Posted by: ed ||
02/04/2009 14:43 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
If these are paid militias like the Sons of Iraq ($200 a month), I think we'll be fine. Their incentive to help us will be the SOI's incentive to help us - a regular paycheck. Ultimately, the unemployment problem is such that simply paying people not to fight us will work. In Iraq, it even led to the dismantlement of al Qaeda in Iraq.
#2
I trust Petraeus. But these are different situations that will need different solutions. I suspect he knows that and is developing a different strategy this story notwithstanding.
But the big foot print and the logistical support required subjects us to blackmail with a landlocked country. The sooner the foot print gets small the happier I'll be. Frankly, I don't think the place is worth the amount of nation building it will take to make it a full fledged their world country. Aside from denying it to al-Q I can't figure out what national interest we have involved. But Petraeus gets the benefit of the doubt.
#3
Russia Offers Obama Help on Afghanistan
By Peter Fedynsky
Moscow
23 January 2009
President Dmitri Medvedev is seeking to reassert Russian influence in Central Asia, offering to help the United States in Afghanistan and striking an energy deal with Uzbekistan. He announced these moves during a meeting with his Uzbek counterpart, Islam Karimov, in Tashkent.
With the reduction of violence in Iraq, foreign militants were now flooding into Afghanistan to join Taliban insurgents battling Afghan and international troops, the Afghan defence minister said on Wednesday.
There was a 33 percent rise in insurgent attacks in Afghanistan in 2008, according to NATO-led forces.
Violence is expected to rise further in 2009 as Washington prepares to send up to 25,000 more troops into new areas of the southern Pashtun heartlands.
Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said there were about 15,000 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan but their numbers were being swelled by foreign insurgents moving in from Iraq, where violence has fallen after a U.S. troop "surge" and other measures.
"Since last year, as the result of the success of the surge in Iraq, there has been a flow of foreign terrorists into Afghanistan," Wardak told a news conference.
"There have been engagements ... in 2008, and in some of these engagements, actually 60 percent of the total force which we have encountered were foreign fighters," he said. Wardak was speaking after he and Afghan President Hamid Karzai held talks with NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe, U.S. General John Craddock.
The talks focussed on training and equipping the Afghan army, which the U.S. military aims to increase from some 80,000 troops now to 134,000 in 2012, the planned deployment of the extra U.S. soldiers and ways to reduce civilians casualties, Wardak said.
U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to approve as early as this week plans to send up to 17,000 more combat troops to Afghanistan to add to the 36,000 American soldiers already battling Taliban insurgents in the country.
The additional U.S. forces will focus on hitting militant communication lines and their cross-border infiltration into Afghanistan from Pakistan. The extra troops will reduce reliance on air strikes, cutting civilian deaths, Wardak said.
Civilian casualties caused by international forces have eroded support for Karzai and the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan more than seven years since the Taliban's removal.
More than 2,100 civilians were killed in Afghanistan in 2008, the United Nations said on Tuesday, more than a third of them by Afghan and international troops.
Wardak said the issue had been a source of tension with the foreign troops.
Just days after announcing the postponement of Afghanistan's presidential poll, the Independent Election Commission finds itself amidst a storm of controversy. Parliament accuses it of overstepping its legal authority, while politicians are warning of a crisis that could harm the country's fragile democracy.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said the United States is "gravely concerned by reports of intense aerial bombardment"--at least 28 bombing raids Tuesday morning alone--by Sudanese forces on the outskirts of the town in southern Darfur.
Sudan's government on Sunday asked the U.N.-African Union peacekeepers, on a mission known as UNAMID, to leave the town before bombing began, but U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said they won't go.
While Sudan has regularly challenged the U.N.'s fragile presence in the country, the request was the first of its kind from Sudan, U.N. officials said. U.N. and Sudanese officials meet in Khartoum to discuss the request, a spokeswoman for the U.N. mission has said.
Akuei Bona Malwal, Sudan's ambassador to the African Union, said the Sudanese government was requesting--not demanding--that peacekeepers leave.
Thousands of civilians sought refuge with the peacekeeping mission after the aerial bombing raids began Monday.
Ban has urged "maximum restraint" on Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and asked the Justice and Equality Movement rebels to withdraw from the town to protect civilians displaced by the six-year civil war in Sudan's arid western region.
But Rice said Sudanese forces were bombing the town of Muhajeria, despite the withdrawal of rebel forces to more than 30 miles away. The rebels seized the town in mid-January.
"The bombardment continues and the government of Sudan has prevented UNAMID personnel from moving into the area to investigate, impeding the freedom of movement of these personnel which is a violation of the status of forces agreement between UNAMID and the government," Rice said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Grassroots level leaders of BNP yesterday proposed to party high-ups that it should not continue ties with Jamaat-e-Islami considering the new generation's sentiment, and drop all controversial leaders from party committees at all levels.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami
BRITAIN scolded its NATO allies today for not stepping forward to share combat duties in Afghanistan, warning that there could be no freeloaders in the fight against Taliban-led insurgents.
"An alliance worth its name must be one that shares the burden of membership equally amongst its members, because there can be no freeloading when it comes to collective security," British Defence Secretary John Hutton said.
"Volunteering, not waiting to be asked, must be the hallmark of a proper relationship between the transatlantic members of this alliance," he told ambassadors at North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) headquarters in Brussels.
NATO is embarked on its biggest and most-ambitious operation ever trying to spread the influence of the weak Afghan government across the strife-torn country and help foster reconstruction.
But the Taliban and its cohorts, including al-Qaeda, drug lords and criminal gangs, have been waging an increasingly tenacious insurgency and seriously undermining NATO's goals.
