Somali MPs threw punches and wrestled on the floor after Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi survived a crucial confidence vote that could have led to the collapse of his weak government. Armed police entered parliament to separate four brawling members of parliament and escort Mr Gedi out during several minutes of chaos, witnesses said.
"Which police?"
"Armed police."
Armed police entered parliament to separate four brawling members of parliament and escort Mr Gedi out...
He actually lost the vote - by 88 votes to his opponents' 126 - but this fell short of the two-thirds majority they needed to censure him in the old grain store which has been converted into Somalia's temporary parliament. Defeat would have sparked the dissolution of the interim government's executive, already in some disarray over the threat from the Islamic militia movement, which has taken the capital, Mogadishu, and a large part of southern Somalia. "Whatever we were accused of we will try to rectify," Mr Gedi told supporters. "I thank those who brought the motion because they proved that we have democracy."
The anti-Gedi faction had argued his performance was incompetent and his removal necessary to create a post for Mogadishu's new Islamic rulers to come into government.
Not getting their way might make the Islamists angry. And you wouldn't like them when they're angry.
ON THE CONGO-SUDAN BORDER (AP) - The elusive leader of a brutal 19-year northern Uganda rebellion held his first formal meeting with a chief peace mediator and an Ugandan government negotiator Tuesday. Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, warmly shook hands with Riek Machar, who is vice president of the autonomous government of Southern Sudan and chief mediator of the northern Uganda peace talks. After exchanging pleasantries, Kony, Machar and an Ugandan government official went into a private meeting under a tent.
Kony, who has made rare public appearances in the past, was dressed in a neatly pressed cream short-sleeved shirt, matching trousers and polished black shoes. A day earlier during a meeting with leaders from northern and eastern Uganda, he wore a crisp military uniform.
On Monday, Kony met with a delegation of 160 officials and lawmakers from northern and eastern Uganda and representatives of non-governmental organizations for about three hours. He allowed photographers to take pictures of him but did not speak to journalists. He appeared friendly with members of the delegation, slapping some of them on the back and laughing with them.
The meetings took place in a makeshift rebel camp set up for the peace talks about 2 miles inside the Congolese border. The camp was decorated in palm leaves as a sign of peace. Journalists were taken there, but were not told exactly where they were. "For meaningful talks to continue there must be a cessation of hostilities," the rebels said in a statement after Monday's talks.
Kony has yet to meet with the main Ugandan government delegation, led by Interior Affairs Minister Ruhakana Rugunda.
The Lord's Resistance Army is made up of the remnants of a rebellion that began after Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni took power in 1986. Its political agenda is unclear. It has set up rear bases in Sudan and Congo, and has been accused of attacking civilians and threatening stability in those countries. It is known for abducting thousands of children, forcing them to become fighters, servants or concubines. Thousands of civilians have died in the conflict and more than 1 million have been forced to flee their homes.
Kony is under indictment by the International Criminal Court, but Museveni has offered to protect him if the Lord's Resistance Army agrees to give up its weapons. The rebels, however, have demanded that they be incorporated into Uganda's national army. New York-based Human Rights Watch denounced all calls for amnesty, saying international law rejects impunity for "genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture."
Posted by: Steve ||
08/01/2006 08:36 ||
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LONDON -- The head of Britain's domestic spy agency refused to testify on anti-terror practices before a parliamentary human rights committee, outraging lawmakers demanding to know whether the country receives intelligence gleaned from suspects tortured overseas.
The committee released its correspondence with MI5 chief Eliza Manningham-Buller on Tuesday as part of a report on counterterrorism strategies and human rights. Lawmakers miffed at being ignored pointedly suggested she should have testified _ and tucked the letters into the report to make their point. And then gave her the Stinky-Eye just for good measures.
"We do consider it a matter of some importance that the head of the security services be prepared to answer questions from the parliamentary committee with responsibility for human rights," the report said. Manningham-Buller wrote that she was only able to testify before the Intelligence and Security Committee, which uses safeguards to protect sensitive information. Dame Eliza could say no more.
The human rights committee was interested in questioning her about allegations that the United States has used British airports for the secret, international transfers of terrorism suspects, a process known as extraordinary rendition. They also wanted to ask about data gleaned from such interrogations.
The committee's report recommended that Britain set up an independent body to monitor the activities of MI5, the domestic intelligence agency, and MI6, the international spy service. It also said that terrorism suspects held by British authorities, but not charged, should be entitled to compensation. A new law allows police to hold terror suspects for up to 28 days without charge, and the panel said anyone held for longer than 14 days should be entitled to counseling. Entitled to compensation, counseling, also maybe job training, a pony, and a box of Fig Newtons.
The committee also recommended that Britain relax its ban on using surveillance material, such as telephone taps, as evidence in court to make it easier to prosecute terror suspects. The government says using such information as evidence would compromise the work of intelligence agencies, but the committee said security safeguards could address such concerns.
You do begin to wonder if our cousins are up to the task of preserving their freedom.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/01/2006 15:04 Comments ||
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General Buller was blamed for Spion Kop but he accepted responsibility for the withdrawl, held his ground, and refused to resign. You do likewise Eliza!
LONDON - Protesters demonstrated on Monday outside a British air base believed to have been used at the weekend by US flights transporting weapons to Israel. Around 30 campaigners gathered outside the US Air Force-operated RAF Mildenhall base in eastern England, where two US flights are thought to have stopped over to refuel after being diverted away from Glasgow Prestwick Airport.
Thirty protesters? That's page one news, so long as they're the right kind of protesters.
Two previous flights which stopped at Prestwick caused a diplomatic mini-spat because the United States had not informed Britain of the hazardous nature of their cargo. This will only add to the worsening humanitarian crisis, said Peter Lanyon, 73, of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. These flights are probably carrying bunker-buster missiles and, because Britain has told America to fly these things through our midst, everyone who goes about their daily lives without saying something is allowing the government to get away with it.
About 150 people demonstrated outside Prestwick Airport on Sunday.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/01/2006 00:00 ||
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British MSM at it's best
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
08/01/2006 5:28 Comments ||
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170 peo[ple total. Not even newsworthy but it fits the Jew hating ends of the Leftist MSM in the US so it's a story.
General of the Army Yury Baluyevsky, Russia's chief of staff, has written an article entitled "U.S. NMD: What Next?" It was published by the Russian national defense weekly Voenno-Promyshlenny Kuryer 10 days after the G8 summit in St. Petersburg. Leaders as senior as the chief of staff, who is also deputy defense minister, seldom write articles for the Russian press. They prefer writing articles and giving interviews to the foreign media before official visits abroad, and seldom reach out to the people via the Russian media. When they do, it is usually for a very serious reason.
Baluyevsky, the No. 2 man in the Russian defense establishment, could not keep silent when the Pentagon accelerated the U.S. National Missile Defense project, and his article can be considered a policy statement by the Russian defense establishment.
He writes that Washington has taken a turn towards unilateral global superiority, although "the time when Russia and the Untied States regarded each other as adversaries or a strategic threat is past" and their defense departments have been promoting cooperation in the last few years.
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Posted by: Captain America ||
08/01/2006 00:21 ||
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They are just mad their ballistic missile exports just went to shit with the deployment of the missile defense.
