At least four suspected members of the deposed Taliban militia were killed and two others captured after a gun battle in southeastern Afghanistan with soldiers from the nation's new army, a government official said Thursday. The soldiers confronted about 60 fighters during a routine patrol on Monday in the area of Balai Zhar, about 75 miles southeast of Kandahar, said Khalid Pashtoon, a top government spokesman in Kandahar. The Afghan soldiers suffered no casualties, Pashtoon said. High fives all around
He said the fighters were led by Hafiz Abdul Rahim, well-known in the area for his promotion of the Taliban. Rahim and the remaining fighters fled into the hills east of Balai Zhar near the Pakistani border, he said. Bet he didn't stop running till he crossed the border
Pashtoon would not say how the fighters were identified as Taliban nor where the captured men were being held.
"Hafiz Abdul Rahim had been in the area before to promote the Taliban," Pashtoon said. Kandahar was the stronghold of the Taliban, the rigorously Islamic regime that was ousted from power in late 2001 by a U.S.-led military coalition.
Bala Gul, an Afghan trader based in the border town of Spinboldak, near Balai Zhar, said Rahim and his men would come to the area regularly. They called on people to launch a jihad, or holy war, against the current Afghan government and pasted pamphlets with similar messages on mosques in the area, Gul said. "Pops up, rants a while, tags our mosque with graffiti, then splits. We're getting tired of him."
Posted by: Steve ||
01/09/2003 03:16 pm ||
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All this calling for jihad gets old really quick. It's as if these Neanderthals don't have anything else better to do.
#2
The good part about this story is that it's the Afghan army that bumped these hosers off. I've been saying from the beginning, it's their country, they should be able to take care of this stuff. This'll be a nice dose of self-confidence for them, so there should be more Bad Guy corpses to come.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2003 20:42 Comments ||
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Actually, it's not like they have better things to do...they don't know HOW to do anything besides being thugs. Only one way to rehab them: send them to the 72 virgins.
And it's very good news that the Afghans are developing a real, national army. Training takes time, but eventually they'll be far superior fighters to these Taliban bozos.
Posted by: Ramon McLeod ||
01/10/2003 4:41 Comments ||
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BINA
Ranking members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), together with some members of the MILF negotiating panel and MILF technical committees, met yesterday in an undisclosed location in Maguindanao to discuss and prepare the final draft of the document that will be submitted to the government in Manila when peace talks resume this month in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Negotiating with these Soddy proxies is a big mistake for the Philippine government — but they've started on that course...
The draft proposal will be submitted to the MILF Central Committee for deliberation in a plenary session, which will be convened soon. It is expected that the MILF will finally adopt its official position especially on the issue of ancestral domain aspect of the Tripoli Agreement in time for the resumption the peace talks. "Ancestral domain" means they want to have their own little Dar ul-Islam, and infidels can stay out. Any that are there now can become proper Muslims and maybe they won't be killed...
The Bangsamoro Islamic News Agency (BINA) reported that present during the meeting were Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, MILF deputy chair for military affairs and concurrently MILF chief negotiator, deputy chair for political affairs Ghazali Jaafar, MILF chief information officer Mohagher Iqbal, and other members of the MILF Central Committee, who requested anonymity. They expect to have high positions under the khalifa, but until they have one, they don't want to stick their necks out...
In a related development, a reliable source close to the government in Manila told BINA that the Arroyo dispensation is considering the postponement again of the peace talks slated this month fearing that an impasse of the talks with MILF is inevitable. Good move. Two weeks after Doomsday seems like a good date to shoot for to start them up again...
He disclosed that the main reason given was the nature of the government proposal, which is still "autonomy" — an idea rejected by the MILF. They have to have their independence, otherwise they can't be part of the Greater Southeast Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2003 11:34 am ||
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The fact that these guys are negotiating with the government means they no longer have the ability to take what they want, militarily. They are hurt badly and need time to regroup.
Posted by: Ben ||
01/10/2003 5:06 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON â Sen. Patty Murray on Wednesday gave her first public defense of comments she made last month that seemed to praise terror leader Usama bin Laden for his humanitarian efforts.
