Turkey and the United States plan to hold a military summit on the future of the Kurdish Workers Party in Iraq. Turkish Land Forces Commander Gen. Yasar Buyukanit was scheduled to meet U.S. military commanders in Washington during a four-day visit. The visit was meant to begin on Dec. 10 and focus on the PKK presence in northern Iraq and othe regional issues. Officials said Buyukanit, expected to be appointed military chief of staff in 2006, would press the U.S. military and Defense Department to honor their pledge to eliminate the PKK presence from northern Iraq. They said Turkey intends to launch a joint operation to expel the PKK from the Kandil mountains before the start of a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2005 12:12 ||
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Al-Azhar, the highest seat of religious learning in the Sunni world, vowed to raise the issue of the provocative caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) recently published by Denmark's main daily, with the UN and international human rights organizations. "This has trespassed all limits of objective criticism into insults and contempt of the religious beliefs of more than one billion Muslims around the world, including thousands in Denmark," Al-Azhar's Islamic Research Academy said in a statement issued on Saturday, December 10.
"No one has a right to hold our religion in contempt, regardless of anything we might do."
"Al-Azhar intends to protest these anti-Prophet cartoons with the UN's concerned committees and human rights groups around the world," read the statement signed by Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Mohammad Sayed Tantawi.
The eminent sheikh seems to have no aversion to looking like an ass, it would seem...
Twelve drawings depicting Prophet Muhammad in different settings appeared in Denmark's largest circulation daily Jyllands-Posten on September 30. In one of the drawings, an image assumed to be that of the Prophet appeared with a turban shaped like a bomb strapped to his head. The images, considered blasphemous under Islam, have drawn rebuke from the Muslim minority especially with the paper's adamancy to apologize on the ground of freedom of expression.
It would appear that only Moose limbs have freedumb of expression...
Samha said they need Arab and Muslim support to ensure such violations would not be repeated. Al-Azhar reiterated full respected for freedom of opinion and expression, saying it should be protected by law and constitutions.
Unless it irritates the hypersensitivities of Moose limbs, of course...
"Yet international law experts have agreed that freedom of expression should not be in violation of other guaranteed freedoms and rights, including individual and collective sanctities," read the statement.
That's what I just said. "Crusaders and Jews," "Monkeys and pigs," that's freedumb of expression. Cartoons of the Profit (PTUI), that's oppression.
The ambassadors of eleven Arab and Muslim countries, including Egypt, Palestine, Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Indonesia, have written a letter to Danish Premier Anders Fogh Rasmussen to protest the caricatures and demand an official apology from the newspaper. Rasmussen said in a written reply that he would not intervene in the affair, on the grounds of freedom of expression. Al-Azhar urged the Danish government to reconsider its position before this "affects the interest of Denmark and its people and undermines cooperation between Danes and Arabs and Muslims."
If a demand doesn't work, try a threat...
Sheikh Tantawi has met with a five-member delegation representing 21 Islamic centers and organizations in Denmark. "Support from Arab and Muslim countries will help our demand for an official apology from the Danish government and a promise such violations would not be repeated," Mohamed al-Khalid Samha, the delegation's spokesman, told IOL. "We came to Cairo seeking the backing of the Arab League and Al-Azhar," he added. Samha said the delegation will also visit other countries including Iran, Turkey, Malaysia and the Vatican.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2005 11:54 ||
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#3
Tell you what. Why don't all the offended Danish Muslims express their dissatisfaction by boycotting any further habitation of such an offensive nation. I'm quite confident their home countries have far more tolerant policies regarding freedom of expression. At least for Muslims, that is.
The seven suspects - six men and a woman - are all Algerian nationals linked to a branch of the Algerian-based Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) run by Abu Al Haikan. Counterterrorism experts fear Al Haikan is planning to commit attacks in Europe, but Alonso stressed yesterday that police have uncovered no evidence that the seven suspects were preparing attacks in Spain.
"There are no indications that they were planning imminent attacks," the interior minister told journalists. "They formed a well structured and hierarchical group dedicated to providing financial and logistical support to the terrorist organization."
According to police, the cell was involved in burglaries from luxury chalets along the Costa del Sol, car theft and credit card fraud, and would use the proceeds to finance the GSPC. Raids on 12 apartments and chalets used by the group - many of them in wealthy areas of resorts such as Marbella and Torremolinos - uncovered large sums of money, documents in Arabic about waging jihad and false credit cards, as well as apparently stolen watches and jewelry.
The money, investigators said, would be sent to Algeria either via a "complex network" of bank transfers or by hand.
Alonso described the cell as a "twin" of a similar group of 10 Algerians who were arrested in Alicante, Murcia and Granada last month on similar charges, although he noted that there is no evidence of contact between them. Since the March 11 train bombings last year, 205 suspected Islamist terrorists have been arrested in Spain, including those detained yesterday, and 104 are in prison.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/12/2005 03:18 ||
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Is this what Islam is all about? Need Gentle to clarify things.
