Kuwait Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Rasheed Al-Hamad Tuesday issued a directive to set up a committee to survey humanities curricula content in all scholastic stages. The official document justified the decision by saying this was an attempt to do away with redundant content and outdated information. This follows much controversy that school curricula needs memorizing and that students and teachers do not have enough time to truly master the subjects and real life applications of what is in the textbooks. The committee is to review the textbooks of Social Studies, Islamic Education, and Arabic language and Literature. The committee also sets the time-window required and measures to be taken to meet its objectives.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Visibly distressed, Muhammad tossed his head in disbelief as he talked of how his friend's promising life ended in disaster. His friend was identified as the perpetrator of last Saturday's car bombing that killed a Briton outside a theater near a British school in Doha. "This is unbelievable," Muhammad said. "He was an ordinary person and never sounded like an extremist or someone who has a different religious or political ideology." Muhammad added that his 39-year old friend, Omar Ahmad Abdullah Ali, had only interests related to his computer studies and his work and always planned for having a potential career.
Ali's mother nodded in agreement, and said that after her son graduated from the Computer Engineering Department in Cairo, he immediately decided to go to Saudi Arabia to find a better, rewarding job. "He did not even think of moving to Qatar until his elder brother moved there and found a good job for him at Qatar Petroleum." Ali had worked in the information technology department of the energy firm since 1990, his mother said. "He had everything he wished for: A nice Palestinian wife born in Qatar, three cute kids and a job with a very good salary. "He was also very happy when he got a baby last month and he was planning to visit Egypt this summer so that I will be able to see the baby," the mother told Arab News. The mother said her son called last week to tell her he was fine and confirmed his summer visit. "My son sounded very normal in the phone call and was giving me details of his next trip," said the mother.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Terrorists may try to strike the country in the runup to an election expected within weeks, just as bombers struck Spain shortly before a vote there, London's police chief says in an interview.
"I don't see this in the sense of some huge security operation, but I have pointed out that -- with an election coming up -- terrorists might just remember the bombings in Madrid only a year ago," Sir Ian Blair said on Thursday.
"We must be aware that al Qaeda will see the opportunity this year for a worldwide statement," he told Whitehall and Westminster World, a magazine for civil servants.
"I know my professional intelligence assessments and I know that we are facing a threat more significant than anything we have faced since the Cold War and the Nazi tyranny before it."
Bombers in Madrid killed nearly 200 people last year, days before an election that the incumbent centre-right party was expected to win. Its centre-left rivals won instead.
Although an election date has not been announced, it is widely expected on May 5.
Sir Ian Blair, who is not related to Prime Minister Tony Blair, is the chief of London's Metropolitan Police, which has responsibility for anti-terrorism work throughout the country as well as day-to-day policing in the capital.
He repeated police assertions that they have thwarted major attacks. Police have in the past expressed frustration that they cannot tell the public much about their successes because trials are under way and media coverage is tightly restricted by laws to prevent juries from being prejudiced.
"I can only say that it is inevitable that terrorists will attempt to attack the United Kingdom, because I know they have. They're now awaiting trial," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/25/2005 12:07:44 AM ||
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Gordon Brown last night paid tribute to British Muslims as "modern heroes" who brought hope and idealism to the country. The Chancellor said they had contributed to Britain spiritually and economically because Islam was a religion that encouraged fair play, social justice and equality. "Islam teaches us that we are all part of one moral universe, that humanity is intertwined and interlinked like different parts of a human body, reflecting each other's condition. This is a universal moral principle we can all learn from," he said. Many of Britain's 1.5 million Muslims supported Labour until the Iraq war and the party is now working hard to try to win them back.
"As Chancellor, I want in particular to thank you for the enormous contribution the Muslim community makes to our economy. I have learnt much from your entrepreneurial flair and talent," Mr Brown said in a speech at the Muslim News awards for excellence. "But the contribution of British Muslims to British life goes far beyond the economic realm." Mr Brown, whose father was a Church of Scotland minister, praised the teachings of Islam and defined a hero as "someone who has given their life to something bigger than themselves". WTF?! Maybe Gordon thinks we ought to have more statues commemorating the heroic men of the SS.
He went on: "So I want to honour you and members of the Muslim community as our modern heroes: standing for the highest ideals, bearing burdens, and bringing hope to Britain." He said Muslims had contributed economically ever since they started migrating to British towns and cities in large numbers in the 1950s. "What we share in common is the belief in fair play, in social justice and in the equality and potential not just of some but of all," he said.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
03/25/2005 4:23:09 AM ||
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#1
Politics is demographics as Maggie well understood.
#3
Mr Brown, whose father was a Church of Scotland minister, praised the teachings of Islam and defined a hero as "someone who has given their life to something bigger than themselves".
#4
I wonder which of the things Gordon Brown said that Michael Howard would care to disagree with. Think Mr. Howard will equate being a muslim with belonging to the SS? Dont think so. Esp if, after winning, Mr. Howard expects to keep working with friendly muslims toward the democratization of the Mid east. Is he going to continue that policy? Or is he intending to break with Dubya?
#6
Bulldog, I have no idea what your point was. I was merely saying that in a democracy once any group reaches significant numbers politicians will pander to their beliefs and predujices in order to get their vote. Its inherent in the system (democracy). Doesn't mean I like it. In fact I think it sucks. But as someone said 'Democracy is the worst possible form of government, until you consider the alternatives.'
#7
I wonder which of the things Gordon Brown said that Michael Howard would care to disagree with.
How about the claim that Muslims are heroes because they have a religion they're nuts about. Isn't that a little insulting to the rest of us - those of other faiths, atheists and agnostics? Are people who believe in the Loch Ness Monster also heroes. Or people who campaign for the BNP - because they've given their life to something bigger than themselves? Brown's choice of phrase merely indicates how utterly desperate Labour are to re-establish and reclaim the Muslim block vote that they lost over Iraq. Typical of left-wing parties, Labour usually relies on support from minorities which it vociferously claims to hold in the greatest admiration, and promises to promote the interests of at the expense of the less visible majority. Heroes? Give me a break. This is pursuit of the multiculturalist agenda at its most cynical and brazen; purely for partisan advantage, spurred by desperation.
Not all religious minorities seem worthy of hero status to Brown, though. I've yet to hear him feting any other minority anywhere near so ridiculously. Tell me the last time you heard any politician, let alone Brown, describing Jews as our modern heroes: standing for the highest ideals, bearing burdens, and bringing hope to Britain, for instance? In contrast to their apparent hero-worship of Muslims, Labour prefer to stereotype the less numerous Jews as Fagan figues - they made such associations wrt the Tory leadership early in the election campaign, and rightly got their fingers burnt (though no doubt whoever was responsible congratulated themselves on having successfully got their odious message across).
Why do you think Brown saying that Muslims are "heroes" has anything whatsoever to do with Howard and Dubya, btw? What's with the straw man? You don't have to prostrate yourself in front of people in order to not alienate them. Perhaps you think British Muslims would reject Howard simply because he's Jewish? Does being Jewish make him less able to pursue the WoT than Blair?
#8
phil_b why did you drag Maggie into the debate if not to impart some equivalency between her and Brown? I assume that was your intention, or you wouldn't have mentioned her at all.
Don't you recognise the difference between a politician who wins elections because they offer positive change for the whole population through radical, and sometimes painful, economic reform, and a politician who absurdly genuflects to a religious minority constituency, pleading for their votes with mere patronising flattery? Do you really think that both are simply pander[ing] to [...] beliefs and predujices?
#9
I mentioned Maggie becuase she understood that you can change the demographics that underly politics. In her case by decreasing the numbers working for the government and increasing the number of property owners and shareholders.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Wednesday he was worried about a planned purchase of 100,000 Russian assault rifles by Venezuela and said it could destabilize the hemisphere, Reuters reported.
The comments were the latest in a string of accusations between Venezuelan left-wing President Hugo Chavez and Washington, including charges by Chavez this month that he has evidence the United States is planning to assassinate him.
The charges have raised questions about whether the multibillion-dollar energy relationship between Washington and one of its top oil suppliers is at risk.
The United States is the main destination for oil from Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter.
"I can't imagine what's going to happen to 100,000 AK-47s, I can't imagine why Venezuela needs 100,000 AK-47s," Rumsfeld told reporters in Brazil's capital Brasilia, where he is on a two-day visit.
"I hope it doesn't happen and I can't imagine, if it did happen, it would be good for the hemisphere. Certainly, I'm concerned."
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called Chavez a "negative force" in Latin America and there have been reports that the U.S. is worried the guns could fall into the hands of Colombia's left-wing FARC guerrillas.
Venezuelan has dismissed U.S. complaints over the weapons as "impertinence" and suggests Washington is upset it planned to purchase arms from Russia and not the United States.
The government has said the assault rifles will replace the aging FAL rifles currently used by its armed forces.
But a senior U.S. defense official traveling with Rumsfeld said Venezuela was also planning to build a factory to produce 7.62 mm ammunition, "which is the ammunition of choice for narcotics traffickers and other criminals in Latin America."
The official, who asked to remain anonymous, said there was evidence the FARC is low on ammunition and is paying as much as a $1 dollar for 7.62 mm bullets for its AK-47s, the official said.
Diplomats in Brasilia have suggested that Rumsfeld could use his visit to Brazil to ask President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to help temper Chavez' positions.
"The Washington-Brasilia-Caracas channel no doubt exists," said Reginaldo Nasser, professor of foreign relations at the Catholic University of Sao Paulo. "The idea of (Lula) talking to Chavez to temper him is there, without a doubt."
Rumsfeld was in Brazil to discuss the Latin American country's increasing leadership role in the region, including its peacekeeping mission in Haiti. He met with Lula and Defense Minister Jose Alencar.
Posted by: tipper ||
03/25/2005 9:08:13 AM ||
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U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Wednesday he was worried about a planned purchase of 100,000 Russian assault rifles by Venezuela and said it could destabilize the hemisphere, Reuters reported.
Its a feature, not a bug Donald. Actually, we should offer, whether asked or not, to airdrop several hundred thousand of the little equalizers picked up in Iraq, with complementary ammo. Maybe those Baghdad shopkeepers can teach their counterparts in Venezula a thing or two when Hugo sends his thugs around.
#3
I suspect the purpose is threefold (1) To buy into Russian favor (2) to help with the ongoing yankees are going to invade fear Chavez has pushed (3) to assist in intimidating the Venezuelan people.
Venezuela won't get very far invading Brazil. They can have Colombia if they can create peace. Don't know much about Guyana and Suriname but I would be interested to see what kind of response the invasion of French Guinne would create. The French are very nuanced after all.
About 1,000 pro-democracy protesters tried to gather Friday near the palace of President Alexander Lukashenko, claiming to be emulating the popular uprising in fellow ex-Soviet republic Kyrgyzstan, but they were beaten and dispersed by police in riot gear, and several dozen were arrested. It took the truncheon-wielding police about two hours to disperse the protesters, who chanted "Down with Lukashenko!" and "Long live Belarus!" A group of 100 or so opposition activists regrouped, only to be pushed away a second time.
Protest organizer Andrei Klimov said the demonstration was intended to help spark a revolution similar to those that have swept Georgia, Ukraine and, most recently, Kyrgyzstan, ousting unpopular governments. "Today's gathering must send a signal to the West, Russia and our own bureaucrats that Belarus is ready for a serious change," Klimov said. "Our aim is to start the Belarusian revolution and force the resignation of Lukashenko, the last dictator of Europe." Lukashenko has ruled his nation of 10 million people with an iron fist, stifling dissent, persecuting independent media and opposition parties, and prolonging his power through elections that international organizations say were marred by fraud. Lukashenko, who has been called Europe's last dictator, pushed through a referendum in October that will allow him to seek a third term in 2006 and run in subsequent elections.
