THE US has given its blessing for the Taliban to be brought in from the cold with a critical step towards reconciliation as the world paused to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Washington has endorsed plans for the Islamist network to open political headquarters in the gulf state of Qatar by the end of the year. The move has been devised so the West can begin formal peace talks with the Taliban.
As a potent reminder of the potential value of a truce with the Taliban, attacks by the Islamist network in Afghanistan yesterday left two dead and 101 wounded in a truck bomb, marking one of the bloodiest days for American forces since the US invasion 10 years ago.
The office of the self-styled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan would be the first internationally recognised representation for the Taliban since its fall in 2001.
#1
Hey, I got an indear. Hows bout instead of reconciliation we try to locate and blow the shit outta Mullah Omar. I dunno, twenty...maybe fiddy mile radius. If he ain't there we try somewhere else. But that's just me.
#2
So the ISI appeared to have won through their Taliban proxies. The picture of Neville Chamberlain is very appropriate for this story, which, by the way, makes me sick.
Does the O admin work for the US or the Taliban? This is a national disgrace.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/13/2011 14:08 Comments ||
Top||
#3
At this point precipitous withdrawal would be the lesser evil. Leave the country and threaten immediate massive retaliation if there's any further act of aggression from the territory known as Afghanistan no matter if it is an "Islamic Republic" or an "Islamic Emirate." Also cut off all aid and impose sanctions.
The alternative is a Taliban regime recognized, protected and subsidized by the West. We're not yet in a position where we have to pay protection money to the Taliban. Western troops do not deserve to be sent to Afghanistan to serve the Taliban. We do not have to endure the spectacle of Mullah Omar triumphantly visiting the Ground Zero Mosque.
Withdrawal isn't 'Peace with Honor.' It is an act of implicit surrender and it will not bring about peace. But implicit surrender is still preferable to explicit surrender which is where this is going.
[Dawn] The Defence Department says the Haqqani turban network was behind the powerful truck bomb that maimed 77 US soldiers and killed five Afghans this past weekend.
The Taliban had grabbed credit for the attack Saturday outside a combat outpost in eastern Wardak province.
But Defence Department press secretary George Little said Monday that it was Haqqani operatives. Little said it is highly likely their top leadership supported and was aware of the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Before we leave AF, we need a whole haqquni collection of skulls!
[Tripoli Post] The trial of at least 25 brass hats who served under former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... has started at a court complex in the Egyptian capital Cairo.
The defendants include high-ranking members of the former government, most notably the former secretary of Mubarak's National Democratic Party (NDP), ex-chairman of the Upper House and the former parliament speaker.
They are all accused of corruption and killing anti-regime protesters during the revolution that toppled Mubarak early in 2011. They allegedly organised gangs of camel riders, who attacked protesters camped out in Cairo's Liberation Square in early February.
All defendants in he case and trial known in the local media as the " Battle of the Camel,"have denied the charges.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Alamo, Davy was counting their remaining cannon balls and not liking the results...
Field Marshal Mohammad Tantawi, the chief of Egypt's ruling military council who had been summoned by the court to give evidence behind closed doors, refused to testify in the trial.
Mubarak's trial, which began on August 3, follows months of protests demanding justice for the victims killed during the January and February revolution that ended his regime.
The Mubarak family is also facing other allegations of corruption as well as the use of violence against protesters, with the omission investigating the violence against the protesters saying that more than 800 demonstrators were killed.
Egypt's judicial officials say the former dictator and several of his close associates could be executed if found guilty of ordering to shoot anti-government protesters.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2011 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] The chief of Libya's revolutionary movement has urged a cheering crowd in Tripoli to strive for a civil, democratic state, while loyalists of runaway dictator Muammar Qadaffy ...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years... killed at least 15 opposition fighters in an attack on a key oil town in Libya's east.
From hiding, Qadaffy urged his remaining followers to keep up the fight, a sign that Libya's six-month civil is not over even though revolutionary forces now control most of the country and have begun setting up a new government in the capital.
