades and slip through?
That is exactly what has been happening with regard to promotions for a long time...
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/28/2008 17:33 Comments ||
Top||
#16
"If not NSA/CSS, then WHO?"
Old Spook,
I thought the USAF what trying to be put in charge of network security?
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/28/2008 18:23 Comments ||
Top||
#17
The Washington Post appears to have broken the news about the new Bush-led joint directive, which remains classified.
Might that not be the reason for the NEED to spy on US communications? When will the government of the United States begin cracking down on traitors who are more interested in projecting a socialist America than in following their OATH to support and defend the Constitution? I certainly would be quite willing to sit on a jury and find some of these jacka$$es guilty of treason, and watch them hang. I have friends at most of the Washington security agencies, and I doubt any of THEM are spreading this crap.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/28/2008 19:01 Comments ||
Top||
#18
RJ, Big problem here, if the orginazation is rotten, just how do you identify the 'good' folks within, seems that the "Bad" would just give each other very good grades and slip through?
Only the tech staff (properly vetted--I am sure it can be done). No management spinmeisters need to apply kinda proposition.
#3
In the end, Cooke said the crimes were ''very serious,'' but also stressed that ``there was never a plot to harm individuals inside the United States or to kill government or political officials.''
Javed Ahmed Ghamidi, prominent Islamic scholar known for pleading Islam as a progressive religion, said on Sunday there was no concept of Qazi courts in Islam and such courts in the Tribal Areas would create a mess there. It is the law that matters, and not the court, he said.
Ghamidi, despite his name, appears to be that rare voice of Muslim sanity.
He said the plan regarding such courts was a bad example of curing a disease with another disease, and this would give rise to more confusion and sectarianism, dividing the people.
Ghamidi, who is also a member of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), was talking to Daily Times on a proposal by the government to promulgate regulation for law enforcement in the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) which includes Swat, Dir and Chitral, through Qazi courts. He said that it would be another bad experience, as it had been tried previously. Terming it a parallel judicial system, he said there was no concept of Qazi courts in Islam. He said there never was a concept of Qazi courts during the Holy Prophet (Peas Be Upon Him)s era. He said the plan regarding such courts was a bad example of curing a disease with another disease, and this would give rise to more confusion and sectarianism, dividing the people.
Which, along with oppressing them, is pretty much the whole idea, isn't it?
Ghamidi said people must realise who Maulana Fazlullah who has now become a monster for security agencies in Swat in actuality is. He asked why such elements were not dealt with when they started proselytising through radio broadcasting and increasing their circle of followers. He spoke of the Lal Masjid incident when clerics carried out horrendous acts in the name of Islam with, reportedly, the complete knowledge of certain government officials, yet suddenly Operation Silence was begun against them.
It's the same pattern over and over again: The blowhard mullahs puff themselves up, bullying and browbeating those in their immediate vicinity, and their sympathizers in the halls of power make sure nothing's done about it because they're just so Islamic. The irritation becomes a pimple, which then becomes a boil, which at the last has to be lanced, drained and packed, with the attendant blood and suppuration. But then, Islam's for the most part kinda fond of blood and suppuration.
Blitzkrieg needed: He said the present situation was so complicated that it needed a Blitzkrieg strategy to control the mess created by the security agencies themselves. The solution was to bring the Tribal Areas to the countrys mainstream by improving the infrastructure and providing education to the deprived people there, he added.
This article starring:
Javed Ahmed Ghamidi
MAULANA FAZLULLAH
TNSM
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
Former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told the New York Times in an interview published on Sunday that the rapid rise of the Taliban is to be attributed to the failure to take swift and decisive action against them.
Quod.
Sherpao said, The police are scared. They dont want to get involved.
Erat.
The Frontier Corps was too stressed, he added, and while the Pakistan Army has forces in the Tribal Areas where the militants have built their sanctuaries, the soldiers have remained in their headquarters.
Demonstrandum.
Total Talibanisation: He warned that there is a risk of total Talibanisation of the NWFP. He said the Taliban were well-financed, skilled at propaganda and paying political opponents to stay away from elections. Unless you involve the political parties, civil society, [and] religious leaders, this is not going to make any headway.
