Source: NNI
Afghanistan's Defense Ministry says it is ready to expand a programme to disarm renegade military factions across the country, including five southeastern provinces where factional leaders have been challenging the authority of the central government. The move comes two weeks after Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued a decree on the fledgling Afghan national army that includes a call for an end to warlordism. It's a step that he wasn't strong enough to take until now. Let's hope he's strong enough to enforce it now...
Disarmament of the private armies of Afghanistan's regional commanders is considered a critical step toward building an Afghan national army. Renegade commanders pose one of the biggest threats to the stability of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's Transitional Authority. In southeastern Afghanistan, renegade factional leaders like Padshah Khan Zadran have openly challenged Karzai's authority and have waged a series of bloody battles in an attempt to subvert his decrees. And now Zadran's on the run and allied with Hekmatyar. Who'da thunkit? Not Zadran, obviously...
Afghan Deputy Defense Minister General Barialai told Radio Free Europe that an initial disarmament program in northeastern Afghanistan has been successful and will be expanded to include the rest of the country beginning next week. "This program for disarmament has been conducted in the northeast by General Abdul Rashid Dostum under the supervision of the Defense Commission and the defense minister, and has started its elementary stages. But our next program, which will start next week with seminars and courses that will take up to three weeks, will involve all of Afghanistan," Barialai said. "It's Dostum! He's coming to disarm us! Ran away! Run away!"
Both Barialai and the UN-backed International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul have rejected claims made yesterday about the disarmament program by Mohammad Ismail Zazai, a spokesman for a regiment of the Afghan national army that has been deployed in the southeastern province of Paktiya. Zazai said that an ultimatum had been issued jointly by the Afghan government and ISAF warning renegade warlords to turn over their weapons within 10 days or face military action. "Those commanders of mujahedin who are armed and do not belong to any military regiment of the Afghan national army are being asked to submit their weapons to the government regiment within 10 days. After that, the ISAF forces will start the process of general disarmament in the province of Paktiya. Those who do not comply will be detained by the ISAF forces in Gardayz. They will be disarmed by ISAF," Zazai said. Karzai's not taking the ultimatum approach, even though Zazai obviously wants him too...
Zazai also said that some 200 troops from ISAF had already arrived in Gardez as part of the operation. But that claim was rejected by the Afghan government, ISAF, and US military officials. All have noted that the UN Security Council resolution that created ISAF strictly prohibits ISAF troops from taking part in operations outside of Kabul province. Foreign troops that are active outside of Kabul province are, instead, part of the US-led antiterrorism coalition. Their primary task in Afghanistan, so far, has been to hunt down the remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. So maybe he was just a little confused over who was in charge...
A spokesman for the coalition forces, US Army Colonel Roger King, said Zazai's announcement about the use of international troops is simply wrong. A decree issued by Karzai from Bonn, Germany, during a conference on Afghan stability earlier this month set out his plan for the creation of a 70,000-strong Afghan national army. The decree outlines how disarmament is envisioned as a way to incorporate weapons and troops from factional militias into an Afghan army that answers to a civilian administration. The decree says the United Nations and the government of Japan will help the Transitional Authority to prepare a comprehensive disarmament program. That is more governmental than simply saying "gimme your guns!" and then dealing with what happens next. Karzai's smarter than that, even if Zazai isn't...
A commission on demobilization is to be created by the Afghan Defense Commission, which includes more than a dozen leaders of factional militias that would be disarmed and incorporated into the national army. Karzai's decree says that heavy weapons obtained from the factions, such as tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery pieces, field guns, multiple-rocket launchers, and antiaircraft guns, would be integrated into the national army. "Y'mean I can't take this thing home? But I was gonna put it in my garden!"
Karzai's decree also says that the current organization of the army will be gradually transformed into four major commands: a central command in Kabul along with three other command centers to be determined "on the basis of strategic and geographical factors." He's stuck with the problem of building a counterforce in full view of the people it'll be countering, using their own men and equipment. It'll be an interesting process.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/15/2002 10:36 am ||
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Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/15/2002 06:15 pm ||
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#1
For some reason, the idea of women soldiers "bounding out of helicopters and stripping down to their sports bras" reminds me of those Old Milwaukee commercials with the "Swedish Bikini Team."
"When the gals from Company B of the 1/23rd got out of their Blackhawks and into their swimsuits, it got a little better . . . ."
