Extradition proceedings against a Libyan national with alleged terrorist links were struck from the Pretoria magistrate's court roll on Monday, 21 months after his arrest.
Prosecutor Elbie Leonard withdrew the matter saying the state had not yet received presidential consent to process Libya's request for the extradition of Ibrahim Abubaker Tantoush.
Such consent was required as South Africa has no extradition treaty with Libya. The state could decide to re-open the extradition inquiry at a later stage.
Tantoush was arrested in Pretoria in February last year for allegedly being in possession of a fake South African passport.
He was wanted by international police agency Interpol on a warrant issued at the request of the Libyan government, on a charge of gold theft.
Tantoush, reportedly a suspected al-Qaeda operative, is alleged to have stolen large amounts of gold in 1985 to fund Osama bin Laden. He reportedly attended various al-Qaeda training camps.
Tantoush's lawyer Omar Farouk Peer said his client was in South Africa on a temporary refugee permit, awaiting the outcome of a political asylum application.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/28/2005 13:57 ||
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November 28, 2005: No one really noticed, but Yemen has been buying more and more weapons over the last decade. In 2006, it plans to spend $885 million on the military. The big spurt came between 1998 and 2003, when defense spending tripled. Yemen is not awash with oil wealth, and only has a population of some 15 million. Yemen is the second poorest nation in the Arab world, but is number three in terms of the percentage of its income it spends on weapons. You rarely hear about Yemenâs arms build up, except for the time a shipment of North Korean SCUD missiles was intercepted at sea. When it was found that the missiles were headed for Yemen, an American ally in the war on terror, the ship was allowed to go on its way. Yemenâs allies have tried to convince the Yemeni government to switch spending priorities. Yemen is at the bottom of the world ranking of what countries spend on things like education and health.
Why the arms build up down there? No one is sure, and the government just says it has to look after its national security. Part of the problem is unruly tribes along the Saudi Arabian border, factionalism within the country, Islamic terrorism, plus long standing border disputes with Saudi Arabia, and a belief, common among many Yemenis, that itâs not really fair that Saudi Arabia should have all that oil. For thousands of years, Yemen was the prosperous part of Arabia (because itâs the only part that gets any decent rainfall), while what is now Saudi Arabia was a howling wasteland. Yemenis have never had a comfortable relation with the desert nomads to the north, and the oil wealth up there has not improved matters.
Gee, who to root for?
Yemen is buying mostly Russian stuff (and has been for decades), or Chinese and North Korean copies. This is done partly because itâs easier for government officials to skim some of the money for themselves. The Russians and Chinese know how to speak corrupt.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/28/2005 09:42 ||
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#1
Saudi oil is in very inconvenient places for Yemeni ambitions, if thats whats driving this. Its all on the other side of Saudi from Yemen.
And counterinsurgency weapons aren't very expensive. SCUDs certainly aren't useful for that.
My take is that the kickback thing is the real driver.
#2
Buwaya, I am not sure it is safe to dismiss oil from the discussion - the 'outback' of Yemen and adjacent Saudi Arabia are pretty inaccesible and not thoroughly explored, and very well might have oil. Plus, as was mentioned, it is a contested border - just think how things would unfold if oil was discovered in the contested regions.
The relatives of a would-be suicide bomber have been cleared of failing to disclose information about terrorism. An Old Bailey jury decided the brother and sister of Omar Sharif had not known of his plan to attack an Israeli bar and could not have prevented it. His sister Parveen Sharif, a teacher, was also cleared of inciting her brother to commit a terrorist act. The body of Sharif, 27, of Derby, was found 12 days after he fled the scene. A co-conspirator's bomb killed three.
Asif Hanif, 21, a student from London, died when he blew himself up outside a popular bar in Tel Aviv in April 2003. The explosion at Mike's Place killed three people and injured more than 50. But the authorities had told the court that while Sharif failed in his attack, he had effectively informed his family of his intention to become a bomber by sending a number of e-mails in the days before the attack.
Zahid Sharif read out a statement on behalf of himself and his sister outside the court. He said: "We want to make it clear we did not know what our brother was going to do. "It shocked us as much as everyone else and we are still shocked. "We are relieved and grateful to the jury and the judge for their fairness and to everyone for their kindness." He said the case had brought up "many misunderstandings" about the family's "religion and culture", but added that people had "tried to reach out and understand".
Earlier his sister said she had not believed her brother was a suicide bomber until she saw a video of him and Hanif in military uniform and holding guns. The footage was released nearly a year later by Hamas - a militant Palestinian group which was behind the bombing. Parveen added that it was a "sick idea" to suggest that she sent Sharif an e-mail a week before he targeted the Israeli bar to encourage him on his mission. Both Zahid Sharif, 37, a businessman of Upper Dale Road, and sister Parveen Sharif, 36, of Breedon Hill Road, had denied the charges against them.
In 2004, a jury cleared Omar Sharif's widow Tahira Tabassum, 28, of Northumberland Street, Derby, of failing to alert authorities to a terrorist act, but it failed to reach a verdict on Sharif's brother and sister. The jury in the retrial has now cleared the pair. The charges were brought under new laws that put a positive duty on people to inform the police of any impending terrorist attack, even overseas.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/28/2005 08:44 ||
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A German expert in international terrorism has warned al-Qaeda will launch "massive attacks" in Eastern European countries - where the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has recently been alleged to be holding terror suspects in secret prisons. "I can't rule out the existence of such prisons," Rolf Tophoven, director of the Essen-based Institute for Research on Terrorism and Security Policy (IFTUS) the online daily Netzeitung.