#2
You know the [Ultra] Left > the world would be a safe place iff everyone had the same, ergo which is why the USSR didn't give their East-Euro Warsaw Pact nations their own nukes nor controlled their own Govts + armed forces, etal.
#5
The great irony of ballistic missiles is that their era is drawing to a close. Energy weapons are the wave of the future, and they give the edge back to defense weaponry, instead of offensive weaponry.
No recent mention has been made of the eastern effort to build a nuclear detonation powered ballistic missile shield, theoretically able to take down an entire salvo of ballistic missiles at once.
#6
Not only did Russian missile sales dump but if you were an Islamic Psycho looking for secondary targets the Great Satan with its great distance, missile defense, and heavy handed responses isn't such a good target while the Lesser Satan with its slaughter of Chechnya, close distance, and no missile defense might be worth a launch or two.
#8
Russia has had, and still has, a potent missile defense system around Moscow, and the latest surface-to-air missiles were primarily designed to stop the threat of tactical missiles and cruise missiles. The Russian ABM ring around Moscow has some very LARGE missiles, all nuke-tipped. Russia just doesn't want the US to develop a missile defense system because it would tip the balance of power toward the west and away from Russia and China. Just a bunch of whining, kinda like the muzzies when Israel hits back.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/01/2006 21:09 Comments ||
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Western intelligence services say China is taking advantage of a thaw in ties with the Vatican to send its state-ordained priests abroad, according to a newsletter.
The Paris-based Intelligence Online reported last week that changes in the balance of power between the underground, unofficial Catholic Church and the official, communist-dominated Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association are under way following recent talks between envoys from Rome to Beijing,
The official church is headed by Fu Tieshan and Liu Bainian, also known as the Red Pope.
Chinese counterintelligence and Liu regard the Vatican and unofficial Catholics as potential threats, similar to the Falun Gong sect. The government denounced the Vaticans appointment of 40 bishops in the unofficial church in February.
"China's foreign intelligence service Guoanbu is taking advantage of the thaw with the Vatican to send government-approved Chinese priests abroad," the report stated. "They are, in fact, intelligence operatives, as European counter-intelligence agencies have come to realize in recent months."
Two papal envoys held high-level talks in Beijing in late June, the newsletter reported. They included Archbishop Claudio Celli, of the Vatican property office who is charge of relations with China, and monsignor Gianfranco Rota Graziosi, a senior aide in the Vatican state secretariat. But unlike many communist-leftist priests in the west, some of these ChiCom priests may actually believe in God.
TOKYO Japan's military is undergoing a major transformation to give it more government clout and a bigger role in international peacekeeping while aligning it more closely with U.S. forces, a government report said Tuesday. The annual report by Japan's Defense Agency also stressed that Tokyo is under increasing pressure to defend itself from possible attack by North Korean ballistic missiles, and while careful not to call China a threat urged Beijing to provide more information of its military expenditures to ease tensions in the region.
This year's report devotes a full chapter to the realignment of the roughly 50,000 U.S. troops in Japan and efforts to meld the Japanese and U.S. forces into a more effective, more closely coordinated force. The realignment, the result of years of negotiations, involves a streamlining of the U.S. military in Japan including the transfer of some 8,000 U.S. Marines off the southern island of Okinawa to the U.S. territory of Guam. It also entails closer coordination on intelligence-gathering and in ballistic missile defense, a major concern for Japan.
The report repeatedly cites North Korea's development of long-range missiles and nuclear weapons as a destabilizing factor in the region, and strongly condemned its test-firing of seven missiles into the Sea of Japan on July 4. It also criticized Pyongyang for pouring money into military expenditures "while it is suffering severe economic difficulties and must rely on international aid for food." "These activities of North Korea escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula and are a serious source of concern not only for our nation but for all of east Asia," the report said.
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Posted by: Steve ||
08/01/2006 08:50 ||
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I have to say, the Japanese spirit really impresses me. Take a warrior culture, thousands of years old and overnight turn it into a pacifist nation and expect it to work seems impossible (and much press during 1946-1948 stressed this). But yet, they accepted their fate, turned their economy around and have become a major power in the pacific. Most other nations would have collapsed into civil war. And now, the Japanese people are once again ready to turn their thinking in a very short time to again become a modern, democratic military power.
Pyongyang (KCNA) -- The Reunification Solidarity, the South Headquarters of the National Alliance for the Country's Reunification, the south Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the south Korean Federation of University Student Councils and the south Korean Council of Youth Organizations reportedly called a news conference in front of the "government" building in Seoul on July 24 at which they condemned it for toeing the U.S. hostile policy towards the north. A press release read out at the conference accused the "government" of taking the lead in pressurizing the north, pursuant to the U.S. hostile policy towards it despite the fact that the situation on the Korean Peninsula is getting tenser as days go by and the existence of whole nation is threatened due to the U.S. financial sanctions and large-scale war exercises targeted against it.
With nothing can the "government" justify its zealous cooperation with the U.S. in its moves to stifle the north betraying all the fellow countrymen desirous of independence and peace, the press release said, adding that this would be always recorded as a disgraceful act in the history of the movement for reunification. It urged the "government" to come out to improve the south-north ties in the spirit of the June 15 joint declaration.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Kidnappings + Border Incidents + Commando raids = intra-Korean peace, love, and friendship to the Norkies = anti-Chinese Chinese - undoubtedly undeniably and unequivocally continuing the pan-Korean people's heroic struggle against Chinese control by being suborned to same. Yessirree, Bub, pan-Korean sovereignty, freedom, and independence = Pyongyang getting Beijing's approval for everything and anything. Obviously, of course, the central problem for Pyongyang's fight for Universal Korean democracy and freedom is Tokyo. Why those Chicom PLAAF planes buzzin' and penetratin' Japanese airspace are actually Norkie AF planes, flown by Norkie pilots but painted wid Chicom PLAAF pennants in order to prove the independence of North Korea from Beijing by foolin' and pissing the Japanese SDF, not the Chicom PLA-PLAAF, off. The Norkie AF protects NorKor from Beijing, ergo they buzz Japan.
THE ABC has apologised to the Jewish community for presenting biased, anti-Israeli information to school children during an episode of Behind the News. The educational program described Hezbollah terrorists as "soldiers" and as "refugees" whose land had been "taken by Israel".
In a letter to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, which lodged a formal complaint with Communications Minister Helen Coonan, the ABC admits the information presented on the program was "inappropriate".
Audience liaison manager Denise Musto said the ABC acknowledged "that the content failed to meet the requirements of balance and impartiality".
"In its attempt to be simple and concise, the story did not represent key relevant viewpoints," she said. "Some of the descriptions were over-simplistic and inappropriate."
Behind the News is a news program designed for school students. The episode on the crisis in the Middle East was shown on July 25, with the transcript removed from the ABC website earlier this week. Ms Musto said the "errors of judgment" were "regrettable and not indicative of the program's overall high standards". She said the content removed from the web was "being reviewed and revised material will be posted in due course".
Council president Grahame Leonard wrote to the ABC and Senator Coonan about "errors and lack of balance" in the program. Mr Leonard said Hezbollah could not accurately be described as a "Palestinian refugee organisation".