Posted by: Mike ||
12/15/2002 15:05 Comments ||
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#2
Read somewhere else (Don Sensung's weblog, I think) that the US forces have a solution to this. Our GI Janes strip to their sports bras prior to gathering up the local women for the body-searches. Apparently this not only convinces the local women that they're being searched by women, but lowers the IQ points of the local men by about 30 points, all at the same time :-)
I'll see if I can find it and post a link.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/15/2002 17:07 Comments ||
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#3
And this is a country that had a female Prime Minister - Benazir Bhutto.
Posted by: Jack ||
12/16/2002 6:01 Comments ||
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Tehran Times
Following U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's remarks on Thursday on a U.S democracy initiative in the Middle East, a Saudi newspaper wrote on Saturday that Arab nations are not in need of U.S. plans for reform. "Certainly not! Why would we want to change perfection?"
The Arabic-language daily Al-Riyadh stressed that Muslim and Arab nations have always considered Washington to be the major supporter of the Zionist regime, adding that this is the reason why they never favor U.S. plans in their countries. "Certainly not! Once something's been done by Zionists and infidels and other trashy people, why, we couldn't do that, even if it did redound to our own benefit! The very idea!"
The daily added that Arab nations believe that the White House is only pursuing its own objectives. So we should stop and pursue someone else's objectives? That doesn't make any sense... Al-Riyadh wrote that the Bush administration had proposed the $29-million plan to change the political, economic and social structure of the region. It added that Powell has raised the issues of removing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and the war on terrorism in the hope of effecting such changes. And they're only the first — hopefully hardest — steps. There will be more...
The daily wrote that the U.S. had imposed itself on Germany and Japan after World War II in order to prevent socialists from gaining control of those countries, but stated that the socialist camp has collapsed so Washington now has no excuse to threaten the Arabs. In both cases we dismantled the dictatorships that were in place and replaced them with systems that were more democratic. Both have actually been very successful experiments, too. The places where we didn't do that have been less successful. Al-Riyadh called on Arab nations to establish their own reform programs and said they should never accept the U.S.-imposed reforms plans. "The White House has proven that it is pursuing covert programs in addition to its overt campaigns," it wrote. We can only hope...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/15/2002 09:54 am ||
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#1
Wasn't our 2 billion in support of Israel balanced with 2.5 billion in support of Egypt to prevent a war?
#2
Actually it's been $2 billion a year since 1978. Thanks Jimmy Carter!
Posted by: Denny Wilson ||
12/15/2002 21:18 Comments ||
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#3
Another distinction between Carter's (Dems) economics and Bush's (Reps). Bush makes a one time $70 mil payment for Afghan peace and Carter decides on a $88 billion program that hasn't resulted in anything except Cairo now has a Metro built by the French and Israel has to build a wall around their country to keep safe.
Posted by: Jack ||
12/16/2002 6:04 Comments ||
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#4
The other day I heard pn the news that Egypt(We gypt the Americans)had denied the use of thier territory by U.S. forces.Well now it seems we have a 2-3 billion dollar carrot/stick we can use.No baseing rights,no money.Egypt can eat camel dung+sand stew.I am reasonabley sure the Yeminies and Djoubuties would just love a 2 billion dollar infusion of cash.I realize the pc liberials might object to this but they can take a handfull of Egytian sand and pound it.Same goes for the rest of the world if you want our help and support we demand yours.
(bunch of damned ingrates)
North Korea has threatened to remove UN seals and surveillance cameras from its nuclear facilities. On Saturday, for the second time in three days, Pyongyang wrote to the UN watchdog - the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - demanding that it remove the seals as soon as possible. If the IAEA failed to meet its request, North Korea warned, the "necessary measures" would be taken unilaterally. "And you guys can just loosen these straps, too! An' you can fergit about us takin' that medication!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/15/2002 09:16 am ||
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#1
After the big protests by So. Korean idiots
students wanting the U.S. to leave, and the continuous raised middle finger from the No Koreans, I wonder what stake we have in this peninsula? Japan, yes, and Taiwan as well, but if we puled out today, the South and North would have to face a bad reality, with a lotta dead Koreans as the result. But our troops, who serve only as a tripwire, shouldn't be sacrificed for these ignorant and ungrateful bastards
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/15/2002 10:24 Comments ||
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#2
If the positions were reversed, and South Korea was the superpower, and they judged the USA by its college students... I think you need to find a better basis for policy suggestions.
Posted by: Joe Katzman ||
12/15/2002 11:09 Comments ||
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#3
Stores and restaurants are posting prominent signs that Americans will not be served. Non students are doing this. It is a general Korean problem and U.S. policy should not ignore it.