"If we come to discover that secret CIA prisons do exist in certain countries, we should be prepared for the eventualiyt of large-scale terror attacks on these countries," Tophoven predicted.
Last week, the European Union announced it was penning a joint letter to the United States seeking clarification on reports of the existence of CIA interrogation camps in Europe. The Washington Post reported earlier this month that the CIA had been interrogating al-Qaeda suspects at secret facilities in eastern European countries, some of which are EU member states. US officials have refused to confirm or deny the allegations.
The Washington Post quoted current and former intelligence officials and diplomats as sources for its story that alleged a covert prison system was set up by the CIA nearly four years ago which at various times included sites in eight countries, including Afghanistan, Thailand, as well as several eastern Europe nations.
The EU action comes amid reports in the European press this month that CIA planes are using European airports to carry terror suspects. A Spanish judge is investigating allegations that the CIA used a Spanish airport in Majorca as a base for transporting Islamic terrorism suspects.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/28/2005 13:55 ||
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#1
Ah yes, more superior European wisdom. Because Thailand and Afghanistan had no problems with AQ before the publication of this story, and the experience of France shows what immunity is gained by refusing to cooperate with the GWOT.
#2
Well, could be some truth to this. The Krauts certainly have amassed a wealth of knowledge over the years regarding... "dentention centers." I can just hear the train whistle blow as it leaves for Oswiecim.
#3
I understand why France has a large population of unemployed militant "Africans." Why would Poland be playing host horde of violent derelict bottom-feeders? They just got rid of the Red Army.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/28/2005 20:00 Comments ||
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The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents have questioned al-Qaeda suspect Louai Sakka who was arrested in Turkey in August for plotting to carry out bomb attacks against Israeli cruise ships.
The Turkish Aksam daily reports on Monday Sakka's lawyer has claimed the CIA plane landed at Istanbul's Sabiha Gökcen Airport on November 15, brought CIA agents to Turkey, for the questioning of al-Qaeda terror suspect Syrian Sakka.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/28/2005 13:50 ||
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LA Times. Reg. required. Private employers wrestle with expressions of Islam, while study alleges criminal links.
Employees set up clandestine prayer areas on the grounds of the Euro Disney resort. Workers for a cargo firm at Charles de Gaulle airport praise the Sept. 11 attacks. A Brinks technician is charged with pulling off a million-dollar heist for a Moroccan terrorist group allegedly led by his brother. Female converts to Islam operate a day-care center that authorities eventually shut down because of its religious radicalism.
As France grapples with the rise of Islamic extremism abroad and at home, the line between legitimate religious expression and extremist subversion can be blurry. But a recent study by a think tank here paints a picture of rising fundamentalism in the workplace, ranging from proselytizing to pressure tactics to criminal activities.
In companies such as supermarket chains in immigrant-heavy areas, for instance, militant recruiters cause workplace tensions by imposing fundamentalist ideas on co-workers and pressuring managers to boycott certain products, the study says.
On a more sinister level, the study asserts that Islamic networks are trying to establish a presence in firms involved in sectors such as security, cargo, armored cars, courier services and transportation. Once they gain a foothold, operatives raise funds for militants via theft, embezzlement and robbery, the study alleges.
"Parallel to these sect-like risks, the spread of criminal practices has been detected in the heart of companies [with] two goals: crime using Islam as a pretext; and in addition, local financing of terrorism," concludes the study by the Center for Intelligence Research in Paris.
The report was issued before the recent riots that spread arson and violence nationwide and focused attention on France's immigrant neighborhoods, which are predominantly Muslim. Although intelligence officials detected only a few cases of extremists inciting unrest, authorities worry that the tense urban climate strengthens the hand of hard-core Islamic networks.
French anti-terrorism officials agree with some of the findings of the study of the private sector, though they say parts of the report exaggerate or simplify a complex issue. In any case, the concern is justified in a wider context, officials say: Extremism is rising in France, home to Europe's largest Muslim community, and intertwining with a foreign threat.
Recent arrests reveal that France has been targeted by an alliance teaming Abu Musab Zarqawi, leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, with an Algerian-dominated network, said a senior French law enforcement official, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.
Zarqawi operatives in Lebanon taught bomb-making to accused militants from the network who were arrested here, including French converts, the official said. That underscores a development on the home front: a "significant increase" in converts, including women, said a French intelligence official, who also asked not to be identified.
In the northwestern Paris suburb of Argenteuil, female converts helped set up an unlicensed day-care center for a dozen children at an apartment in a housing project. After intelligence officials determined that the center was run with an aggressively fundamentalist philosophy, authorities shut it down last year.
Conversions also result from militant recruiting in workplaces, according to the think tank report, which is based on a survey of corporate executives, private security officials and law enforcement experts. The author, Eric Denece, acknowledged that the issue was complex. "The focus on the private sector is new because law enforcement does not work on it much â they have other concerns," Denece said. "But also, company executives have not wanted to talk about this sensitive subject. Some were concerned about being called racists."
Denece's study cites a case examined in 2004 by Renseignements Generaux, the domestic intelligence agency, involving the discovery of "about 10 clandestine prayer rooms" on the grounds of Euro Disney.
Denece also alleges that fundamentalists were detected in the resort's security force, but a spokesman for Euro Disney said that claim was inaccurate. As for the prayer areas, spokesman Pieter Boterman said the company resolved that issue. "I thought it was exaggerated to talk about prayer rooms," Boterman said. "During Ramadan, they took a few minutes to pray somewhere. We made it clear that we thought the work floor was not the place to express your personal religion."
There are a few clear-cut examples of alleged infiltration of companies. Last year, police investigated a heist at the Brinks Co. that was allegedly engineered by an operative of a Moroccan terrorist network that has been implicated in the 2004 Madrid train bombings.