The Democratic senator from Washington, who has previously denied interview requests, said that sheâs no big fan of the terrorist leader and that the media has misconstrued remarks she made to a group of advanced placement students in her home state on Dec. 18.
"I have to tell you that it's really important that people don't twist or construe remarks that were made to an AP student group in a Vancouver high school," she told Fox News in a Senate corridor after attending a "power coffee" with the 13 other women senators on Capitol Hill.
No, I think all they had to do was listen to the remarks...no twisting or construing required.
"We all know -- everyone in this country knows -- that Usama bin Laden is an evil terrorist and in my remarks I told the students we're taking the right steps now. The question is what do we do next ... and it's an important question," Murray said.
"The really important question is how do I get away from all these people asking me questions?"
In the meeting with students, Murray asked why bin Laden is so popular in some places around the world. Her answer was caught on tape by the schoolâs video department.
"He's been out in these countries for decades building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building day care facilities, building health care facilities and people are extremely grateful," she said. "He's made their lives better. We have not done that."
Outcry against Murray's comments was immediate, even among some who think the United States should give more foreign aid to Afghanistan.
"She should know better than that -- [bin Laden] is public enemy No. 1 and is behind despicable things. To use him for effect is outrageous," said Josh Feit, editor of The Stranger, Seattle's alternative weekly paper.
Several experts said itâs true bin Laden has spent some of his money in the Sudan and Afghanistan on infrastructure projects such as building hospitals, schools and roads.
But they say most of those roads were built to take soldiers to and from training camps, the schools built were madrasas, which often indoctrinate students to the bin Laden brand of Islam, and the hospitals were not intended for average Muslims but for injured Mujahadeen fighters battling the Soviets.
Diplomats, biographers and aid workers all say bin Ladenâs popularity does not stem from his benevolence, but from his message of hate towards Israel and the United States.
"I think he developed a following because he became the embodiment of someone who would represent the powerless and confront the powerful," said Fox News contributor Dennis Ross, a former ambassador and director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
In fact, the United States is the largest international donor of aid to several countries where bin Laden is popular, and was so even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Recently, the United States gave $320 million in aid to Afghanistan, mostly in the form of food and refugee assistance, thus providing 80 percent of the international relief given to that country.
Some have also criticized the disproportionate response to Murrayâs comments compared to the drubbing given to former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., who resigned from his leadership post after a huge public outcry over remarks he made regarding segregationist policies of the past.
But there are others in Murrayâs corner, including several in Seattleâs anti-war coalition who believe she is right.
Wotta surprise.
"I would believe that as a fundamentalist, he believes very much in the values of his religion and that he would have been providing charity," said Alice Woldt of the Church Council of Seattle.
I believe that as a Christian and as a woman and as a sentient human being, Alice Woldt of the Church Council of Seattle should be horrified by Bin Laden's "values" and "fundamentalism" and she should be demanding Senator Murray's immediate resignation.
Murrayâs defenders have said her remarks were made off the cuff, but the tape showed the senator using those words as her closing statements, which may have left a lasting impression.
The GOP is now seizing the moment. Republicans, and even President Bush, are said to be trying to draft Rep. Jennifer Dunn to run against Murray in the 2004 election.
#1
Call her Senator Foot-in-Mouth. How would you refer to the guy who said this: "Right now I should be in a bar in Texas, not the Oval Office. There is only one reason that I am in the Oval Office and not in a bar. I found faith. I found God. I am here because of the power of prayer." That is how former White House insider, David Frum quotes the President in his new book, "The Right Man." He had deliberately invited a Muslim and a Jew to the White House, in order to sustain his common-religions-of-Abraham delusions. The next day (Sept. 17, 2001) he spewed his infamous Islamic Center screech, "Islam is peace." Americans do not need a dependent personality in the White House, especially one like the current Saudi stooge. I'll give the last word to a respectable former President: "The price of liberty is: eternal vigilence."
#2
The more I think about it, the more ludicrous Patty's speech was. In Afghanistan, there was no need for day care centers--the women were forbidden to work!