Posted by: Fred Boness ||
12/15/2002 11:39 Comments ||
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#4
Joe, as Fred also noted, the protesters aren't limited to students by any means. I should've been clearer. I would expect that were the roles reversed, we would be told to knock off the protests or they would withdraw their aid, support. Fortunately for Seoul, we aren't as brusque. I just don't see what's in the US's interest in exposing our troops to protect what seems an ungrateful ally
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/15/2002 12:26 Comments ||
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#5
should publicly wash our hands of sk... also france and germany...
say that they are outside of american protection and we are indifferent to what happens...
#7
The first person who can figure out the Koreans wins the Nobel Prize in Physics (not Peace)since he will also be able to explain anti-gravity, big bang and the second coming of Christ.
Posted by: Jack ||
12/16/2002 6:07 Comments ||
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#8
I agree with Jack. Don't try to figure anything in Korea politics or culture out. They just don't conform to anything in the western universe. Next to them, the Chinese and the Japanese are straightforward.
#9
Its bad policy to pull out when things are loud. It enourages folks like the NK to be bellicose. The US should tell the South Korean Government that we intend to pull out within 5 years and they will have to pick up the slack.
Chief United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix has asked the Iraqi authorities for a list of Iraqi scientists who have worked in programmes of weapons of mass destruction. The tough new UN resolution which allowed inspectors to return to Iraq last month gives Mr Blix full powers to interview the scientists and even fly them and their families to safety abroad, if necessary. He has so far ruled out doing so, despite American demands. "Yasss... Wouldn't want to offend them, would we? May I have some more of that warm milk, please? It's very tasty."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/15/2002 09:34 am ||
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One of the most notorious Chechen rebels, Salman Raduyev, has died in jail in Russia, prison sources say. Raduyev was sentenced to life imprisonment for multiple murders and terrorism, in December, 2001. That wasn't very long, was it?
Russian media said Raduyev died from a brain haemorrhage, while officials said the cause of his death in the town of Solikamsk was being investigated. "I didn't think I hit him that hard!"
Raduyev, 35, led an infamous raid on the southern Russian republic of Dagestan in 1996, taking hundreds of people hostage at a hospital and using some as human shields. A total of 78 people were killed in the attack. A favored tactic, isn't it? Yet there are still people who deny the Chechens are terrorists...
During the Chechen war of 1994-1996, Raduyev controlled one of the most powerful rebel groups in the breakaway Russian republic. But it was his daring raid on the hospital in the town of Kizlyar which earned him a reputation for ruthlessness. Raduyev said he was taking orders from his father-in-law, the late Chechen President, Dzhokhar Dudayev, who was killed by a Russian missile in 1996. Raduyev's unit fled Kizlyar with about 150 hostages and fought their way through Russian troops to escape back to Chechnya. That's pretty much what signed Dzhokar's death warrant, too...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/15/2002 09:16 am ||
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#1
What's "daring" about a raid on a HOSPITAL?
Posted by: Larry ||
12/15/2002 12:01 Comments ||
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A "brain haemorrhage", forsooth...
I guess it was too quick for "lead poisoning" to set in...
The first contingent of reinforcements for the French military mission in Ivory Coast has arrived, according to military officials, despite a threat by the country's main rebel group to fight against them. The French news agency, AFP, said 150 paratroopers had landed at the international airport in Abidjan. France has broadened the mandate of its soldiers in Ivory Coast, authorising them to enforce - rather than just monitor - an October ceasefire between government forces and the rebels who now control the north of the country. The 1,200-strong French deployment is to be boosted by 500 troops in all. Whoa! That's a difference! That's gonna bunch the bad guys' BVDs...
On Friday, a spokesman for the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast (MPCI) Guillaume Soro accused the troops of deviating from their peacekeeping mission, and demanded their withdrawal. Toldja so...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/15/2002 09:16 am ||
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#1
Funny, I don't recall them seeking UN aproval beforehand.
Posted by: Joe Katzman ||
12/15/2002 11:11 Comments ||
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That's very unilateral of them. Did they look into the root cause of the rebels reasons for rebelling?
Posted by: Steve ||
12/15/2002 19:17 Comments ||
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#3
You don't think the Frogs would ever expose their fighting machine to real conflict like in Iraq or Kosovo or Bosnia do you?
Posted by: Jack ||
12/16/2002 6:10 Comments ||
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#4
With out U.N.approval!