Friday's protest was one of the biggest in the Belarusian capital in recent months. "By using force, Lukashenko shows he's terribly scared," said Vyacheslav Sivchik, an opposition leader who was later detained by police for taking part in the demonstration. Belarus' Foreign Ministry on Friday assailed the Kyrgyz opposition, warning that its action could destabilize the entire region. "The unconstitutional overthrow of the government in Kyrgyzstan could have fatal consequences for peace, stability and prosperity in the country, as well as in the Central Asian region as a whole," it said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 3:13:49 PM ||
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BISHKEK (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan's opposition, a day after snatching power in a lightning coup in the ex-Soviet state, on Friday named a new acting president and won almost immediate -- and vital -- support from Russia. The government of veteran President Askar Akayev, who has fled, collapsed on Thursday after thousands of protesters stormed the main administration building in Bishkek, dragging the Central Asian city into an orgy of looting.
"God forbid anybody would have to have such a revolution," Felix Kulov, freed from jail by supporters on Thursday and appointed acting interior minister, told state television. "It was a rampage of looting, just like in Iraq." At least one man was shot dead during the looting overnight and 31 police officers were wounded, some seriously, he said. Gunshots rang out throughout the night in the city of 800,000.
The unrest in the capital Bishkek followed violent protests earlier in the week in the poorer south. The Kyrgyz ambassador to the United States called it a coup. "This ... is an anti-constitutional coup," Baktybek Adrisaev told CNN.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was ready to work with the Kyrgyz opposition and offered refuge in Russia to Akayev, who is thought to have fled abroad, possibly to neighboring Kazakhstan.
"We know these people (the opposition) pretty well and they have done quite a lot to establish good relations between Russia and Kyrgyzstan," Putin told reporters on a visit to Armenia.
In Bishkek, broken glass and naked mannequins ripped from shop windows littered the streets after a night of looting. The situation remained tense on Friday.
"We had three men guarding the store but there was a crowd of about 100 people," said Oleg Ivanchenko, head of security at one shop. "They starting throwing stones at the windows and told us if we didn't get out they'd smash us up along with the shop ... They took everything away. I called the police but there was no answer."
THIRD EX-SOVIET REVOLUTION
Impoverished Kyrgyzstan becomes the third ex-Soviet state in two years, after Georgia and Ukraine, where a revolt after disputed elections has ousted the entrenched leadership. Only Kyrgyzstan's revolution was violent and only its opposition government immediately won the backing of Moscow which once ruled the region. And, unlike the new leaders in Georgia and Ukraine who have irked Moscow, Kyrgyzstan's opposition has shown no interest in shifting Westwards away from Russian influence.
Akayev, by the standards of the autocratic rulers who dominate Central Asia, was relatively liberal but failed to lift the population of 5 million out of poverty. Most get by on a dollar a day. It was that, analysts say, which underpinned the protests against the results of parliamentary elections in February and March in which the opposition was routed and which international observers said were flawed.
Opposition leader Kurmanbek Bakiev, who played a central role in the protests that brought down Akayev, said he had been named acting president. "Parliament today appointed me prime minister and gave me the functions of president," he told supporters in Bishkek. Analysts say there is little love lost between the key opposition leaders, with Kulov, freed from jail by protesters on Thursday, seen as more popular than Bakiev. Most of the opposition leaders were themselves top officials at some time during Akayev's 14-year rule. Kulov was once police chief and head of the National Security Ministry, successor to the Soviet-era KGB.
It was during Bakiev's premiership, which ended in 2002, that the U.S. air force was allowed to set up a base near the capital Bishkek and Kulov was imprisoned for abuse of power and theft. "For their own credibility they need to make sure they control law and order and what happened yesterday doesn't just look like a sudden takeover," one Western diplomat said. He said that the new leaders needed to continue the planned reforms of the previous government.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/25/2005 9:06:45 AM ||
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Protesters in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan took control of the capital Thursday as they fought with pro-government partisans, stormed government buildings, took control of the national TV network and apparently chased the president from the country. It was the third time in two years that opposition forces had overturned an authoritarian government in Russia's back yard in the wake of allegations that elections were fraudulent. Unlike the Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2003 and the Orange Revolution in Ukraine last year, the Kyrgyz revolt was marred by violence.
Opposition leaders quickly tried to re-establish order Thursday evening as the defense and interior ministers ordered their troops to stand down. The Supreme Court met in emergency session and annulled the results of a recent parliamentary election that anti-government politicians said was tainted by fraud. Parliament also convened Thursday night and named Ishenbai Kadyrbekov, a former member of Parliament, as acting president. Reports that President Askar Akayev had fled the country - to Kazakhstan or Russia - were still unconfirmed late Thursday.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the United States was working with the United Nations, European monitors and "our Russian friends" to keep track of the rapidly unfolding events. "The future of Kyrgyzstan should be decided by the people of Kyrgyzstan, consistent with the principles of peaceful change, of dialogue and respect for the rule of law," he said. The United States maintains an air base at the Manas airport outside Bishkek, the capital. The base, with an estimated 1,000 troops, is used principally for flights in support of American forces in Afghanistan. A Russian military base, known as Kant, sits only a dozen miles away.
Protests have been building in Kyrgyzstan since March 13, when pro-government candidates swept parliamentary elections. Protesters said the vote had been rigged by Akayev loyalists, and European monitors said the elections were badly flawed. There's also deep resentment at widespread corruption that favors Akayev's family, business friends and political colleagues. The president, 60, a farmer's son and Soviet-trained scientist, has been in power since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The protests began in the southern cities of Osh and Jalalabad earlier this week when opposition crowds forced their way into government buildings and police stations, then spread to Bishkek, where some, seeking to emulate the uprisings in Georgia and Ukraine, took to calling their revolt "the tulip revolution" or "the narcissus revolution." Thursday's events in Bishkek began when protesters were charged by stick-wielding Akayev supporters wearing blue armbands.
That'd be the "Blue Counterrevolution..."
Fights broke out in the main square and along the principal downtown boulevard. Several dozen injuries were reported. There were no immediate reports of any deaths, and police and security forces didn't fire on the protesters. Anti-government groups eventually took control of the presidential compound in the city center. They seized the minister of defense - releasing him later - and smashed windows and furniture in the White House. They also freed opposition leader Felix Kulov, a former vice president and former head of the secret police who was imprisoned five years ago on embezzlement charges. Kulov said it wasn't clear whether Akayev had resigned from the presidency before fleeing his Bishkek residence.
Kyrgyzstan, with a largely rural and deeply impoverished population of 5 million, isn't well endowed like most of its neighbors in Central Asia. There's only a trickle of oil - not enough to export - and the region's major oil and gas pipelines detour around the mountainous country. Its geography has been something of a curse lately for Kyrgyzstan. The country has become part of a major transit route for heroin shipments coming out of Afghanistan in record amounts. Although a moderate Islam prevails among Kyrgyzstan's nomadic peoples, the country also contains part of the Fergana Valley, a hotbed of Islamist extremism. Al-Qaida recruiting is said to be resurgent among the ethnic Uzbeks who live in the valley. Regional analysts and residents of the valley report increased activity in recent years by the radical Islamic group Hizb-ut-Tahrir.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/25/2005 12:19:15 AM ||
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The Supreme Court met in emergency session and annulled the results of a recent parliamentary election that anti-government politicians said was tainted by fraud.
Constitutional process would not appear to be their strong suit.
Posted by: john ||
03/25/2005 11:54 Comments ||
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Chief of External Subcommittee of Informational Council (part of State Defense Council of Chechen Republic of Ichkeria) Movladi Udugov said that the arson of a car belonging to the Russian embassy in Sweden was a provocation perpetrated by Moscow. Mr. Udugov called on the European states to place all Russian embassies under surveillance. The statement issued by the Chechen government official reads: "The nature and time of the arson of a car belonging to the Russian embassy in Sweden shows that it was a deliberate provocation perpetrated by Moscow. It is also a noticeable fact that the car was burned literally the next day after the Swedish news agency published the exclusive interview with Commander Shamil Basayev. This fact shows that the secret services of the Kremlin regime, -- which are nestled under the roof of the embassy of the Russian Federation and which got shielded by diplomatic passports, as it was the case in Qatar, -- are feeling at ease in the Western states and are ready to commit any provocations on the Western soil at any convenient moment. This situation is very dangerous.
"We are calling on the governments of the European states to place all diplomatic representations of Russia in their countries under strict surveillance, because through these representations Russian terrorist groups are shipping weapons and explosives to Europe. Also, it is quite possible that they are bringing weapons of mass destruction and chemical and bacteriological weapons, which Moscow may use for its provocative purposes as well. Russian diplomatic representations have now become real centers of international terrorist activities. Actions of the Kremlin regime are dangerous and are far from being civilized. This is why the authorities of the European states, and not only European states actually, must be ready for any 'bloody" surprises' that Moscow will come up with."
Earlier Kavkaz Center received a report from its source in Moscow that Russians themselves could have been the ones who set the Russian diplomatic car on fire in Sweden and that it was done most likely for provocative purposes in response to that country's independent position on the "Chechen issue" and due to its recent publication of an interview with Chechen Commander Shamil Basayev by the local news agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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SEOUL - The United States is prepared to talk to North Korea as an equal, and Pyongyang should take recent comments by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a signal of that commitment, South Korea's foreign minister said on Friday.
Rice, during an Asian visit last week, called the North "a sovereign state," which foreign policy analysts said was an attempt to appease Pyongyang's demand that she apologise for having called it "an outpost of tyranny." "North Korea keeps talking about not getting treated right at the six-party talks, so (Rice) was noting a willingness to have dialogue as equals," South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon as telling a seminar.
Well, not really equals.
North Korea has said a condition for a resumption of stalled six-party disarmament talks would be for the United States to cease a policy toward it that Pyongyang sees as hostile. Pyongyang has said joint military drills by South Korea and the United States, which end on Friday, were proof that Washington was planning a nuclear war against it.
But we're always planning one of those!
Ban said North Korea had not shut the door on the six-party talks completely. He also denied there was a June deadline, mentioned by a diplomatic source in Tokyo, for the North to return to the talks. "President Bush said there was no deadline, and we haven't set a deadline," Ban said, but added, "We have waited considerably, because June would be one year (from the last round.)"
North Korea's premier Pak Pong-ju is visiting China, its key ally, but there was no breakthrough in any decision on the six-party talks, Beijing said on Thursday. Pak, a technocrat whose speciality is begging for aid in economic policy, was likely seeking a large-scale aid package from China, linking it to returning to the talks, a key South Korean expert on the communist state said. "Depending on the scale of assistance, North Korea's position can soften or turn to a more cooperative one," former Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun said. Â
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Wishful thinking by Ban Ki-moon or else something got lost in translation. Of course this is Reuters reporting Yonhap so salt to taste. If we have to "negotiate" directly with North Korea, our "negotiator" will be the 8th Army.
#2
The United States is prepared to talk to North Korea as an equal, and Pyongyang should take recent comments by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a signal of that commitment, South Koreaâs foreign minister said on Friday.
A Russian embassy vehicle burst into flames only minutes after a civil servant had parked it near the mission in Stockholm on Tuesday. According to police, the attack is being claimed by a group calling itself Global Intifada, and in a press release the group stated that the attack was a "protest against Russia's imperialistic war in Chechnya."
A police inspector in charge of Stockholm embassy surveillance said that a Russian civil servant had just parked the car five minutes before when it caught fire yesterday. He added that "the group Global Intifada has claimed responsibility for this, but we don't know how the car began to burn."
The organization, which has attacked the Danish embassy in Stockholm twice over the past year, reportedly sent a message to a Swedish media group saying that it had carried out the attack by planting a fire bomb under the car.
In January, the group claimed responsibility for setting a Danish embassy vehicle on fire, and last September it confessed to vandalizing the Danish embassy here by breaking windows and spray painting the hall of the building red.
Posted by: ed ||
03/25/2005 1:58:59 PM ||
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Thank allen it wasn't the GWB. (ummm... global bad wiring.)
via DhimmiWatch At the Jamal Islamiya mosque in this seaside town, a Muslim lament of historic proportions is proclaimed in large letters on a framed poster: "In 1492, we lost everything." For the mosque's leader, and much of the Muslim world, the year marks the traumatic conclusion of Islam's golden age, a time remembered like a collective wound. It's a period when the last piece of Muslim-held territory in Spain fell to Catholic monarchs, ending almost 800 years of Moorish rule on the Iberian peninsula. Centuries when poetry, science and architecture flourished under Islamic caliphs expired with bonfires of Arabic manuscripts, mass expulsion and extermination in the Inquisition. To the east, the Muslim empire of the Ottomans would reign for another four centuries. But many would trace its long decline to the fall of Al Andalus, the Moorish name for Andalusia.