The Defense Department has canceled leave for special forces troops as part of contingency plans for a possible war in Iraq, acting Prime Minister John Anderson said Thursday. Anderson said defense chiefs had canceled vacation for Australia's elite Special Air Service commandos. "It (cancellation of leave) just applies to the SAS at this point in time," Anderson told reporters. In a radio interview earlier Thursday, Anderson said the government still hoped diplomacy could avert conflict and that it had made no decision to send troops.
The United States and Britain moved closer to a full war footing against Iraq this week by announcing the dispatch of thousands more troops and weapons to the Gulf region and by voicing misgivings about Iraq's commitment to disarm.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who is currently on vacation, is a staunch supporter of President Bush's hardline stance against Baghdad and has not ruled out supporting American forces in a military strike, even without a United Nations mandate. Canberra sent 150 SAS commandos to Afghanistan for more than a year but brought them back in December, saying they were no longer needed as the operation there turned toward nation-building. However, Canberra still has warships and air force planes deployed in the region. The Defense Department said Thursday that Australian and U.S. navy fighter jets are to begin bombing exercises in Western Australia state next week.
Beaches near the town of Lancelin, 80 miles north of the state capital Perth, will be closed for five days from Jan. 14 while jet fighters from the USS Abraham Lincoln and Australian aircraft drop non-explosive bombs on targets, the department said. The U.S. aircraft carrier had been in Perth for Christmas after a six-month deployment in the Indian Ocean. It left 10 days ago for its homeport in Everett, Wash., but the Pentagon on Dec. 31 reversed its orders and told it to return to Perth.
Australian defense officials say the exercises are routine.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/09/2003 03:33 pm ||
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I hope they're goint to Indonesia for some payback.
The leader of an Iraqi Kurdish faction visited Turkey Thursday for the first time in a year, a sign of improving relations between two key allies the United States is counting on for help in any war against Iraq. Tensions between Turkey and Massoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party had risen of late as the threat of war hangs over the region. Turkey fears that any conflict could lead to the breakup of Iraq, with Kurds in the north declaring independence. That could inspire Turkey's own restive Kurdish minority. Turkey insists that Iraqi Kurds not be left in control of the oil fields in the north if there is a conflict. Barzani's faction wants control over those areas should the regime of Saddam Hussein be ousted.
Barzani met with Turkish Foreign Ministry officials Thursday.
"Both sides realize our relations need to be improved," Barzani told journalists after the meetings. Relations between Iraqi Kurds and Turkey should be based on "friendship and cooperation," he added. It was Barzani's first visit in more than a year, although other top KDP officials have visited during that time. Northern Iraq is an autonomous area controlled by Barzani's KDP and a rival group, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. Sniff, sniff, I smell a deal in the works
Posted by: Steve ||
01/09/2003 03:29 pm ||
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Okay, why won't this work?
Turkey agrees to the establishment of an independent Kurdistan. Kurdistan makes no territorial claims inside Turkey's present border. Any persons or groups crossing the border for the purpose of attacking Turkey, or escaping Turkish prosecution, are hunted down and handed back to Turkey. Turkey helps the Kurds develop the oil fields, and provide pipeline access to the Med and Black Sea, for a cut of the profits.
Posted by: Ben ||
01/10/2003 4:27 Comments ||
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A large hole has appeared in the U.S. network of alliances in Central Asia. Turkmenistan's Foreign Ministry press service has carried an "open letter" to U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Reeker from the editors of the main newspapers that accuses U.S. Ambassador Laura Kennedy of connections with a recent 'coup attempt' against the regime. The open letter claims Kennedy "talked on the phone and consulted with (former Turkmen foreign minister) Boris Shikhmuradov three times after he was declared wanted as a dangerous criminal and branded as an international terrorist." Shikhmuradov, accused of being behind the Nov 25 assassination attempts against Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Halk Maslahaty (People's Council). Reeker's own press briefing of Dec. 31, denouncing the summary trials and mass arrests and "credible reports of torture and abuse of suspects," is denounced in the open letter as "barefaced calumny." You know, if crazy Niyazov just kept his mouth shut and oppressed his people no one would care. He keeps making charges like this and somebody is going to get tired of his shit and fund a real coup. Imagine, charging a U.S. State Department official with making false statements.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/09/2003 02:39 pm ||
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Actually Kennedy's remarks show unprecedented backbone on the subject of Nyazov's neolithic style of Stalinism.