Please correct me if I'm wrong but wasa it not the Frogs(excuse me,French)who were among the loudest critics of the U.S. taking unilaterial action aginst Iraq,now the do this.How very French of them.
#5
The French have had a battalion stationed in this country for years. They never "actually" gave up their colonies, especially in West Africa. Chad, Central African Republic, etc. all have had French millitary interventions.
Have the French accused of deviations is nothing new, either.
#6
Don't be simplie... I'd love to bash the French as well as the next guy but Africa is gonna be a problem in the future and its better them than the US.
But Pierre, you did such a fine job restoring order in the Ivory Coast, perhaps you should take the lead in the Sierra Leone crisis, and the Liberian bloodbath, etc, etc, etc. We would be glad to rent out space on C-130s if you need logistical help and we won't even force you to buy off our UN Veto.
Six people are to appear in court charged with membership of a terrorist organisation. The three men and three women were arrested in London and Cheshire on Wednesday. They were charged by the Metropolitan Police under the Terrorism Act on Saturday. Five of those arrested are Turkish nationals, the sixth is British. The charges relate to being a member of a proscribed organisation and "facilitating the retention or control of terrorist property". "Hey, Mehmet! Will ya stash these explosives for me for a few days?"
The organisation was named as DHKP-C, which is a Turkish left-wing group otherwise known as the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party. The three men are Rory O'Driscoll, 29, Allaatin Kalander, 38, both from Stoke Newington, north London, and Gurkan Gur, 39, from Hyde, Cheshire. The three women, all from north London, are Songul Ozgur, 26, Selver Kapan, 30, and Birten Kalayci, also 30. Ohfergawdsake! A bunch of cryptocommies! Two Turks, an O'Revolutionary, and some breeding stock, one of whom probably doubles as the brains of the outfit.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/15/2002 09:31 am ||
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US President George W Bush has authorised the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to kill about a dozen terrorist leaders named on a secret list prepared by the White House, US media has reported. Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri are among those singled out as targets, the New York Times newspaper says, citing senior military and intelligence officials. Really, this should have been done at least a year ago. Does anybody doubt that Binny has a hit list, with Bush and Cheney at the very top?
The report comes a month after the CIA killed six al-Qaeda suspects in a missile attack on a car in Yemen using a pilotless aircraft. The newspaper quoted sources as saying that killing was permitted "if capture is impractical and civilian casualties can be minimised". "Minimized" is a word that the terror enablers will quibble over — those who don't holler that the hit list makes us "just as bad as the terrorists"...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/15/2002 09:16 am ||
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#1
a dozen? I can think of about twice that off the top of my head. Fred, maybe you should fwd the link to Thugburg to the CIA?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/15/2002 10:29 Comments ||
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#2
This is old news, isn't it? I thought this was in the works and working a year ago.
Posted by: Jack ||
12/16/2002 6:12 Comments ||
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#3
The news is that they've been yakking about it for a year, and just now got around to filling in the signature line. Thhhhhpppp!
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2002 9:49 Comments ||
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By Lynn Brezosky The Associated Press
BROWNSVILLE, Texas â Ambulances regularly race across the bridges of the Rio Grande, bringing some of Mexico's most ill to the nearest U.S. emergency room. Obligated by federal law, the hospitals provide the care and worry later about whether the billing addresses patients give them are accurate. Often the addresses are false â and the hospitals get stuck with the bill.
Immigrant patients have inflated medical expenses for insurance companies, Medicaid and paying customers, officials say, and are overwhelming already busy hospitals in one of the nation's fastest-growing regions. One recent study by the U.S.-Mexico Border Counties Coalition, an American lobbying group, found U.S. border hospitals provided at least $200 million a year in uncompensated emergency care to illegal immigrants â $74 million of that in Texas. "Shh, don't tell Iowa farmers that part of their taxes are paying for trauma that occurs south of the border," Dr. Lorenzo Pelly, a south Texas doctor, told state lawmakers at a recent hearing.
Republican state Sen. Chris Harris said he was shocked by what he called the
"dumping" of Mexicans on U.S. hospitals.
Policymakers are just beginning to assess the size of the problem. Brownsville Medical Center estimates losses averaging at least $500,000 per month. At Thomason Hospital in El Paso, officials said their first attempt to estimate the cost found $1 million over just three months. Thomason Hospital responded by retaining a Mexican lawyer and requiring patients to sign "pagares," or promissory notes, that carry weight under Mexican law. It also signed on with a firm that specializes in collecting past due accounts in Mexico.