Britain, Canada, the United States and the Netherlands - supported by Australia - have troops on the frontline of that fight in southern Afghanistan, but other allies have proved reluctant to put their forces more in harm's way.
"Afghanistan underlines the need for NATO's institutions today to develop and sustain a wartime culture - urgency, ambition, a can-do attitude - rather than a peacetime mentality of bureaucracy, process, minimalism," Mr Hutton said.
"Failure in Afghanistan is unthinkable. The consequences would be far reaching," he warned the ambassadors, according to an extract of his speech.
"Failure would be an open invitation to any would-be aggressor - state or non-state - to test our resolve and try their luck. It simply cannot be allowed to happen," he said.
He also urged the Afghan government to do more to fight corruption.
"Military gains cannot be consolidated nor political progress advanced without effective governance at every level: district, local, regional and national," he said.
#2
MOSCOW-BASED ANALYST PAVEL FELGEHAUE > As per Kyrgyzstan's just-announced closure of the MANAS US Air Base, RUSSIA DESIRES FOR THE US TO RECOGNIZE ITS AUTHORITY IN CENTRAL ASIA [aka NO US MILBASES OR MILFORS WITHIN RUSSIA'S SPHERE OF INFLUENCE IN ASIA].
Artic > The MANAS US Base in Kyrgyzstan was more SYMBOLIC, NOT PRACTICAL ala US-NATO Afghan re-supply like AMER's ALSO-CLOSED UZBEKISTAN BASE.
Two senior British judges have expressed their anger and surprise that President Barack Obama's Government has put pressure on Britain to suppress evidence of torture in US custody.
Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones said they had been told that America had threatened to stop co-operating with Britain on intelligence matters if evidence were published suggesting that Binyam Mohammed, a British resident held at the US prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, had been tortured into confessing crimes.
The judges said that lawyers for the Foreign Office & Commonwealth Office had assured them that the threat still held good, even since Mr Obama had come to power and reversed many of his predecessor's policies on the torture and detention of terror suspects.
In a withering ruling that condemned America for a lack of principles, the judges said: "We did not consider that a democracy governed by the rule of law would expect a court in another democracy to suppress a summary of the evidence contained in reports by its own officials . . . relevant to allegations of torture and cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment, politically embarrassing though it might be.
We had no reason . . . to anticipate there would be made a threat of the gravity of the kind made by the United States Government that it would reconsider its intelligence-sharing relationship, when all the considerations in relation to open justice pointed to us providing a limited but important summary of the reports.
The ruling concerns the case of Mr Mohammed an Ethiopian national who came to Britain as a teenage refugee who was arrested and taken into US custody in Pakistan in 2002 and who has been held at Guantánamo Bay since September 2004 on suspicion of terrorism.
Mr Mohammed, 31, claims that he was tortured and mistreated into falsely confessing to being involved in an alleged dirty bomb plot claims that the US denies. However, the charges against him have been withdrawn and no new charges brought gainst him before Mr Obama's order on January 22 freezing all proceedings against Guantánamo detainees, pending a review.
Mr Mohammed wants reports written by US intelligence officials, which it is understood may back his claims of torture, to be published.
In an initial ruling on his claims in August, the two judges tantalisingly revealed that MI5 had taken part in unlawfully interrogating Mr Mohammed. They ruled that the British Government was under a duty to disclose evidence that it held about Mr Mohammed's treatment after his detention in Pakistan.
The US Government objected, and they edited out of their ruling any details from reports written by American intelligence officials and supplied to the British courts.
Various media organisations then mounted their own legal challenge to have the US reports made public. Today the judges issued their verdict, declining to publish the US reports, but lashing America for bullying Britain to conceal information that posed no threat to America's national security.
Japan on Tuesday warned North Korea against any moves to use missiles, with the Foreign Ministry spokesman describing the missile issue as a ''serious problem'' for world peace but declining to confirm or deny reports of Pyongyang's preparations for a missile launch. The North Korean missile issue ''is a serious problem not only for Japan's national security but also world peace and stability, as well as from the viewpoint of nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction,'' Press Secretary Kazuo Kodama said while withholding all comment on intelligence and other details.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
North Korea on Monday repeated its position that the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, currently being pursued under the six-party talks, covers weapons programs in both North and South Korea. The official Korean Central News Agency also quoted an unnamed spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army as saying that steps to verify nuclear information should be applied to both Koreas.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I understand starvation (Or just plain insufficient food) addles the brain, causes an IQ drop of around 15,20%, and later plenty does NOT cure the problems. you're dull for life
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
02/04/2009 14:29 Comments ||
Top||
US officials are concerned about the possibility of a North Korean ballistic missile launch, saying that any testing of its longest-range missile is provocative.
"North Korea's missile activities and, you know, missile programs are a concern to the region," said State Department spokesman Robert Wood. "And a ballistic missile launch by North Korea would be unhelpful and, frankly, provocative," Wood said on Tuesday.
There were signs that "the North Koreans are preparing for a Taepodong-2 launch," according to a US counter-proliferation official. "Whether it will carry out the launch or not is entirely unclear, as is the timing for a possible launch," the official told AFP.
A source quoted by Seoul's Yonhap news agency said US and South Korean intelligence agencies had recently spotted a train carrying a long cylindrical object believed to be a Taepodong-2 missile, which is theoretically capable of hitting the United States.
Launch preparations were likely to be completed in a month or two at a new west coast site, the source said. The missile has a maximum range of 6,700 km (4,150 miles), meaning it could theoretically target Alaska.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders said Tuesday he would challenge a court order that he be put on trial for inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims.