Italian police were listening as the man identified as an Egyptian radical shouted with joy while watching a video of the beheading of American Nicholas Berg by his al Qaeda captors.
"Come nearer, watch closely, this is the politics you have to follow, the politics of the sword," he advised another man as Berg's screams rang out. "Go to hell, enemy of God, kill him, kill him, cut it well, cut off his head," he said.
Authorities say the statements recorded from phone taps and microphones show that Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, a 34-year-old Egyptian facing trial in Milan next month on terrorism charges, preached a radical form of Islam and the need to carry out holy war against Western elements. The trial is considered one of Europe's major terrorist prosecutions in recent years. Ahmed is not only accused of terrorist crimes in Italy and of having links to cells across Europe, but he also is considered one of the masterminds of the March 11, 2004, train bombings in Madrid that killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,600. Guido Guella, Ahmed's lawyer, said his client maintains his innocence and claims he "never had any role in any association with terrorist aims." He said the Egyptian also says he is not the person speaking on the tapes. But prosecutors say the statements, which appear in a report prepared by Italian anti-terrorism police, are proof of Ahmed's extremist beliefs. He has been indicted on terrorism charges for allegedly planning an attack in an undisclosed location.
In the May 28, 2004, conversation about the Berg tape, Ahmed's co-defendant, 22-year-old Egyptian Yahia Ragheh -- described by authorities as a would-be suicide bomber -- questions Ahmed's assertions.
"It's not a sin?" he asks.
"Who said this?" Ahmed replied. "It's never a sin ... because the cause is never a sin ... Are you scared? Are you shocked?"
"No no, I think it is a sin, I only think it's a sin," Ragheh said.
"When you enter a movement it's never a sin because there's a cause, the Islamic cause, all in hell ... everyone finishes in hell, everyone. For those who wound Islam the end is this."
The taped conversations also reveal Ahmed's alleged connection to the Madrid bombings, authorities say.
"There is something, there is something I can't hide from you," he said, lowering his voice in a conversation overheard in a Milan apartment two months after the attacks. "The Madrid attack is my project and those who died as martyrs are my dearest friends."
Spanish officials have described Ahmed as one of the March 11 ringleaders. Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said after his arrest that Ahmed was "probably among the principal authors" of the Madrid bombings, and that he was "preparing other attacks." Officials have not said where Ahmed, who was trained in the use of explosives in the Egyptian army, was planning the attacks. Italy handed Ahmed over to Spain last December for interrogation in the Madrid bombings, and Spanish authorities sent him back to Italy in April. Spanish Judge Juan del Olmo has filed provisional charges against him of mass murder and terrorism. It is not known when indictments may be handed down in Spain. In the arrest warrant, del Olmo said that while living in Madrid the Egyptian "managed to take control of a small group of Arab followers, all of them with extremist Islamic ideology, supporters of jihad and Osama bin Laden."
The Italian police report alleges that Ahmed used tapes, cell phones and computers as recruitment tools in his travels across Europe. He is also accused of giving lessons on falsifying documents, computers and the need for caution in using communications. Italian prosecutors cite the case as an example of cooperation among European law enforcement agencies, often seen as unable to coordinate their investigations because of differing laws and traditions. "Real cooperation is the only instrument to successfully battle international terrorism," said prosecutor Maurizio Romanelli. They say that investigations in Italy, Spain, Germany, France and Belgium have turned up evidence that a dangerous group of Islamic militants have moved into Western Europe to recruit insurgents to fight in Iraq.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/12/2005 01:45 ||
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"Come nearer, watch closely, this is the politics you have to follow, the politics of the sword,"
Comes to mind that Christ had something to say about that.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
12/12/2005 6:03 Comments ||
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Only 1 per cent of French people want President Jacques Chirac to stand for a third term at the Elysee palace in elections due in May 2007. Asked which candidate they would like to see representing Mr Chirac's Union for a Popular Movement party, 36 per cent chose Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and 19 per cent chose Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, according to the survey for Le Journal du Dimanche. Seven per cent chose other figures, while 34 per cent refused to nominate anyone from the party. The findings appeared to confirm the eclipsing of Mr Chirac, 73, by a younger generation of politicians as he enters the last phase of his second term.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
This could end up meaning a visit to the slammer for the worm in his dotage. Heh.
#2
I would very much appreciate JFM or A5089 jumping in here to clarify something.
I clearly recall reading a comment quite some time ago by someone (don't remember who, exactly) who has credibility on French matters saying that Chirac would very likely become a Senator - an honorary (?) life-long position which has immunity from prosecution for crimes committed while in office - upon stepping down from the Presidency. Thus he would skate on the (now old) charges of financial chicanery which seemed to be commonly accepted as substantial. The memory is so clear because it generated a huge sense of anger that he would never face the music for anything he's done, thus I did not forget the gist of that comment.