Even without the influx from Mexico, U.S. border hospitals are straining to
meet the region's growing medical needs. Some have resorted to importing doctors and offering nurses tuition grants and signing bonuses. But the load really jumped as Mexicans looking for work stream to factories along the border. The North American Free Trade Agreement has stimulated business on both sides of the border, but hospitals have not kept up. NAFTA "lacks the social economic infrastructure and capacity" to address the growth, said Eva Moya of the Mexico Border Health Commission, made up of U.S. and Mexican officials.
For the sick or injured on the Mexican side of the border, the choice in a life-or-death situation can be a three-hour journey inland to Monterrey, Mexico, or a minutes-long trip to Brownsville, Laredo or El Paso. The issue drew attention in September, when 4-year-old Larissa Guajardo, a U.S. citizen, died of heart problems after crossing the Hidalgo-Reynosa international bridge on the way to a hospital. Family members blamed a delay caused by immigration officials, who would not let the mother enter the country. The mother lacked paperwork and had crossed the border illegally before. The Immigration and Naturalization Service said the inspection process took only a few minutes and that inspectors did not know the girl's illness was critical. Once the seriousness was discovered, the mother was allowed to enter on humanitarian grounds, the INS said.
The Sept. 11 attacks have also complicated the situation along the border, with some authorities worrying about what the ambulances might be holding. "It is a security threat if they are going across the border unchallenged, but at the same time, we don't want to interfere with an emergency procedure," said Carl Rusnok of the INS in Dallas.
The B&M International Bridge, which links Brownsville with Matamoros, Mexico, has emergency crossings down to a science, said Joe Galvan, president of the company that runs it. The company has its own security guards staffing both sides of the crossing, and in medical emergencies a call goes out for the U.S. side to clear a lane for fast passage.
Under a 1986 federal law, U.S. hospitals must treat anyone who seeks emergency care, without regard to immigration status or ability to pay. The government gives hospitals extra funding to help poorer regions absorb the costs of unreimbursed care, but hospitals say it is not enough. "This becomes a particular philosophical question that these doctors are having," said Dominic Dominguez, an administrator at Brownsville Medical Center. "Part of my signing to serve in this community is, I'll cover this emergency room. But I didn't sign on to cover Mexico."
#1
Neal Boortz, Atlanta talk show host, came up with and idea about this. When the Mexican ambulance arrives, confiscate it. Then sell it to pay for the medical bills. Works for me.
Posted by: Denny Wilson ||
12/15/2002 21:26 Comments ||
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#2
Actually, what they're describing sounds more like a business opportunity than an immigration problem. The situation is a statement that there's a requirement for a major medical facility in Matamoros.
I'd guess it'd be set up in partnership with one of the Brownsville hospitals, and its core would come from one of the clinicas on the Mexican side of the border. There should be some sort of subsidy available from the Texas government and the Mexican state (Coahuila?) government, and probably similar kick-ins from the U.S. and Mexican feds. Somebody with a silver tongue should also be able to talk some out of whatever HMOs are prominent in the area, with maybe a second helping from Texas state medicaid and the Mexican state equivalent.
Set the operation up as a partnership deal, with ancillary services (labs, x-ray, MRI, all that sort of stuff) incorporated on the Mexican side for purely local consumption, and a cross-billing arrangement for the treatment facility. The existing clinicas can form the basis for the outpatient treatment facilities, and the ER can be cloned from the U.S. facility.
Why do it? Because it's a horrendous long drive from any of the border towns to Monterrey, scenic as the drive may be. (When you're being transported with lights and sirens you're not really concerned with the scenery.) There are a number of thriving towns on the border, which would provide the clientele for a major regional hospital. All that's needed is a silver-tongued devil to put together the consortium to set it up, plus the money, guns and lawyers needed for the mechanics.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2002 9:44 Comments ||
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#2
And there I thought he was pulling a Nixon (Sock it to me on Laughin back in the 60'S) by appearing on Saturday Night Live
Posted by: Denny Wilson ||
12/15/2002 21:23 Comments ||
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#3
I'm sure the decision came after the overnight ratings on SNL showed that people just didn't care what Gore is doing. They won't buy his book to show support and they won't tune in to watch him on SNL.
Better to be able to claim you really beat George W but the election was stolen then to go against him in 2004 and get thrashed by George W and have the issue resolved forever.