Hassan Baouchi, who was 23 at the time, worked as a technician stocking ATMs; his brother, Mustafa, was a veteran of two stints in Al Qaeda's Afghan camps and an alleged leader of the network. In March 2004, Hassan Baouchi claimed that stick-up men had waylaid him during his rounds north of the capital and stolen about $1.2 million. But he now awaits trial on charges of faking the robbery in cahoots with a gang of known jihadis. About $40,000 later turned up on a fugitive captured in Algeria.
"That's a real concrete example of terrorist financing," said the senior law enforcement official. He also said extremists have been detected trying to establish a presence in sensitive sectors related to defense and transportation.
The report describes a case in which police investigated a cargo company at Charles de Gaulle International Airport with about 3,000 employees. Managers complained that a small group of radicals had tried to gain influence by preaching to co-workers and threatening repeated strikes. Some of the activists "expressed satisfaction" with the Sept. 11 attacks, the report says.
The French intelligence official confirmed that authorities closely monitor the notable presence of Muslim fundamentalists among the many immigrant employees at the airport.
In 2002, a 27-year-old systems engineer working in the airport's control tower was abruptly barred from secure areas. Police had discovered that he was a devout disciple of a radical imam and frequented militant mosques here, in his native Morocco and in the Middle East. The Iraqi-born imam is now under house arrest, accused of hate speech. "There are worries about the presence of extremists at the airport," the intelligence official said. "There was no link found to violent jihad groups, but [the engineer] was certainly very active in a fundamentalist movement with anti-Western, anti-American ideas. Because of the particularly sensitive job he had, a decision was made, in the name of caution, to reassign him."
Nonetheless, the intelligence official took issue with parts of the think tank report. Hard-core networks often finance themselves through small businesses and the underworld, he said. "The most radical extremists tend to exclude themselves from corporate employment because of their dress, their behavior," the intelligence official said. "They have to resort to small business, the ethnic economy. A lot of financing comes from traffic in fake papers and armed robbery."
In fact, Denece also discusses the emergence of "gangsterrorism," in which extremists team with mafias for mutual gain. But the private sector faces a more subtle and slippery challenge from nonviolent militants, the report says.
Executives say pressure groups in supermarkets and other companies advance oppressive ideological agendas: They pressure co-workers to wear religious garb, defy the authority of female managers and demand boycotts of products such as alcohol, pork, Israeli oranges and American brownies, Denece said.
"For French companies, the rise in power of radical Islam represents a new threat," the report states. "This trend expresses above all a move to take control of behavior and ideas of other workers in order to impose a value system conforming to extremist ideology."
Nonetheless, demographics and perception make the debate difficult. As the report points out, Muslim employees in France are starting to organize themselves along religious and ethnic lines rather than following the lead of traditional leftist unions. Management may sometimes allege extremism when workers are finding new ways to organize and defend their interests.
"It's more and more frequent for us to hear about attempts at infiltration, but it's not rampant," the intelligence official said. "It's full of dilemmas. Sometimes you will have fundamentalist employees, but they do not cause trouble. And sometimes you will have a mix of labor politics and religion that is more about establishing power than anything else."
Posted by: ed ||
11/28/2005 08:43 ||
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The White House has announced its plans to withdraw from Iraq, saying that a blueprint advocated last week by a Democratic senator was "remarkably similar" to its own. It also signalled its acceptance of a recent US Senate amendment designed to pave the way for a phased US military withdrawal from the country. The statement by Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, came in response to a commentary published in The Washington Post by Joseph Biden, the top Democrat of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in which he said US forces will begin leaving Iraq next year "in large numbers".
According to Biden, the US will remove about 50,000 servicemen from the country by the end of 2006, and "a significant number" of the remaining 100,000 the year after. The blueprint also calls for leaving only an unspecified "small force" in Iraq to strike at fighters, if necessary. Less than two weeks ago, McClellan criticised John Murtha, a Democratic Representative, saying that his call for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, endorsed "the policy positions of Michael Moore", a stridently anti-war Hollywood filmmaker.
However, Biden's ideas, relayed first in a speech in New York on 21 November, were more warmly received. Even though President George Bush has never publicly issued his own withdrawal plan and criticised calls for an early exit, the White House said many of the ideas expressed by the senator were his own. In the statement, released under the headline "Senator Biden adopts key portions of administration's plan for victory in Iraq", McClellan said the Bush administration welcomed Biden's voice in the debate.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Stupid. Truly stupid. Telegraph nothing. Reveal nothing. Give the enemy nothing.
Disgusting. Politics trump Military and Common Sense.
#2
Time to box them in. George just says the Theater Commander will decide the amount and rate of redeployment. That moves the Dems into a position of attacking a field commander in the execution of his military duties or back to inarticulate grumblings. The most intelligent of the group will know to shut up. The obvious issue is if they could get their out of control brothers and sisters on the hill to shut up too. That'll make '06 so interesting.
#3
General Abizaid spoke to the Naval War College last week. The audience was made up primarily of War College students who are mid-grade/senior military officers. The majority of these officers have served in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, so there was a real understanding of dynamics of the region. BS would not sell to this audience. Here is a short summary of General Abizaid's comments.
* He is amazed as he goes around the country and testifies before the Congress how many of our countrymen do not know or understand what we are doing or how we are doing. There are very few members of Congress who have ever worn the uniform (of our armed forces). He said that the questions he gets from some in Congress convince him that they have the idea that we are about to pushed out of Iraq and Afghanistan. There is no relation between this and the reality on the ground.