Posted by: Tom Roberts ||
01/09/2003 20:55 Comments ||
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Six weeks after terrorists attacked an Israeli hotel and airliner, the investigation is finding a level of Kenyan involvement far deeper than originally suspected, that some suspects were homegrown militants - born, raised and radicalized in Kenya. Investigators still believe the attacks were orchestrated from abroad, most likely by al-Qaida. But Kenya's government and Western officials are increasingly alarmed that a community once characterized by its tolerance is becoming an incubator for radical militants.
So far, many details about the alleged assailants, who bombed a beachfront hotel popular with Israelis and fired shoulder-held missiles at the airliner, have been kept under wraps. Only one suspect has been named - Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a Mombasa native. Unlike al-Qaida's 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, in which no Kenyans played a major role and in which 219 were killed, at least three Kenyans are believed to have taken part in the Nov. 28 attacks.
Islamic radicalism has been spreading on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast for the last decade. But the apparent willingness of some Kenyan Muslims to work with foreign terrorists makes the longtime U.S. ally an increasing security risk, said a Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Israeli officials said the suspected Kenyan involvement underscored al-Qaida's efforts to expand its presence in Africa by exploiting sympathetic local populations.
``Al-Qaida is networked all over the world and is trying to recruit cells that will have a link, even a weak one, with them,'' said Yonatan Peled, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official. ``In the case of Kenya it's not just our concern, but the local government's .... These elements are hostile to local governments too.'' Another Israeli government official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israel had general warnings about Kenya's Muslim minority even before the attacks.
Following the destruction of its base in Afghanistan, al-Qaida decided to shift to a decentralized and less vulnerable structure, with a significant presence of initially dormant cells in many countries, the official said. Ideally, it targets countries with lax security, pockets of sympathizers willing to provide cover, and diplomats or representatives of other nations willing to provide such help as fake passports.
Some target countries may have governments that are friendly to Israel, as is Kenya's, but lack the means to prevent al-Qaida infiltration, the official said. An Israeli security source, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was possible Muslims linked to al-Qaida did not always know they were working for bin Laden. Al-Qaida activists have been known to pose as representing other groups, he said.
``The bottom line,'' Peled said, ``is that terror has many arms and many branches and many assistants.''
In a recent travel advisory, the U.S. State Department warned of a continuing risk of ``attacks on civilian targets ... especially in the coastal region'' of Kenya. A more specific State Department alert said there is a ``threat to aircraft by terrorists using shoulder-fired missiles ... in Kenya, including Nairobi,'' the inland capital.
Arab merchants and slave traders brought Islam to the coast over 1,000 years ago, establishing ports such as Mombasa where African, Arab and Indian cultures mingled to create the Swahili civilization. The coast was part of the sultanate of Oman until 1963, when it was joined to Kenya, which had won independence from Britain. Today, Kenya's Muslim population, estimated at 5 percent to 15 percent of the country's 30 million inhabitants, has long been known for its tolerance and cosmopolitan character. But now the same factors spreading radical Islam in other parts of the world - the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Internet, a looming U.S. war with Iraq - are at work in Kenya. Radical imams, their work financed by Gulf state money, are exacerbating tensions, the Western official said. Gulf state money = Saudi money
Khelef Khalifa, director of Muslims for Human Rights in Mombasa, said radicalism intensified after the embassy bombings, when Kenyan police working with the FBI conducted widespread raids in Muslim communities. He was not surprised suspects in the latest attacks are Kenyan. ``People are angry here,'' Khalifa said. ``Kenya today is not the same Kenya that existed in 1998.''
Muslim anger stems in part from a sense they were neglected and at times discriminated against during the 24-year rule of former President Daniel arap Moi, whose government was dominated by Kenyans from the country's inland tribes, Khalifa said. Last month's election of Mwai Kibaki, the main opposition presidential candidate, may help ease tensions. Kibaki has appointed Najib Balala, a prominent Mombasa politician, as culture minister and ``we're hoping the new government will be more sensitive to our needs,'' Khalifa said.