This article starring:
Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
Do you get the feeling Perv & Co crave Talibanisation so they can stay in power and the West keeps funding them!!!!
Posted by: Paul ||
01/28/2008 5:12 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Do you get the feeling Perv & Co crave Talibanisation so they can stay in power and the West keeps funding them!!!!
weren't Perv and Gomez the Taliban's founding sugar daddies?
#3
Former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told the New York Times in an interview published on Sunday that the rapid rise of the Taliban is to be attributed to the failure to take swift and decisive action against them.
The US government has issued a fresh travel advisory to citizens visiting Pakistan, asking them to avoid mass gatherings and public transport.
... and stay away from small gatherings. And don't use taxis. Or rickshaws. And don't walk anywhere. And avoid one-on-one meetings.
American citizens [should] avoid all demonstrations, protests and large gatherings. It is best to avoid public transport. The US Mission personnel are prohibited from using taxis or buses, read the advisory issued to US citizens travelling to Islamabad.
"And never, under any circumstances, start your own car!"
In the advisory, obtained from the US State Departments official website, the US government said that several extremist groups in Pakistan were targeting American and Western interests, high-ranking Pakistani government officials and members of minority and religious groups. The advisory asks female Americans to dress conservatively, with arms and legs covered, and avoid walking alone in public.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
I doubt Tourism is popular in Pakistan any time of the year!!!!
Posted by: Paul ||
01/28/2008 6:49 Comments ||
Top||
Sometime in mid-December, as winter winds howled across the snow-dusted hills of the countrys inhospitable border regions, 40 men representing Taliban groups all across the countrys northwest frontier came together to unify under a single banner and to choose a leader. The banner was Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or the Taliban Movement of Pakistan, with a fighting force estimated at around 40,000. The leader was Baitullah Mehsud, the man the government accuses of murdering former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
The move is an attempt to present a united front against the army, which has been fighting insurgents along the border with Afghanistan. It is also the latest sign of the rise of Mehsud, considered the deadliest of the Taliban mullahs in the countrys northwest. Mehsud is based South Waziristan, where Western intelligence says Al Qaeda is regrouping.
Building a base: Al Qaeda has succeeded in building a base in the last two or three years mostly with help from Mehsud, said Ahmed Zaidan, a reporter for Al-Jazeera Television in Qatar who interviewed Mehsud three weeks ago. They are moving freely in the Tribal Areas where it is difficult for the Pakistan Army to move. During the interview, Mehsud said in halting Arabic that he had never met Osama Bin Laden but knew Abu Musab Al Zarqawi well. Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born head of Al Qaeda in Iraq, was killed in a US air raid two years ago.
Logistical advice: Al Qaeda gives Mehsud money and logistical advice, according to one of his Taliban allies, Maulvi Muslim, who spoke to AP. The Al Qaeda funds dont always come in cash. Rather, Afghan and Pakistani businessmen - usually in the UAE are given money to buy high-priced goods like cars. The goods are shipped to Pakistan and sold, often tripling Al Qaedas investment. The businessmen, with sympathies to Al Qaeda, take a small cut while Al Qaeda spreads the wealth among its allies.
The Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan share ideological goals but have separate structures, Muslim said. The spiritual head of both is Mullah Muhammed Omar, the leader of Afghanistans Taliban before being ousted by the US-led coalition in November 2001 and to whom Mehsud swore allegiance in 2001, according to Muslim.
Free of all vices: Mehsud, thought to be in his 40s, is secretive and, like Mullah Omar, hates to be photographed. He is described as devoted to the Taliban and not well educated. They say he is free from all vices, walks around covering almost half his face all the time, said Brigadier (r) Mehmood Shah, who was the governments former point man for the Tribal Regions. He is very modest in his manners and polite.
President Pervez Musharraf has also accused Mehsuds men of carrying out most of 19 suicide bombings in Pakistan over just three months. Newspapers quoted him as threatening Benazirs life, but he denied it, and also denied accusations that he was behind her assassination. Mehsud is also quoted as saying jihad is the only way to peace, a belief reflected in his history.