* As he goes around the region and talks to troops and junior officers he is very impressed by their morale and their achievements. They are confident that they are capable of defeating the enemy.
* You will never see a headline in this country about a school opening or a power station being built and coming on line, or a community doing well. Only the negative things will get coverage in the media. He told the mid-grade/senior officers to go to their local Lyons Clubs when they go home and tell the people what they are doing. If they don't get the word out, the American people will not know what is really happening.
* The insurgency is in four of 18 provinces in Iraq, not all 18. You do not hear about the 14 provinces were there is no insurgency and where things are going well. The insurgency in Afghanistan is primarily in Kandahar province ( home of the Taliban) and in the mountain region on the Pakistani border. The rest of the country is doing well.
* Iraq now has over 200,000 soldiers/police under arms and growing. They are starting to eclipse the US/coalition forces. Their casualty rate is more than double that of the US. There are more than 70,000 soldiers under the moderate government in Afghanistan and growing.
* He predicted that the insurgencies in the four Sunni provinces in northern/central Iraq and in Southwestern Afghanistan will be there for the foreseeable future, but they will be stabilized and become small enough so the moderate governments will be able to keep them under control.
* 2006 will be a transition year in Iraq and that will see the Iraqi forces take much more of the mission from the US forces. This is necessary to bring stability to Iraq. We need to be less in numbers and less in the midst of the people for the moderate Iraqi government to succeed.
* Our primary enemy is not the insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is Al Qaida and their ideology. We are at a period now that is similar to the 1920s where Communism and Nazism had not taken hold in Russia and Germany. The ideology of Al Qaida is out there and it has not taken hold in any country in the middle east. We need to make sure that it does not and we are doing that, but it will be a long problem with a long commitment.
* He said that we are focused on the things that we (Americans) have done wrong, like Abu Ghraib, and not talking about this enemy. We need to talk about this enemy. Al Qaida is all over the world. Their goal is to get the US out of the region and come to power in the Islamic countries of the region. From there their goal is to establish a Caliphate (under a single Islamic ruler) that goes from the Atlantic in North Africa to Indonesia in the Pacific. Fifty years after this happens their goal is to rule the rest of the world.
* Since Desert Storm in 1991 US forces have not lost any combat engagement in the region at the platoon level or above. Al Qaida has no beliefs that they can defeat us militarily. They see our center of gravity as being the will of the American People. That is influenced by the media and they are playing to that.
* They don't need to win any battles. Their plan is keep the casualties in front of the American people in the media for long enough that we become convinced that we can not win and leave the region. This would be tragic for our country.
* The battle against Al Qaida will not be primarily military. It will be political, economic, and ideological. It will require the international community to fight too. We must not let Al Qaida get hold in any country. It will result in our worse nightmare. Picture life in Afghanistan under the Taliban, that is what Al Qaida's ideology has as a goal.
* If you look at the geography (of Al Qaida) there is no place to put a military solution. They are networked and they are all over the world. They are a virtual organization connected by the internet. They use it to prosletize, recruit, raise money, educate and organize. They have many pieces that we must focus on: the propaganda battle in the media, safe houses, front companies, sympathetic members of legitimate governments, human capital, fighters and leaders, technical expertise, weapons suppliers, ideologically sympathetic non-government organizations (charities), financers, smugglers, and facilitators. A lot of their money comes from drugs.
* We are winning but we have got to maintain constant pressure over time with the international community and across the US government agencies. No one is afraid that we can't defeat the enemy. Our troops have the confidence, the courage, and the competence. We need the will of the American people to be sustained for the long haul.
#4
I had a congresscritter actually try and give me an order once. I laughed in his face. The CO had a quiet word with the Honorable Moron, and he later apologized.
#8
* He is amazed as he goes around the country and testifies before the Congress how many of our countrymen do not know or understand what we are doing or how we are doing.
If Gen. Abizaid isn't being briefed on what's going on politically back home, he should be. Less surprises that way....
Dawood Ibrahim, India's most wanted criminal, is working closely with the Al-Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist groups like the Lashker-e-Taiba, says a prominent US magazine in a report on the synchronisation of organised crime and terrorism.
Dawood, now based in Karachi, runs a mafia stretching into 14 countries and is now the target of two US investigations, the Washington-based US News and World Report says in its latest issue on how the world's biggest scourges of organised crime and terrorism were coming together.
The exclusive cover story, The New Business of Terror , reveals how terrorist groups, pressured by a worldwide crackdown on funding, are transforming their cells into crime syndicates - and how counter-terrorism officials are unprepared for the shift in tactics.
The investigative report, based on interviews with police and intelligence agents in six countries, is by the magazine's chief investigative correspondent, David E. Kaplan.
The report says, "The boss of India's top syndicate controls a criminal network that reaches into 14 countries, with a small army of contract killers, smugglers, and extortionists at his command."
"But there is another side to Dawood Ibrahim. The Muslim exile from Bombay has thrown in his lot with Al Qaeda and other jihadists, according to the US and Indian governments, and has become one of the world's most wanted terrorists."
Apart from chronicling his rise, the magazine quotes US officials as saying they now have Dawood at the centre of two investigations: one by the Drug Enforcement Administration looking at his ties to the heroin trade; another, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), tracing his assets and ties to terrorist groups through a top Pakistani CD counterfeiter.
On his role in the 1993 Mumbai's terror blasts, which killed 257 people, the report adds the shift from gangster to terrorist came after rioting targeted Bombay's Muslims.
Bent on revenge, Dawood engineered the smuggling into India of tonnes of explosives provided by Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence. The bombings that followed made Dawood India's most wanted man.