Kenyan of Yemeni descent, Nabhan's family, like thousands of other Yemenis, has lived in East Africa for generations.
Kenyan, Israeli and American investigators believe Nabhan bought the Mitsubishi Pajero that was packed with explosives and rammed into the lobby of the Paradise Hotel, about 12 miles north of Mombasa. Eleven Kenyans, three Israelis and at least two bombers died. Nabhan, who was not believed to be among the dead, was reportedly seen in a small town near the Somali border in the days after the attack. The two missiles missed an Israeli charter jet carrying tourists home to Tel Aviv.
Investigators are looking for two other men who were seen either around the hotel or the site near Mombasa airport where the missiles were fired. Langat said there is evidence the two men may also be Kenyan, but refused to elaborate. Cut off the funding and you'll be able to stop or at least slow the spread of this cancer. And that involves going after those "Gulf states" that provide it.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/09/2003 02:15 pm ||
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Iran's conservative constitutional watchdog Wednesday again rejected a bill banning the torture of prisoners despite amendments by the reformist parliament, parliamentary deputies said. I mean, where's the fun in running an Islamic dictatorship if you can't torture people?
The 12-man Guardian Council, which has the power to veto legislation it judges unconstitutional or un-Islamic, has been the chief conservative instrument in blocking reforms introduced by President Mohammad Khatami's reformers. Reform being un-Islamic, don't you know?
The bill, which seeks to tighten existing laws and define what actions are unacceptable, was approved in December for the second time by deputies after the Guardian Council had rejected an earlier draft. Some families of political detainees have claimed psychological pressure and physical force have been used to extract confessions during interrogations. The bill will now either be sent back to parliament for further amendment or go before the Expediency Council which arbitrates in disputes between parliament and the Guardian Council. The Expediency Council has almost always decided in favor of the Guardian Council. The Guardian Council is made up of clerics appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and six jurists selected by parliament from a short-list submitted by the head of the judiciary, who is also appointed by Khamenei. Meaning everybody on the council is Khamenei's pick. Handy how that works
Posted by: Steve ||
01/09/2003 12:12 pm ||
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thats how it "works" in Canada. The picking part, torture is eight months of snow.
Posted by: john ||
01/09/2003 14:47 Comments ||
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The head of the Turkish army has accused the new government of encouraging Islamic activism. It is the first public sign of tension between the military and the new government led by the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development (AK) Party, which was elected in November. The comments by General Hilmi Ozkok came after Prime Minister Abdullah Gul entered formal reservations last month against an order expelling soldiers from the army for Islamic agitation. He said that by raising his "opposition" to the expulsions, Mr Gul had "undoubtedly encouraged those involved in anti-secular activities". I think that was the idea, that and payback for electing him.
The country's military views itself as the guardian of the secular principles of the Turkish state, and has carried out three coups since 1960. In 1997 it led a campaign to force from power Turkey's first Islamist-led government, led by the AK Party's predecessor, the Virtue Party. They take this role very seriously.
At the time of the election last year, General Ozkok said the army would protect the state from the dangers of radical Islam.
He also said on Wednesday that the military would not look kindly on any moves to change laws banning the Islamic headscarf in public life. The Islamic head covering is banned in Turkish government offices, schools and universities - a measure that the AK Party sees as a violation of human rights.
Mr Gul said before the election that it would seek to lift the ban, but has since back-pedalled, saying this is not a priority. "No, no, I didn't mean it. Would you stop pointing that at me?"
"We respect the religious faith and the manner of its expression in the private lives of individuals. We criticise no-one for their belief, non-belief or manner of worship," General Ozkok said. "However, we should not be expected to tolerate the use of these [privileges] and in particular the headscarf, as a symbol and action aimed at eroding the republican traditions."
Mr Gul's objection to the army's expulsion of soldiers for Islamic agitation centred on the fact that there was no right of appeal. He said that the government would seek to rectify this by amending the law. General Ozkok said that Mr Gul had, by placing a reservation against a "constitutional document", violated his responsibility to ensure the implementation of laws . The reservation was therefore "devoid of legal foundation" he said. "When we say no, we mean no!"