Wilders said he had appointed an advocate and intended to submit an application to the Supreme Court to overturn last month's judgment by the Amsterdam appeals court. "I have appointed the best advocate in the Netherlands to fight against this charge hanging over my head," he said in a statement on the website of his PVV party.
Wilders, 45, is the leader of the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV), which has nine seats in parliament. He is also the maker of a 17-minute film, "Fitna", which has been called "offensively anti-Islamic" by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Precisely because it shows Muslims quoting the Koran ...
The appeals court had found that Wilders should be prosecuted for a series of public anti-Muslim statements, particularly for comparing Islam to Nazism. The judgment had followed numerous complaints from citizens over the prosecution service's refusal to press charges against Wilders.
The screening of the "Fitna" in the Netherlands prompted protests in much of the Muslim world including Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iran and Pakistan.
Wilders has called for the banning of the Quran in the Netherlands, calling it "fascist".
In June, the prosecutor's office said "Fitna", though offensive to Muslims, did not give rise to a punishable offence. But the appeals court ruled that politicians, given their special responsibility, ought not to be permitted to make "statements which create hate and grief", and ordered the prosecution to put Wilders on trial.
In April 2008 a son of the Netherlands' military chief was killed by a bomb in southern Afghanistan, in what Taliban militants said was direct retaliation to "Fitna."
While in July, a Jordanian prosecutor charged Wilders with blasphemy and violation of publishing laws over his film judged anti-Islamic.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
killed by a bomb in southern Afghanistan, in direct retaliation to "Fitna."
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that criticism of Israel's offensive in Gaza should not be regarded as anti-Semitism, even as his country's small Jewish community looked to police and lawmakers for protection.
Last week, Erdogan publicly scolded President Shimon Peres over casualties among Palestinian civilians and walked off a stage during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Many Turks hailed him as a hero. But the Turkish government, which has been an important Israeli ally in the Muslim world, is campaigning hard to reassure its Jewish citizens that they are safe.
"There has been no anti-Semitism in the history of this country," Erdogan told ruling party lawmakers. "As a minority, they're our citizens. Both their security and the right to observe their faith are under our guarantee."
There are 23,000 Jews in the predominantly Muslim country of more than 70 million. Most live in Istanbul, and many have prominent roles in banking and education. Their ancestors arrived five centuries ago, and a recent comment by the prime minister that the Ottoman Empire welcomed Jews bothers some today who feel they are viewed as guests, not citizens.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The gentleman clearly has a problem with dictionary definitions... were he not due honour and respect as president of his country, one might even say he is a liar.
#2
Well, LBJ was a profane individual who in private company could cop the 'n' word not only as a pronoun but also as an adjectival descriptive concerning some noted and famous Americans. However, LBJ was also one of the last presidents who could not only bend an arm or two, but could politically break them as well and was critical in getting the both the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts passed in the mid-60s. So, as they say - watch what the man does, not what he says.
#4
Everett Dirkson was critical in getting the Civil Rights legislation passed, not LBJ. The donk Klansmen were far from supporting it.
But Barry Goldwater was right in his reservations and the overly coercive aspects of the legislation have now redounded to the detriment of minorities achieving actual equality and assimilation because they broke the bonds of civil society.
#5
You are wrong on this one NS. LBJ broke arms in the Southern Senate Leadership while Majority Leader.... leading the way towards 1965. He neutered the good ole bulls from the south. Spessard Holland had more to do with passing the Act that Everrett Dirkson ever did.
#6
I'm not sure who deserves the most credit for the Civil Rights Act but LBJ needed support for his Vietnam War effort and the only way he could get it from the Republicans and Liberals was to support and push passage of the Civil Rights Act. Just my $0.02.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/04/2009 18:55 Comments ||
Top||
#7
See also STRATFOR > THE LONG-TERM GROWTH OF TURKISH POWER IS INEVITABLE.
Amnesty planned to release a letter to Harper in Ottawa on Wednesday in which it notes the pending visit of U.S. President Barack Obama on Feb. 19 affords an ideal opportunity for Harper to press the Khadr case.
"We'll be addressing the prime minister with a request that he raise the issue of the repatriation with President Obama," Gloria Nafziger, refugee co-ordinator with Amnesty, said Tuesday. "It seems like an opportune moment for Canada once again to show some leadership and repatriate its citizen."
The Amnesty push comes after 185 Canadian organizations and public figures signed a letter to Harper calling on him to repatriate Khadr, one of the largest such efforts.
The letter, released Tuesday by the Council on American-Islamic Relations Canada, said many Muslims have interpreted Harper's inaction on the Khadr file as a sign his government considers Canadian Muslims to be "second-class citizens."
It was signed by Muslim and civil-liberties groups as well as by documentary filmmaker Alexandre Trudeau, son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, former UN special envoy Stephen Lewis, author Naomi Klein and Maher Arar, a Canadian victim of U.S. rendition.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
Wow. Sounds worse then the Blue Angels practicing for Fleet Week. I can imagine the whining...
The U.S. Coast Guard is deploying armed helicopters to head off a possible terrorist raid on Bay Area waters. No quotes on "terrorists". Now that Barry's president, I guess they don't have to use them any more.
In what looked like one of those action movies on late-night television, the Coast Guard showed off its new weapon Monday in a simulated air-and-sea, small-boat gunbattle in the choppy and windy San Pablo Bay in a training exercise.
Two small black boats, manned by crews dressed all in black and carrying simulated rocket-propelled grenades, were intercepted by an orange-colored Coast Guard H-65C Dolphin helicopter. The sinister-looking black boats were "playing the role of the adversary," a Coast Guard officer said - pretending to be terrorists on a raid against a cruise ship, a tanker or one of the bay bridges.