The result is a yearning that today makes Spain, more than any other European country, a battleground in the name of Islam. "They stole 500 years of history from us," says Omar Checa Garcia, who heads the Jamal Islamiya mosque and cultural centre. "We want it back, but we don't want revenge." Others are not so accommodating. Osama bin Laden uses what he calls the "tragedy of Al Andalus" as a rallying cry for his deadly brand of Islamic jihad against "the crusaders and Jews." After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, bin Laden's chief lieutenant, Ayman al Zawahiri, drew a parallel between the loss of the Iberian peninsula and the struggle of Palestinians. "We will not accept that the tragedy of Al Andalus be repeated in Palestine," he said. The taped sermons of some militant Islamic clerics admonish followers with the legend of "The Moor's Sigh." Having surrendered Granada to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, the Catholic monarchs of Castile and Aragon, a tearful Sultan Boabdil was scolded by his mother: "You weep like a woman for what you could not hold as a man."
On March 11, 2004, a cell of mainly Moroccan extremists, calling themselves "the brigade situated in Al Andalus," detonated 10 bombs that killed 191 people on Madrid commuter trains. Many Spaniards blamed their conservative government's support of the Iraq war for making them targets. Three days after the bombings, they swept the Socialist party to power and it moved quickly to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq.
Continued on Page 49
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03/25/2005 1:29:16 PM ||
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Garcia ... Having adopted Islam 20 years ago, he says many of the 7,000 Spanish converts in the Almeria area are, like him, leftists who rediscovered their true Andalusian roots.
Checking my surprise meter. Solid 0, not a twitch.
The government is close to making its decision on a Washington proposal to use the southern air base of İncirlik as a cargo hub for U.S. forces operating in the region, said a deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
"A decision on the issue will be made very soon. I cannot tell you when exactly since I am not in the government but it will be very soon," Murat Mercan, AKP's deputy chairman told a meeting in Washington, called, "Can the U.S.-Turkish Relationship be Repaired?"
Other attendees of the event, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, were influential "neo-con" intellectuals: Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Richard Perle, Robert Pollock, who wrote the Wall Street Journal op-ed painting Turkey as rapidly turning into a hotbed of vicious anti-American attitudes, and Michael Rubin, who recently questioned AKP's links to Islamic capital.
The proposal to use İncirlik, located in the southern city of Adana, as a cargo hub for U.S. operations in Afghanistan and Iraq has been on the table for several months. U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith said during a visit to Ankara in February that Washington was discussing the issue with Turkey with a view to finding an agreement.
Turkish officials have avoided commenting on the U.S. proposal publicly but the government, eager to mend strained ties with Washington, is widely expected to respond favorably.
Private NTV television said the government might officially reply to Washington over the İncirlik proposal in the coming weeks, before the 90th anniversary of an alleged Armenian genocide at the hands of the late Ottoman Empire arrives on April 24.
A powerful Armenian lobby in the U.S. Congress is expected to push for a resolution recognizing the alleged genocide as part of an anniversary campaign. U.S. administrations have opposed such attempts in Congress in the past but observers say this year the George W. Bush administration may not be as willing to prevent such a move as it was in the past, given the growing mistrust of the Turkish government.
A positive response to the U.S. proposal for İncirlik would be part of a charm campaign that the Turkish government is apparently planning to undertake to put ties with the United States back on track, deteriorating over Turkish criticism of U.S. policies in Iraq and U.S. concerns over rising anti-Americanism in Turkey.
Erdoğan is planning to visit the United States in late May to attend the graduation ceremony of his daughter and is hoping to meet with President George W. Bush during his stay. The prime minister is also expected to visit Israel.
Mercan said in his American Enterprise Institute speech that Turkish-U.S. ties were not as bad as depicted in both countries media, as both sides had the will to improve the relationship.
"We should focus on the big picture," he said and warned against paying too much attention to radical and extremist comments seen in the media comments of both countries.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/25/2005 1:32:38 PM ||
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OTTAWA, March 25 (UPI) -- Two teachers have been suspended from a Muslim school in Canada for endorsing a student's story about killing Israeli soldiers to avenge the death of a Hamas leader. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reports that one of the teachers at Abraar Islamic School in Ottawa wrote on the work "God bless you. Your efforts are good." The story described a Palestinian fighter armed with bombs and an M-16 ambushing an Israeli Army squad. The cover showed a burning Star of David.
"Encouraging or inciting hatred is strictly prohibited at our school," the principal, Aisha Sherazi, said in a prepared statement. The school offers Islamic education to about 200 students from kindergarten through the eighth grade.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/25/2005 9:11:20 AM ||
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None of the 15 U.S. agencies that collected or assessed intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq (news - web sites) is likely to be commended for doing an exemplary job, according to officials familiar with a report being prepared by a presidential commission.
The nine-member panel led by Republican Laurence Silberman, a retired federal appeals court judge, and Democrat Charles Robb, a former Senator from Virginia, is expected to issue its report on weapons of mass destruction next week. It's unclear how much of the report, which may run into the hundreds of pages, will be available to the public.
"I think questions had to be answered as to why we were so wrong," said Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., a member of the commission. "We needed to have recommendations as to how to prevent something like this from ever happening again."
The commission also is highly critical of the agencies' performance on Iran (news - web sites), North Korea (news - web sites) and Libya, individuals familiar with its findings said on condition of anonymity.
The report comes at a critical time for the CIA (news - web sites), the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and others charged with collecting, protecting and analyzing secrets.
All face the prospect of sweeping changes from the intelligence reform bill passed in December, including the appointment of a national intelligence director. President Bush (news - web sites)'s nominee, John Negroponte, has a Senate confirmation hearing (news - web sites) next month.
The new director takes over a sprawling bureaucracy, beset by infighting and finger-pointing following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the botched prewar intelligence on the threat from Iraq. The commission's recommendations will largely fall to him to implement.
Individuals familiar with the report said the commission devoted significant time to dissecting what went wrong on the Iraq intelligence, including many issues that have been examined by internal government investigations and the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The commission, for instance, has reconsidered the issue of aluminum tubes. A National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq in October 2002 said that most intelligence agencies believed that Iraq's "aggressive pursuit" of high-strength aluminum tubes provided "compelling evidence" that Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime was reconstituting its uranium enrichment effort and nuclear program.
In its report last summer, the Senate Intelligence Committee found that the Energy Department was more accurate in its assessment that Iraq sought the tubes for a conventional rocket program, not a nuclear program.
The Silberman-Robb commission also closely examined U.S. capability to understand the programs for weapons of mass destruction, or WMD, of Libya, North Korea and Iran.
Libya has agreed to give up its efforts to develop such weapons of mass destruction and dismantle those it has. Iran and North Korea, however, remain significant hot spots for the United States. Intelligence operatives and analysts are not expected to get glowing marks on their abilities there.
Based on Bush's direction, the commission looked at the merits of creating an intelligence center devoted to tracking WMD proliferation, as written in the intelligence overhaul law passed in December.
The panel also consulted lawmakers on congressional oversight and considered how the president actually receives intelligence, including his daily briefings.
In contrast to the Sept. 11 commission, the WMD commission's work has been done largely behind closed doors, with only brief press releases about witnesses who appeared.
McCain said he's learned much about the intelligence agencies and how they interact now and in the run-up to the Iraq invasion. He said he's gotten an understanding of the value of "human intelligence" — or traditional spying — and that the report was worth the $10 million Congress dedicated to it.
Final drafts of the commission's report are being circulated among the intelligence agencies for declassification. Historically, they have tried to use that process to keep secret some of the most embarrassing or critical details of investigative findings.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/25/2005 1:27:03 PM ||
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#1
gee, d'ya think?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/25/2005 16:56 Comments ||
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Five US special forces troops have sued the Associated Press claiming it endangered their lives by publishing photos of their unit allegedly abusing Iraqi prisoners, a lawyer told AFP Wednesday. The five members of the Navy SEALs Special Forces unit and one of the men's wives filed suit against the international wire service Monday in the California city of San Diego, the Navy SEALs' lawyer James Huston said. The suit claims that AP "violated copyright and privacy laws and endangered their lives by publishing photos of them," Huston told AFP. "We are seeking unspecified damages for the copyright violations and also damages for the invasion of privacy and the damage done to these men's careers and the life changes to which they were subjected," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 ||
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They lose on the copyright claim and are going to face an uphill battle to show actual harm on the others.
A PEACE advocate group expressed fears Wednesday that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) would soon be tagged as a "terrorist" with the reports that their camps are the training grounds and refuge of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist training camps.
In a statement to Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro Wednesday, Iligan Peace and Development Advocates Inc. chairman Amer Manaya said there have been several alleged JI terrorist bombers who tagged MILF as one of those who helped them in their ghastly deeds.
He cited even Fathur Rohman Al Ghozi, Muklis Yunos and the recent capture of Rohmat also known as Zaki who admitted to be among those who initiated the recent Valentines Day bombings.
Manaya said MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu is not convinced the MILF will ever earn the terrorist tag.
He said Kabalu's premise was that US President George Bush has recognized the attempt of these separatist elements to resolve the Mindanao conflict through peaceful negotiation.
"It appears that the response of Bush to the late MILF Chairman Hashim Salamat letter was a positive indicator that would rule out the possibility of a 'terrorist' tag on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front," he said.
But Manaya said assuming that Kabalu is indeed speaking the mind of the leadership of the secessionist front, there is "very little hope that one can expect the MILF is prepared to sit down soon and resume the peace negotiation with the government."
"Apparently, they have idly lived with the frame of mind that since they have conveyed their intention to talk peace, then the proposal to include them in the terrorist list is a remote possibility," he said.
"Somehow along the way, the MILF hierarchy has forgotten that terrorist threats have become a major concern for the Americans," he added.
Manaya reiterated how Americans are convinced that the MILF camps have been veritable training grounds for Al Qaeda recruits.
He said intentions to resume talks and even talks without achieving an enforceable peace pact are empty rhetoric.
"Patience too can be eroded when there are eloquent signs of deception. The delay in the resumption of peace talks since its suspension four years ago negates the intention of the MILF to achieve a permanent and stable peace pact with the government," he said.
Manaya believes that each day, some of the remote territories held by the MILF might just be "churning out new trained terrorists."
For him, for as long as the main MILF forces are adamant to sign a peace accord, "these fundamentalist elements in their ranks will continue to lend sanctuary to the radical Jemaah Islamiyah and their local clones."
"How can Eid Kabalu claim that there is no way the MILF be tagged as terrorists? On the other hand, we are convinced that given the time that had lapsed on the effort to craft a peace pact between the MILF and the Philippine government, it is not farfetched now that the US and its European allies are now just about to pin the terrorist tag on them," he said.
"We have to brace ourselves up for the worst scenario once this thing happen. It will surely be a bloody confrontation, which we pray should not happen," he added.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/25/2005 12:09:37 AM ||
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An official of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) yesterday said the group is looking into a claim by a suspected Jemaah Islamiyah member that he has helped train separatists in the southern Philippines. MILF spokesman Eid (Lipless Eddie) Kabalu stressed that while the group has no ties with any terrorist group, its leaders want any doubt to be cleared. "We have no links whatsoever with the Jemaah Islamiyah or other terror groups, such as the Abu Sayyaf, and the MILF leadership has repeatedly warned its members not to harbor terrorists. But just the same the MILF ordered an investigation into the allegations," Kabalu said yesterday in a phone interview from his base in Central Mindanao.