Posted by: Steve ||
01/09/2003 12:00 pm ||
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If the army stages a coup to preserve Turkey's secular government, it will put the kibosh on EU entry. The Islamists know this and may believe that they can push things with impunity.
Posted by: Arthur Fleischman ||
01/09/2003 14:13 Comments ||
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Israel has turned over to the United Nations a captured Syrian and the body of another, the United Nations said Thursday, a day after the two infiltrated the northern border and opened fire on IDF soldiers. One of the two was killed in an exchange of fire with IDF troops and the other was captured and taken for questioning by the IDF and the Shin Bet security service.
A statement by the IDF earlier confirmed that the body had been handed over and said that the prisoner would soon follow. "He was beginning to smell. The dead guy too."
A statement released by a UN force that oversees the disengagement agreement between the two countries said Israel would likely turn both over to international troops later Thursday. The release said that both sides were cooperating with a UN probe into the incident. And we know how unbiased those are
Syria responded angrily Wednesday evening to Israel's claim that two men tried to infiltrate the northern border, accusing IDF troops of opening fire on two police officers and a civilian who had gone to draw water in the disengagement zone between the two countries. Damascus charged Israel with a "violation of the disengagement agreement and an unjustified provocation."
IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon said that the identity of the gunmen was unclear. "One of our foot patrols on daytime patrol on our side of the border was fired upon," Ya'alon told reporters. "It returned fire, killing one armed man and took another armed man who surrendered." As the soldiers were dealing with the infiltrators, Syrian soldiers opened fire on the IDF troops from across the border. The IDF division commander, Brigadier General Avi Mizrahi, later said that because the Syrian fire was ineffective, the troops did not return fire "because didn't want to make the situation worse."
It is not clear whether there was a connection between the Syrian soldiers who fired over the border and the infiltrators.
A Syrian army spokesman confirmed that a Syrian patrol fired back at the IDF soldiers, adding that an investigation is underway "to take the suitable measures." He did not elaborate. Lead headache for whoever started this?
The IDF emphasized that incident occurred inside Israeli territory in the southern Golan Heights, close to Kibbutz Metzer, after the infiltrators crossed the Rokad river, which, at this time of year, contains water. If they were just going down to get water, why did they cross the stream? All together now, "To get to the other side!"
The IDF views the incident as isolated and not as a second front on the Syrian border. United Nations observers on the border were unavailable for comment.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/09/2003 11:36 am ||
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The IDF division commander, Brigadier General Avi Mizrahi, later said that because the Syrian fire was ineffective, the troops did not return fire "because didn't want to make the situation worse."
Translation: No use wasting perfectly good ammunition when it became obvious that they STILL can't hit the broad side of a barn...
Five people were killed and one seriously wounded Wednesday in an attack by Islamic extremists in the village of Douadiche, 200 kilometres west of the capital Algiers, the APS news agency said. Meanwhile, Algeria's army has been hunting a group of armed Islamic rebels hiding east of Algiers that is believed to count two al-Qaeda members among its ranks, a news report said Wednesday. They're still looking
Le Matin newspaper said the army is hunting members of the radical Salafist Group for Call and Combat in Sidi Ali Bounab, in the Kabyle region. At least two foreign representatives of Osama bin Laden's network are believed to be among them, the daily said. The two have had several meetings with a high-ranking member of the Salafist organization, a man identified as Hamid Saadaoui and known by the name of Abou El Haytham. Together, they were planning attacks against the Algerian state, according to the daily. What else is there to do in Algeria besides plan attacks?
Le Matin added the death toll from Saturday's bloody ambush of elite troops had risen to 49 after several of the casualties died of their wounds. Way I hear it, these elite troops were on a training exercise when they walked into a ambush.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/09/2003 11:36 am ||
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Way I hear it, these elite troops were on a training exercise when they walked into a ambush.
You gotta admit, that's about as realistic as training can get, no? ;)
Britain is pressing for war against Iraq to be delayed for several months, possibly until the autumn, to give weapons inspectors more time to provide clear evidence of new violations by Saddam Hussein... Infinitely more time will be necessary if the UN continues at its current pace.