Mustafa Abdul-Jalil addressed a crowd of thousands in Martyr's Square in central Tripoli, a site that until recently was famous for pro-Qadaffy rallies. Flanked by a few dozen revolutionary leaders in their largest public gathering since their forces stormed the capital on August 21, he called on Libyans to build a state based on the rule of law.
"No retribution, no taking matters into your own hands and no oppression. I hope that the revolution will not stumble because of any of these things," he said.
As he spoke, thousands waved flags, cheered and chanted, "Hold your head high, you're a free Libyan!" Some wept openly as fireworks went kaboom! overhead.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2011 00:00 ||
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[Tripoli Post] The Algerian government is prepared to recognise Libya's revolutionary the National Transitional Council of Libya as the country's legitimate government once it forms a broad-based administration, Algerian Algerian foreign minister Mourad Medelci said on Sunday at a news conference with his Malian counterpart.
Medelci said he was awaiting the formation of a government "representing Libyans of all tendencies," before Algeria recognises the NTC. He went on to say that contacts between the two countries have improved over the last two weeks.
The Algerian minister told Europe 1 radio that Libya's National Transitional Council had vowed to set up a "government representative of all regions" and added: "When it has done so, we'll recognise it."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2011 00:00 ||
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A police chief who declared a "total war" on crime has vowed to restore faith in the crisis-hit Metropolitan Police after being given the job of running Britain's biggest force. Bernard Hogan-Howe, who has in the past railed against health and safety rules and soft sentencing, was yesterday appointed as the new commissioner at Scotland Yard.
The 53-year-old's appointment ends a two-month search to replace Sir Paul Stephenson who resigned during the phone hacking scandal in July.
Mr Hogan-Howe immediately signalled his hard line intent, saying he wanted to make the Metropolitan Police a force that criminals "fear" and the public "trust".
His first task will be to restore faith in the country's biggest force which is still reeling from criticism over its handling of the phone hacking investigation and the riots.
The Yorkshireman was selected ahead of three senior rivals who applied for the Scotland Yard job.
Mr Hogan-Howe is no stranger to the Metropolitan Police, having worked as an assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard under Sir John Stevens between 2001 and 2004.
But he made his name as chief constable of Merseyside Police where he introduced "total policing", describing it as a "total war on suspects and total victim care." While head of that force between 2004 and 2009 he cut crime by 30 per cent and anti social behaviour by a quarter. Crimes solved nearly doubled during his tenure.
He championed the rights of victims, suggesting that every victim of crime, no matter how minor, should be visited by a police officer.
Does he believe that crime victims have a right to defend themselves? With firearms if necessary?
Or at least with a poker in the parlour?
He was one of the first police officers to link the youth crime rate to the low cost of alcohol. And he called for a zero tolerance approach to knife crime, saying that anyone caught with a blade should expect a prison sentence.
The issues have all since become key priorities for the current Government and his success fits the Home Secretary's desire for a "single minded crime fighter" to lead the country's biggest force
#4
As far as POWs are concerned, I am not mellowing with age. In fact, I want smaller, less noticeable, and deadlier.
That is, if somebody bugs me enough to have to use a weapon, I want them to die. 300mg of liquid nicotine in an autoinjector with a 3" needle could off a cow, yet look like an ordinary wide writing pen.
By Chris Covert Rewritten from English language source A hat tip to Mexico's Animal Politico for additional information
A retired Guatemalan Army general and former intelligence operative has won the first round of Guatemala's presidential elections, according to English and Spanish language news sources.
Industrialist Manuel Baldizon, who is running as a populist, won 23.4 percent of the vote setting up a final vote on November 6th. Perez Molina is expected to win the final round easily.
Perez Molina is considered to be a conservative and a hardliner in Guatemala's war on drugs, who has promised a mano dura or firm hand in dealing with the violence associated with drug trafficking.