The Coast Guard helicopter was out to stop them. The black boats twisted and dodged, throwing up clouds of spray, and the helicopter swooped down on them like a bird of prey. A marksman aboard the copter fired blank rounds, the sound echoing across the water: rata-tat-tat. It looked like great fun, but the exercise was deadly serious.
"The terrorist raiders in Mumbai in November came by sea," said Cmdr. Sam Creech, the officer in charge of the Coast Guard's Air Station San Francisco. "An attack by a small boat on a cruise ship, or a tanker, or one of the bridges here could be devastating."
The Coast Guard's biggest fear is terrorists on a small boat coming out of a marina and firing a missile at a cruise ship carrying thousands of passengers, or a loaded tanker, causing a huge oil spill. Or an attack on one of the famous bridges - "hitting an icon like the Golden Gate Bridge, for example," he said - "could cause a lot of damage to the American psyche." Like, we don't want your war machine here, man. U.S. HANDS OFF OF SAN FRANCISCO!!!
The trick, of course, is to have advance intelligence of a possible attack and then intercept it. "America expects we should be able to do more than shake our fists at them," Creech said. Wait a second, buddy. You're in San Francisco, right?
"If we could prevent an attack, we could save lives." But what about the lives of the "freedom fighters"? What will Code Pink say?
One of the anti-terrorist weapons is the Coast Guard's Dolphin helicopters. There are four stationed at the San Francisco International Airport, and more at other Coast Guard locations at major ports. The helicopters have been equipped with 7.62mm machine guns and what Creech called "a precision firing rifle." The machine guns, said Creech, "would kill everybody " on the boat being attacked from the air. The rifle is for "selective" targets.
He said the Coast Guard training exercises include "judgmental training." This is the key question that has haunted military personnel for centuries: when to open fire. "Judgemental"? That sounds judgemental. And who are we to judge?
The helicopters have also been given some protective armor, but Creech would not describe how much armor or other defensive equipment the copters carry.
Within months of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 1991, the Coast Guard deployed a fleet of 25-foot patrol boats armed with machine guns. It has taken longer to deploy the armed helicopters. San Diego and Port Angeles, Wash., were the first cities to have them. San Francisco's helicopters were armed in January.
The 87-foot Coast Guard cutter Tern acted as a floating headquarters for Monday's exercise. San Pablo Bay, which is wide, fairly shallow and relatively free of ship traffic, is usually used for blank ammunition training. The Coast Guard also trains in the Pacific Ocean using live ammunition, and Creech said the service conducts surveys in advance to ensure that no marine animals are harmed. Yeah, it's San Francisco all right...
#1
The Coast Guard also trains in the Pacific Ocean using live ammunition, and Creech said the service conducts surveys in advance to ensure that no marine animals are harmed.
What about the kelp and plankton? Don't they have rights? If PETA's concerned, what about PETV?
All God's creatures, great and small, deserve our love - with the possible exception of the Palestinians who could use a good ass-kicking. Once we stop caring about the lives of kelp and plankton it it a recipe for inhumanity. Or maybe soup.
The Marine Corps is starting to deploy a jeeplike vehicle called the Growler, 10 years after conception and at twice the contract price, after delays that were caused by changing concepts and problems in contracting, development and testing, according to two reports.
Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sought investigations by the Government Accountability Office and the Defense Department inspector general in light of complaints by the unsuccessful bidder on the project. But a spokesman for Levin said the inspector general's report, released last month, showed that cost increases and delays are so normal in defense contracting, particularly in contracts involving hundreds of millions of dollars, that they don't raise great concerns.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, however, stressed the importance of reforming procurement in remarks before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, saying that all services are feeling the effects of weapons programs that have "had repeated — and unacceptable — problems with requirements, schedule, cost and performance."
The idea for such a vehicle was developed in 1999 by the Marine Corps, which wanted a vehicle that could be carried in the V-22 Osprey aircraft to support assault operations and that would tow a 120mm mortar and an ammunition trailer. Today, instead of one vehicle that could serve both functions, there are two — one for reconnaissance and a shorter version that tows the mortar and ammunition trailer — built by the same company.
The first Growlers in the mortar program — officially called internally transportable vehicles, or ITVs — have been deployed to Marine units, but with limited combat capabilities. Because of their light armor and ammunition safety problems, "you can't run it up the highway in an urban area such as Iraq," said John Garner, the Marines' program manager for the vehicle. "But it could accompany foot-mobile Marine infantry in a not-built-up area such as Afghanistan," he added.
The inspector general report said that the average cost of a single Growler has risen 120 percent, from about $94,000 when the contract was awarded in 2004 to $209,000 in 2008. The unit cost for the vehicle with mortar and ammunition trailer has grown 86 percent, from $579,000 to $1,078,000.
The first six mortar and ammunition systems have been sent to Marine units, as have about 20 ITVs. "It is up to unit commanders who receive them as to whether they will take them when deployed abroad," Garner said. The Army has 81 ITVs under contract and is awaiting bids on 70 more; there are 12 mortar and ammunition trailer systems under contract and 20 more out for bids, according to Garner.
Troubles with the two systems started in 2004 during the final competition between two bidders for the vehicle contract. One bidder was a team of the giant defense contractor General Dynamics Corp. and a small company called American Growler Inc. of Ocala, Fla., known primarily for building a successful dune buggy using surplus, customized Army M151A2s, a popular version of the military jeep. The other was a contractor in Michigan called Rae-Beck Automotive LLC, which built a popular neighborhood electric car.