..."There is an assumption that there will be a campaign before the summer because of the heat. The autumn would be just as sensible a time and in the meanwhile Saddam would be thoroughly constrained by the inspectors."... By that logic, winter 2004 is better still.
...British officials hope that London's reservations and Mr Blair's growing problems in the Labour Party will help to tip the balance in the Bush administration in favour of delay. But they accept that Britain will go along with an American-led war in almost all circumstances, including a conflict in the spring if Washington is determined to launch an early campaign.... This attitude shows why the UK is our only real ally and we should take their counsel. But, it also raises this concern: Don't we risk our credibility as well as proliferation of Saddam's WMD if we accept the council of the Brits do not walk our talk soon? Bush has some big decisions to make at the end of the month.
Posted by: JAB ||
01/09/2003 11:35 am ||
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"...The autumn would be just as sensible a time and in the meanwhile Saddam would be thoroughly constrained by the inspectors."
Does this "senior British official" really believe that Hussein is actually "constrained" by inspectors?????
The Turkish military has denied reports it is massing troops and equipment inside the northern border of Iraq, preparatory to a US invasion. The denial comes after revelations Ankara has been investigating old treaties granting it rights over oil fields in northern Iraq. Already there are about 2000 Turkish soldiers in Kurdish-held northern Iraq, ostensibly sent there in order to pursue rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). These troops also support a local Turkish minority and exert Turkish military pressure to prevent the formation of a Kurdish state. Baghdad lost control of northern Iraq in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War. The area is within the US and UK-enforced northern "no-fly zone", and is largely controlled by two Kurdish groups. Turkish newspapers have now reported the arrival of about 20,000 fresh troops in the region, an allegation firmly denied by the Turkish military, who are seeking to avoid the impression of a planned âcarve up' of Iraq once Saddam Hussein's government has fallen.
"The Turkish armed forces have not deployed any unit inside Iraq or in neighbouring regions," military chief General Hilmi Ozkok said late Wednesday. Denial means it's most likely true. Firm denial means a stone cold, lead pipe lock.
He also stressed the importance of Iraq's territorial integrity and unity; a message to Iraqi Kurds that a Kurdish state would be unthinkable. Which is why those non-existent troops are not there.
Regional tensions were earlier inflamed by a statement from Turkish foreign minister Yasar Yakis that a defunct treaty made with Iraq after the Ottomon Empire collapsed in the 1920s was being re-evaluated. Radio Netherlands' correspondent Dorian Jones says this development is not entirely unexpected.
"For some time â over the last few months â there has been growing speculation that Ankara has been looking into this old agreement between Iraq and Turkey which gives Turkey a certain percentage of oil revenues from northern Iraq, although [Mr Yakis] was careful to stress they were just âlooking into it'."
Jones says the reasons for Mr Yakis' statement is obscure, given that Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul has been touring the region assuring Arab leaders that his nation does not support a war against Iraq.
"It's very unclear. What it seems to be is that Ankara is speaking with various voices. There isn't really a coherent strategy coming out towards Iraq over a number of issues, and again this is an indication of a lack of direction. There are some in Ankara who say a war in Iraq will devastate the economy, they point to what happened in the last Gulf War. That saw Turkey being hurt very hard economically and politically by the fallout of the Gulf War, and they are very keen to avoid a repetition of those events."
While Mr Gul assures those in the region of his nation's neutral stance on Iraq, however, Ankara is negotiating with Washington for the best possible deal in the event of cooperation.
"The Americans are pushing very hard for Turkey to open up its bases, not only for planes, but also for a large number of troops . . . Turkey is very reluctant to give that permission, and the US is offering a large amount of aid: according to the Washington Post, up to 15 billion dollars, as well as other inducements. This is part of Turkey's bargaining process." It's called a bribe.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/09/2003 10:55 am ||
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The Islamist government of Turkey is the mortal enemy of the Free World. That country needs to be kicked out of NATO, until their Khilafah fever is cured.