Los Zetas has made Guatemala their territory for transshipment of drug into Mexican and on to the US. The violence associated with the activities was so bad earlier this year the now outgoing president Alvaro Colom was forced to ask the Guatemalan legislature to declare a 30 day state of emergency in one department.
The presidential elections went through into an uproar when president Colom's wife, Guatemala's first lady Sandra Torres, attempted to circumvent Guatemala's law against relatives running for president by divorcing her husband. Her attempt was short lived as Guatemala's high court ruled she could not run.
Senora Torres' antics subseqently left president Colom's coalition party, the Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE) without a candidate to run.
The only leftist candidate to run in this year's election was Nobel Peace Prize winner and literary fraud Rigoberta Menchu, who received less than three percent of the vote.
I seem to remember 1980s Guatemala as being often tooooo turbulent. While I appreciate the public's desire for peace and security, the question begs itself: has this guy been properly vetted?
If Guatemalan election law is like Mexican election, Perez Molina could have emerged from a death camp covered in blood with newspaper headlines screaming "Murderer!!", but as long as he doesn't talk about it, no one else can either.
First Senate hearing -- Reid wouldn't schedule it
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told senators for the first time Tuesday that she had no knowledge of a botched federal gun-tracking program while it was ongoing.
In testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Napolitano said she was first made aware of the Fast and Furious operation after U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in the line of duty.
Let me be very clear for the record, you were unfamiliar with Operation Fast and Furious while the operation was under way?" asked Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
"That is accurate," Napolitano replied.
Napolitano said she first found out about the operation after Terry's killing and that she is declining to comment on it further until the Department of Justice inspector general's office completes its independent review of the operation. Attorney General Eric Holder ordered the IG report earlier this year.
"First of all, we wanted to make sure that the investigation into the cause of the death and prosecution was pursued vigorously," she said. "And that was being done. I did meet with the FBI agent-in-charge in Arizona at the time. At the time I was told that DOJ was referring the entire matter to the inspector general, so we have reserved judgment until that report has come about."
McCain asked Napolitano to supply the committee with the specific date when she found out that guns sold under the operation were found at the scene of Terry's killing.
McCain has long butted heads with Napolitano, who is the former governor of Arizona, but he is a late-comer to criticism of the administration regarding Fast and Furious. The lead congressional investigators have been Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
[Dawn] Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Näwaz Shärif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. on Monday admitted that the targeted killers and criminal elements set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock in Bloody Karachi had links with political parties, DawnNews reported.
While talking to media representatives outside the Parliament House, Malik said that investigations were underway to find out that weather the set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock culprits took the support of political parties or the parties used them for its own purposes.
Malik said that he would present the list of the set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lockhit mans in the National Assembly and it would be up to the politicians to decide the truth.
He showed his satisfaction over the Rangers operation in Bloody Karachi and said that indiscriminate action would continue in the port city.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman Deobandi holy man, known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ... has said that America should change its foreign policy if it wants to eliminate terrorism from the world.
"America is not sincere in eradicating terrorism. Its anti-Mohammedan policies promote terrorism instead of eliminating it," he told a gathering of party workers here on Sunday.
He said that hundreds of thousands of innocent Mohammedans had been killed across the world since the US launched its war against terrorism after 9/11.
"If America wants to uproot terrorism it should revisit its foreign policy and stop genocide of Mohammedans in garb of war against terrorism," he said.
Mr Rehman said that neither he nor his party and Pak people were against the people of America. The anti-American sentiments in Pakistain and around the world were result of the policy of the US government, he added.
He said that JUI-F was a big hurdle in the way of those political parties that wanted to make Pakistain a secular state. "Owing to our struggle in the parliament and streets, the so-called liberal political parties cannot accomplish their agenda to turn the
country into a secular state," Mr Rehman claimed.