Authorities in Pakistan have arrested three men suspected of planning a suicide bomb attack against US diplomats in the southern city of Karachi. Police chief Kamal Shah said the men were found with 10 kg (22 lb) of explosives in a Volkswagen car with which they planned to attack the diplomats. Even the Paks are tired of this nonsense...
"We have arrested three militants who were planning to target American diplomats," he told reporters. "They have confessed." "Uh... Those are... Those are pliers!"
"Yes, they are."
"They're, uh... very big!"
"Yes, they are. Take his pants off, Mahmoud."
Inspector Shah said the suspects belonged to a radical Islamic movement, Harkat-e-Jihad, and had been trained in Afghanistan. The group could be HUJI (Harkat ul-Jihad Islami), a Kashmir Killer Korps, or it could be just a local pickup team...
He said the men were "highly committed people whose targets are foreigners, particularly Americans in the post-11 September scenario". One of the men had been the intended suicide bomber in an attack on a bus outside a hotel in Karachi in May, 2002, which killed 11 French naval technicians and three Pakistanis, the police chief said. That attack was one of a series brought to you by Harkatul Mujahedin al-Alaami. They drew their cannon fodder from the local religious nuts belonging to Lashkar e-Jhangvi and Sipah e-Sahaba. To their credit, the Paks seemed to have rendered al-Alaami pretty much defunct, at least until the killers are sprung from the calaboose.
The announcement came a day before US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Christina Rocca was due to arrive in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. These guys were the welcoming committee.
The police chief identified one of the detained men as 28-year-old Asif Zaheer, a suspect in the attack on the bus in May. "This time he wanted to go himself for the suicide bombing and his target was two US diplomats," said Inspector Shah. "Duh. I was a suspeck in the last one, but they'll never expeck me to do it again. Huh huh."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/15/2002 09:19 am ||
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The army in Indian-administered Kashmir says its soldiers have discovered a surface-to-air missile in a suspected hideout for separatist militants in the frontier district of Kupwara. A Indian army spokesman said the missile, an ANZA Mark 1 which is similar to those used by the Pakistani army, proved what he called Pakistani involvement with militants in the region. Pakistan has always said that it only provides ideological support to the rebels, whom it describes as freedom fighters. And what's more ideological than a few antiaircraft missiles?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/15/2002 09:36 am ||
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Riding a 'Hindutva' wave, the BJP on Sunday swept back to power in Gujarat with a massive two-thirds majority in a win that could have a far-reaching impact on national politics. "Hinduvta" is the Indians' attempt to be just as intolerant and bloodthirsty as their Muslim neighbors...
Performing a hatrick, the party won 127 seats in the 182-member Assembly bettering its tally of 117 in the 1998 elections. Congress, which had 57 members in the dissolved house, fared much worse than predicted, getting 50 seats. Of the remaining four, three went to independents and one was bagged by JD-U. Election in one seat was countermanded. It doesn't appear the Gujaratis preferred Congress, preferring Modi's corruption to someone else's...
The newly elected BJP MLAs would meet on Monday to elect their leader who in all probability will be the 52-year old chief minister Narendra Modi. The swearing in is likely to take place a couple of days later. Modi won the Maninagar seat, defeating his Congress rival Yatin Oza by a margin of 75,331 votes. In a proper Caliphate that wouldn't have happened, mainly because there wouldn't have been any elections...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/15/2002 09:43 am ||
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A female council member says she was beaten and paraded naked through the streets of her small Pakistani town by a political rival and his supporters, authorities said Sunday. Police arrested Chaudhry Mohammed Alam, his two sons and another man on Saturday after the woman issued a formal complaint, police officer Saeed Akhtar told The Associated Press. These are the people who want to impose their system on the rest of the world...
The woman, Nasim Akhtar, says she was attacked on Dec. 7 in the eastern town of Sadra Bara after she used a loudspeaker to call on Alam to donate money for repairs of a religious site. The town is 140 miles east of the capital, Islamabad. Attacks against women are common in remote and deeply conservative parts of Pakistan. That definition seems to cover most places, to include downtown Karachi...
Nasim Akhtar told the Islamabad-based daily The News that she was beaten for two hours and dragged naked through the streets of the village as townsfolk looked on from streets and nearby rooftops. She said that the men were armed with sticks and that nobody dared try to rescue her. After the attack, Nasim Akhtar said she was threatened with death if she reported it to police. She said Alam and his followers also tried to prevent her from going to a hospital. If the witnesses are all dead, then there was no crime...