By choosing General Dynamics and American Growler, the Marines were able to procure an existing vehicle that was equipped with components that could be purchased "off the shelf," avoiding costs of research and developing an entirely new vehicle. While the Rae-Beck entry was found to be superior in some tests, the Growler, according to Garner, was better "in the most important ones."
But after the contract was awarded, Garner said, "there were significant additions made for capability." For example, an air suspension had to be added to allow the Growler to get on and off the Osprey because it could raise and lower its height. The makers added a new cooling system, power steering and power brakes, along with a beefed-up General Motors engine similar to the one used in the GMC Yukon. Altogether, Garner said, about $50,000 of the cost growth was in additional off-the-shelf items that now permit the Growler to travel up to 45 mph on a highway.
#5
Let me see if I understand: lightly armored check, can tow a 120mm mortar check, can reach 45 mph on road (and much more). Humm, I think the WWII Jeep could have exceeded specifications hands down at a fraction of the cost.
#6
Built by Ocala, Fla.-based American Growler, the original Growler is made partly from salvaged M151 jeep parts and is available in several versions for as little as $7,500 in kit form. At the high end, there's a $14,500 upgraded "tactical dune buggy" with a "bikini top."
$14,500 -> $209,000, bikini top extra. Does not compute.
Posted by: ed ||
02/04/2009 10:19 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Sounds like they re-built it from the ground up to put in "low rider" hydraulic suspensions and other weird crap to get them to fit into Ospreys. Stupid goddamn technophilic waste of time and money.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/04/2009 11:18 Comments ||
Top||
#8
If you look at the version the Dominican Republic paid $14,500 for, and to the version the Marines got, you'll notice the Dominicans got twice the seating capacity for 7% of the price. They also did not have to wait 10 years to get it.
The solution seems obvious to me: Have the Dominicans purchase all the Marines' gear! Even taking Dominican bribes into account, it will cost less than sending it through the Pentagon.
/;-p
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/04/2009 11:39 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Bet the Dominicans only have 1) 5% of the paperwork and process that DON/DOD/GSA procurement has. and 2) only one interest group group to satisfy.
#11
I think something like a Suzuki Samurai would fit nicely in a V-22. Even w/ a JP-8 fueled engine it would probably be around $20K. Or 4 ATVs in it's place. 1 mortar carrier, 1 ammo carrier, 2 recon.
Posted by: ed ||
02/04/2009 12:25 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Ed, you stole the idea right off my keyboard, but I was thinking diesel Isuzu. (Chevy)
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
02/04/2009 14:23 Comments ||
Top||
#14
A. Change orders cost money.
B. General Dynamics had to get their cut.
C. Major Change Orders cost MAJOR money.
I suspect the folks at American Growler could have done the original item for $15 to $20,000 plus whatever is required to set them up for commo. Like the M151 the Growler is/was a tactical vehicle, not a highway cruiser. An armored vehicle is not an option for internal carry in a helicopter or V-22.
The Taliban and its allied groups have killed hundreds of Shia Muslims during some last months in the north-west Pakistan, local media reports say.
The Taliban linked militants have been killing 25-30 members of Shia community in Parachinar, Hangu and much of the Kurram tribal agency during last six months on a daily basis, Pakistani media reports said on the weekend. Military forces based there usually do not intervene to end the sectarian wars, according to the reports.
Human rights and religious groups in Kurram have warned of a humanitarian crisis in the Shia areas. The groups have been holding protests in major cities against the killings of Shia Muslims in Kurram Agency and Parachinar.
The Taliban fighters usually target the community members in the region. Although Shias are the majority in Kurram, but they are surrounded by the Taliban-linked aggressive militants who have cut off road routes since some past months. The militants are also accused of kidnapping or killing those trying to get supplies to the Shia areas during the past months.
Pakistan's main media outlets had earlier said that the democratic forces in the country should take immediate notice of the killings of innocent Shias in the region. Moderate Pakistani Sunni groups believe that leaving more than 500,000 Shias at the mercy of the Taliban is a conspiracy against the country.
Taliban's influence is also rapidly increasing in the major cities and so-called settled areas of the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
After one of the latest U.S. Predator attacks in North Waziristan, a Taliban commander visited the site. He's seen the results of many air strikes over the past year or two, but this one really impressed him.
The missile didn't just hit the right house; it scored a direct hit on the very room where Mustafa al-Misri ("Mustafa the Egyptian") and several other Qaeda operatives were holed up. The hit was so accurate, the commander says, it's as if someone had tossed a GPS device against the wall. Unfortunately for others at the scene, the mud-and-stone house collapsed, killing several Afghans along with the foreign fighters. Nevertheless, the subcommander told Newsweek, "We are stunned" by such precision.
Al Qaeda's hideouts in Pakistan's tribal areas aren't quite as safe as they used to be. After years in which they were suspected of shielding Osama bin Laden's lieutenants or, at least, not pursuing them very vigorously, Pakistan's intelligence services have finally started helping the Americans track and kill the fugitive terrorists in the frontier belt.
According to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, 11 of the top 20 "high-value targets" along the Afghan border have been eliminated in the past six months. And while the Americans blast the bad guys in the tribal areas, the Pakistanis have been confronting problems in their own ranks. Since September, 140 pro-Islamist officers have been mustered out of ISI, according to a senior diplomatic official in Washington, asking not to be named on such a sensitive topic.
Islamabad has good reasons to work with the Americans. For one thing, Washington is considering an aid package worth as much as $15 billion to Pakistan over the next 10 years. In the midst of that debate, Islamabad is trying to undo the harm to its international image from the ISI's alleged links to the December terrorist rampage in Mumbai. But beyond those details, Pakistanis finally seem to be figuring out that Al Qaeda and its friends are not merely America's problem.