"It is an extremist Lebanese Shiite Muslim organisation. Its ideology is the same as that of Iran and includes the destruction of the state of Israel," he said.
#1
Revised material isn't good enough. To offset the damage caused, they need to put on a program to the same target audience, explaining why such beliefs are wrong, and what the truth is. Within days, or the lesson will be lost in the great mass of information coming at the children. Anything less is the farmer's apology to the pigs... which is what they hope to get away with.
A GUN-shop owner has given evidence today at a court hearing for 13 Victorian men accused of being members of a terrorist group.
Mr Schaefer told the court one of the three said he wanted a gun to use at the Williamstown rifle range. Mr Schaefer said he thought it strange because the Williamstown rifle range had been closed for several years...
On the second day of evidence in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court committal hearing, gun shop owner Tim Schaefer said three men of Middle Eastern appearance visited his store in late 2004. The prosecution alleges that one of the accused, Izzydeen Atik, 26, of Williamstown, was one of the three men who turned up at the Footscray shop.
Mr Schaefer told the court one of the three said he wanted a gun to use at the Williamstown rifle range. Mr Schaefer said he thought it strange because the Williamstown rifle range had been closed for several years, the court heard.
All 13 men, who are charged with belonging to a terrorist group and various other related charges, appeared at the hearing today under high security. The hearing before magistrate Paul Smith continues.
Policing of borders - and with it, the sensitive subject of immigration - is once again making the news in Britain. The UK is set to introduce new embarkation controls. Soon, leaving the country via ports or airports will be controlled by a uniformed border force.
On the other side of the Channel, France has revealed plans to deport over 12,000 illegal immigrants.
British Home Secretary John Reid says that there will be passport checks to ensure there is a record of who has left Britain. He adds that there will be more enforcement powers, resources and new technology.
Those who need to be deported will be removed within six months of arrival.
France is also in the deportation business. John Reid's counterpart, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy says that he expects to expel a proportion of the over 400,000 illegal immigrants that are in France today.
But to sweeten the pill Sarkozy says he will grant 'papers' ie, permanent residency, to 6,000 applicants.
The situation in France is ironic in the sense that Sarkozy is the son of an immigrant. And deportation is a dirty word in the republic because so many citizens were sent to German SS concentration camps during the war. Some French groups have played up the comparison by "sheltering" children destined to be returned to their parents' country from the authorities, drawing parallels with how Jewish children were concealed from the Nazis by sympathetic French families. Associating M Sarkozy with the Nazis - as the protesters clearly intend to do - is in questionable taste, not least because the minister's father fled Hungary during WW2.
It doesn't seem to have deterred the government, however: In the end the offical message is: we like you, but not in our back yard.
#2
British Home Secretary John Reid says that there will be passport checks to ensure there is a record of who has left Britain. He adds that there will be more enforcement powers, resources and new technology.
Now if there was just a record of everyone who entered Britain.
#4
The situation in France is ironic in the sense that Sarkozy is the son of an immigrant.
Legal? If so, there's nothing ironic about it. Laws are for everyone. Ignore that, and you become a barbaric land like, say, Lebanon.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/01/2006 17:49 Comments ||
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Article: And deportation is a dirty word in the republic because so many citizens were sent to German SS concentration camps during the war.
Lemme guess - the illegals being deported are innocent civilians destined for gas chambers back in their home countries. If not, I don't get the references to concentration camps. Various countries have used concentration camps to fight guerrillas/rebels before and after WWII. They were primarily a means of separating guerrillas from their sympathizers/supporters. Only the Germans weren't doing it to fight rebels, and they sent the inmates into gas chambers.
France's agriculture minister on Monday condemned the destruction of two fields of genetically modified corn by terrorists activists in southwestern France.
Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau called Sunday's slashing of the crops "terrorism vandalism contrary to the rule of law and the respect of private property," a statement from his office said.
More than 200 terrorists without jobs activists tore up 7.3 hectares (18 acres) of the corn in two fields near the southern city of Toulouse. Five suspects were detained by police and held for questioning on Monday. Where's the RAB when you need them?
Jose Bove, a well-known anti-globalization terrorist activist who led the group, urged more terrorism "civil disobedience" if the government rejects its call for a national referendum on whether genetically modified crops should be permitted in France.
One of the fields belongs to U.S. seed company Pioneer Hi-Bred International. Aha! A sinister Rovian plot!
A private farmer owns the other.
Bussereau said the crops are legal. The terrorists activists advocate traditional farming methods, and insist the modified strains could affect other crops. That's right, traditional methods that can feed only half the population...
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/01/2006 10:27 Comments ||
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None of the Euros like or want genetically engineered food on their continent, I think the "terrorist" lable is getting a little overused in this case.
Posted by: bk ||
08/01/2006 13:33 Comments ||
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These people feel they have the 'right' to impose their beliefs on others by force. That makes them terrorists. They don't have to eat genetically modified corn, or products derived from it. They don't have the right to destroy the crops of others, however, and in so doing, have set themselves up as the 'conscience' of the nation, without public support or approval. Hang them as scarecrows in the reseeded GMF fields.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/01/2006 21:18 Comments ||
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gee....Ok - I can live with that :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/01/2006 22:38 Comments ||
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Turkish police yesterday detained some 130 people at a meeting organized by the countrys main Kurdish party on the grounds that the function was linked to armed Kurdish rebels, security sources said. Police said the meeting in the southeastern city of Sanliurfa was held in the name of the terrorist organization, the official term used by Turkish authorities to describe the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
The Democratic Society Party (DTP) said the meetings only aim was to hold a debate on the citys problems. The detainees are expected to appear in court after testifying to police and some of them could end up facing criminal charges, the sources said. Kurdish politicians in Turkey are routinely regarded with suspicion and often seen as instruments of the PKK, which has been fighting a bloody campaign against the Ankara government since 1984 aimed at winning self-rule for the Kurds.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2006 00:00 ||
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DTP are not "rebels." They're not armed, they were elected in the last elections. . . etc.
Posted by: Azad ||
08/01/2006 13:38 Comments ||
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Turkey on Monday appointed a general who is expected to adopt a tougher line toward EU negotiations to replace the head the country's powerful military, who was widely considered a moderate. The change in leadership, which was widely anticipated, comes as Turkey is insisting that Washington do more to crack down on Turkish Kurdish rebels operating out of bases in northern Iraq. It also comes as the United States is pressing Turkey and other countries to contribute to a possible peacekeeping force along the Israeli-Lebanese border.
General Yasar Buyukanit, the head of land forces, was named to replace Geneina Hilmi Ozkok, the chief of staff, when Ozkok retires later the month. Turkey's Supreme Military Council, chaired by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, will approve Ozkok's replacement and other key personnel changes at a meeting on August 1-4. Ozkok retires on August 30 and has ruled out suggestions he might stay on another year.
"This appointment is important because the Turkish armed forces are still largely autonomous, despite EU reforms trimming their powers," said Lale Sariibrahimoglu, Turkey correspondent of the British-based Jane's Defense Weekly. "Many in [Erdogan's ruling] AK Party would have liked to see Ozkok stay on for another year. Buyukanit is from the old school, against the full civilian control of the military, while Ozkok is more of a democrat," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2006 00:00 ||
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He looks like a corpse propped up and with sunglasses to hide the eyes.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/01/2006 6:28 Comments ||
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My understanding is there are two different fights going on, or rather two different dimensions along which people disagree.