Earlier this week, an Indonesian man whom the military arrested in the southern province of Maguindanao on terrorism charges, allegedly confessed to his interrogators that he and several other Jemaah Islamiyah members were helping local guerrillas in their war for a separate Islamic state in Mindanao. Rohmat, who is also known as Zacky, admitted that MILF forces provided him sanctuary in Central Mindanao before his arrest on March 16 at a checkpoint in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in Maguindanao province, a stronghold of the separatist group. He said he entered the Philippines in year 2000 and trained MILF rebels in Camp Abubakar As-Siddique in Maguindanao and later Abu Sayyaf militants in making bombs and how to use cell phones to trigger explosions. Rohmat said Filipino terror groups are plotting to attack civilian targets across the country. Rohmat in a brief interview with reporters Wednesday, said the Abu Sayyaf was plotting major attacks in the southern cities of Davao and Cagayan de Oro and also in Manila.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Rough up a few offspring of the upper classes and things start to change...
Malaysia clipped the wings of its religious police yesterday, warning that it did not want to be like Afghanistan under Taleban rule, and ordered national police supervision of their controversial raids. The religious police stirred a storm of protest with heavy-handed behavior during a January raid on a nightclub in the Malaysian capital, and in another incident by detaining a transsexual person visiting the home of Muslim friends. "This is a very serious matter, we do not want to see Malaysia turning into Afghanistan during the Taleban (rule)," said Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, the minister who announced the change. "If this is not stopped, it may happen," he said.
PAS in under control since the last election, so now maybe they can show a bit of good sense. Singapore makes a better model than Pakistan.
Nazri, a minister in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's department, said the cabinet was unhappy at the haphazard manner in which the raids were done and wanted them to be more orderly. "So since we haven't decided whether it (the law) should be reviewed or not, I've been informed that the cabinet wants it (the raids) to be done with the approval of the police," Nazri told reporters.
I guess that's a compromise. It'd be better if they weren't done at all. I have problems myself with the idea of religious police and autos da fe and that sort of thing...
The district's chief of police must now first approve raids by religious police, and senior police officers must accompany the raiders to ensure someone can be held accountable if a raid goes wrong. Nazri's remarks followed a meeting with members of an influential coalition of rights bodies, Islamic groups, political personalities and business people that has launched a campaign demanding the repeal of the Muslim religious laws.
Bravo for the Malays! Even Islamic groups are included. I'm impressed.
Zaitun Kasim, of the rights group Suaram, who attended the meeting, said the government's move brought the coalition a step nearer to its goal of getting the laws repealed. "In terms of checks and balances, of course it's a step forward. It really affirms that you cannot allow certain authorities to go off on their own and do things. It sends a good message to the public — that you can demand these things." Authorities have also put a stop to a surveillance program for Muslims to spy on each other in the southern coastal city of Malacca, Zaitun said. Religious police usually patrol parks and hotels to check on unmarried couples kissing in the shadows or visit restaurants to track down Muslims not observing the fasting month of Ramadan. But the nightclub raid was more heavy-handed. About 100 young Muslims were accused of breaking rules on drinking and attire, detained, taunted and denied the use of toilet facilities while they were held. Public anger prompted the government to drop action against the offenders and call for a review of raid procedures.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Regular coppers *hate* political/religious police, just inherently. First of all, these zampolit will try to push the police around, and maybe threaten them a little bit. Then they will stomp on the policemen's toes and get in the way of the police doing their job. Shortly thereafter, they will start having accidents on the job, mostly slip and fall and fall and fall and fall...
Iran is working to acquire body armor, high-tech communications and satellite surveillance through U.N-sponsored programs for what it says is its fight against drug smugglers. But Washington fears the procurements - along with legal and illegal arms purchases by Tehran - could be used against its troops in the region.
A glance at the U.N programs and equipment:
- Since 1996, Britain and France, in cooperation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, have provided Iran with an unspecified number of body armor vests, armor plates and night vision goggles. The program also has sent advanced radio and other communications equipment to Tehran
- A proposal by Tehran to set up a U.N-funded regional satellite network for surveillance of drug traffickers is on hold because of U.S. and allied fears it could be used for surveillance of American troops in Iraq, Afghanistan - and ultimately Iran itself, should it ever become a target. Diplomats say the draft has been shifted from the U.N. office on outer space to the U.N. drugs and crime office, both based in Vienna, Austria.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/25/2005 4:21:15 PM ||
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A newspaper owned by the slain former premier Rafik Hariri reported Tuesday that a UN report into his assassination is expected to accuse Lebanese authorities of negligence and evidence tampering. Hariri was killed on Feb 14 in a massive explosion on a seafront central Beirut street that devastated his motorcade and killed 17 others. A UN team dispatched to look into the attack completed its mission in Beirut on March 16. In the three weeks of investigating, Deputy Police Commissioner Peter Fitzgerald of Ireland inspected the bomb site and met Lebanese politicians, senior security and judicial officials, as well as members of the opposition.
It is due to release its confidential report later this week, but leaks about its purported contents have emerged in recent days. Hariri's Al-Mustaqbal newspaper quoted various unnamed sources on Tuesday saying the UN team noted "a clear flaw in the scene of the crime where there was abnormal chaos and lack of coordination among security apparatuses." It pointed to the discovery of three bodies day after the explosion as evidence of the confusion that surrounded the cleanup operation. The paper also says the fact-finding team found Lebanese security authorities had "tampered with evidence by rushing to tow away Hariri's motorcade from the scene of the crime," to a police barracks, "then sending on the same night a bulldozer to fill the (explosion's) crater and cleaning the road in order to open it to traffic."
The government has said it was holding its own investigation into the explosion and has not made any official statements. Walid Jumblatt, a leading member of the anti-Syrian opposition demanding an international inquiry and the dismissal of Lebanon's pro-Syrian security chiefs, hinted on Sunday that the UN report did not have "good news to some of the joint (Lebanese-Syrian security) apparatuses." Meanwhile, members of Hariri's parliamentary bloc appealed to Arab leaders meeting in Algeria Tuesday to demand an international inquiry into the assassination, saying this represented "a serious gateway to uncover the truth and deal with the crisis caused by this crime."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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The pubs! Don't forget my detailed, personal inspection of the pubs!
Posted by: Peter Fitzgerald ||
03/25/2005 10:04 Comments ||
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The Syrian opposition lives under the watchful eye of the regime and in the hope that reforms promised by President Bashar Assad when he came to power will get back on track and put an end to their isolation. "There are no organized political forces and no alternatives," admits lawyer Anwar Bunni, a rights activist who wants the emergency law, in force since the Baath party took power in 1963 to be repealed as well as a change in the Constitution to "allow the emergence of new political forces."
"The opposition doesn't want the regime out but there is a popular aspiration to freedom and dignity that those in power cannot ignore," he says, saying Assad represented a "quickly disappointed" hope. Assad, who only came to power in 2000 thanks to the untimely death of his older brother Bassel in a car accident in 1994, began his time in office with a big enough dose of freedom for some to see the start of a "Damascus spring." But he soon returned to a more orthodox state of affairs under pressure from powerful political bosses. However, the change of direction did not affect his popularity with ordinary Syrians, who see in him an alternative to the iron-fisted regime bequeathed by his father, Hafez, one of the toughest in the Arab world. "Syrians think the president is good but that his entourage is bad," says writer Yassin Hajj-Saleh, who spent 16 years in prison.
"If the tsar only knew..."
Assad "isn't a prince locked up in an ivory tower," says one Western analyst, who notes that "the pace of reforms has been broken" and asks "how long will the state of grace last, with the president overtaken by international events?"
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has delayed the release of a UN report into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and failed to indicate when it would be made public. The decision by Annan came as Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said he "might" appeal to the international community to help "unveil the truth" about Hariri's murder against a backdrop of a series of bombings near Beirut in the last week which have left three people dead.
Annan received the report into Hariri's death yesterday from the UN fact-finding mission to Lebanon, led by Irish Deputy Police Commissioner Peter Fitzgerald. He was due to deliver the report to the UN Security Council last night, but decided to postpone the move at the last minute. A UN spokesperson in New York said: "The Secretary General just wanted a little bit more time to prepare the ground for this report." He declined to comment further. But a UN insider described the closely held findings of the inquiry as "one of the most powerful reports the United Nations has ever done."
Speaking earlier this week Annan had said "a more comprehensive investigation" into Hariri's death "may well be necessary." Speculation is rife the report will indicate a raft of failures in the immediate aftermath of the murder by Lebanese and Syrian officials including tampering with evidence and failing to properly seal off the murder site. But speaking earlier Lahoud said: "I am determined to employ all efforts, use all means and to rely on all international and Arab bodies to get at the truth." The president added he was ready to "punish severely all perpetrators, managers, partners, accomplices and those who have been incompetent." Lahoud's statement represents a huge volte face from his previous position where he insisted an international probe amounted to interference in Lebanese internal issues. Lebanon's political opposition has blamed Lebanese-Syrian intelligence agents for Hariri's assassination. Both the opposition and the Hariri family have been demanding an international commission of inquiry into the assassination. Chouf MP Walid Jumblatt said last week he learned the UN team reported Lebanese authorities had "concealed data" in connection with the Hariri investigation.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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A wave of panic spread throughout the country on Wednesday following this week's two explosions in New Jdeideh and Alta Vista commercial center in Kaslik, with people fearing a repeat at any moment. In Sidon, a false rumor about the existence of a bomb in the city's Martyrs' Square raised fears among the citizens, who started to suspect any strange object. Some Sidon residents were also reportedly afraid of leaving their homes after they saw a bomb on the street. The bomb was examined by an Internal Security Forces (ISF) expert, who said it was a "very old disabled bomb," which was randomly thrown on the street.
The Holy Spirit University (USEK) in Kaslik received a false bomb threat. An unidentified person called the university's rector, father Antoine Ahmar, and told him there was a bomb about to explode on the university premises. USEK students and personnel were immediately evacuated in order to allow security forces personnel to inspect the premises. Several cars were suspected of carrying bombs in several areas of Lebanon. In the areas of Mansourieh, Achrafieh and Jamhour, cars left by their owners on the streets raised fear among the citizens, who asked the ISF personnel to check them. An ambulance transporting a pregnant woman to a hospital in the area of Bourj Rizk, provoked tension and fear among the nearby residents, who thought that an explosion broke out in the region.
At the Lebanese University Literature department, a leather suitcase left in the hallway caused unease among the students. Security forces checked the suitcase, which contained books and money belonging to a student. For its part, the ISF urged the people not to believe rumors and assured that all security forces would work to preserve stability and security.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 9:31:53 PM ||
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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Syria will announce within days a "precise timetable" for the full withdrawal of its remaining forces in Lebanon. Speaking from Paris following a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac, Mubarak said Syrian President Bashar Assad would provide the United Nations with a full timetable for the withdrawal "within a week." Mubarak met with Assad several times in the last 10 days, most recently during this week's Arab League summit in Algiers. Mubarak said: "I told him that it should take place before the elections to avoid other problems, and I believe he is fully aware of this."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Syria's ambassador to Washington said yesterday he hoped the United States and Israel would follow his country's example and withdraw from Iraq and Palestinian areas, just as Syria was leaving Lebanon. "We will withdraw (from Lebanon) as soon as possible, the sooner the better. And we are not talking of two or three months. We will do this very, very quickly," Syria's envoy Imad Moustapha said in a speech at Georgetown University. "I hope this will inspire other countries in the Middle East to withdraw their occupations from Iraq and from Palestine and from Syria itself," he said. "President Bush has many times spoken about making Iraq a model that will inspire the whole Arab world. ... I think the Arab people will love to see this (Syrian) model followed by the Americans and the Israelis." Despite his barbs, the ambassador also made clear his country was eager to improve its relations with the United States and hoped Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon would be a step in that direction.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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I agree the Americans in Iraq and Israel should follow Syria's example by invading a neigbouring country. Lets see there are two countries that border both and Jordan has been both reliable and stable. That leaves Syria. Don't worry it will take far less than 20 years.