According to the report, the ISI then made Dawood an offer: If he relocated to Pakistan's port city of Karachi and kept working with the ISI, it would guarantee him control of the nation's coastal smuggling routes.
For 12 years now, Dawood has called Pakistan home, where he is believed to own shopping malls, luxury homes, and shipping and trucking lines that smuggle arms into India and heroin into Europe.
India's FBI, the Central Bureau of Investigation, puts D Company's (as his network is sometimes known) annual income in the hundreds of millions of dollars and says it has up to 5,000 members.
According to fresh revelations, Kaplan writes: "In Pakistan, Dawood has ties to several terrorist groups, say US officials, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, blamed by India for October's bombings in New Delhi, which killed at least 60, and a bloody 2001 attack on India's parliament."
He has allegedly met with Al Qaeda leaders and even made a deal to share his smuggling routes with Al Qaeda operatives.
But with Washington pressing for his capture, Dawood, now 50, may have outlived his usefulness to the ISI, the report concludes.
Indian police are wiretapping his men and tracing his operations overseas. With an Interpol notice out for his arrest, his movements are constrained.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/28/2005 13:41 ||
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VALLETTA â Leaders of the 53-nation Commonwealth on Sunday warned Pakistanâs President Pervez Musharraf that retaining his role as leader of the army âis incompatible with the basic principles of democracy.â
And they said that until he gives up his military role, Pakistan remained in danger of sliding into repression, despite its recent progress. In a statement, they welcomed Pakistanâs progress in restoring democracy since its reinstatement to the Commonwealth in 2004, and gave it two years to resolve the issue of Musharrafâs dual role. Pakistan was suspended from the club in 1999 when Musharraf grabbed power in a military coup and he has reneged on a pledge to give up his military role.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/28/2005 00:48 ||
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#1
Leaders of the 53-nation Commonwealth on Sunday warned Pakistanâs President Pervez Musharraf that retaining his role as leader of the army âis incompatible with the basic principles of democracy.â
Bullshit, in the USA the President was, and is the Commander in Chief. It was designed that way from the beginning.
They're really grumbling as to HOW he siezed the CNC job, it's definitely NOT against the principles of Democracy for the Pres to be the CNC.
Seems these folks are trying to redefine "Democracy" to suit themselves.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/28/2005 9:03 Comments ||
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The head of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference has called on its members to work for the creation of a free trade zone in the near future.
Well, I'm confused. I thought Oxfam said free trade would be bad for the natives? They'd all starve to death? Everybody in sight is living on $2 a day, after all...
"It is imperative for our countries to accelerate the process of economic and trade cooperation inside the OIC, which in turn will act as a lever ... to ensure that some of our economies are not further marginalised," OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said in Istanbul on Thursday. He was speaking at the opening of the 21st annual session of the OIC's permanent Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC). Ihsanoglu invited those states that had not yet done so to sign and ratify as fast as possible a framework agreement on trade preferences among OIC members so they could "enter discussions" on the creation of a free trade zone "in the near future".
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
A free trade zone would be great! Now all those pesky nations that stop AQ and JI from shipping guns and sending our muzzie brothers to training camps can move unincumbered! While they are at it let open the Mexican border too!
Posted by: 49 pan ||
11/28/2005 11:00 Comments ||
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Oxfam, the global anti-poverty organisation, has cautioned the EU against seeking rapid free trade in agriculture with Arab nations around the Mediterranean, saying it will drive people there deeper into poverty.
Better to manage the economy, y'know. They're not competitive, so that way they never will be, so they won't have to make any effort. The natives just aren't capable of it.
Oxfam said on Saturday that Europe must not force Mediterranean countries to open their agricultural markets too fast under any Euro-Mediterranean free trade agreement but urged them to accept more goods from northern Africa and the Middle East. The group staged a small protest in downtown Barcelona early on Saturday, depicting a scene in which a few activists dressed like African farmers are stopped by a European Union (EU) customs barrier. In a report to the leaders of the 25 EU nations, Israel and its Arab neighbours - which open a two-day summit in Barcelona on Sunday - Oxfam said 68 million people in the Middle East and North Africa survive "on less than $2 a day, compared with 50 million people in 1990". Three-quarters live in rural areas, making their living from agriculture, it added. The two-day Barcelona summit is to reaffirm a goal, first set in 1995, to establish a Euro-Mediterranean free trade zone by 2010.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
a scene in which a few activists dressed like African farmers are stopped by a European Union (EU) customs barrier
Oxfam thinks international trade is street theater?
#3
Not just you, reeks like a dead skunk on the side of the road, hold your breath and hope you can get away from the stench before you have to breathe again.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/28/2005 15:54 Comments ||
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#4
Perhaps I wasn't entirely clear in my previous post, but the homeless shelter executives were all your usual liberal do-gooder types who, nonetheless, when forced to rub shoulders with the objects of their limitless compassion got all squeamish about actually coming in contact with humanity's flotsam.
Some ten years ago, I personally catered their employee appreciation dinner for 60 people. One of the family shelter's occupants was in the midst of (literally) saving my bacon when a dish started to go off of the rails and arriving execs essentially looked down their noses at her as if to ask, "what is your type doing in here?"
That experience helped to start at ripping the mask from the do-gooder mentality I had so often encountered.
Police in Iraq revealed on Sunday - one day before the resumption of Saddam Hussein's trial - that they had uncovered a plot to kill the chief investigating judge trying the case. Eight people were arrested four days ago near the northern city of Kirkuk, who police said had prepared car bombs and had written instructions from Saddam Hussein's former deputy, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, to kill judge Raeed Juhi.