Fight between the Islamacists and the oldschool Turkish generals who are mostly secularists but who in any case distrust populism of the sort the Islamacists used to gain office. - one dimension
Along another dimension, there's a fight between those who want into the EU and those who don't because it would diminish Turkish autonomy - including, for the Islamacists, the autonomy to impose Sharia.
These parties overlap, but not entirely IIUC. Comments from anyone who's more intimately familiar with the political issues there would be welcome.
HT to DrudgeFederal prosecutors investigating a leak about a terrorism funding probe can see the phone records of two New York Times reporters, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
A panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned on a 2-1 vote a lower court's ruling that the records were off limits unless prosecutors could show they had exhausted all other means of finding out who spoke to the newspaper.
The judges said a grand jury investigation of the disclosures wasn't likely to go anywhere without help from the reporters or access to their records.
"There is simply no substitute for the evidence they have," Judge Ralph K. Winter wrote.
The newspaper was considering an appeal, its lawyers said.
The case involved stories written in 2001 by Times reporters Judith Miller and Philip Shenon that revealed the government's plans to freeze the assets of two Islamic charities, the Holy Land Foundation and the Global Relief Foundation.
Prosecutors claimed the reporters' phone calls to the charities seeking comment had tipped the organizations off about the government investigation.
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald asked the Times for information about the source of the reports in 2002, then threatened to subpoena phone company billing records in 2004.
The newspaper sued to block any such effort, saying prosecutors might use the records to fish for information about the Times' sources for a long list of stories.
In February 2005, the newspaper appeared to achieve a victory when U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet ruled that the government had failed to prove that it had exhausted all other methods.
Tuesday's decision to overturn the lower court ruling prompted a dissent by Judge Robert D. Sack, who said prosecutors had made little effort to assure the court that the information was unavailable from any other source.
He noted, however, that the majority opinion contained at least two victories for journalists: It held that reporters do have a right, in some circumstances, to protect the identities of people they speak to, and government investigators may not simply bypass an uncooperative reporter by seizing records from a phone company.
"Without such protection," Sack wrote, "prosecutors, limited only by their own self-restraint, could obtain records that identify journalists' confidential sources in gross and virtually at will.
"Reporters might find themselves, as a matter of practical necessity, contacting sources the way I understand drug dealers reach theirs _ by use of clandestine cell phones and meetings in darkened doorways."
Times attorney Floyd Abrams said the closeness of the vote illustrates a disagreement within the courts about whether reporters have a limited privilege to protect their sources.
"Not until the U.S. Supreme Court takes one of these cases and decides it will we really know where we are," Abrams said.
It is unclear whether prosecutors already have the Times' phone records. Fitzgerald's office has refused to say whether it received the records before the Times sued.
A spokesman for Fitzgerald declined to comment.
Fitzgerald had Miller jailed last year for refusing to tell a grand jury about conversations she had with the vice president's chief of staff regarding CIA operative Valerie Plame.
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08/01/2006 19:32 ||
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The conflict in the Middle East, as well as others involving Muslim extremists, revolve around "modernization within Islam" and whether the Western system of values can "beat theirs," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in a speech Tuesday.
Speaking to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, Blair went on to say that the struggle was between moderate, benign values versus the hatred and intolerance of fundamentalism.
"Even the issue of Israel is just part of the same wider struggle for the soul of the region," Blair said. "If we recognize this struggle for what it truly is, we would be at least along the first steps of the path to winning it. But I fear a vast part of Western opinion is not remotely near this yet."
He added, "Whatever the outward manifestation at any one time -- in Lebanon, in Gaza, in Iraq, and add to that in Afghanistan, in Kashmir, in a host of other nations, including now some in Africa -- this everywhere is a global fight about global values.
"It's about modernization within Islam and out of it. It's about whether our value system can be shown to be sufficiently robust, true, principled and appealing that it beats theirs."
The strategy behind Islamist extremism, Blair said, is based "on a presumed sense of grievance that can motivate people to divide against each other. Our answer has to be a set of values strong enough to unite people with each other.
"And this is not just about security or military tactics -- it is about hearts and minds. It's about inspiring people, persuading them, showing them what our values at their best stand for. And just to state it in these terms underlines how much we have to do."
Many Westerners wonder if the United States and Europe pay too high a price for supporting Israel, and Blair said he can understand why many Muslims condemn that alliance. But "absent from so much of the coverage is any understanding of the Israeli predicament."
The prime minister said he "wants the war (between Israel and Hezbollah) to stop now" and that the loss of civilian life in Lebanon is "unacceptable." But he did not back down from his support for Israel.
The Jewish state, he said, has been targeted by Hamas and Hezbollah, which have captured Israeli soldiers, provoking Israel's response. Re-energizing the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians will be "fundamental" to defusing the conflict.
Blair also took aim at Iran and Syria, which back Hezbollah financially.
"We need to make it clear to Syria and Iran that there is a choice: Come into the international community and play by the same rules as the rest of us, or be confronted.
"Their support of terrorism, their deliberate export of instability, their desire to see wrecked the democratic prospects in Iraq is utterly unjustifiable, dangerous and wrong. If they keep raising the stakes, they will find that they have miscalculated."
A new InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion poll for the Democratic primary runoff in Georgias 4th Congressional district shows challenger Hank Johnson maintaining his lead over incumbent U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney by a full 15 percentage points as the runoff election looms closer.
McKinneys totals moved up from the last poll late last week, but she still sat well behind former DeKalb County Commissioner Johnson.
The tracking survey of 300 likely voters was conducted the evening of July 31, and has a margin of error of plus or minus six percent.
"There has been some shift in African American voters in McKinneys direction," said InsiderAdvantage CEO Matt Towery. "However, the black vote remains split with local black leaders endorsing Johnson, who is trouncing McKinney among eligible white voters."
The winner of the August 8 runoff election will go on to face Republican challenger Catherine Davis in the November general election.
#1
Only 15%? If this nutcase is even competitive we should rethink allowing Georgia to stay in the Union. Maybe a phone call to Diebold will do the trick?
#3
I've been kind of confused by the tag. WoT Background covered one set of ground, but WoT Politix is an odd overlap. I was using it as WoT & Politix.
That leaves non-WoT, but that's such a dukes mixture.
Key Democratic leaders in the House and Senate have united to call on President Bush to begin pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq by the end of the year, citing an overtaxed military, billions of dollars spent and ongoing sectarian violence. In a letter to Bush released Monday, the Democrats backed a plan for the "phased redeployment" of troops. "U.S. forces in Iraq should transition to a more limited mission focused on counterterrorism, training and logistical support of Iraqi security forces and force protection of U.S. personnel," the Democrats wrote.
Bush has consistently said there will be no such pullout until the fledgling Iraqi government can secure its position and Iraq's security forces can defend the country. Republicans said the letter amounted to Democratic leadership surrendering to terrorists. "The Democratic leadership continues to demand that American soldiers end their mission and wave the white flag of surrender to the terrorists that we are fighting in Iraq," Ron Bonjean, a spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said in a statement.
Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, issued a similar statement. "Waving a white flag in Iraq may appeal to the nut net roots," Mehlman wrote, referring to Internet activists, "but it will embolden the enemy, encourage more terrorism and make America less secure."
Democrats had previously advocated reducing reduce troops levels in Iraq, but were split on the precise approach. During a recent floor debate in the Senate, Democratic Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin proposed legislation that would require troops to be out of Iraq by July 2007. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and other Democrats backed a measure that called for a phased redeployment to begin by Dec. 31, but did not set a deadline for all troops to be home.
The recent letter, dated July 30, is significant because - signed by every top Democrat on committees with oversight of military, intelligence and international affairs - it solidifies the Democrats' position and presents a unified front as members head into election season. The letter also was signed by Reid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, his House counterpart.
I think we should have several roll call votes on this excellent suggestion....oh, that's right, we did.
I'm betting Mr. Rove would like at least one more in early October ...
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
New '06 Democratic Campaign theme song - Surrender by Cheap Trick.
#4
Motherly Islamo-Communism will save the ME + ME democracy from Fascist Male Brute Israel. GO MOM, iff you want flowers and love with your local gulags, work camps, and death camps. Hollywierd wants to see hugs, kisses, and trendy expensive Armani fashions when you happily report to your local labor-death chambers. GOOD CLINTONIAN AMERIKANS DEMAND TO BE EXECUTED AND EXTERMINATED WITH THE BEST, MOST EXPENSIVE THINGYS AROUND, D *** IT. LIFE ISN'T WORTH LIVING IFF YOUR GULAG DOESN'T HAVE TUPPERWARE + MARTHA STEWART.
#6
Fred, you left out the spin - There are currently about 130,000 troops in Iraq. Boosting the troops by such a substantial number (the troops moving into Baghdad, not necessarily being added to the total) dashes Bush administration hopes of dropping the figure by tens of thousands by the fall congressional campaign. So even when W tries to get with the Dems program, he's somehow pandering to the voters. Bad Bush!
With a bit of luck, we can do both - move 10,000 to Baghdad and bring 30,000 home by Christmas.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/01/2006 6:26 Comments ||
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#7
The "cut and run" strategy. Bound to be popular in California, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Not to sure about the US however.
#10
Way to go, Dems! Great way to signal the enemy that we're losing our nerve, and all he has to do is just wait us out.
Fucking idiots...
Posted by: Dave D ||
08/01/2006 9:13 Comments ||
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#11
I say we have a meeting of all these nutjobs in a rousing public forum. Featuring left-wing music, speakers, celebraties and all those sorts with the polititians. Call it, "We are back in '06 by surrendering" or something.
#12
Although an official "babyboomer" (born in 1948), I can't help but think how much better the prospects for this country will be once my generation finally dies off. The performance of America's young, at least the ones in the military, give hope that in spite of our best efforts to dumb them down, a few understand what America is about and will keep her strong and free.
#14
John Kerry, whose main problem in life is whether conditions will be good for windsurfing off Cape Cod, can't wait to surrender. Twenty-year old Marines with multiple gunshot wounds can't wait to get back to their units. We are going to win this thing despite him.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/01/2006 12:10 Comments ||
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#15
Unless we quit, we will win in spite of the democrats, the EU, the UN, commie countries everywhere, and the cowards among us.
While we're at it, I pray we have the sense to except unconditional surrender only.
#16
RWV, I'm with you ("class" of '49) as is my wife. There are a number of us in the generation that are sane, but a depressingly large number that are true LLLoons.
#17
class of '59 here, and no assertions of sanity....
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/01/2006 15:09 Comments ||
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#18
Although an official "babyboomer" (born in 1948), I can't help but think how much better the prospects for this country will be once my generation finally dies off. The performance of America's young, at least the ones in the military, give hope that in spite of our best efforts to dumb them down, a few understand what America is about and will keep her strong and free.
Disclaimer : I don't endorse this book... since I haven't read it (of course!), but this sure looks interesting as far as this thesis goes.
Has anyone read it and is willing to give his impression on its content???
#19
"...it solidifies the Democrats' position and presents a unified front as members head into election season."
There's your money-shot right there folks. Ironically, the Democrats have an opportunity not only to do the right thing but also have a chance to sway swing voters. Predictably, their craven lust for headlines prevents them from saying We stand shoulder to shoulder with the President because War is not a partisan issue. Yet in their minds, this is the classic no-lose stunt. If troop levels remain constant they simply continue with the ole Its the Presidents War BS. If there is a reduction in troops they can attempt to claim responsibility. Disingenuous sluts!
#22
Mother told me, yes, she told me I'd meet Democrats like you.
She also told me, "Stay away, you'll never know what you'll catch."
Just the other day I heard a Senator falling off
some Vietnam junk that's going round.
Pelosi's alright, Kerry's alright, they just seem a little weird.
Surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself away, ay, ay, ay.
Old Reid says, "Murtha's right, he's really up on things."
"Before we met, Murtha served many years in the U.S. Marines."
Now, I had heard the Marines recruited heroes for the war.
But Murtha isn't one of those, I've known him all these years.
Pelosi's alright, Kerry's alright, they just seem a little weird.
Surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself away, ay, ay, ay.
Whatever happened to all this season's losers of the year?
Ev'ry time I got to thinking, where'd they disappear?
When I woke up, the Democrats were rolling on the couch.
Rolling numbers, rock and rolling, got their old Stones records out.
Pelosi's alright, Kerryy's alright, they just seem a little weird.
Surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself away, ay, ay, ay.
A Democratic filibuster of John Bolton's nomination as United Nations ambassador is "unlikely," Senator Schumer said yesterday. Mr. Schumer supported an effort last year to block Mr. Bolton's nomination from gaining a full Senate vote, but he confirmed that he is considering changing his position.
New York's senior senator said he was weighing Mr. Bolton's backing of Israel against his unwillingness to work with other countries at the United Nations. "There's a good part of Bolton. He's been a staunch and very good defender of Israel," Mr. Schumer said on CNN's "Late Edition."
And I've got a heavily Jewish constituency, especially the ones who contribute ...
"There's a bad part of Bolton. He seems to have a go it alone' attitude at a time when we need the nations of the world on our side. We've seen that in Iran and North Korea."
Oh lawdy. We've been engaged with the 'nations of the world': the EU-3, UN and IAEA with Iran and the group of Six with the NKors. Did Chuckles miss his briefing?
Election year.
Mr. Schumer said he had not made a final decision on which way to vote and that a lot of Democrats were also contemplating their position. The Democrats would need the support of 41 of their 45 members in the Senate to block Mr. Bolton's nomination. Three Democrats crossed over to oppose a filibuster last year, meaning that a shift of even a few senators would signal Mr. Bolton's confirmation. "I think that if you count the votes, a filibuster is unlikely," Mr. Schumer said.
Mr. Bush could reappoint Mr. Bolton again at the end of the year, but some have said it is important for the ambassador to have legislative backing, especially with a war in the Middle East. Two filibusters last year largely came down to a standoff with the White House over lawmakers' request for classified documents that Mr. Bolton had asked to see when he served in the State Department.