Muslim says Mehsuds first battlefield experience was in Afghanistan in the late 1980s against Soviet invaders. His mentor at the time was Jalaluddin Haqqani, a powerful commander in eastern Afghanistan backed by the United States against the Soviets. Now Haqqani is wanted as a terrorist by the US and NATO.
According to both Muslim and another Taliban source, when the US invaded in 2001, Mehsud fought with the Taliban in Shah-e-Kot in eastern Afghanistan. Mehsuds ascent reflects the failure of Pakistans army with its US funding to win control of its tribal areas. When the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001, Mehsud was not prominent among the Pakistani militants who supported Afghanistans Taliban, according to Shah, the former army officer. Mehsud was a small fry, but I could see in time he could be of some problem, Shah said. I was trying to get big tribal people onto the government side and religious people onto the government side to isolate these hardcore types like him. But by the end of 2004, the army had started negotiations with the militants, Shah said. The pressure to negotiate came from the provincial government of the frontier, a coalition of right-wing religious parties sympathetic to the Taliban and opposed to the Western troop presence in Afghanistan.
100 to 20,000: Musharraf, whose rule as both president and army chief was being challenged in 2004, agreed to talks in exchange for the support of the provincial government. As a result, the government on February 7, 2005 signed a peace agreement with Mehsud.
According to Shah, Mehsuds troop strength then went from less than 100 to about 20,000, or roughly half the total thought to be under Taliban command in the northwest region that straddles the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The agreement gave Mehsud the time to consolidate his forces and kill pro-government tribal leaders. The government policy of appeasement gave Mehsud a free hand to recruit and motivate, said Shah, who described Mehsud as very cool and calculating. Within a year of the agreement, Shah said, around 123 pro-government tribal leaders were gunned down on Mehsuds orders, accused of spying. Other suspected spies were publicly hanged or beheaded. In the Bajaur region of the tribal belt, many residents say they buy Taliban protection by letting one son join its ranks. Mehsud also negotiated a prisoner exchange with Musharraf in November. Mehsud handed over a couple of hundred soldiers who had surrendered to the Taliban without firing a shot. In exchange, Musharraf gave up 19 men who were in custody on terrorism charges, including a son of Mehsuds mentor, Jalaluddin Haqqani.
This article starring:
Abu Musab Al Zarqawi
Ahmed Zaidan
BAITULLAH MEHSUD
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
JALALUDIN HAQQANI
Taliban
MAULVI MUSLIM
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
Mehmood Shah
MULLAH MUHAMED OMAR
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
maybe we shoul;d somehow infitrate al jazeera and plant some kind of GPS chip on their reporters going too that region of the world. They seem to have ready access too all the top taliban and al queda
#3
maybe we shoul;d somehow infitrate al jazeera and plant some kind of GPS chip on their reporters going too that region of the world. They seem to have ready access too all the top taliban and al queda
How about giving them a highly infectious, invariably fatal, disease with a very long asymptomatic incubation period?
Former chief of army staff Gen (r) Mirza Aslam Beg said former prime minister Benazir Bhutto became a victim of US agenda after she refused to cut a power-sharing deal with President Pervez Musharraf, Dawn News reported on Sunday. Having realised the ground realities after her arrival in Pakistan, she retreated from commitments she had made with the US on Pakistans nuclear assets, Dr AQ Khan and Taliban, he told the TV channel, and became a victim of the agenda of the US.
He said former NWFP governor Ali Muhammad Jan Orakzai had been removed because he did not agree with the policy of use of force against extremists and wanted a political solution to the problem. Militant resistance in Afghanistan and Iraq was not terrorism, he said, but a struggle for freedom.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[12 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Benazir victim of US agenda
I've been stuck in meetings like that. Bored near to death ....
Pakistan's president held a rare and secret meeting with Israel's defense minister in a Paris hotel last week, and the Iranian nuclear program figured high on the agenda, Israeli defense officials said Monday.
The two states have no diplomatic ties, and their officials rarely meet. But Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak saw each other by chance at the Hotel Raphael in Paris on Jan. 22, where they both were staying, the officials said. They then held a scheduled 20-minute meeting the following day, the officials said. The defense officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Israel's Defense Ministry has not officially confirmed the meeting took place.