The United States called on Lebanon yesterday to hold internationally monitored elections on time and warned that the world would hold accountable all those who resort to violence to destabilize Lebanon. "Elections must move forward — free and fair elections in the presence of international observers — in their scheduled time. That should be the priority," Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield told reporters in Beirut. Satterfield said a prompt parliamentary election would create a "different political environment" in Lebanon, which has been dominated by Syria for three decades. Satterfield is in Lebanon to push for a rapid withdrawal of all Syrian troops on a declared timetable, the US Embassy said. He was speaking after meeting Maronite Christian Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, who is a key opposition figure.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 ||
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UNITED NATIONS - Syria on Thursday blamed a Security Council resolution last year demanding its withdrawal from Lebanon for the tensions that preceded the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
Syria's UN ambassador Fayssal Mekdad also suggested there was bias in the report by a UN fact-finding mission that pointed a finger at Syrian influence over the political atmosphere in which the killing took place. "What caused the division in Lebanon is the resolution," Mekdad told reporters in response to the mission's report, released earlier on Thursday.
Hezbollah, the Paleos and the Syrians being such uniting forces in a way.
"This is the background that polarised the Lebanese people, not the Syrian presence, which has been accepted and welcomed by all the Lebanese people," he said.
"They love us! They really love us!"
Mekdad said Peter FitzGerald, the deputy Irish police commissioner who headed the fact-finding mission, "should have been more objective" in compiling the report. "He has taken one side against the other. It seems to me he met only with the opposition and those who wanted to accuse Syria of something," the ambassador said.
"Why does everyone look at us like that?"
The report said Syria "clearly exerted influence that goes beyond the reasonable exercise of cooperative or neighbourly relations," and said that atmosphere "provided the backdrop to the assassination."
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Mekdad said Peter FitzGerald, the deputy Irish police commissioner
Finally got it. Yikes. Another 10 years and you'll have point at the banannas for me to understand.
The new conspiracy theory
According to high-level Lebanese intelligence sources—Christian and Muslim—former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was reportedly assassinated in a sophisticated explosion-by-wire bombing authorized by the Bush administration and Ariel Sharon's Likud government in Israel.
There are also strong indications that the Hariri assassination was carried out by the same rogue Syrian intelligence agents used in the 2002 car bombing assassination of Lebanese Christian leader Elie Hobeika, who was prepared to testify against Sharon in a Brussels human rights court. That case involved the Israeli Prime Minister's role in the 1982 massacre by Israeli troops of Palestinian refugees at the Sabra and Chatilla camps in Beirut.
Cause everyone knows that Sharon has Syria dancing on his puppet masters strings
The Hariri assassination used wire-bombing technology because Hariri's security personnel used electronic countermeasures to fend off a remote control bomb using wireless means. It has meanwhile been revealed that the Bush administration has used Syrian intelligence agents to torture Al-Qaeda suspects through the program known as "extraordinary rendition".
Hariri, a pan-Arabist and Lebanese nationalist, was known to adamantly oppose the construction of a major US air base in the north of Lebanon.
Because God knows we can never have too many air bases
The United States wants Syrian troops completely out of Lebanon before construction of the base is initiated.
So we used rogue Syrians to boom Harir to force the Syrians out? Damm, we've devious!
Hariri's meetings with Hezbollah shortly before his death also angered Washington and Jerusalem, according to the Lebanese intelligence sources.
Washington and Jerusalem media experts spurn Hariri's assassination as being the work of Syrian intelligence on orders from President Bashar Assad. However, a number of Middle East political observers in Washington claim that Hariri's assassination was not in the interests of Assad, but that the Bush and Sharon administrations had everything to gain from it, including the popular Lebanese uprising against the Syrian occupation.
Lebanese intelligence sources report that even without a formal agreement with Lebanon, the contract for the northern Lebanese air base has been let by the Pentagon to Jacobs Engineering Group of Pasadena, California. Other construction support will be provided by Bechtel Corporation.
What, no Haliburton?
Jacobs Engineering and Jacobs Sverdrup are currently contracted for work in Saudi Arabia for Aramco, Iraq for the US occupation authority, Bosnia, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.
The Lebanese air base is reportedly to be used as a transit and logistics hub for US forces in Iraq and as a rest and relaxation location for US troops in the region. In addition, the Lebanese base will be used to protect US oil pipelines in the region (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Mosul/Kirkuk-Ceyhan) as well as to destabilize the Assad government in Syria. The size of the planned air base reportedly is on the scale of the massive American Al-Udeid air base in Qatar.
Ok, I'm convinced, let's build it
A number of intelligence sources have reported that assassinations of foreign leaders like Hariri and Hobeika are ultimately authorized by two key White House officials, Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and Deputy National Security Adviser Elliot Abrams.
If there's a dirty deed to be done, you somehow know Karl Rove is behind it.
In addition, Abrams is the key liaison between the White House and Sharon's office for such covert operations, including political assassinations. "Abrams is the guy they [the Israelis] go to for a wink and a nod for such ops," reported one key source. ** Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based journalist and columnist and the co-author of "America's Nightmare: The Presidency of George Bush II".
A totally reliable and un-biased source.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/25/2005 3:36:04 PM ||
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Wayne Madsen...was he drunk, insane on meth, or being blackmailed by his gay lovers?
#5
So .... we need another airbase in Lebanon, even thought we have bases in Turkey and now Iraq and a new base in Lebanon would only add 300 miles to an fighter's range when a mid-air refueling adds 600-700 miles and is a heck of a lot cheaper and easier than a new airbase.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/25/2005 17:01 Comments ||
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Yes, but will there be a good officer's club at the new airbase?
As long as there's Guinness flowing, I approve!
Posted by: Peter Fitzgerald ||
03/25/2005 17:25 Comments ||
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I for one would like to thank Wayne Madsen for nailing down the true axis of evil (U.S. and Israel). Lord know things would be better in the world if teh Jews lived under the PLO and if the U.S. would just stay in the Western Hemisphere.
#14
Hmmm, northern Lebanon huh? Like, say, in the Bekka Valley???
Now why would the US want to move bulldozing and digging equipment THERE?
(and why would the Syrian-affiliated intel people desperately try to raise up opposition to that?)
Posted by: too true ||
03/25/2005 19:14 Comments ||
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too true, HA!
Maybe our undergroud lizard overlords're there!
Posted by: Jerry ||
03/25/2005 19:18 Comments ||
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The old tricks aren't working anymore. You can't block refrom in the Arab country by screaming about the Joooooos. They're finally getting wise to that racket over there. Those dictators had it so easy. Any criticism or complaints and all they had to do was to start jumping up and down waving their hands and rolling their eyes about zionists, likudniks, secret control....and the conversation about reform was effectively over.
Posted by: John in Tokyo ||
03/25/2005 19:21 Comments ||
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"Are we gonna have to move lock stock and gentle?"
Shipman,
Somebody say Gentle, didn't Gentle end up in the Sink Trap?
Anywho, I am not even going to dignfy this frivolous LLL article, with serious commentary.
Two years after war dramatically changed Iraq's political landscape, the former ruling minority Sunnis are developing plans to participate in a government formed by elections they boycotted.
In a significant shift, several Sunni groups that hitherto shunned the political process met last weekend to create a unified front and set of demands that they will present to the Shiite and Kurdish leaders now hammering out a new government.
The meeting was a reversal for Sunni leaders who have supported insurgents and urged US troops to leave Iraq immediately.
The new effort, observers say, appears to be an admission that their strategy - to stop Iraq's election and denounce the formation of a new government - has failed. Bringing the former ruling class into Iraq's emerging power structure, they add, could help quell the insurgency.
"Participation of the Sunnis is both religiously important and politically important," says John Esposito, a professor at Georgetown University who specializes in Islam and international affairs. "It can establish a precedent for other Sunni leaders to become involved."
The significance of the conference was underscored by its attendees. Participants included members of the Muslim Scholars Association, a group of Sunni religious leaders, among them some of the most extreme figures who have influence with the insurgency.
Also present were leaders from cities in the "Sunni Triangle," including Mosul, Haditha, and Salam Pak, which is bubbling with insurgent activity. Representatives of Waqaf Sunna, the powerful administrating body of Sunni religious affairs, attended as well.
Some Sunnis have previously tried to assert themselves as representatives of the diverse minority. Returned exile Adnan Pachachi, current vice president Ghazi Yawar, and some members of the Islamic Party formed a coalition a few weeks ago.
But their group has little, if any, credibility because it does not share the strong anti-occupation sentiments of most Sunnis or hold sway over the insurgency.
"For the past two years, there has been no real representative of the Sunnis in Iraq. Now there is a real attempt to form a representative of all Sunnis," says Ibnayan al-Jarba, who helped organize the meeting. "The security situation in general will not improve if [the new political leaders] do not hear from us. We have a direct effect on the [Sunnis] in the street."
Mr. Jarba says a group was chosen at the meeting to fan out among Sunni tribal, religious, and political leaders in the next few weeks to solidify a base of Sunni support and then begin talks with Shiite and Kurd leaders about their demands.
Jarba says that includes a meeting this weekend with Harith al-Dhari, a leader of the Muslim Scholars Association, which eschews political participation.
"There is a lot matching in our ideas and the Muslim Scholars Association," Jarba says.
The sudden activity in the Sunni community, explains former election candidate Sherif Ali bin al-Hussein, will start a path toward negotiations that will eventually call for a laying down of arms in exchange for inclusion in the power structure.
"We are trying to exploit the [post-election] trauma of the Sunnis coming face-to-face with the loss of their power," says Mr. Hussein, who failed to win a seat but is trying now, as a Sunni and prince from the royal family that once ruled Iraq, to facilitate the process. "Already they have come to terms with participating in the next election, across the board, 100 percent."
The list produced by the meeting includes demands that Sunni interests are provided for in Iraq's permanent constitution, which the national assembly is charged with writing this year.
But it also includes thornier demands such as recognition that Iraqis have a right to oppose US occupation, a schedule be developed for US forces to leave Iraq, reversal of US de-Baathification policy in the military, and the release of all detainees for whom there is no solid evidence they committed a crime. They also want a Sunni in a top job in the country's security apparatus, particularly the Ministry of Interior.
Shiites are taking note of the shift in Sunni willingness to participate and are taking the emerging group seriously as the first real representatives of the Sunnis.
"The most important thing is that they create a [leadership] for Sunnis," says Humam Hamoudi, a candidate from the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), a group of Shiite religious leaders that won the majority of national assembly seats.
The UIA has struggled to find Sunnis willing to negotiate who also have clout in the Sunni community. But Mr. Hamoudi says those efforts were renewed after the top Shiite religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani, instructed them to do so.
"He appealed to us to take more care of Sunnis' rights. He said, 'Sunnis are not only our brothers but they are yourselves,' so treat them accordingly," Hamoudi says.
If Sunnis don't participate, says Mr. Esposito, they will be further alienated by a government dominated by Shiites. Experience in other countries, he says, suggests this could lead to sectarian trouble.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/25/2005 2:09:01 PM ||
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No, you cannot play. Mommy says you have to clean up the big mess you left in your room...and that means all the crap in your triangle.
#4
If Sunnis donât participate, says Mr. Esposito, they will be further alienated by a government dominated by Shiites. Experience in other countries, he says, suggests this could lead to sectarian trouble.
WTF was going on before then? These whiners can friggin wait till the NEXT elections to take part. Till then, behave.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
03/25/2005 17:05 Comments ||
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Sudanese authorities in cooperation with the US embassy have launched an investigation into an incident in which a USAID worker was shot and wounded in the troubled Darfur region, a senior official said Friday.
Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ibrahim Mahmud Hamid, quoted by the independent Akhbar Al-Youm daily, said a probe had been launched into Tuesday's incident and blamed rebel movements for the attack.
A woman working for the US Agency for International Development was wounded while traveling in a humanitarian convoy traveling on a road which was supposed to be safe.
US officials said the woman, an information officer whose named was withheld, was shot in the face but her wounds were not life-threatening.
"The government is sure it was the rebels who attacked the USAID convoy," said Hamid, explaining that the attack took place in an area where rebels had repeated violated security protocols.
Following the attack, the United Nations on Wednesday declared that the Kass-Nyala road where the attack occurred in South Darfur state was closed to UN staff until further notice.
One of the two main rebel movements in Darfur, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), rejected the government's accusation and charged that non-Sudanese Arab gunmen had infiltrated the area and may be responsible for the shooting.