"We may be crazy in Pakistan, but [we're] not completely out of our minds," ISI chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha recently told the German magazine Der Spiegel. "We know full well that terror is our enemy, not India." Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, confirms that Islamabad is working with the Americans. "Pakistan and the United States are partners in the effort against terrorism, and our broad-based effort includes sharing intelligence," he told Newsweek last week.
Taliban sources say Islamabad is right to worry what Al Qaeda is up to. The group's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, wants to destabilize the "apostate" Pakistani government. The Egyptian-born doctor has been promoting fellow Egyptians and other allies to replace senior Qaeda members who have been killed or captured, Taliban sources say. Bin Laden is said to oppose Zawahiri's scheme, fearing blowback from Pakistan, but he hasn't shown up at planning meetings in years. (US intelligence sources say they see no signs of a rift between the two leaders.)
The attacks are creating turmoil in the tribal areas. A witch-hunt against suspected spies has resulted in the deaths of at least a dozen people in North Waziristan, many of them by beheading. And Naqib Khan, a Taliban intelligence operative, says some Qaeda fighters and their Jihadist friends from Pakistan have been relocating to quieter places in eastern Afghanistan.
Even so, the Americans should postpone any plans for a victory party. "Reports that Al Qaeda is on the decline have been frequent in the past and always inaccurate," says former CIA analyst Bruce Riedel, who advised the Obama transition team on Pakistan issues. But the Americans aren't giving up yet either.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
#1
quote of the day "We may be crazy i n Pakistan" ISI chief Ahmad Shuja Pasha
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sherry Rehman on Tuesday said that public consensus against violence in Swat served as a boost to the government efforts for the restoration of law and order in the region.
Talking to a private TV channel, she said: "The government action to control militancy in Swat is fully backed by the public and this reflects complete rejection of the regressive policies and agenda of militants." The minister said the Swat militants had been ideologically alienated and were considered enemies of Pakistan.
Sherry said the government had only decided to deploy the Army and the paramilitary troops at educational institutions in Mingora to fight the Taliban attack on schools. She said that they preferred dialogue over force. But when the writ of the government was challenged, the government had to act, she said. Sherry said they were committed to reopening as many schools as they could after the winter break.
Replying to a question on the statement of the prime minister regarding a new strategy to address violence in Swat, she said the government was keen to explore all options to ensure peace, restore law and order and restrict collateral damage in the region.
"We cannot leave our people at the mercy of the terrorists. At the same time, it is important to pursue a strategy that incorporates political and social measures to build the architecture of sustainable peace in Swat and the tribal areas," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
Vice President Pakistan Muslim League-Q Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani on Tuesday asked the government to abandon the use of air power and heavy artillery in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Swat.
"The government should order an end to the use of air force and heavy artillery in the Fata and Swat regions in order to avoid collateral damage," he said while addressing a press conference here on Tuesday.
He urged the government to raise the issue of drone attacks at the United Nations, convene federal and provincial cabinet meetings in Fata and Swat and provide facilities to 600,000 internally displaced people (IDPs).
He also advocated collaboration between the PML-Q and the PML-N, making an important offer that the PML-Q was ready to sign the Charter of Democracy (CoD) as a confidence building measure (CBM) on the pattern of London CoD.
Durrani asked the government to immediately shift its focus on restoring its writ in Fata and Swat. He said unfortunately, it seems that the government functionaries have been restricted to the federal capital while armed forces are battling the militants in Swat and Fata.
Durrani said the rulers are busy in roaming around the globe or in drawing room politics. "The rulers should now leave their bunkers and visit Swat and Fata". Rather, he said the next meetings of the federal and NWFP cabinets should be convened in Fata and Swat respectively just to convey a message to the inhabitants of the areas that the government shared their concerns. He said around 600,000 people affected by Fata and Swat operations had migrated from their areas and this was the largest internal migration in the history of the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
THE United Nations has retracted a claim that an Israeli strike which killed more than 40 people in northern Gaza city of Jabaliya last month hit a school run by a UN agency.
"The humanitarian coordinator would like to clarify that the shelling, and all of the fatalities, took place outside rather than inside the school," the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in its latest weekly update on the situation in Gaza.
It stressed that its initial report of the January 6 incident correctly stated that Israeli shells hit outside the school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, but that it later referred to "the shelling of the UNRWA school in Jabaliya".
The Israeli military initially said its forces had responded to hostile fire from within the UN school but later reportedly retracted that statement.
The attack sparked widespread outrage in the midst of Israel's deadly offensive in Gaza.
#2
Only a week after photos and eyewitness accounts became public. That's progress for the UN.
Posted by: ed ||
02/04/2009 13:01 Comments ||
Top||
#3
But how will the International Criminal Court in The Hague be able to continue their arraignment of the nation of Israel when the primary accusation has been withdrawn so perfunctorily?
What? Today?
JERUSALEM Hamas police in Gaza seized thousands of blankets and food parcels meant for needy residents, a U.N. spokesman said Wednesday, threatening to fracture relations between the international agency that cares for most of Gaza's residents and the territory's militant rulers. We eliminate the middleman and pass the savings onto us...
Hamas policemen forcibly broke into an aid warehouse in Gaza City on Tuesday evening and confiscated 3,500 blankets and over 4,000 food parcels, said Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. Gunness said the incident was "absolutely unacceptable." So what are ya gonna do about it?
I'll wait...
He said police confiscated aid meant for 500 families after U.N. officials refused to voluntarily hand it over to the Hamas-run Ministry of Social Affairs. Similar U.N. aid packages had already been distributed to 70,000 residents over the past two weeks. Can we have it back?