Barak and Musharraf discussed the possibility that Iran would develop nuclear weapons, the Israeli officials said. Nuclear-armed Pakistan, which has close political and economic ties with Iran, has repeatedly said Iran has a right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and that the issue of Iran's nuclear plans must be resolved by diplomatic means.
At the meeting, Barak also expressed concern that instability in Pakistan could put the country's nuclear arsenal in the hands of Muslim extremists, but Musharraf assured Barak that Pakistan's nuclear weapons were safe, the officials said.
In Islamabad, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq said Musharraf had a "chance" meeting with Barak in Paris. "The president was leaving and the defense minister of Israel entered the hotel lobby and it was a chance meeting," Sadiq told The Associated Press. "I am not aware of any second meeting."
In September 2006, Musharraf said Pakistan's government would have to recognize Israel after an independent Palestinian state was established but not before. "We cannot do something that sidelines us from the Muslim world," Musharraf said at the time.
Posted by: ryuge ||
01/28/2008 07:10 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
I'm sure both would've preferred to meet Sarcozy's significant other.
FALLUJAH, Iraq At the end of 2006 there were 3,000 Marines in Fallujah. Despite what you might expect during a surge of troops to Iraq, that number has been reduced by 90 percent. All Iraqi Army soldiers have likewise redeployed from the city. A skeleton crew of a mere 250 Marines is all that remains as the United States wraps up its final mission in what was once Iraq's most violent city.
The Iraqi Police could almost take over now, Second Lieutenant Gary Laughlin told me. Most logistics problems are slowly being resolved. My platoon will probably be the last one out here in the Jolan neighborhood.
The Iraqi Police in Jolan are very good, Second Lieutenant Mike Barefoot added. Elsewhere in Fallujah they're not as far along yet. Theoretically we could leave the area now and they would be okay, except they would run out of money.
There's more to the final mission than keeping the Iraqi Police solvent, however. The effort is focused on the Police Transition Teams. Their job is to train the Iraqi Police and bring them up to international standards so the locals can hold the city together after the last Americans leave.
A senior Marine officer whose name I didn't catch grilled some of his men during a talk in the Camp Fallujah chow hall after dinner.
Do you trust the Iraqi Police? he said to a Marine who works on one of the teams.
No, sir, the Marine said without hesitation. That was the only acceptable answer. This was a test, not an inquiry.
Why not? the officer said.
Because they're not honest, the Marine said.
What do the Iraqi Police watch? the officer said. What are they looking at on a daily basis?
Us, said several Marines in unison.
They will emulate you, gents, the officer said. They. Will. Emulate you. Why? Because we came over here twice and kicked their ass. I do not trust the Iraqi Police today. Our job is to get them up to speed. They don't need to be up to the standard of Americans. But they do need to be better than they are right now. They were all Turban and no Camels.
The Marine Corps runs the American mission in Fallujah, but some of the Police Transition Team members are Military Police officers culled from the Texas National Guard. We're like the red-headed stepchild of units, one MP told me. We're from different units from all over Texas, as well as from the Marine Corps.
One Texas MP used to be a Marine. I decided I would rather defend my state than my country, he said jokingly. But here I am, back in Iraq.
After I adjusted my embed to focus specifically on Police Transition Teams, I was nearly surrounded by young men from Texas. Many seemed to instinctively understand Fallujah's infamous provincial nationalism.
Fallujah pride is like Texas pride, I heard from several MPs who, unlike Iraqis from Baghdad, didn't think that was a bad thing.
Al Qaeda is using children as suicide bombers in Iraq, with at least two attacks in the past week committed by 15-year-olds, a US military commander claimed.
Picked right up on that, didn't they? Once the military pointed it out to them...
"We are not sure whether one of these children even knew he was being used to deliver a bomb," Rear Admiral Gregory Smith said.
[KABOOM!]
"Surprise!"
One attack was carried out at a funeral ceremony near Tikrit, executed dictator Saddam Hussein's home town 180 kilometres north of Baghdad and the other was at a school in the northern city of Mosul, Rear Admiral Smith said. He gave no details of the two bombings.
Necessary details: Krowd. Kid. Kaboom. What else do you kneed?