Alam has acknowledged taking offense at the call to donate money - seen as a public challenge to Alam, a prominent landlord in the town - but he denied he or the others beat or humiliated the woman, said the police officer, Saeed Akhtar, who is no relation to the council member. "No! No! Certainly not! A pious fellow like me? Pshaw!"
Nasim Akhtar, a widow in her 40s and mother of seven, and Alam, who is in his 70s, are apparently political rivals whose enmity goes back years. I.A. Rehman, a human rights commission leader, said the group was sending a team of investigators to the town to look into the incident. ``It is shocking, of course, but unfortunately, we cannot say we are surprised,'' Rehman told AP. ``In Pakistan, local despots take the law into their own hands, and for them, even if a woman has become a town councilor, she is still just a woman and vulnerable to abuse.'' They hate it when the breeding stock gets uppity.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/15/2002 11:11 am ||
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Three of the most wanted outlaws from Balochistan, Bhala Bajkani, Rehmat Hajwani Bugti and Raho Hajwani Bugti, were killed in an encounter on Friday. The encounter occurred in the jurisdiction of the Bahoo Khoso police station after some 20 outlaws raided Babul Jakhrani village. "Yeehaw! We are the bandidos of Balochistan!"
The police, hiding in the nearby bushes, opened fire on the raiders killing three outlaws in the process. Other outlaws fled towards Balochistan. "Cheese it! It's the cops! Ow!"
Police sources said that outlaws used rocket launchers and fire bombs in their retaliatory attack on the police party narrowly missing the policemen, including the TPO, Masroor Jatoi. "Take that, coppers! Hey! Where'd it go? I think these things got defective sites!"
Sources said that the police, using a new strategy, had 200 constables in hiding. "Cheese, Mahmoud! There sure are a lot of 'em!"
Later, some 10 to 15 outlaws tried to avenge the deaths of Rehmat Hajwani Bugti and Ratto Hajwani Bugti. "Yar! Here's an old lady! Let's bump her off!"
Police sources said that the three outlaws killed in the encounter were involved in more than 50 cases of murder, kidnapping and other crimes. Just good Muslims, pursuing their traditional way of life. Who's to say our way's better than theirs, eh?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/15/2002 11:37 am ||
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Hundreds of thousands of protesters have taken part in a rally in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, to demand the resignation of President Hugo Chavez. Correspondents say the march is the largest demonstration since a general strike began two weeks ago. The president's mostly middle-class opponents say they will continue their campaign until Mr Chavez stands down or calls a referendum on his controversial rule. But though Venezuela's vital oil industry has been badly hit by the strike, on Saturday Mr Chavez again said he would not resign. "Hey! I'm the dictator! You're the proletariat! Now, shuddup and let me rule!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/15/2002 09:16 am ||
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Jordanian police arrested a Libyan and a Jordanian accused in the killing of a U.S. diplomat in October, officials announced Saturday, saying a top al-Qaida operative supplied the two men with guns and money for a terrorist campaign in Jordan. They've got some details for us. As of yesterday's post, they'd just released the names...
The two suspects, Salem Saad bin Suweid from Libya and Jordanian Yasser Fatih Ibrahim, both admitted belonging to al-Qaida and having links to a top figure in the terror network, Information Minister Mohammad Affash Adwan said in a statement broadcast on Jordanian television. Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher said the two men also had confessed to Foley's slaying, and Adwan said they had planned to carry out further attacks against embassies and foreign diplomats in the Jordanian capital. For some reason they didn't expect to be caught...
According to Adwan's statement, the two men were connected to Ahmed al-Kalaylah, a Jordanian better known as Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi. German officials have said al-Zarqawi is an al-Qaida commander assigned to orchestrate attacks on Europe. He is thought to be among the top 25 in the terror organization's hierarchy. Zarqawi is the head of al-Tawhid, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda.
Adwan said officials had been aware of the Ibrahim and bin Suweid's involvement in Foley's slaying for some time but withheld information while the investigation continued. A source close to the investigation said the two men were arrested Dec. 3. The two were charged with conspiring to carry out terrorist attacks, belonging to an illegal organization, al-Qaida, and possessing arms and explosives - charges that carry the death penalty. Jordan does hang them, too...
Adwan said the pair targeted Foley, an administrator with the U.S. Agency for International Development that coordinates American aid, because he did not have a heavy security detail. The minister's statement described in detail the Oct. 28 slaying, saying the suspects went to Foley's home in a rented car and bin Suweid hid outside, armed with a 7mm gun with a silencer, tear has, wearing a bulletproof vest and blue jeans and masked with a keffiyeh, or Arab headdress. ``When Foley came out and intended to open his car door, bin Suweid fired all the bullets in his gun at Foley,'' Adwan's statement said. An act of unparalleled bravery...