#3
Turkey is Islamic, not Islamist, and quite secular. Not highly tolerant of non-Islamic faiths, but adjusting to the 20th, if not the 21st, century. The Army takes its role as protector of their Constitution very seriously, and has deposed governments that strayed then returned rule via elections, perhaps unique in the world. In a way, that is also a function of our own Army, though never tested.
Posted by: John Anderson ||
01/09/2003 19:38 Comments ||
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#4
Jane's Def Wkly had photos of what was approximately a tank company in a town in Iraqi Kurdistan. The local Turkish officers got upset with the photographer's efforts to capture their smiling faces for all perpetuity.
Posted by: Tom Roberts ||
01/09/2003 20:52 Comments ||
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IslamOnline & News Agencies
According to a confidential U.N. report, nearly 500,000 Iraqis are prone to suffer serious injuries during the first phase of an attack, western media reported Tuesday, January 8. The BBCâs online news service said that the number âincludes up to 100,000 wounded in combat, and another 400,000 hurt in the devastation expected during any U.S.-led attack on Iraq.â Looks like some worst-case figures here. Prepare to have your heartstrings tugged by The Childrenâ¢...
The BBC said that the report, which was posted on a website of a Cambridge University e-group, had its authenticity confirmed by the U.N. and that their correspondent said that the U.N. âhas been somewhat embarrassed by the revelation of the details of its contingency planning, given that the exercise could be interpreted as an assumption that military action against Iraq is almost inevitable.â When you're planning, you have to establish both best-case and worst-case scenarios. I notice they left out the best-case, and the likely-case, and the possible-case...
The reportâs facts and figures were based in estimates by the World Health Organization which portrays the population of Iraq as just over 26 million people, said the BBC. Grown some, in the past ten years, despite all the people sanctions have "killed off"...
It added that the Iraqi population is âextremely dependentâ on the government as well as aid agencies for basic needs and services such as water, electricity supplies and transportation. Funny thing that. So's the American population...
âUnlike the situation prior to military intervention in Iraq in 1991, the reports says that in the present day many Iraqi people have exhausted their reserves of cash and material assets. The normal safety nets have disappeared and this relatively sophisticated and urbanized population could struggle to cope in the face of a major military attack,â said the BBC. Boy, that's tough. That's never happened before in a war, has it?
On December 29, In a letter sent to U.N. Sanctions Committee Manâm Al Qadi, Iraq's interim charge dâaffaires in the U.N. said that a total of 1,614,303 people had died due to the stringent U.N. sanctions on the country since 1990. Al-Qadi said that the colossal human losses include 667,773 children under the age of five, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported. Well, if I wanted to know how many people had died in Iraq due to sanctions, I'd ask the Iraqi government for the numbers. I mean, who would know better than them? And if you can't trust the Iraqi government, who can you trust?
Two points here: First, the sanctions were what Iraq got when it surrendered. They were to be lifted when Iraq complied with the terms of its surrender agreement. Since they never complied, they've still got the sanctions, which makes it their choice. Second, even with the sanctions in place, there have been provisions for the gummint to take care of its civilian populace. Sammy's spent the money on palaces and guns. It's no skin off our collective fore if he screws things up in his country, for his subjects people.
If you spend all your money and hot women and cold beer, what's it to me when your kids go hungry? I can maybe sympathize with them, but it's not my fault, and I have no obligation to do anything about it. Anything you'd get would be out of the goodness of my heart, and if you want something out of the goodness of my heart, don't forget to ask nicely.
Our beef is item first, that, having surrendered, he decided to "unsurrender." Viewed in that light, the U.S. has every justification for resuming hostilities at the point we left off.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2003 10:41 am ||
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#1
The normal safety nets have disappeared and this relatively sophisticated and urbanized population could struggle to cope in the face of a major military attack,â said the BBC.
All the more reason to get this little thing going and get the job done. The sooner this mess gets cleaned up, the sooner the civilian population can be taken care of.
#2
Of course every day we delay another dozen people are raped, another dozen killed, a hundred or so tortured, and millions of people robbed by the gangsters in charge.
#3
The last I heard, the Saddamites built a $100,000,000 yacht for their dictator while babies were supposedly dying. In any case, all through the sanctions period the Iraqis were bragging about how ineffective these were. Never trust philanderers and liars.
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