The men were arrested in a pre-dawn raid on a house and identified as agents from the dictator's former government, which Kirkuk police chief Colonel Anwar Qader Mohammed said demonstrates a link between Saddam's former security services and the terror group al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
One of the arrested men is said to be the son of one of al-Zarqawi's deputies and literature and instructions from al-Qaeda in Iraq were also found in the house. Mohammed said the group was also planning to detonate bombs at busy road junctions in Kirkuk to draw attention away from the trial.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/28/2005 13:43 ||
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November 28, 2005: The fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan has brought about a major change in how the United States deals with combat casualties. The result is that over 90 percent of the troops wounded, survive their wounds. Thatâs the highest rate in history. There are several reasons for this. The main one is that medics, and the troops themselves, are being trained to deliver more complex, and effective first aid more quickly. Military doctors now talk of the âplatinum 10 minutes,â meaning that if you can keep the wounded soldier, especially the ones who are hurt real bad, alive for ten minutes, their chances of survival go way up. Medics have been equipped and trained to perform procedures previously done only by physicians, while troops are trained to do some procedures previously handled only by medics. This skill upgrade is made possible by a number of factors.
First, over the last few decades, there has been continuous development in methods and equipment for âemergency medicineâ (ambulance crews and staff in emergency rooms.) This stuff had slowly been coming over to the military, but with the fighting in Iraq, it has nearly all been adopted by military medical personnel.
Second, thereâs the high intelligence and skill levels of the volunteer military. High enlistment standards have largely gone unnoticed by most people, but within the military, itâs meant that combat troops, who are much brighter than at any time in the past, can handle more complex equipment and techniques. Getting the combat troops to learn these techniques is no problem, because for them, it could be a matter of life and death.
Third, medical teams, capable of performing complex surgery, are closer to the combat. These teams, like the medics and troops, have more powerful tools and techniques. This includes things like âtelemedicine,â where you do a videoconference with more expert doctors back in the U.S., to help save a patient.
The âplatinum 10 minutesâ is part of a century old trend. During World War II, the "golden hour" standard of getting wounded troops to an operating table, was developed. Antibiotics were also developed at about the same time, along with the helicopter (whose first combat mission, in 1945 Burma, was to recover injured troops). So these new developments are not anything exotic. Finally, the military medical community has a track record of success that the troops know about. So everyone realizes that if they pitch in, chances of survival are good, and they are.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/28/2005 09:37 ||
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Iraq said yesterday it has delayed a major anti-insurgent offensive ahead of December elections, as President Jalal Talabani confirmed he had been contacted by rebels wanting to join the political process. The announcement came as the leader of the countryâs most powerful political party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), criticized US forces for preventing Iraqi troops tackling the insurgency head-on amid allegations of a return to Saddam-era abuses. Interior Minister Bayan Baker Solagh, also a SCIRI member, announced the suspension of the large-scale offensive against âhotbeds of terrorismâ following an appeal by Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. âPresident Talabani got in touch with me after receiving a call from Moussa, and asked me to call off this operation to ensure the success of the national reconciliation conferenceâ in February, Solagh told reporters.
Meanwhile, Talabani confirmed he had received calls from people claiming to be linked to the insurgency, saying they were ready to engage in political talks. âWe salute all those who want to engage in dialogue,â he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2005 00:27 ||
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#1
It may be more of the same Islamist lies, but for Iraq's sake I hope not. They need another viable force to counter the Iran-backed faction of Shia, which is way too powerful.
#3
Coming from Talabani, it's probably the Bad Guys just playing him for the fool he apparently is. Hey, if they all hug, kiss, and make up, great. I've got $50 that sez nothing of substance will come of this - just a delaying tactic now that the timetable bullshit has gained traction. Not all of the assholes are as stupid and self-defeating as Zarqi. This is the Ba'athist types and their foreign Sunni allies, such as the Arab League, playing the long-term game. Can you say hudna?
No more nation-building BS for Arabs or Muzzies of any stripe. The good ones, the few who are capable of learning and progressing, such as the Kurds, can do it all by themselves if there' no one trying to annihilate them. The others won't get it until they realize there's no other option left or they're all dead, whichever comes first.
#5
Call me suspect -- something about Talabani, and wanting Kurd state -- he has made some statements that sometimes, I just do "feel" he is on our side.
#7
President Jalal Talabani confirmed he had been contacted by rebels wanting to join the political process.
When it begins to impact offensive operations where our troops are involved, I suspect we should closely monitor the communiques between the el presidente and the opposition.
#8
Probably most of the Sunnis who want to negotiate are just stalling for time; however, a few of them will come over and maybe bring some hot intel with them. Splitting off a few Sunnis from the terror front would be a big plus.
#9
The terrorist have been taking a huge beating latley their leadership has been ransacked recentley. Unless these ones willing to negotiate are prepared to publicly drop some dimes on the AQ branch of thier wing as a show of good faith, I would say stopping the pressure would be stupid. What got the terrorist talking to begin with is the grinding offensive mixed with the arrival of capable large Iraqi units able to hold the newly taken ground. We should continue the offensive until the agreement is reached and we get some good faith measures in return otherwise the screws keep going in tighter. I think the politcal pressure back home mixed with Bush's inability to put a case to the american public in common terms is what is leading to this. A halt of the negotiations is a mix of delaying tactic for terrorist to reconstitute and Talabani and other Iraqi leadership playing a political PR game for votes. I hope it works out in the end but I have sereous doubts give it 2/10 odds of success.
#10
1. Ultimately the efficient way to beat an insurgency IS to cut a deal with part of it, and thus reduce its size. Certainly negotiating with some pro-insurgent Sunnis is inevitable
2. That said, calling off an offensive for the sake of somebody who may not be able to deliver on his end, is foolish. OTOH I presume the Iraqi govt has a better idea of who can deliver than I do
3. That said, even if theyre talking to someone who CAN deliver, doesnt mean they will. Giving up something of value - a major offensive - you may be played for a fool.