Besides other local leaders of JUI-F, former senator Syed Hadayatullah Shah was also present on the occasion.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#2
Its anti-Mohammedan policies promote terrorism instead of eliminating it,"
Well, since Mohammedanism is the source of most all terrorism anti-Mohammedan policies are the only thing that COULD eliminate it. We just aren't sincere enough to do what is necessary.
[An Nahar] The United States must back a Paleostinian bid for U.N. recognition of statehood or risk becoming "toxic" in the Arab world and forcing a split with ally Soddy Arabia, a top Saudi diplomat warned Monday.
If Washington imposes its veto when the Paleostinians seek to become the 194th member state of the United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... then "Soddy Arabia would no longer be able to cooperate with America in the same way it historically has," former Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Turki al-Faisal wrote.
He warned in a commentary in The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... that a U.S. veto would see American influence decline, "Israeli security undermined and Iran will be empowered, increasing the chances of another war in the region."
"The 'special relationship' between Soddy Arabia and the United States would increasingly be seen as toxic by the vast majority of Arabs and Mohammedans, who demand justice for the Paleostinian people."
Saudi leaders would be forced therefore to "adopt a more independent and assertive regional policy," he warned, pointing to such incidents as Riyadh's recent military intervention in Bahrain.
Frustrated by the lack of progress in the Middle East talks, the Paleostinians have insisted they will go ahead with a U.N. membership bid despite the U.S. veto threat.
President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... is expected to submit a formal request to the U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... to accept the state of Paleostine as a member on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on September 20.
Prince Turki, a former Saudi intelligence chief, argued Paleostinian statehood would allow the stalled grinding of the peace processor to move forward and replace it "with a new paradigm based on state-to-state negotiations."
"The only losers in this scenario would be Syria and Iran, pariah states that have worked tirelessly -- through their support of Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and Hezbullies -- to undermine the grinding of the peace processor."
He argued that the embattled regime of Syrian President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... , rocked by months of pro-democracy opposition protests, was about to fall providing "a rare strategic opportunity to weaken Iran" which would find it more difficult to "foment discord in the Arab world."
"But this opportunity will be squandered if the B.O. regime's actions at the United Nations force a deep split between our countries."
The New York Times in an searing editorial also sharply criticized the United States, Israel and Europe for showing "insufficient urgency or boldness in trying to find a compromise solution."
The United States "made a listless effort" last week to persuade the Paleostinians to drop their UN bid in favor of new peace talks, which have been stalled since September 2010, the Times said.
It added that it was "astonishing that this late in the game, America and Europe remain divided over some aspects of a proposal for peace talks."
It put the "greater onus" for the lack of progress on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "who has used any excuse to thwart peace efforts."
But the Times added U.S. President Barack B.O. Obama "needs to show firmer leadership in pressing Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Abbas to resume talks."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"The 'special relationship' between Soddy Arabia and the United States would increasingly be seen as toxic
Is it just me, or do others fail to see the downside?
#2
Whoa, the Prince is a BRITNEY fan - who knew???
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS [simil] > PRINCE TURKIC AL-FAISAL TO THE US: VETO A [Paleo] STATE, LOSE AN ALLY.
versus
* IIRC NEWSMAX > CHENEY: ISRAEL WILL ATTACK A "NUCLEAR" IRAN, to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
* TOPIX > CHENEY: [Post-911]SADDAM HUSSEIN PLANNED TO RESTART NUKE PROGRAM [NucWeaps], wid a captured Saddam also proclaiming to had been "bluffing" when he = Iraq said had WMDS.
Unfortunately for Uncle Saddam, the caches of non-Nuke WMDS discovered buried in Iraq show he was NOT "bluffing".
#4
Right after the Kurds, Tauregs, Bedouins, Karen, Karenni, Shan, Tibetans, Kachin, Uighurs, Ainu, Sikhs, Hmong, Basques, Catalonians, Corsicans, Mapuche, and Northern Irish all get UN seats is when I'll be willing to consider the Philistines too.
I'd like someone to explain why they think Philistines are more deserving than all the rest.