"We have reason to believe that foreign elements are operating in the region. We think they could have links to Al-Qaeda and are part of a group in favour of Sharia (Islamic law). They are probably behind the attack," SLM spokesman Mahjub Hussein told AFP.
The spokesman did not elaborate on his claim.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/25/2005 1:06:58 PM ||
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Many of Iraq's predominantly Sunni Arab insurgents would lay down their arms and join the political process in exchange for guarantees of their safety and that of their co-religionists, according to a prominent Sunni politician.
Sharif Ali Bin al-Hussein, who heads Iraq's main monarchist movement and is in contact with guerrilla leaders, said many insurgents including former officials of the ruling Ba'ath party, army officers, and Islamists have been searching for a way to end their campaign against US troops and Iraqi government forces since the January 30 election.
"Firstly, they want to ensure their own security," says Sharif Ali, who last week hosted a pan-Sunni conference attended by tribal sheikhs and other local leaders speaking on behalf of the insurgents.
Insurgent leaders fear coming out into the open to talk for fear of being targeted by US military or Iraqi security forces' raids, he said.
Sharif Ali distinguishes many Sunni insurgents, whom he says took up arms in reaction to the invasive raids in search of Ba'athist leaders and other "humiliations" soon after the 2003 war, from the radical jihadist branch associated with Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Unlike Mr Zarqawi's followers, who are thought to be responsible for the big suicide bomb attacks on Iraqi civilian targets, the other Sunni insurgents are more likely to plant bombs and carry out ambushes against security forces and US troops active near their homes.
Sharif Ali said the success of Iraq's elections dealt the insurgents a demoralising blow, prompting them to consider the need to enter the political process.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/25/2005 1:14:52 PM ||
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âFirstly, they want to ensure their own security,â
Please don't kill me.
Insurgent leaders fear coming out into the open to talk for fear of being targeted by US military or Iraqi security forcesâ raids, he said.
Really! I said please don't kill me.
Sharif Ali said the success of Iraqâs elections dealt the insurgents a demoralising blow, prompting them to consider the need to enter the political process.
Yeah, what he said! Maybe getting snuffed by girls is upsetting the world view of the brave jihadis. Exit strategy? We've got an exit strategy for all y'all.
#8
This is the usual fight and talk strategy employed by these hard cases since the beginning. If they want to stop fighting, it's not like anyone's going to stop them. Most of them aren't even known to either the Iraqi government or Uncle Sam - otherwise, they'd have been picked up - since contrary to the media's lies, there are no no-go zones for coalition forces.
President Bush (news - web sites) has agreed to sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan in a major policy shift rewarding a key ally in the war on terrorism, administration officials said on Friday.
A senior Bush administration official said the sale, which was blocked for 15 years, "will not change the overall balance of power" between Pakistan and India, and the jets "are vital to Pakistan's security as President (Pervez) Musharraf takes numerous risks prosecuting the war on terror."
One Bush administration official said the sale involved 24 planes but another said the numbers could change.
India's prime minister expressed "great disappointment," a spokesman in New Delhi said.
Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed called Bush's decision "a good gesture... This shows that our relations are growing stronger."
Washington blocked the sale of the F-16s to Pakistan in 1990 as a sanction against its nuclear weapons program.
Though no final decision has been made "at this point" on similar F-16 sales to India, the senior Bush administration official said: "We will respond positively to the Indian tender for bids to sell multi-role combat aircraft."
The F-16 is made by Lockheed Martin Corp., the largest U.S. defense contractor.
Jehangir Karamat, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, opened new political possibilities for advancing Pakistan's stalled 15-year quest for the F-16 fighters when he said last month that Islamabad would not object to India also buying the American-made jets.
The decision follows Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites)'s visit to India and Pakistan earlier this month. The State Department informed key congressional leaders on Friday.
In New Delhi, a spokesman for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Bush called him on Friday about the planned sale.
"The prime minister expressed India's great disappointment at the decision which could have negative consequences for India's security environment," Sanjaya Baru, spokesman for the prime minister's office, told Reuters.
India has strongly opposed the sale of F-16s to Pakistan after the Pentagon (news - web sites) cleared arms sales worth $1.2 billion to Pakistan last year. New Delhi says the planes could only be used against it in a conflict.
Islamabad in turn has said that any move by the United States to sell Patriot anti-missile systems to India would trigger a new arms race in the region, after a U.S. defense team made a presentation last month in New Delhi.
The F-16 sale represents a major policy shift for the United States and a final step toward tacit acceptance of Pakistan's possession of nuclear weapons.
"President Musharraf made a commitment to stand with the United States," the senior administration official said. "This is a long-standing request."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/25/2005 1:21:40 PM ||
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#1
I don't believe this crap. I am not going to be convinced until the Pakis get physical delivery. Bush is pretty intelligent and he's got a trick up his sleeve. I don't think the Paki's will ever see the actual shipment.
#2
There are base-model F-16s and there are the fully-equipped versions. I suspect that Pakistan gets the model with the stick shift, the bench seats, and the AM radio.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/25/2005 14:14 Comments ||
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Bush is pretty intelligent and he's got a trick up his sleeve.
He said we'd sell them the planes. He never mentioned anything about spare parts.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
03/25/2005 14:23 Comments ||
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They will be the C/D models. Pakistan received 40 A/Bs in the 1980s. India's AF outnumbers the Paks by more than 2:1 and even greater in quality. All this does is slow for a little while the divergence in numbers and quality wrt India.
Posted by: ed ||
03/25/2005 15:16 Comments ||
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#5
As far as I'm concerned, there's still this nagging problem named "A.Q. Khan" that needs to be resolved...
#6
Wonder if these will be equipped with the remote controlled ejection seats?
Posted by: Steve ||
03/25/2005 15:54 Comments ||
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#7
"Ideal for Cluster bomb use! Think Balochistan!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/25/2005 16:03 Comments ||
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They'll be on the dock waiting to ship... there's just that little matter of the delivery of OBL's head on a platter.
Posted by: DO ||
03/25/2005 16:35 Comments ||
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#9
It would be easy enough to put location emitters in the things, maybe even connected to the Black Box -- not likely Pakistani mechanics would notice the anomaly. And maintenance is always an issue in that part of the world, even when parts are available.
A militant Somali Muslim cleric has warned of a Holy War or "Jihad" if foreign peacekeepers are deployed. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys is a senior member of the Islamic courts, which has a militia, and is accused by the United States of having links to al-Qaeda.
President Abdullahi Yusuf wants peacekeepers to protect his government when it relocates from Kenya. Somalia has not had a functioning government for 14 years and has been divided by rival warlords.
Mr Aweys, who denies that any terror groups operate in Somalia, said it would be the religious duty of all Somalis to fight any peacekeeping force. "We will fight fiercely to the death any intervention force that arrives in Somalia," he said.
He also urged foreign countries not to fund the proposed peace force. East African countries have agreed to send some 6,800 Sudanese and Ugandan troops to Somalia. Several Mogadishu-based warlords, named in Mr Yusuf's exiled government, have also opposed the use of foreign troops. MPs were involved in a brawl during a debate on the issue last week. Mr Yusuf does not have a strong support base in Mogadishu, where gunmen can be seen running roadblocks on behalf of the rival warlords.
This article starring:
President Abdullahi Yusuf
SHEIKH HASAN DAHIR AWEYS
Islamic courts
Islamic courts
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/25/2005 1:05:13 PM ||
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#1
How eager would this guys' followers be if a Tomahawk came sailing through his front door with no advance warning?
#4
Seems the whole Blackhawk down thing went to this fella's head. Imagine what the Army rangers could do in two weeks, if given a free reign, air support, and political backing. Time to restore some sane thinking to the shitholes of the world.
Thank you for the coverage of the academy. We worked very hard to make this happen. Not many people gave us much hope that we would pull it off. I feel like singing the Toby Keith song, "How Do You Like Me Now!" We have 109 cadets that have completed basic training and on 22 March we held our grand opening with classes beginning on 23 March. The students will receive a 4 year college education in engineering, political science or foreign language and will commit to the Afghan National Army for 10 years. They will graduate as 2nd lieutenants. We did this in one year. Again, thanks!
COL James Wilhite, Chief
National Military Academy Implementation Team
NOTE: I am in the picture with the group of 4 or 5 people in the front of a classroom. I am on the extreme right.
Thank you for your service, Sir, and congratulations to the faculty and cadets. West Point played an important role in the growth and unity of the U.S. - may the NMAA do the same for Afghanistan
Posted by: Robin Burk ||
03/25/2005 7:09:28 AM ||
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After three years of poking around caves, raiding compounds, and getting the slip from motorbike mullahs, the intelligence communities chasing Osama bin Laden finally seem to know what they're on the lookout for.
To find the world's most wanted man, Pakistani forces are trying to spot signs of his elaborate security entourage. Lt. Gen. Safdar Hussain, Pakistan's top commander in the tribal region near the Afghan border, says Mr. bin Laden is guarded by some 50 men, divided into concentric circles of security.
Despite President Pervez Musharraf's recent statement that bin Laden's trail had gone cold, the hunt goes on.
"I am desperately looking for the signature of his security; because it is then I can declare victoryâŠ. Finding the signature means either I will get hold of him or I will kill him," General Hussain told the Monitor in an interview at his headquarters in Peshawar.
Last month, the US launched advertisements on Pakistani TV and radio highlighting rewards for information leading to the arrest of any of 14 suspects, starting with Bin Laden. If top Al Qaeda leaders are along the Pakistani-Afghan border, they are believed to be at a place where they can go to tribal areas in both countries.
Captured militants and intelligence gathered through members of breakaway factions indicate that several layers of security surround bin Laden at all times.
"There is a ring of very close guards, there is an outer guard, and then there is an inner guard, and also various circles. Everybody has a code to enter from the outer circle to the inner circle, then another to move from the inner circle to meeting him," says Hussain.
At night, the rings of security are indicated by flashlight signals.
When bin Laden's group moves, says Hussain, they go in caravans and dress in women's clothing to avoid detection by satellite.
"Now I have also given orders that when every vehicle is checked, the women are asked to say something so that you can make out whether it is a male voice or a female voice," he says.
Pakistani forces captured 620 militants as well. The number of foreign militants - mostly Uzbek, Chechen, and Tajiks - in Waziristan is now estimated at between 80 and 100, a steep decline from the 600- to 700-person estimate of last year.
"In these 48 operations which were in the length and breadth of the whole South Waziristan agency, the possibility of this fellow [bin Laden] being in one of the target areas cannot be ruled out," says Hussain. "But I have nothing of this indication [of his security entourage] in my area."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/25/2005 12:03:33 AM ||
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Assuming any of this is true, it would be a shame, a damned cryin' shame, if the good LTGen Hussain was to somehow get killed in one of those cross-border confusions that happen so regularly on the Afghan/Pakistan border. After all, his OPSEC is so good...
#3
The "terrorists" on television are almost certainly not actors but genuine detainees arrested by the security forces on suspicion of being part of the insurgency.
Jordan denied Wednesday reports by Israeli newspapers that King Abdullah II had made stinging attacks against Iran, Syria and Lebanon's Hizbullah movement. That denial was corroborated by a Jewish-American leader before whose organization the king allegedly made the remarks. Two Israeli newspapers - Haaretz and Yediot Ahronot - reported Wednesday that the king had said Syria and Hizbullah were encouraging Palestinian resistance fighters to wage attacks against Israel, and described them as "the greatest threats to stability in the Middle East."
Yediot described Abdullah's comments as "an attack of rare severity," saying the monarch accused Damascus, Hizbullah and Tehran of trying to fan attacks to divert world attention from events in Lebanon. "What was reported out of the meeting that was held between King Abdullah II and a delegation of leaders of American Jewish Organizations is not accurate," said James Tisch. Tisch, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, was part of a delegation that met with the king in Washington. The monarch "briefed the delegation on the peace process and the need to support Abu Mazen and the peace process," he said in reference to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
According to Tisch, Abdullah "said should any violence occur, (Israeli) Premier Ariel Sharon should not be quick to blame the Palestinian leadership." Asma Khodr, a Jordanian government spokeswoman, confirmed the version given by Tisch and said Abdullah's "words were twisted" by the Israeli media. "On the contrary, King Abdullah stressed the brotherly ties that Jordan has with both Syria and Lebanon and Hizbullah's role on the Lebanese political scene," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Pakistan is ready to pull out troops form the Siachen glacier as per an agreement between New Delhi and Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mohammad Kasuri said. "We are prepared to do it tomorrow. There was already an agreement between the governments of India and Pakistan, let's implement it tomorrow. There was an agreement years ago," he said. Kasuri said Pakistan always aimed at a certain level of deterrence and "we have succeeded in it".