4. On the other hand they only say delay - they can implement it again if they dont get something serious back
5. It could all be bluff on the govts part - maybe they werent really set to this offensive anyway.
6. If they really are calling off an offensive its not just Talabani - its presumably Jaafari and the Defense Minister as well. And the Americans too - or are the Iraqis now organizing their own offensives without coalition input?(John Warner, call your office)
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2005 00:29 ||
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#1
General Senator Feingold is an utter idiot and nothing in his idiot remarks holds water or is even timely as a subject. Thus it is not surprising that the arabnews dinks would find his remarks interesting. He should STFU. The best way would be for the citizens of Wisconsin to find themselves a new Jr Senator. One with a functioning brain. Mute would be good, too.
Iraqi Vice President Adil Abdul Mahdi has ruled out setting a timetable for the withdrawal of the multinational forces from Iraq, saying, "Iraq is in a state of war. The withdrawal of these forces would provide an opportunity for the elements that are committing the killing to return to power". In a statement to Asharq al-Awsat, Abdul Mahdi attributed the problems that Iraq is facing to the mistakes that were committed by the previous regime. He added that the foreign presence "is due to the practices of the former regime that destroyed everything". Abdul Mahdi called on the countries neighboring Iraq not to interfere in its affairs. He emphasized his country's support for Syria and said that Iraq does not pressure Syria and is ready to open a new page. He pointed out that Iraq will not abandon Syria "but Syria should not abandon Iraq. Sound policies should be followed and the mistakes of the past should not be repeated".
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2005 00:00 ||
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A military vehicle carrying US Congressmen overturned on the way to the Baghdad airport, injuring two of them, a fellow congressman travelling with them said. Rep. Tim Murphy, a Republican, was airlifted to a military hospital in Germany for an MRI on his neck, and Rep. Ike Skelton, a Democrat, was sent to a Baghdad hospital, said Rep. Jim Marshall. Marshall, a Georgia Democrat, was in the vehicle but was not hurt.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Driving down the middle of the road. Okay. In a different report of this, the oncoming truck was said to be a tanker.
Playing chicken with a tanker truck is stupid. Period. Full stop. Perhaps the military should rethink the convoy habits a bit.
#2
According to Sgt Hank Harvey tanker trucks do not even slow down. Not for ANYTHING. They are prime targets. He related one of the scariest incidents he had on convoy duty. They came under small arms and rpg fire fo a short time and when they got to their destination the tanker truck had an unexploded rpg sticking in the side with gasolene spewing everywhere. He said he got down on his knees and thanked God the Terrorists weapons were mostly so old they wouldn't work properly. He said that changed after Iran started running weapons in.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/28/2005 7:40 Comments ||
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Jordanâs state prosecutor on Sunday demanded death penalty for the Al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and 11 other suspects accused of plotting a chemical bomb attack on intelligence services.
âThe prosecutor wrapped up his case in the trial by demanding the maximum penalty (death) for 12 suspects,â a judicial source told AFP.
A 13th suspect is being accused of a misdemeanour in the trial, in which four of the suspects, including Zarqawi, are being tried in absentia.
The nine suspects in the dock, including alleged ringleader Azmi Jayussi, and the fugitives are accused of plotting, on Zarqawiâs orders, an attack on Jordanâs intelligence agency using trucks loaded with 20 tonnes of chemicals.
In addition to âconspiracy to plotting terrorist actsâ, the prosecutor has accused them of membership in the outlawed Al-Tawheed Brigades organisation, as well as possession and manufacture of explosives and weapons.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/28/2005 14:17 ||
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Al-Qaeda in Iraq issued a message dated Saturday, November 26, 2005, from the âbrothers and sonsâ of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, addressing the al-Khalayla tribe, Zarqawiâs family, and its reported disowning of the groupâs Emir. The message explains that al-Qaeda in Iraq was âhurtâ by the tribeâs reaction announcement and questions if it was from obedient acquiescence to âAllahâs enemyâ, or compelled by threats and pressures. Further, the group questions the al-Khalayla tribe that if disavowing Zarqawi summarily disavows those who âmade enemiesâ of Jews, Christians, and âconvertersâ and those who defend the Muslim people.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/28/2005 13:44 ||
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#1
The message explains that al-Qaeda in Iraq was âhurtâ by the tribeâs reaction announcement
Aww...
and questions if it was from obedient acquiescence to âAllahâs enemyâ, or compelled by threats and pressures.
Zarq seems incapable of believing that it could be due to anything he's done.
Jordan's King Abdullah II has sworn in a new Cabinet led by his former national security chief, who pledged to restore the nation's reputation for stability in the Mideast while nurturing reforms. Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit told Abdullah after the brief ceremony on Sunday that "security and stability will remain a Jordanian distinction, despite the terrorist incident which targeted innocent people in the capital of your kingdom".
Al-Bakhit was designated prime minister after the 9 November triple Amman hotel blasts that killed 63 people, including three Iraqi suicide bombers. "My government will maintain the balance between freedom and security and we will not allow one to dominate the other," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2005 00:00 ||
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The leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels has served an ultimatum to the island's new government that unless the grievances of the ethnic Tamil minority are addressed, he will intensify the struggle for independence by next year. Velupillai Prabhakaran did not set an exact date in a speech on Sunday, but warned President Mahinda Rajapakse's hardline government that it must propose a framework that satisfied the political aspirations of the country's 3.2 million Tamils, who seek a homeland in the northeast. "If the new government rejects our urgent appeal, we will, next year, in solidarity with our people, intensify our struggle for self-determination, our struggle for national liberation to establish self-government in our homeland," he said.