#3
My recollection is that he has to be appointed by the new Pres to that position. With numbers like these, even Dominique (a man) would have to think twice about giving the worm a Stay out of Jail Free Card. In any case, it's bound to become an election issue.
#4
SG - I think that sounds like the answer. Thx! And way back then, such an appointment would not have been as "controversial" as he was basking in the glow of the anti-American fires he had helped create. Yep, your take makes sense. I hope you're right that it would be / should be controversial now, too. I believe an additional point was that it was more or less customary and common. I hope not. I think he'd look perfect in a prison jumpsuit. He has another 1-2 years (his term expires in 2007 - whenever they hold elections) to turn this around with the usual political sleight of hand... I hope the cupboard is truly bare.
#5
Nope. He will not become a senator but he would be for life, member of the Conseil Constitutionnel, ie the Court who checks if laws are constitutional. I have been unable to determine if they have any kind of immunity.
Anyway, Chirac will no go to jail. Whenever there is new President there is an amnesty and a right-wing president, even Sarkozy, who has no sympathy for him, would find nearly impossible to not formulate that amnesty in a such way that Chirac is covered by it. A left-wing president would not do someting so public but he can discretely slow the thing long enough for Chirac dying or becoming senile (IMHO, he has been senile since he was born) and I don't doubt he will do, even if out of fear of what the right could tell about the left's own dirty laundry.
I know you're probably right about him never having to face the charges against him. BTW, do you consider them valid, not political? Just wondering. Well, at least he won't be around after 2007 to sew his shit - he's got de Villepin to take over in that dept - but it seems he's taken on more of a burden than a mantle, which pleases me.
Subscription reqd. Key point: EU governments may lose an estimated 1/2 billion Euros a year from taxing companies doing business elsewhere, depending on the outcome of a case that will start this week. Might could be that that would put a squeeze on the welfare state in some places.
Israel has accused the European Union of breaching international laws against terrorism by maintaining contact with the radical Islamist groups Hamas and Hizbollah, in a sign of new tension between Israel and Europe.
Last month, EU foreign ministers gave the green light to contact with Hamas candidates in next monthâs Palestinian parliamentary elections. An official EU monitoring mission will be allowed contact with election candidates, including Hamas, only as part of its technical work.
The Israeli foreign ministryâs accusations, prepared in a legal analysis seen by the FT, came as EU foreign ministers were expected on Monday to discuss an EU report that in its draft version severely criticises Israeli policies in east Jerusalem, saying they demonstrate Israelâs intention to consolidate its annexation of the Arab half of the city.
Many EU officials believe the inclusion of Hamas on the EUâs list of proscribed terrorist organisations has constrained its work in trying to persuade the militant group to renounce violence. Israel has long argued that the west should suspend all engagement with Hamas and the Lebanese guerrilla group Hizbollah. âThe EU in its contacts with Hamas and Hizbollah is clearly not maintaining its legal commitment concerning the war against terrorism,â said an Israeli official familiar with the draft foreign ministry report. It cites UN Security Council resolution 1373, adopted after the September 11 attacks on the US, which stipulates that member states must refrain from providing either active or passive support to those involved in terrorism.
The Israeli government has yet to decide what further action it might take against the EU.
Ambassador Ramiro Cibrian-Uzal, head of the European Commission delegation in Jerusalem, said on Sunday the EU was not weakening its ban on talks with Hamas and that the EU remained committed to its political dialogue with Israel.
Israel could come under criticism at two conferences in London ...
wow, THAT's never happened before
... this week on ways to boost the Palestinian economy following Israelâs withdrawal from the Gaza Strip this year. In the wake of a suicide attack last week, Israel suspended talks with the Palestinians on a bus link between Gaza and the West Bank, which was due to start on Thursday.
David Welch, US assistant secretary of state who was in the region over the weekend, said he expected the agreement on Palestinian movement to remain on schedule. The bus link and opening of the Rafah crossing were part of an accord brokered by Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, last month.
Shaul Mofaz, Israeli defence minister, on Sunday joined Ariel Sharonâs new party Kadima, which was formed by the prime minister following a rebellion by rightwingers in the Likud party opposed to this yearâs Gaza withdrawal. Mr Mofaz said he would remain defence minister if Kadima won in Marchâs general elections.
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.
Turkey and the United States plan to hold a military summit on the future of the Kurdish Workers Party in Iraq. Turkish Land Forces Commander Gen. Yasar Buyukanit was scheduled to meet U.S. military commanders in Washington during a four-day visit. The visit was meant to begin on Dec. 10 and focus on the PKK presence in northern Iraq and othe regional issues. Officials said Buyukanit, expected to be appointed military chief of staff in 2006, would press the U.S. military and Defense Department to honor their pledge to eliminate the PKK presence from northern Iraq. They said Turkey intends to launch a joint operation to expel the PKK from the Kandil mountains before the start of a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.
Only 1 per cent of French people want President 