Iraqi police said 17 people died in a January 21 suicide blast at the funeral ceremony near Tikrit for relatives of an Iraqi police colonel.
"Al Qaeda in Iraq is trying to brainwash children with hate and death... they seek to create a culture of violence, hate and despair," he said. "[They] are sending 15-year-old boys on suicide missions to spread death and helplessness." Rear Admiral Smith quoted Sheikh Ahmed Abu Reesha, leader of the "Anbar Awakening" that has ended much of Al Qaeda's hold over western Iraq, as saying that the jihadists were using suicide bombers as a last resort. "When we attack Al Qaeda they flee, hide and come back with new tactics. The only tactic that is left for them now is to commit suicide," he quoted the sheikh as saying.
Ninety per cent of "suicide murders inflicted on Iraqi people are committed by foreign fighters brought in by Al Qaeda in Iraq to spread destruction," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
#1
i know 15 year olds, in most cases, are dumbases. But damn you hand any of them i know a bomb and they pretty much know it might go off
The Council of Torah Sages of the Shas party, headed by former Chief Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, has decided: Once government representatives start talking with the PA about splitting Jerusalem, Shas leaves the government coalition.
...At present, the government coalition headed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert numbers 66 Knesset Members - a majority of the Israeli Parliament's 120 members. If and when Shas and its 11 MKs quit, Olmert will head a minority government vulnerable to a simple no-confidence motion in the Knesset.
Olmert is also facing another political crisis this week: Wednesday's release of the Winograd Report on the government's handling of the Second Lebanon War. The report is expected to criticize Olmert personally; it will not call for him to step down, but it is likely to lead to a wave of public pressure for him to do so.
If Olmert resigns, new elections need not necessarily follow; he could simply be replaced by a fellow Kadima Party member. If he brings the government down with him, however, or if the Knesset votes to disperse itself or votes no-confidence in the government, new elections must be held in 90 days. Not likely, most Kadima MK know they've zip chance of reelection
In such a case, the government becomes a transitional government, and ministers and parties cannot resign or join. Alternatively, the leading parties can decide on an agreed-upon date for new elections.
Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas did not comment following their meeting, but the situation in Gaza dominated their talks Sunday at Mr. Olmert's residence in Jerusalem.
Mr. Abbas has called on Israel and the international community to allow Palestinian Authority security forces to take control of the border crossing points in the Gaza Strip. He says that will ease the current crisis at the Rafah crossing point between Egypt and Gaza - and the crossing points between Gaza and Israel that have been closed by Israel because of Palestinian rocket attacks.
David Baker a spokesman for Mr. Olmert says, for now, Israel will not comment on Mr. Abbas' proposal, preferring to wait until Mr. Abbas holds talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday. Baker does say, in their talks on Sunday, both men agreed to work together to try and avoid a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. "They discussed the need to prevent a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and both leaders committed themselves toward enabling the providing of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip," said Baker.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
HAMAS > threatens to break barrier bwtn Israel and Gaza-PA at Efrez, and have 000's of Paleo Gazans flood in ala INTIFADA III.
In a January 26 op-ed in the Iranian daily Kayhan, the paper's editor, Hossein Shariatmadari, who is close to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, called on Muslims to unite in a retaliatory attack on American, European, and Israeli "sensitive centers" because of "the war crimes that these countries are committing in the Gaza Strip" and because of their support for Israel.
In his op-ed, Shar'iatmadari stressed that American and European civilians must be harmed in these attacks, so as to make the U.S. and the European countries change their policy towards Israel. He further called for harming Israelis worldwide, and explained that Islamic regimes that prevent an Islamic attack on Israel must be toppled, because they are defending the enemy.
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
01/28/2008 08:21 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Any bets on how big a play this gets in the MSM or Congress?
#3
This sort of crap should be treated as a declaration of war and dealt with accordingly. These savages should be afraid of us. But we will do nothing.
#8
A few hundred thousand carefully conceived kills would renew the gasping fear a superpower should command, but for some reason doesn't have the will to. The British empire existed quite happily for a couple hundred years using that, and other, simple techniques.