#10
U.S. risks being toxic over Palestinian veto? FOAD. We just went through the 10 year anniversary of 911. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were from the KSA. So just FOAD.
[An Nahar] The United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... ' failure to take a clear position on the bloody repression of demonstrations in Syria is "a scandal", the French foreign ministry said on Monday.
Recalling that according to the U.N. at least 2,600 people have been killed in Syria, ministry front man Bernard Valero also slammed the "revolting murder" of a protest organizer, Ghiyath Matar, while in Syrian detention.
Arrested on September 6, Matar, 26, died in detention after being tortured, rights group Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... said, adding that the body had bruises on his chest and signs of facial injuries.
"How long with the international community remain blind and dumb in the face of this endless sequence of crimes? That's the question we're asking today," Valero said.
"The blocking of a joint position at the United Nations Security Council is a scandal," Valero said.
The United States said on Friday that it would this week ramp up work on a U.N. Security Council resolution targeting Syria, amid opposition from other member states to approve a forceful resolution.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday told British Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... it would be a mistake to put more pressure on Syrian President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
Medvedev said that the difference between Russia's approach to its traditional regional ally to that taken by the West was "not dramatic".
But he stressed that any punitive actions must be applied equally to both sides of the Syria conflict because the opposition was continuing to oppose calls to engage Assad in direct talks.
Russia has blocked previous attempts by the council to sanction Assad and is promoting a separate draft resolution that simply calls on both sides to open direct talks.
Russia and China boycotted a Council meeting on sanctions against Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
No problem. Just load up your aircraft carrier and bomb away. Barry's got your back at the UN.
[An Nahar] Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... on Monday noted that the latest "fear-inciting remarks on the rise of Salafist ...Salafists espouse an austere form of Sunni Islam that seeks a return to practices that were common in the 7th century. Rather than doing that themselves and letting other people alone they insist everybody do as they say and they try to kill everybody who doesn't... or fundamentalist (Islamist) movements ... are being used as a 'scarecrow'."
"These remarks remind us of the old-new approach that calls for an alliance of minorities" in the region, Jumblat said, adding that such an approach "has destroyed Leb."
In his weekly column in his party's Al-Anbaa newspaper, the Druze leader hit back at Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi without naming him, warning that "linking the issue of arms to the issue of naturalization (of Paleostinian refugees) will keep Leb endlessly entangled in regional conflicts."
"Linking Leb's fate to the liberation of the Shebaa Farms and the entire conflicts in the region is rejected," Jumblat added.
He stressed "the importance of the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... 's weapons concerning national defense," but noted that it is also "necessary to come up with a defense plan, through which arms would be gradually incorporated into the Lebanese state, as stipulated by the Doha Accord, in order to strengthen the Lebanese state's capability to deter any possible Israeli aggression."
"Domestically, the best way to tackle the issue of naturalization would be through improving the temporary living conditions of the Paleostinians ... and ending the siege on the (Paleostinian) camps," Jumblat noted.
Tackling the Syrian crisis, the PSP leader reiterated that "only a political solution would pull Syria out of this dilemma," rejecting "any foreign intervention."
"The demand for freedom, democracy, pluralism and justice cannot be segregated," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2011 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.
THE US has given its blessing for the Taliban to be brought in from the cold with a critical step towards reconciliation as the world paused to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
[Dawn] The Defence Department says the Haqqani
They are all accused of corruption and killing anti-regime protesters during the revolution that toppled Mubarak early in 2011. They allegedly organised gangs of camel riders, who attacked protesters camped out in Cairo's Liberation Square in early February. 
[Tripoli Post] The Algerian government is prepared to recognise Libya's revolutionary the National Transitional Council of Libya as the country's legitimate government once it forms a broad-based administration, Algerian Algerian foreign minister Mourad Medelci said on Sunday at a news conference with his Malian counterpart.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
President-for-Life Bashir 
David Cameron
President-for-Life Bashir 
Walid 