No.
Oh. Okay. Just figured we'd ask.
Ahmad Kurd, the Hamas Minister of Social Affairs, did not deny the seizure of the aid Wednesday. He charged the U.N. was giving the aid to local groups with ties to Hamas opponents. "UNRWA did not do what it said it would do, and began distributing its aid to groups that tie their activities to political activism," Kurd said. ...and we'll know because they're the ones limping from foot wounds.
Israeli officials have charged in the past that the militant group routinely confiscates aid meant for needy Gazans, but Gunness said this was the first time Hamas had seized its goods since taking control of the territory in 2007. That's bullshit...
Hamas is under pressure to provide aid to Gazans, who are facing more hardship than ever since Israel's devastating three-week military offensive, which ended Jan. 18. The operation, aimed at halting rocket fire from the territory, killed hundreds of civilians and left thousands destitute after their homes were damaged or destroyed. Smells like..."victory".
Tensions between Hamas and the U.N. could make it difficult for the international agency to continue providing desperately needed services. Some international donors had expressed concern that funds meant to rebuild Gaza could fall into Hamas' hands, and the U.N. had been trying to assuage those concerns. Yeah, sounds like they're doing a helluva job.
The United Nations is expected to take a leading role in rebuilding Gaza, because Israel and the international community will not deal with Hamas.
Chris Hill, a career US diplomat who has been Washington's lead negotiator with North Korea, is expected to be named US ambassador to Iraq, a US official who asked not to be named said on Monday. I believe it was Hill whom Rodong Sinmun described as "scum." I guess the Iraqi ambassadorship's a step up.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
The US military says it has begun releasing 50 detainees a day to meet the US-Iraqi security agreement that requires those in custody not wanted by the Iraqis be released.
The military said in a statement on Tuesday that it will release 1,500 detainees a month - 50 a day - to meet the requirements of the agreement that took effect on January 1.
The statement also says those being released this month are among the first whose case files have been reviewed by Iraqi authorities, as required by the agreement.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
Hawkish Israeli politician Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to topple the Hamas government in Gaza should he win the upcoming elections.
Netanyahu, the front-runner in February 10 elections, said Tuesday that "A government under my leadership will overthrow the Hamas rule in Gaza and bring about a cessation of rocket fire."
"[Kadima leader] Tzipi Livni and the people of Kadima scoffed at the predictions regarding rocket fire" from the Gaza Strip, said Netanyahu regarding to a three-week offensive against Gaza which aimed at destroy the Hamas military power in the region.
Israel's Operation Cast Lead which was aimed at putting an end to the rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, was unilaterally halted on January 18 after killing almost 1,400 people across the sliver. Tel Aviv, which failed to achieve its primary goals during the 23-day war on Gaza, resumed pounding the populated strip two weeks later.
Netanyahu, who has voiced serious discontent with the army's failure in Gaza, vowed to stop the rocket attacks saying "Residents can no longer count on miracles and Kadima policy.
According to Pollsters, Tel Aviv's failure in the Gaza War has greatly increased Netanyahu's chance to win the elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Netanyahu, who has voiced serious discontent with the army's politico's failure in Gaza
A top Hamas official told The Jerusalem Post late on Monday that he believes an Egyptian-mediated cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas is likely to be reached by Thursday.
Ahmed Youssef, the Gaza-based deputy foreign minister and former political adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, said he had not yet heard back from a Hamas delegation in Cairo, which was scheduled to meet Egyptian officials about a cease-fire proposal.
But he said he was optimistic that a cease-fire agreement was imminent. "All I know is that there are positive signals," Youssef told the Post by telephone. "We are heading toward a right direction, toward a cease-fire. I do believe that they will find a way in the next couple of days for them to announce something."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
The guys in Damascus think you're a buncha pussies, boys...
Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday promised that a government under his leadership would topple the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip.
"[Kadima leader] Tzipi Livni and the people of Kadima scoffed at the predictions regarding rocket fire. A government under my leadership will overthrow the Hamas rule in Gaza and bring about a cessation of rocket fire," Netanyahu said during a tour of Ashkelon following the first Grad rocket attack since the conclusion of Operation Cast Lead some two weeks ago. "The policy of blindness followed in the past years has brought us to this situation," Netanyahu continued. "Residents can no longer count on miracles and Kadima policy."
Livni herself hinted that Hamas may come up against another IDF operation should rocket fire continue hitting the south of Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
If I were an Israeli, this is the only campaign promise that would matter to me.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
02/04/2009 11:24 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Hey, he's got my vote.
Except, of course, it doesn't count cuz I am not an Israeli citizen.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
02/04/2009 19:51 Comments ||
Top||
Nine Arab foreign ministers who met in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday declared their support for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Foreign Minister, said.
Shaikh Abdullah told WAM after the meeting that it was held "as part of the ongoing consultations among Arab states to boost Arab solidarity, as outlined by the speech made by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at the Kuwait Economic Summit."
The ministers have also reaffirmed their support to the Egyptian initiative to secure a durable ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and discussed steps to pave the way for the Gaza reconstruction conference, to be held in Cairo on 22 February.
Shaikh Abdullah said the ministers have "reaffirmed their support for the Arab peace initiative and reiterated their strong support for the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) under the leadership of President Abbas and to the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of Palestinians."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
Al Qaida's deputy leader on Tuesday dismissed U.S. President Barack Obama's expression of concern over killings in Gaza as an empty gesture on Tuesday and said Washington remains a main enemy of Muslims.
"I remind our mujahideen brothers that our enemy in Gaza is not only Israel but the Zionist-crusader coalition, with America, the leader of evil ... at its head," Ayman al-Zawahri said in an audio recording posted on Islamic websites.