Although Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee were highly critical of Mr. Bolton at a hearing last week, the minority leader, Senator Reid of Nevada, has not committed to mounting another filibuster attempt.
He's still checking his wind direction indicator.
New York's other Democratic senator, Hillary Clinton, supported a filibuster of Mr. Bolton last year but has not said which way she will vote this time. A statement from her office yesterday, after a week of silence, indicated that she is leaning against Mr. Bolton over the document issue."Senator Clinton remains concerned about the administration's continued refusal to produce documents to the Senate that are critical to conducting a full and proper evaluation of his nomination," it said.
She's against it before she'll be for it.
The large vote from Kiryas Joel, a strongly Chasidic community in NY, played a role in her first election to the Senate. She'll step lightly I think.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/01/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Schumer is one I wish would pop a major blood vessel in his brain. I would feel safer if he did.
#4
Worried about the Friends of Israel donations for the party? Couldn't be a problem with all the anti-Semitic remarks and actions from your rad left and academic members of the party? Just before the election, it must hurt that you can't play to both in your fund raising efforts. It would be revealing to show them what you really believe in by this conformation vote. And it does. Its all about power. Everything is justified by attaining power for the party.
The Jordan-based Arab Bank yesterday asked a federal judge in Brooklyn to dismiss a lawsuit brought by thousands of Israelis who claim the bank fueled terrorism by providing payments to the relatives of suicide bombers. Lawyers for the bank said that the 4,000 foreign citizens who are plaintiffs should not be allowed to have their case heard in the American court system. They argued that terrorism against Israel does not violate any "international norm." . . .
"One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter that holding is binding on this court," said an attorney for the bank, Kevin Walsh of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene and MacRae.
The plaintiffs who are suing Arab Bank in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn are the victims of terrorist attacks during the second intifada and the relatives of victims. While the overwhelming majority are citizens of Israel, some plaintiffs are from Afghanistan, Moldova, and several other countries. They claim that Arab Bank which has an office in New York used offices in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to distribute payments to people who could prove they were relatives of recent suicide bombers.
The plaintiffs are suing under a 217 year-old-law, the Alien Tort Statute, which has been used by foreign citizens to bring lawsuits in America's federal courts stemming from human rights violations that occurred anywhere in the world. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling last year that suggests that only the foreign victims of the most egregious human rights violations such as genocide and slavery can file suit under the law. One standard the Supreme Court employed was whether the lawsuits stem from violations of norms that have been accepted by "civilized nations." . . .
Judge Gershon asked few questions during Arab Bank's argument, but she quickly seemed to have heard enough of it. She asked Arab Bank's lawyers to "move on" on at least four occasions. She did not issue a decision from the bench yesterday. Last year, Judge Gershon rejected Arab Bank's motion to dismiss similar lawsuits brought by about 500 American victims of terror attacks in Israel. Those lawsuits were brought under a different law, because they involved American citizens.
Comment: in any law practice, you sometimes have to represent people you'd never voluntarily associate with outside of your practice. While your ability to disengage from an established client relationship is somewhat constrained by ethical rules, you are free to turn down any client--and, in situations where "the exercise of professional judgment on behalf of the client will be or reasonably may be affected by the lawyer's . . . personal interests"--a polite way of saying, among other things, "if the client's too icky for you"--you may even have an ethical duty not to take on the representation.
You also have an ethical duty not to make frivolous arguments to a court, and it is permissible in the exercise of professional judgment to advise clients not to make an argument they might be wanting you to make because it is frivilous, unlikely to succeed, or otherwise counterproductive.
What, then, do we make of Mr. Walsh, who argues that it is an accepted norm in the international community to murder Israeli civillians, and that a United States court should be bound by that "accepted norm" to relieve the murderers of liability? My take:
1. Sad to say, he's probably right about "world opinion."
2. Screw "world opinion." "[B]e not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12:2)
3. Mr. Walsh either has no qualms about this line of argument, or has suspended his own personal moral judgment to continue the representation.
4. While "frivilous" is usually pretty generously construed in favor of a lawyer's freedom of action, this is close to the line.
5. Fortunately, the judge appears not to be buying it.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/01/2006 16:14 ||
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#1
This seems a logical as foreigners being able to bring war crimes charges against American in Belgian courts.
#3
I read an article a couple of weeks ago indicating that Muzzies in America have decided to attack us in our own court system. Many are now attending law school with the intent to tie us in knots in the courts. This could happen due to the high number of leftist judges. It just takes a bit of common sense to dismiss these irrelevent cases however.
#5
Ahhh, LEGALISM + DIALECTICISM - the same wafflins' that says America = Amerika, and that Fascists are hated despicable Male Brute Hitlerists-Nazis when it comes to the ME Muslim nations, but simul well-intentioned but misguided, immature = anti-Perfectionist, Limited Communists, Stalinists, Marxists, Limited Governmentists and Limited Totalitarians.
SSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, If one believes that a War against Islamo-Fascism = war against Fascism aka [Ultra]Rightist Socialism, then logically conversely is a WAR FOR ISLAMO-COMMUNISM = WAR FOR COMMUNISM, i.e. ULTRA-LEFTIST SOCIALISM, since the normal antithesis of Rightist SOCIALISM is LEFTIST-SOCIALISM, which includes COMMUNISM; ditto RIGHIST CONSERVATIVISM is LEFTIST CONSERVATISM.
U.S. wants to deport man associated with charity allegedly tied to Hamas The top fundraiser for an Islamic charity walked out of a detention facility to cheers from a few dozen supporters, more than two years after the government claimed his group had ties to terrorism. No words can describe how Im feeling right now. Im ecstatic, Abdel-Jabbar Hamdan, who has never been charged with terrorism, said Monday as he left the federal detention center with his wife and five children.
Hamdan, who founded a mosque in Anaheim, was arrested on immigration charges in July 2004 as federal authorities unsealed an indictment against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. The government charged that the Texas-based charity funneled millions to the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Hamdan was convicted of overstaying a student visa he got 27 years ago and ordered deported. The Holy Land Foundations president, chairman and director of endowments were charged with terrorism-related crimes.
Hamdan had requested that he be released on bond while he fought the immigration charge, but the request was denied for nearly two years by immigration judges until U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter ordered him freed last week. Hatters move was based on the recommendations of a magistrate judges report calling the governments conduct dilatory and the amount of time it took authorities to prepare certain court transcripts troubling. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday rejected a last-ditch government request to keep him locked up.
After he was released, federal authorities promised to continue to press to remove him from the United States. Both the immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals have previously held that Mr. Hamdan is deportable and subject to mandatory detention, said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Hamdan, who was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank, has acknowledged traveling around the country as a Holy Land fundraiser. He insists, however, he has no information to support allegations the group aided Hamas, which the United States has labeled a terrorist organization. My mission was purely humanitarian, to help the children and the disadvantaged people in Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and around the world, he said during an earlier hearing.
#1
he's overstayed his student visa by 27 years, but the gov't was dilatory? Guess we know who's playing politics on the bench
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/01/2006 11:32 Comments ||
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#2
Redacted by moderator. Comments may be redacted for trolling, violation of standards of good manners, or plain stupidity. Please correct the condition that applies and try again. Contents may be viewed in the sinktrap. Further violations may result in banning.