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Hundreds of Indian and Pakistani troops die each year trying to maintain fixed positions on top of the Siachen glacier.
Right-wing Hindu leader Narendra Modi has called off a planned visit to Britain this week because of opposition there to his trip, Indian television news channel Aajtak reported yesterday. Modi, the chief minister of India's Gujarat state who has been accused of complicity in the killing of over 2,000 Muslims in riots in 2002, had been due to leave for London today.
The Indos should be getting the idea he's damaged goods any time now...
British groups were planning to hold protests during his visit, the television channel said. Indian news agencies said the move followed apprehensions his security could be breached. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil telephoned him late at night and persuaded him not to leave for London. They told him that the government had information that he would face security risks during his visit, the agencies said. Modi was to inaugurate the "Vibrant Gujarat" function at the Royal Albert Hall in London in a bid to attract foreign investment to the state. However, several organizations, including the South Asia Solidarity Group and AWAAZ had announced their decision to organize protests outside the hall. Last week the United States refused Modi a visa to address a convention of the Asian American Hotel Owners' Association in Florida. US Ambassador David Mulford said this was because he belonged to a category of "foreign government officials responsible for, or (who) directly carried out, at any time, particularly severe violation of religious freedom".
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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address a convention of the Asian American Hotel Ownersâ Association in Florida
Did they hold it at the Gator Bowl or Joe Robbie?
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei yesterday asked Washington to adopt a "clear and firm" policy against Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank with Israel vowing to expand existing communities. "We want a clear and firm American position concerning the Israeli government's plans to enlarge three settlement blocks in the West Bank and continue to build the wall," Qorei's office quoted him as saying.
The premier made the remarks in talks with US Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch and Deputy National Security Advisor Elliott Abrams in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Qorei said the United States was aware of the "destructive threats" such plans pose to the road map, the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the entire Middle East peace process. In his own meeting with the same US officials on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said there is no question of freezing Israel's planned expansion of Maale Adumim, the largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Welch and Abrams pressed Sharon for "clarifications" on the plan, a Sharon aide said. But Qorei said pussyfooting around was not enough. "Contenting yourself with asking for clarifications from Israel on its activities without adopting a firm position... will encourage (Sharon) to take unilateral decisions over the West Bank," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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But Qorei said pussyfooting around was not enough.
Haaahahahahahaaahha, this is pretty rich, coming from a member of a group well-versed in such behavior.
The government and Nawab Akbar Bugti agreed on Thursday to resolve the Balochistan crisis peacefully through political talks. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) president, and Mushahid Hussain Sayed, the party's general secretary, called on Bugti at his house in Dera Bugti on Thursday and held talks. Mushahid: Mushahid told journalists that the meeting lasted for four hours and they discussed every issue in detail. He said the two sides agreed to continue the dialogue process to resolve the issues. He said the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere and claimed Bugti expressed confidence that the PML leadership was sincere about finding a political solution to the crisis. Bugti had invited Shujaat, also chairman of the Balochistan Committee, to discuss all issues with him on Wednesday. The PML leaders told Bugti that they had President Musharraf's support. They presented new recommendations to Bugti to normalise the situation, however they did not disclose those recommendations to the media.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#3
Look on the bright side...they'd be complaining about all the glass to be picked up, if we had nuked them! The objective; pupils, was to get them to die!!
#4
Depleted Uranium is not radioactive (actually its slightly radioactive, but then lots of things are slightly radioactive). It is toxic in large enough quantities, but then so are most metals.
This is a Saddam era lie that for a while the MSM spread, that depleted uranium was causing birth defects and cancers after the 1991 war. The lie was put to bed by someone pointing out that Kuwait had much more depleted Uranium lying around than did Iraq and there were no increases in cancers and birth defects there. Ergo DU was not the cause.
#6
What a bunch of freaking idiots these posters are! I thought we were supposed to be liberating Iraq, as in helping them get their country back from a dictatorial regime. I never believed that, personally, and it looks like all you John Wayne wanna-be's couldn't give a crap about Iraqis either. You should do a little homework on DU. It's derived from the waste of nuclear reactors and has an extremely long half-life. To say that it's not radioactive, or only slightly so is just stupid, and to throw out all this phony tough talk just makes you look inhuman. I've heard more intelligent comments at my neighborhood biker bar. Wise up!
#8
commonsensebud, look you dimwit, our entire fu**ing planet is 'derived from the waste of nuclear reactions'. What is it with the Left and their almost religous adoration of ignorance.
They call it DEPLETED uranium (you idiot) because it is the WASTE that is generated by pulling out the RADIOACTIVE isotope of uranium to make reactor-stuff or bomb-stuff BEFORE it ever sees a reactor.
You clueless libs... study some science instead of fluffy sociology.
DU is no more toxic than lead. It's reality. Get a grip.
#11
Following the 1999 conflict in the Balkans, some public concern has been raised about the use of depleted uranium (DU) munitions in Kosovo. Various health effects from exposure have been claimed, including a 'Balkan syndrome' in some troops stationed there, both during the conflict and afterwards. A systematic study of DU concentrations in soil has recently been published (J Uyttenhove, M Lemmens and M Zizi (2002) Health Physics, 83(4) 543-48) following a collaboration between the Belgian Ministry of Defence and the Physics Department of the University of Ghent. Using a high-resolution gamma spectrometer, 150 soil samples from 50 selected sites all over Kosovo were analysed in the laboratory. Of the 50 chosen sites, 14 were close to areas where military information had revealed the use of DU munitions. After careful analysis, the authors conclude that there is no indication of DU contamination at any of the 50 sites, with a minimum detectable activity of 15 Bq. However, the authors make it clear that their conclusion relates to hypotheses about widespread DU contamination in Kosovo.
The authors had to devise a sensitive method to distinguish DU from natural uranium because uranium is present naturally in all soils and because Kosovo is an area of relatively high uranium concentrations. The progeny isotopes of uranium are removed in the enrichment process and DU is in equilibrium with protactinium-234 and thorium-234 isotopes after a few months. The long half-life of uranium-234 (240,000 years) is then an effective barrier to equilibrium with any other isotopes. In practice, the 1001 keV line in the decay of protactinium-234m can be used to discriminate between DU and natural uranium. For typical natural concentrations of uranium (25 Bq kg-1) the 1001 keV line is in the background noise of observed spectra using the Ghent spectrometer. The authors demonstrated that only if DU is present can the 1001 keV line be seen above background, and this was confirmed by comparing with DU spiked samples.
This study indicates that while some sensitive hand-held scintillation counters might be able to detect intact or fragmented DU munitions in post-battlefield conditions, such instruments could not be used as indicators of more widespread contamination. Only careful sampling and very sensitive laboratory equipment can do this unambiguously at present.
From actual measurements, if a tank crewman were to stay continuously inside a "heavy armor" tank that uses DU armor panels, fully loaded with only DU ammunition, with the gun pointed to the rear to maximize any exposure - 24 hours a day, 365 days a year - he would receive only about 25 percent of the permitted annual dose. Since nobody sits inside such a tank 24/7 for an entire year, exposure levels from realistic times, such as 900 hours per training year, are about the same dosage you might receive from cosmic radiation on a round-trip between New York and Los Angeles.
These are proven facts. They result from actual measurements that anyone can reproduce. They are not open to discussion, argument, or conjecture. They are what they are, and nobody can change them.
That said DU does still present the problem of uranium poisoning of the sort that occurs when a piece of DU passes through one's body at extremely high speed. Of course that sort is completely avoidable, all that is required is that one not place oneself on the battlefield in opposition to that US military.
#13
Ok, so phil needs to learn how to read-- I said "nuclear reactors", not "nuclear reactions"--and Leigh thinks that just because it's called 'depleted' it must be safe. Then Sobiesky pastes in an article about Kosovo, which had tiny fraction of the bombs dropped on it that Iraq had.
I'll quote Bomb-o-Rama here: This is so damned ignorant it doesn't warrant further attention.
So long, suckers.
Sobiesky pastes in an article about Kosovo, which had tiny fraction of the bombs dropped on it that Iraq had.
I don't have time to post a map comparing areas of Iraq and Kosovo for your viewing pleasure. Go and fetch world map. The area of Kosovo is a tad smaller than Cyprus. Hope that after you do compare, you would exclaim: "Duh!"
That is, of course, dependent on working mental faculties. I may be too presumptious in your case.
#21
The website where the story originated, it's whois info has been deliberatedly obsfucated. However, while it is hosted out of Dallas Tx, many of the services that make the thing are based in the Seattle area.
I sent an abuse claim to the hosting service for deliberately hiding the whois information.
#22
Commonsensebud:
I have just a little bit of experience with DU ammo:
Twenty years as a Munitions Maintenance Specialist with the USAF
Munitions Line Delivery Supervisor, 21st and 55th Fighter Squadrons (A-10s) 1993-98
30mm Storage and Inspection Supervisor, Prince Sultan AB, KSA, Jan-Jul 1995
4 selections as Munitions Supervisor for Red Flag at Nellis AFB, NV (A-10, F-15, F-16, Tornado, and CF-18 ops)
I have done my homework on DU. I did it for two decades. I did it during peacetime operations and during Operation Southern Watch. It was my JOB.
I am going to tell you this just once, and that's it. If you are close enough to breathe the tiny amount of DU dust created by a round's impact, you are already dead.
Now - list the homework you've done, or shut up and get the hell out of here.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/25/2005 7:42 Comments ||
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#23
The frontman for this 'organization' is someone named Robin Koerner. Whomever is funding/operating this website doesn't want anyone to know what they are up to, nor do they want anyone to know who is funding/operating it.
#24
When the legend is disproved by evidence, believe the legend. Right, Bud?
Coming up next: Zionist Death Ray Earthquake Tsunami Global Warming Machines Developed From Alien Technology Captured From Crashed UFO's At Area 51. Brought to you by Halliburton...
#25
WatchingAmerica.com provides translations of foreign press articles, which I consider a much-needed service. The original article was from Azzaman.com, an Iraqi paper.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 9:07 Comments ||
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#28
Bud. Bud. Bud. DU is not derived from the waste of nuclear reactors. DU is what is left after the fissionable (and more radioactive) U-235 is removed for nuclear reactors. DU is useless in nuclear reactors, but is a very good radiation shielding material. Better than lead, with about the same biochemical effects of lead when ingested.
Average annual intakes of uranium by adults is about 0.5mg (500 μg) from ingestion of food and water and 0.6 μg from breathing air. That is the more radioactive natural uranium that exists in the environment. To avoid this, I suggest you stop eating and breathing immediately.
And Shhh. Don't tell the bud-man that babies don't come from storks. It would shatter his entire world view.
Posted by: ed ||
03/25/2005 10:04 Comments ||
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#29
A comprehensive study about the risks of DU has been carried out by a renowned Swiss lab.
Conclusion: DU is not completely harmless (due to its toxic ingredients), but its dangerous impact on the general population would be minimal. Sure you might want to stay clear of tanks hit by DU ammunition but thats about it. Some impact on the environment can't be ruled out but that happens with most weapons and ammunition.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/25/2005 12:02 Comments ||
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#33
I love the smell of bitch slap in the morning. Smells like......victory.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
03/25/2005 12:06 Comments ||
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#34
Geez, that wasn't even close to a fair fight.
Posted by: Matt ||
03/25/2005 12:15 Comments ||
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#35
Mr Common Budweiser told:
It's derived from the waste of nuclear reactors and has an extremely long half-life
And your bath's plug leaks and that leak will empty your bath in one thousand years. Meaning that the leak is smallll. Like U238's radioactivity, if it has a so long half-life it is because it's radiocativity is very, very low in fact smaller than the one you get from earth or the sun.