Prabhakaran was addressing the rebels on their annual "Heroes' Day" to pay homage to guerrillas killed while fighting government troops. Two days earlier, Rajapakse had rejected rebel demands for a homeland and promised to overhaul a 2002 ceasefire to curb violence and child recruitment by the Tigers.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2005 00:00 ||
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...Al Ghajar village, where the fighting broke out, is an odd place. One side is Lebanese. The other side is controlled by Israel. All the villagers on both sides of the border are Alawite, a minority sect -- some say heretical -- that long ago splintered off Shia Islam. Historically the village was part of Syria. The Alawites of Al Ghajar belong to the same ethnic-religious group that holds almost all the levers of power in Syria...
...Much of Lebanon is moderately prosperous, if not exactly wealthy. It's not what most Westerners think of as the Third World. But Al Ghajar was ruined only five years after being pushed into Lebanon. The village is in the deep south. This is Hezbollah country, a virtual state-within-a-state. Neither the Lebanese government nor the Lebanese army have any writ there. It is there -- the Israeli side of Al Ghajar -- where Hezbollah launched its attack last week. If Hezbollah were to successfully "liberate" the Israeli side of the village, the prosperous half would join the poorer half in more ways than one...
..."That village is in Israel," my guide said as we drove toward a row of single family homes.
"What village?" I said as I scanned the distant hills for some kind of settlement.
"That village right there," she said and pointed at the homes directly in front of us. Just behind us Hezbollah guerillas were dug into the hills and holed up inside abandoned houses.
"Those houses right there?" I said. They were only a few hundred feet from the car. "Aren't they in Lebanon?"
"Look closer," she said. "See the fence?"
These are only excerpts; the whole article is worth reading. Notice what he says about his interpreter in particular.
Posted by: Phil ||
11/28/2005 16:35 ||
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#1
about time for a blockade of Syria?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2005 23:06 Comments ||
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Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has said that Saudi Arabia helped broker a deal between Syria and the United Nations over the questioning of five Syrians about the killing of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri. In a wide-ranging interview published yesterday by Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News, King Abdullah said Saudi Arabia would remain a âsource of goodness for the whole worldâ.
King Abdullah said he proposed to French President Jacques Chirac and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that a UN team question the Syrian officials in Geneva or Vienna, rather than in neighboring Lebanon. âI sent Prince Bandar ibn Sultan on special missions to Paris and Damascus. ... He flew to Damascus to meet President Bashar Assad and they reached an agreement,â King Abdullah was quoted as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2005 00:23 ||
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âI sent Prince Bandar ibn Sultan and his wife on special shopping mission to Paris and Damascus. ...
King Abdullah said Saudi Arabia would remain a âsource of goodnessterrorist financing for the whole worldâ.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The White House has announced its plans to withdraw from Iraq, saying that a blueprint advocated last week by a Democratic senator was "remarkably similar" to its own. It also signalled its acceptance of a recent US Senate amendment designed to pave the way for a phased US military withdrawal from the country. The statement by Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, came in response to a commentary published in The Washington Post by Joseph Biden, the top Democrat of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in which he said US forces will begin leaving Iraq next year "in large numbers". 
VALLETTA â Leaders of the 53-nation Commonwealth on Sunday warned Pakistanâs President Pervez Musharraf that retaining his role as leader of the army âis incompatible with the basic principles of democracy.â
The head of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference has called on its members to work for the creation of a free trade zone in the near future. 
Better to manage the economy, y'know. They're not competitive, so that way they never will be, so they won't have to make any effort. The natives just aren't capable of it.
Iraq said yesterday it has delayed a major anti-insurgent offensive ahead of December elections, as President Jalal Talabani confirmed he had been contacted by rebels wanting to join the political process. The announcement came as the leader of the countryâs most powerful political party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), criticized US forces for preventing Iraqi troops tackling the insurgency head-on amid allegations of a return to Saddam-era abuses. Interior Minister Bayan Baker Solagh, also a SCIRI member, announced the suspension of the large-scale offensive against âhotbeds of terrorismâ following an appeal by Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. âPresident Talabani got in touch with me after receiving a call from Moussa, and asked me to call off this operation to ensure the success of the national reconciliation conferenceâ in February, Solagh told reporters.
A military vehicle carrying US Congressmen overturned on the way to the Baghdad airport, injuring two of them, a fellow congressman travelling with them said. Rep. Tim Murphy, a Republican, was airlifted to a military hospital in Germany for an MRI on his neck, and Rep. Ike Skelton, a Democrat, was sent to a Baghdad hospital, said Rep. Jim Marshall. Marshall, a Georgia Democrat, was in the vehicle but was not hurt.
The leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels has served an ultimatum to the island's new government that unless the grievances of the ethnic Tamil minority are addressed, he will intensify the struggle for independence by next year. Velupillai Prabhakaran did not set an exact date in a speech on Sunday, but warned President Mahinda Rajapakse's hardline government that it must propose a framework that satisfied the political aspirations of the country's 3.2 million Tamils, who seek a homeland in the northeast. "If the new government rejects our urgent appeal, we will, next year, in solidarity with our people, intensify our struggle for self-determination, our struggle for national liberation to establish self-government in our homeland," he said. 
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has said that Saudi Arabia helped broker a deal between Syria and the United Nations over the questioning of five Syrians about the killing of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri. In a wide-ranging interview published yesterday by Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News, King Abdullah said Saudi Arabia would remain a âsource of goodness for the whole worldâ.