Besoeker: there was no reason to single out judges of one race over another. Let's not do that sort of thing here at the Burg. AoS.
#5
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. ...
....and sometimes they get it!
African-American judges in the Ninth Circuit
Circuit
Judge Jerome Farris
Arizona
District Judge Raner Collins
Magistrate Judge Glenda Edmonds
C.D. Cal.
District Judge Audrey Collins Chief District Judge Terry HatterMagistrate Judge Jeffrey Johnson
District Judge Consuelo Marshall
Bankruptcy Judge Erithe Smith
District Judge David Williams
N.D. Cal.
District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong
Magistrate Judge Phyllis Hamilton
District Judge Thelton Henderson
Magistrate Judge Maria Elena James
District Judge Martin Jenkins
District Judge James Ware
E.D. Cal.
District Judge Garland Burrell, Jr.
S.D. Cal.
District Judge Earl Gilliam
Magistrate Judge John Houston
District Judge Napoleon Jones, Jr.
Oregon
District Judge Ancer Haggerty
Nevada
District Judge Johnnie Rawlinson
W. Wash.
District Judge Franklin Burgess
District Judge Jack Tanner
Federal prosecutors have charged a Michigan man with making false statements in a terror investigation in Toledo. Jihad Hekmat Dahabi, 47, of Dearborn, is accused of lying to investigators in February when he was asked whether he set up a charity for Marwan El-Hindi, one of three Toledo men facing life in prison if convicted of conspiring to kill U.S. troops in Iraq.
On the same day federal agents arrested El-Hindi - Feb. 19 - Dahabi told agents in Michigan that he hadn't finished the paper work for the charity because El-Hindi hadn't provided all the information, according to an affidavit filed last week by U.S. Treasury agent James Echols. But investigators say Dahabi didn't file the paper work because he knew he was mixed up in something nefarious.
On June 7, investigators showed Dahabi parts of secret audio and video recordings of an April 2005 meeting involving Dahabi, El-Hindi and another man - apparently Darren Griffin, the government's informant in the case. El-Hindi wanted to set up a charity to get government grants. After reviewing the tapes, Dahabi came clean, the affidavit stated, noting that the charity never got off the ground because Dahabi destroyed all the paper work after El-Hindi left his office in April. Dahabi "suspected possible terrorism implications, based upon the expressed intentions to apply for grants for 'self-defense-training,' and his personal knowledge regarding world events relative to terrorist acts," according to the affidavit.
Dahabi, being held in Michigan, couldn't be reached for comment and apparently didn't have an attorney as of Monday. El-Hindi, Wassim Mazloum and Mohammad Amawi are scheduled to stand trial on terror charges May 1.
"The only thing we can glean from this is the guy [Dahabi] doesn't tell the truth," said Stephen Hartman, El-Hindi's lawyer. Meanwhile, the affidavit filed last week said a federal grand jury continues to investigate El-Hindi and others for possible mail and wire fraud.
GUWAHATI, India - A powerful separatist group in Indias northeastern state of Nagaland agreed on Monday to extend a ceasefire with the government by one year and continue with peace talks, a senior rebel leader said. The ceasefire has been extended by one year, Phunthing Shimray of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Issac-Muivah) told Reuters by telephone after three days of talks with Indian negotiators in Bangkok.
National socialists?
More than 20,000 people have died in a nearly six-decade struggle for an independent homeland for the mainly the Christian Naga people on Indias far eastern border with Myanmar, but violence has diminished since a ceasefire was agreed in 1997.
In January the rebels extended the truce for only six months, instead of a year, as there was little progress on the central rebel demands -- unification of Naga-dominated areas in northeast India and ultimately independence.
The group, the largest faction of a divided rebel movement, had appeared to harden its stand few days before the latest round of talks, saying that independence was more important than an extension of the truce. Security analysts say peace with the Nagas is crucial for a broader peace in the remote northeast, seven states connected to the rest of India by a thin strip of land and home to dozens of insurgent groups.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/01/2006 00:00 ||
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(UPI) -- Hamas could hand abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit over to Egypt or Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas until the group's demands are met, an official said. The Palestinian official said "we are looking into the possibility of handing him over to Egypt until Israel fulfills the Palestinians and the abductors' demand to free Palestinian prisoners," Ynetnews.com reported Tuesday.
He said the basic principles of an agreement to transfer the prisoner have been agreed to by Abbas and Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin. The deal would transfer Shalit to Egypt or into Abbas' custody until Israel halts military operations in the Gaza Strip, ceases targeted killings, and releases Palestinian prisoners.
Israel and Hamas have relied heavily on Egypt in the negotiations, as Israel has refused to meet directly with members of the organization, Ynet said. Egyptian officials corroborated reports of the plan, saying Shalit's destination has not yet been decided upon. An official said "this is the outline aimed at resolving the Shalit affair."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2006 12:47 ||
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TEHRAN - The nuclear disarmament of the Zionist regime would be the best way to establish lasting peace and security in the region, Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said here on Monday.
If you listen for a while to the fascists they'll usually tell you exactly what they're going to do, and exactly what their worst fears are. This article has both.
Referring to the Zionist regimes ongoing massacre of innocent civilians in Lebanon and Palestine, in which unconventional weapons are also being used, he told a number of Defense Ministry officials, Israels major air, ground and sea aggression on Lebanon is not only against Hezbollah and the Lebanese national resistance. This war is against international peace and security.
He said a lack of unity in the Islamic world is the main reason behind the occurrence of such brutalities in Lebanon. The Muslim countries can prevent the repetition of such incidents by being unified and adopting common stances, he added.
Launching attacks on civilians, destroying residential areas and economic infrastructures in Lebanon are among the concrete examples of war crimes, Najjar said. A fate worse than those of Hitler and Saddam awaits Zionist criminals and their supporters, he said.
Underlining the fact that the resolute resistance of the Lebanese and Palestinian nations against the brutal atrocities of the Zionist regime and the United States has frustrated their strategic objectives, Najjar said that the Lebanese and Palestinian nations proved once again that no weapons, including nuclear ones, can overcome the strong determination of free and independent nations.
The U.S. is seeking to gain domination over the Middle East and the whole world by insisting on implementing the so-called Middle East peace plan, he stated. The U.S. and Zionist officials that seek to realize their objectives through militarism, occupation, coups and the massacre of innocents are quite unfamiliar with peace, security, democracy and human rights. They legitimize every crime to bring to fruition Israels domination over Islamic and Arab Middle East, he added. Sorry Mostafa, we ain't bitin today. The only way they'll short of Big Boys is when they begin using them on YOU!
#2
the Zionist regimes ongoing massacre of innocent civilians in Lebanon and Palestine, in which unconventional weapons are also being used
Underlining the fact that the resolute resistance of the Lebanese and Palestinian nations against the brutal atrocities of the Zionist regime and the United States has frustrated their strategic objectives
He means the "peace" and "security" of the GRAVE - for the Joooooooos.