"Obama said he was concerned about the killings of civilians in Gaza. We thank Mr. Obama for his concern which we received with thousands of shells and ... white phosphorous," Zawahri said, referring to Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
"But Obama's concern did not seem to last long as he did not say a word about Gaza in his inauguration speech, as if nothing had happened," he added.
"The Zionist-crusader [Israeli-Western] campaign against Islam and the Muslims cannot be defeated without warfare," Zawahri said, calling the devout to join a jihad (holy war).
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
The United Nations has reversed its stance on one of the most contentious and bloody incidents of the recent Israel Defense Forces operation in Gaza, saying that an IDF mortar strike that killed 43 people on January 6 did not hit one of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency schools after all.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Well, it was either that or admit that they a) do not screen employees for terror group membership and b) do not prevent terror groups from using their buildings, ambulances etc. Peres alluded just lightly to this at Davos and it sent them scurrying for cover. Wonder just what would happen if the cover were really pulled off their activities.
2nd Lt. Aharon Karov was called up for service in Gaza the morning after his wedding and critically wounded in combat. Today he said saluted the doctors who three weeks ago gave him scant hours to live -- and left the hospital
Three weeks after they gave him mere hours to live, the paratrooper officer critically wounded in Operation Cast Lead saluted his doctors farewell -- and left the hospital.
Platoon commander 2nd Lt. Aharon Karov, 22, was ordered to cut his leave short and report for duty in Gaza the morning after his wedding to Tzvia, 19. She was by his side on Tuesday as he said goodbye to the doctors who saved his life at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva. The young officer will continue his rehabilitation at the Shiba Medical Center in Tel HaShomer.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
The Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip on Monday approved the killing of Israeli collaborators but denied allegations it had attacked members of the rival Fatah faction during last month's war. "The government will show no mercy to collaborators who stab our people in the back, and they will be held accountable according to the law... if any collaborator is sentenced to death, we will not hesitate to carry it out," government spokesman Taher al-Nunu told reporters.
"The government differentiates between violations of the law and those acts undertaken by the resistance during a time of war to protect itself from the danger of collaborators," he added.
His remarks came after Palestinian human rights groups and victims accused the Hamas authorities of attacking dozens of members of the rival Fatah party of president Mahmoud Abbas whom the Islamists accused of working for Israel.
The Islamist group -- which drove Abbas's loyalists from Gaza when they seized power in June 2007 -- was also accused of placing Fatah members under house arrest during the three-week-long Israeli offensive.
Hamas government officials insist security forces apply the law equally to all Gazans, regardless of political affiliation.
But Ihab al-Ghusein, a spokesman for the Hamas-run interior ministry, defended the killing of suspected collaborators by armed groups during the Israeli offensive in which more than 1,330 Palestinians were killed.
"The resistance groups have nothing to do with internal security in normal times... because that is the role of the security services," he said.
"But there were collaborators who were killed during the fighting while they were trying to strike the resistance in the back."
Nunu said the government had not yet received any formal complaints concerning the incidents, but was investigating them nonetheless.
Prisoners executed
The Gaza-based Ad-Dameer Association for Human Rights last week said that 10 prisoners were executed after they were accused of collaborating with Israel because Israeli forces bombarded the prison in which they were held.
"There have been dozens of cases of persecution across the territory during and after the war. There have been grave violations of human rights and investigations must be launched," said Samir Mussa, a lawyer with the rights group said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
"Syria will wait for the results of the elections in Israel before making a decision on whether or not to renew indirect negotiations," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Monday at a press conference in Damascus with his Irish counterpart, Micheal Martin.
Moallem added that "the matters on the top of the agenda at the moment are alleviating the Gazans' suffering caused by the siege, opening the borders and stabilizing the cease-fire."
Also Monday, Syrian President Bashar Assad called on Europe to play a "more active role" in Middle East peace efforts.
During a meeting with the Irish foreign minister, Assad stressed the "importance of activating the European role" in finding solutions in the Mideast, according to Syria's official news agency SANA.
SANA reported that the talks focused on the situation in the region after last month's IDF offensive in Gaza. Assad and Martin underlined the need for Israel to lift its blockade on Gaza and reopen border crossings, according to the report.
Last year, Syria and Israel held indirect talks, mediated by Turkey, but the talks made no significant headway.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
The Saudi government acknowledged Wednesday that 11 men on the country's most wanted list are former Guantanamo prisoners who went through rehabilitation, raising doubts about a program intended to counter extremist religious ideology.
President Barack Obama signed an executive order closing down the prison in Cuba on Jan. 22 his second day in office leaving nations scrambling over what to do with a potential flood of released detainees.
Some 133 of Guantanamo's over 700 inmates were Saudi, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Gen. Mansour al-Turki, and 117 have returned to Saudi Arabia and been through rehabilitation programs.
Posted by: ed ||
02/04/2009 14:06 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
A narrow majority of Americans supports shutting down Guantanamo on a priority basis.
Really? Can I see where your getting your numbers, Paul Schemm of the AP, or do I just take your word for that? And just what is a "priority basis"?
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.
Grassroots level leaders of BNP yesterday proposed to party high-ups that it should not continue ties with Jamaat-e-Islami considering the new generation's sentiment, and drop all controversial leaders from party committees at all levels.
The Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip on Monday approved the killing of Israeli collaborators but denied allegations it had attacked members of the rival Fatah faction during last month's war. "The government will show no mercy to collaborators who stab our people in the back, and they will be held accountable according to the law... if any collaborator is sentenced to death, we will not hesitate to carry it out," government spokesman Taher al-Nunu told reporters.