The detained men were found with ammunition and the gun used in the Foley attack as well as a plan for attacking other ``important targets'' in Jordan, Adwan's statement said. It said the men admitted their al-Qaida cell had unfulfilled plans to smuggle surface to air missiles into the country. They seem to be concentrating on the SAMs lately. Guess they've figured the hijack thing isn't going to work anymore...
The statement said the fugitive al-Qaida official al-Zarqawi supplied the two suspects with machine guns, grenades and money to carry out terrorist attacks against embassies and foreign diplomats. Al-Zarqawi was in Afghanistan when the United States began bombing there in late 2001. During the military action he fled to Iran, then to Baghdad in Iraq for medical treatment, and then on to Syria, the American officials said. He ran a camp near Herat, so it was fairly easy to scamper across the border and head for points west...
In Jordan, Al-Zarqawi was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison for smuggling weapons into the country and being part of a foiled conspiracy to bomb tourist sites during millennium celebrations. The killing of Foley shocked Jordan, which has long and close ties to the United States. King Abdullah II and his wife, Queen Rania, visited the U.S. Embassy the day after the shooting to offer condolences and met briefly with Foley's widow. Foley, born in Boston, had later lived in Oakland, Calif. Unlike some other regimes in the area, the condemnation wasn't just pious words...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/15/2002 10:13 am ||
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Source: Palestine Information Centre
Syrian president Bashaar Al-Assad has said that repercussions of war on Iraq would not be limited to that country but would drag the entire region to an unknown future. He says that like it's a bad thing...
Assad, speaking to the British daily 'The Times' three days before a scheduled visit to London, opined that the USA had obstructed the return of international inspection teams to Iraq. "This is enough evidence that all what they wanted was striking Iraq", he elaborated. Either that, or that we believe it's an exercise in futility. Or both.
The head of state refuted American administration's assertions that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was threatening the region. He affirmed, "We are the ones who give such a ruling because we live in the region". "Yeah. We're the ones that'd have to worry about having our colony taken away from us..."
Assad then stressed his country's support to Palestinian Islamic organizations such as the Hamas and Islamic Jihad Movements because "They reflect the opinions of millions of Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian lands". He added that those Palestinians were supported by 300 million Arabs and more than a billion Muslims in addition to millions of people worldwide. They're still thugs, though. Maybe that's why they have so much support...
Assad underlined that confrontations in the Palestinian lands were in retaliation to Sharon's terrorism against Palestinian civilians. Asked on Middle East peace prospects, the Syrian president charged that the American administration's efforts were absolutely biased in favor of "Israel". Before Sharon, they were based on Barak's terrorism against Paleo civilians. And before him...
He said that the Palestinians resorted to exploding themselves (in armed attacks against Zionist targets) in retaliation to "Israeli" murder sprees. Gotta watch those cycles of violence...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/15/2002 10:20 am ||
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Israel's Cabinet decided Sunday that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will not be allowed to travel to Bethlehem for Christmas celebrations, an Israeli government source said. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Cabinet made the decision at its weekly meeting after consulting with the security forces, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity. Israel's security agencies continue to receive warnings about possible Palestinian attacks from the Bethlehem region, just south of Jerusalem, and removing the troops would make Israel more vulnerable, the source said. "Piss off. You ain't goin'."
A spokesman for Arafat criticized Israel's decision. ``The Israeli decision ... is a violation of their promises to the American administration, the Vatican and the Pope,'' said spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh. ``All the excuses that they give are lies and are rejected.'' "Mom!@ They're pickin' on me, an' I dint do nuffin'!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/15/2002 11:41 am ||
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#1
Don't Muslims consider it a sin for a Muslim to enter a Christian church, especially to worship? Well, it's ok to enter in order to blow it up, or to hide out/mess up the place, but to worship? If Arafat is a Muslim, surely he would not want to go to a Christian church, especially on Christmas.
Posted by: Joel ||
12/15/2002 15:10 Comments ||
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#2
Arafat's as Islamist as Saddam, Joel. Look closely: he's a Marxist.
Posted by: Brian ||
12/15/2002 19:25 Comments ||
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#3
I don't think Arafat has any ideology other than than the accumulation of power and a fattening of his Swiss bank account
Posted by: Paul ||
12/15/2002 22:46 Comments ||
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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.