Now, if you are so interested in the causes of Iraq's devastation I suggest you look for the long term effefcts remnants of the gasses Saddam used on the Kurds, or on the WMD stocks who burned during Desert Storm or in those "insecticide" stores who were curiously, stored in or in the vicinity of Iraq's army bases and who burned during Iraqui Freedom.
#41
According to some studies, the morbid and irrational fear of contamination is more prevalent among the low IQ segment of the population. There are exceptions, of course, Howard Hughes being one. Hughes not only shared an affliction with the anti-nuke luddites, he actually played a major role in creating the modern anti-nuclear movement.
According to Citizen Hughes (based on documents stolen from a Hughes warehouse and proven in court to be authentic), Hughes paid lefty agitator Barry Commoner $100,000 to stir up demonstrations against the Nevada nuclear test site in 1968.
Commoner gave the word and thousands of brain-enslaved hippies obediently descended on Vegas, to deplore the contamination and other evil effects of underground nuke tests. This was a huge boost to a movement that had previously confined itself to Kremlin-inspired "Ban the Bomb" activities, especially in Europe.
The Vegas uprising broadened anti-nuke activism and introduced it to corporate funding. Hughes' motive, incidentally, was simply to put pressure on the Atomic Energy Commission in a dispute over some sort of business deal. The AEC refused to cave, and Hughes never called off the hippies. The movement has never looked back.
#42
man, that whole thread reads like shooting fish-in-a-barrel. "Warning to trolls-Classix"?
Posted by: An Airbus Inspector ||
03/25/2005 18:31 Comments ||
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#43
stale cookies
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/25/2005 18:32 Comments ||
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#44
By the way, "Bud", my eponymous "atomic conspiracy" has just closed a deal with Iraqi Shiites to lease Fallujah as a launch site for our upcoming Project Orion launch.
"Run, little eco-wackies, run for your lives! It's ORION, Old Bang-bang, God's Own Putt-putt.
3dc, that's his primary bodyguard. A selection of shots of his outer ring can be found here. Rowr.
"Gaddafi surrounds himself with handpicked female bodyguards to foil such attacks. All of them swear an oath that they will give their lives for him. They never leave his side, night or day, & he insists they remain virgins. There is no shortage of volunteers for what is seen as a prestigious job. A special training college puts recruits through a tough program. Girls who don't drop out emerge as trained killers, experts with firearms & martial arts. Gaddafi makes the final selection &, despite the virginal tag, rumors abound that he demands their sexual favors."
Pakistan wants a universally acceptable definition of terrorism that should not prejudice self-determination against foreign occupation, said Tariq Osman Hyder, leader of the Observer Delegation of Pakistan, at the Arab League Summit on Tuesday.
That means a definition that will allow them to continue shooting people up in Kashmir, and any other adjacent territory they might take a liking to...
Pakistan's representative said the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) member states should co-operate to eliminate terrorism. He said the expansion of the United Nations Security Council and other reforms were important. Efforts should be made to safeguard the interests of the Muslim Ummah in any proposed expansion, he added.
"Yeah. We gotta get some holy men on that Security Council, set 'em straight..."
He said expansion should strengthen regional representation and responsiveness.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Oh. Gee. Golly. Gosh. How can Pakland improve its image abroad for investment? Oooh! Ooooh! I've got it! Make sure you have a religion column on your passports. That'll demonstrate that you're a serious, level-headed people who have their priorities straight. And maybe you can express solidarity with the gunnies in Kashmir, whether the Kashmiris like them or not. And get together with other Islamist regimes and teach them how to make nuclear bombs...
Pipelines. Blow up lots of pipelines.
Don't forget the honor killing and gang rapes.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Lt Gen Safdar Hussain, Peshawar corps commander, told tribesmen on Thursday that all terrorists would be dealt with strictly and that they (tribesmen) should expel terrorists from their areas, as they (terrorists) not only threatened Pakistan's stability but were also causing hurdles in the development of their areas. Speaking to jirgas (tribal councils) in connection with Pakistan Day celebrations at the Shakai, Janata, Shaga and Miranshah areas of South and North Waziristan Agencies, Lt Gen Hussain said border terminals at Torkham in Khyber Agency, Ghulam Khan in North Waziristan Agency and Angoor Adda in South Waziristan Agency were being set up to increase trade with Central Asia. He also announced large development packages for the Wazir and Mehsud areas of South and North Waziristan Agencies.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 ||
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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.
Kuwait Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Rasheed Al-Hamad Tuesday issued a directive to set up a committee to survey humanities curricula content in all scholastic stages. The official document justified the decision by saying this was an attempt to do away with redundant content and outdated information. This follows much controversy that school curricula needs memorizing and that students and teachers do not have enough time to truly master the subjects and real life applications of what is in the textbooks. The committee is to review the textbooks of Social Studies, Islamic Education, and Arabic language and Literature. The committee also sets the time-window required and measures to be taken to meet its objectives.
Visibly distressed, Muhammad tossed his head in disbelief as he talked of how his friend's promising life ended in disaster. His friend was identified as the perpetrator of last Saturday's car bombing that killed a Briton outside a theater near a British school in Doha. "This is unbelievable," Muhammad said. "He was an ordinary person and never sounded like an extremist or someone who has a different religious or political ideology." Muhammad added that his 39-year old friend, 
About 1,000 pro-democracy protesters tried to gather Friday near the palace of President Alexander Lukashenko, claiming to be emulating the popular uprising in fellow ex-Soviet republic Kyrgyzstan, but they were beaten and dispersed by police in riot gear, and several dozen were arrested. It took the truncheon-wielding police about two hours to disperse the protesters, who chanted "Down with Lukashenko!" and "Long live Belarus!" A group of 100 or so opposition activists regrouped, only to be pushed away a second time.
Protesters in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan took control of the capital Thursday as they fought with pro-government partisans, stormed government buildings, took control of the national TV network and apparently chased the president from the country. It was the third time in two years that opposition forces had overturned an authoritarian government in Russia's back yard in the wake of allegations that elections were fraudulent. Unlike the Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2003 and the Orange Revolution in Ukraine last year, the Kyrgyz revolt was marred by violence.
Chief of External Subcommittee of Informational Council (part of State Defense Council of Chechen Republic of Ichkeria) 
At the Jamal Islamiya mosque in this seaside town, a Muslim lament of historic proportions is proclaimed in large letters on a framed poster: "In 1492, we lost everything." For the mosque's leader, and much of the Muslim world, the year marks the traumatic conclusion of Islam's golden age, a time remembered like a collective wound. It's a period when the last piece of Muslim-held territory in Spain fell to Catholic monarchs, ending almost 800 years of Moorish rule on the Iberian peninsula. Centuries when poetry, science and architecture flourished under Islamic caliphs expired with bonfires of Arabic manuscripts, mass expulsion and extermination in the Inquisition. To the east, the Muslim empire of the Ottomans would reign for another four centuries. But many would trace its long decline to the fall of Al Andalus, the Moorish name for Andalusia.
Five US special forces troops have sued the Associated Press claiming it endangered their lives by publishing photos of their unit allegedly abusing Iraqi prisoners, a lawyer told AFP Wednesday. The five members of the Navy SEALs Special Forces unit and one of the men's wives filed suit against the international wire service Monday in the California city of San Diego, the Navy SEALs' lawyer James Huston said. The suit claims that AP "violated copyright and privacy laws and endangered their lives by publishing photos of them," Huston told AFP. "We are seeking unspecified damages for the copyright violations and also damages for the invasion of privacy and the damage done to these men's careers and the life changes to which they were subjected," he said.
An official of the 
Malaysia clipped the wings of its religious police yesterday, warning that it did not want to be like Afghanistan under Taleban rule, and ordered national police supervision of their controversial raids. The religious police stirred a storm of protest with heavy-handed behavior during a January raid on a nightclub in the Malaysian capital, and in another incident by detaining a transsexual person visiting the home of Muslim friends. "This is a very serious matter, we do not want to see Malaysia turning into Afghanistan during the Taleban (rule)," said Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, the minister who announced the change. "If this is not stopped, it may happen," he said.
A newspaper owned by the slain former premier 
The Syrian opposition lives under the watchful eye of the regime and in the hope that reforms promised by President Bashar Assad when he came to power will get back on track and put an end to their isolation. "There are no organized political forces and no alternatives," admits lawyer Anwar Bunni, a rights activist who wants the emergency law, in force since the Baath party took power in 1963 to be repealed as well as a change in the Constitution to "allow the emergence of new political forces."
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has delayed the release of a UN report into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister 
A wave of panic spread throughout the country on Wednesday following this week's two explosions in New Jdeideh and Alta Vista commercial center in Kaslik, with people fearing a repeat at any moment. In Sidon, a false rumor about the existence of a bomb in the city's Martyrs' Square raised fears among the citizens, who started to suspect any strange object. Some Sidon residents were also reportedly afraid of leaving their homes after they saw a bomb on the street. The bomb was examined by an Internal Security Forces (ISF) expert, who said it was a "very old disabled bomb," which was randomly thrown on the street.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Syria will announce within days a "precise timetable" for the full withdrawal of its remaining forces in Lebanon. Speaking from Paris following a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac, Mubarak said Syrian President Bashar Assad would provide the United Nations with a full timetable for the withdrawal "within a week." Mubarak met with Assad several times in the last 10 days, most recently during this week's Arab League summit in Algiers. Mubarak said: "I told him that it should take place before the elections to avoid other problems, and I believe he is fully aware of this."
Syria's ambassador to Washington said yesterday he hoped the United States and Israel would follow his country's example and withdraw from Iraq and Palestinian areas, just as Syria was leaving Lebanon. "We will withdraw (from Lebanon) as soon as possible, the sooner the better. And we are not talking of two or three months. We will do this very, very quickly," Syria's envoy Imad Moustapha said in a speech at Georgetown University. "I hope this will inspire other countries in the Middle East to withdraw their occupations from Iraq and from Palestine and from Syria itself," he said. "President Bush has many times spoken about making Iraq a model that will inspire the whole Arab world. ... I think the Arab people will love to see this (Syrian) model followed by the Americans and the Israelis." Despite his barbs, the ambassador also made clear his country was eager to improve its relations with the United States and hoped Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon would be a step in that direction.
Jordan denied Wednesday reports by Israeli newspapers that 
Pakistan is ready to pull out troops form the Siachen glacier as per an agreement between New Delhi and Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign Minister 
Right-wing Hindu leader 
The government and Nawab Akbar Bugti agreed on Thursday to resolve the Balochistan crisis peacefully through political talks. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) president, and Mushahid Hussain Sayed, the party's general secretary, called on Bugti at his house in Dera Bugti on Thursday and held talks. Mushahid: Mushahid told journalists that the meeting lasted for four hours and they discussed every issue in detail. He said the two sides agreed to continue the dialogue process to resolve the issues. He said the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere and claimed Bugti expressed confidence that the PML leadership was sincere about finding a political solution to the crisis. Bugti had invited Shujaat, also chairman of the Balochistan Committee, to discuss all issues with him on Wednesday. The PML leaders told Bugti that they had President Musharraf's support. They presented new recommendations to Bugti to normalise the situation, however they did not disclose those recommendations to the media.
Lt Gen Safdar Hussain, Peshawar corps commander, told tribesmen on Thursday that all terrorists would be dealt with strictly and that they (tribesmen) should expel terrorists from their areas, as they (terrorists) not only threatened Pakistan's stability but were also causing hurdles in the development of their areas. Speaking to jirgas (tribal councils) in connection with Pakistan Day celebrations at the Shakai, Janata, Shaga and Miranshah areas of South and North Waziristan Agencies, Lt Gen Hussain said border terminals at Torkham in Khyber Agency, Ghulam Khan in North Waziristan Agency and Angoor Adda in South Waziristan Agency were being set up to increase trade with Central Asia. He also announced large development packages for the Wazir and Mehsud areas of South and North Waziristan Agencies.