#9
A few hundred thousand carefully conceived kills would renew the gasping fear a superpower should command...
Yeah, and about 10,000 to 15,000 kills here would go a long way to shutting up the damn commies in our midst!
First the traitors, then the enemy!
Posted by: Big Phomotch6468 ||
01/28/2008 12:40 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Shar'iatmadari stressed that American and European civilians must be harmed in these attacks, so as to make the U.S. and the European countries change their policy towards Israel
and they should know that we'd threaten to blow up Mecca if they do.
Fight fire with fire
what's sad is they would be more upset with our blowing up Mecca than killing people, sad how they don't value life.
Posted by: Jan from work ||
01/28/2008 13:51 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Just more evidencias/indicias that OSAMA > NO US
-WEST VERSUS ISLAM-ISLAMISM, ALL-OUT, "VICTORY OR DEATH/RULE OR DIE" END-TIMES APOCALYPTIC WAR IN IRAN = WAR AGZ US-WEST WILL GO ON INDEFINITELY, at least fir the duration of OSAMA's [+ prob ZAWI's, OMAR's, etc.] aligned, lifetime(s).
The official Iran websites are full of news and views denoting that DUBYA = USA can't or won't do anythiong anymore agz Iran = Iran's nuke ambitions. Many anticipate that a US DEMOCRAT will win the 2008 POTUS elex, and either make peace or unilater withdraw from the ME. IONW, ISLAM = RADICAL ISLAMISM WINS.
#12
RIAN/TOPIX > THE US WILL NOT ATTACK IRAN, but will try to prevent5 Iran from dev nuclear weapons ala MICHAEL CHERTOFF.
WORLD is once again reminded, by this artiiikle and many preceding, that IRAN DESIRES = HOLDS TENDER FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF UP TO 19 MORE NUC REACTORS.
#13
LUCIANNE/TOPIX > BUSH: WE WILL CONFRONT IRAN IFF NECESSARY. USA will defend its troops, defend its Allies, and defend its interests in the Gulf or anywhere, TO INCLUDE PROTECTING/DEFENDING ITS TROOPS IN IRAQ.
IOW, IMO/IIRAC DUBYA is engaging in his version of [Reagan-era]FLEXIBLE RESPONSE vv CONVENTIONAL WAR AGZ IRAN. "Justification" for a unilateral US mil response may stem from any incident, from HORMUZ-style NAVAL CLASHES AGZ IRGC GUERILLA NAVY, to IRAN-ORDERED/SUPPOR CONTINUING ATTACKS AGZ US-ALLIED MILFORS INSIDE IRAQ, .........@etc.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, urged his Latin American allies to begin withdrawing billions of dollars in international reserves from U.S. banks, warning of a looming U.S. economic crisis.
A group of extremists in Frankfurt was planning an attack in Germany, according to a would-be suicide bomber captured by police in Spain, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Sunday.
Former interior minister 
The US government has issued a fresh travel advisory to citizens visiting Pakistan, asking them to avoid mass gatherings and public transport.
Sometime in mid-December, as winter winds howled across the snow-dusted hills of the countrys inhospitable border regions, 40 men representing Taliban groups all across the countrys northwest frontier came together to unify under a single banner and to choose a leader. The banner was 
Former chief of army staff Gen (r) Mirza Aslam Beg said former prime minister Benazir Bhutto became a victim of US agenda after she refused to cut a power-sharing deal with President Pervez Musharraf, Dawn News reported on Sunday. Having realised the ground realities after her arrival in Pakistan, she retreated from commitments she had made with the US on Pakistans nuclear assets, Dr AQ Khan and Taliban, he told the TV channel, and became a victim of the agenda of the US.
FALLUJAH, Iraq At the end of 2006 there were 3,000 Marines in Fallujah. Despite what you might expect during a surge of troops to Iraq, that number has been reduced by 90 percent. All Iraqi Army soldiers have likewise redeployed from the city. A skeleton crew of a mere 250 Marines is all that remains as the United States wraps up its final mission in what was once Iraq's most violent city.
Al Qaeda is using children as suicide bombers in Iraq, with at least two attacks in the past week committed by 15-year-olds, a US military commander claimed. 