Nobody cares what you think, Mostafa-gotten-his-meds-today.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/01/2006 15:09 Comments ||
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#4
I wonder if all the countries in the area who have problems with Israel would let someone go over their country with a fine tooth comb every year or two if Israel were to "disarm". :-)
With this in mind, let me translate what Mostafa just said:
"I say Israel and the US are bad thereby keeping the sacred hate alive therefore I'm a good extremist. Please keep me on the payroll."
#6
Israel's nuclear threat and its ever increasing military might certainly have failed Israel's aim of peace in the region (if peace is Israel's aim).
Israel certainly denigrated the value of the NPT. Why bother signing on or honouring it? Look how well Israel's made out as regional threat to its neighbours because it didn't sign on! No wonder other nations want a taste of that nuclear might.
Israel, however, isn't going to nuclear disarm. And those in the region are not going to trust Israel to be less aggressive and belligerent than it continues to be. So Israel does not want peace. Why pretend otherwise?
Jews living precariously in the world's most violently anti-Israel states in the Middle East have apparently signed their names and countries of origin on an Internet site that is coordinating a world-wide prayer rally slated for Tuesday for IDF soldiers.
Twenty-eight from Iran, 12 from Syria, and five from both Lebanon and Iraq have signed up so far, according to Eran Gefen, CEO of Y&R Interactive, a PR firm that established the site with the aid of Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger. Others involved with the effort include the Jewish Agency, the Foreign Ministry and numerous media, including The Jerusalem Post.
Gefen admitted that he could not know for sure whether those who signed up were actually Jews. "We can't check their family tree, but they are joining the prayer for the IDF," he said. He added that he would keep the names of these signatories secret to protect their safety.
"Iranian Jews normally do not have access to Israeli Internet content," said Gefen. "But it seems that some managed to bypass the block and it is very exciting to hear their virtual voices."
Anti-Israel hackers from Saudi Arabia and other countries have launched an aggressive attack on the site, Gefen said. But, despite numerous delays, Israeli technicians have managed to keep the site up and running.
"Hackers create thousands of artificial hits a second, which puts tremendous strain on the servers." Gefen added that there were thousands of hits from Arab countries, most of them anonymous.
At 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jews from all over the world will simultaneously say a prayer for IDF soldiers fighting against Hizbullah and for kidnapped soldiers. So far more than 50,000 Jews from 170 different countries have registered as participants in the prayer session. Registration is at www.tfila.org.il.
The names of those who registered, written in tiny print, will be placed in the Kotel by Metzger. As a WASP athiest, I'll offer my own prayer for Israel. Humiliate them ( the Arabs) and take their land away from them. It's all they understand.
The prosecution on Monday asked the State Security Court (SSC) to convict the three Islamist deputies charged with fuelling national discord and inciting sectarianism. The three deputies betrayed the Jordanian people by their actions, the SSC prosecution said in its 16-page closing argument.
The prosecution was referring to the deputies condolence visit on June 9 to the family of Abu Mussab Zarqawi and also to a televised interview in which one of the MPs allegedly described the former Al Qaeda in Iraq leader as a hero and a martyr. The three Islamic Action Front (IAF) MPs on trial are Ali Abul Sukkar (Zarqa, Second District), Mohammad Abu Fares (Amman, Fifth District) and Jaafar Hourani (Zarqa, Fourth District). The deputies actions angered the Jordanian people who expected the MPs to stand next to them in fighting terrorism and terrorists, the prosecution said.
Zarqawi, who was killed in a US strike in Iraq on June 8, claimed responsibility for the Nov. 9 terrorist attacks against three of the capitals hotels, killing 60 people and injuring around a hundred. The Jordanian people and the prosecution awaits justice from your tribunal to calm people down and hand the defendants the maximum punishment, the prosecution said. If convicted of the charges, the MPs, who do not have parliamentary immunity because the Lower House is currently in recess, could receive a maximum of three years in prison.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2006 00:00 ||
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Termed a "child killer" and "scoundrel" by Arab MKs during an appearance at an emergency Knesset session Monday, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Israel must not agree to an immediate cease-fire, but rather expand and strengthen its attacks on Hizbullah.
Of course, opposition members of parliament in the Arab countries frequently call government ministers phrases like 'child killer.' We have those articles here on Rantburg all the time.
Peretz's speech was interrupted dozens of times, and three Arab MKs - Ibrahim Sarsour and Taleb a-Sanaa (United Arab list) and Jamal Zahalka (Balad) - were eventually ejected from the session by Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik. Sarsour called Peretz a murderer and a child killer. Zahalka said he was a liar and a warmonger.
Strange, in an Arab country the opposition usually is thumped and jugged.
Itzik said she was giving the three the "gift" of throwing them out, since they had plainly sought to cause a stir with their own constituency. She threatened to eject Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List) as well, but calmed him down after reminding him that he is a deputy Knesset speaker and that it would be undignified for him to find himself thrown out.
Aside from the heckling by members of Arab parties, however, Peretz's speech was widely echoed by MKs across the political spectrum, including opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu, who added that Hizbullah posed a strategic threat, and that Israel therefore required a strategic victory.
In the wake of the attack on Kafr Kana, Peretz insisted that the IDF had not deliberately targeted civilians. "There was no, and there will be no, Israeli commander who will issue an order to hurt uninvolved civilians," said Peretz.
And those commanders would give a front tooth if they could get the human shields out of the way without harming them.
He said that Israel was fighting "for the home" and that Hizbullah, a terror group with a murderous ideology, was the proxy force of the extremist regime in Iran. "We didn't choose the military option," Peretz stressed, adding that Israel, by pulling back to the border lines, had demonstrated that it had no territorial ambitions in either Lebanon or Gaza.
But the terrorists "never rested,' he said, and Israel could not afford to "shut our eyes" to the threat.
Peretz praised soldiers who had come to hear the session, and their colleagues on the front, for their valor in the "fight for the state of Israel." A new generation was displaying "courage, sacrifice, camaraderie" and a willingness to do everything for Israel. "We are proud of you. You are doing an exceptional job," he said.
Netanyahu, backing the government's declared goals in the conflict, noted: "The journey of war is like any other journey. It starts easily but midway there's a difficult junction where we must decide whether we continue to climb the mountain or stop. I call on the government: Don't stop midway. Complete the job."
Benny is a man and loyal to his country. This is exactly the speech he needed to give.
Netanyahu began his speech by also thanking the IDF for its work, saying first he was doing so in the name "of all the MKs." But he was quickly forced to reword his statement to "in the name of most of the MKs," as Arab Knesset members interrupted his speech.
Netanyahu recounted that during World War II, Britain's Royal Air Force intended to bomb the Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen, but missed and hit a children's hospital nearby, killing 83 Danish children.
"This is a tragedy of war, but it happens," said Netanyahu. "Unlike the other side, which rejoices when our children are killed, we are truly sorry when it happens, and we really and truly try to reduce casualties on the other side."
Which side fights in front of a baby carriage, and which side hides behind one?
He added that, "The difference between us and the terrorists is that we hit [civilians] by mistake, and they do it with malice. This is the difference between a legitimate war and war crimes. This is the difference between us and them."
Don't expect the usual suspects to hear that, or even care.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/01/2006 00:00 ||
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And exactly how do they refer to the Sunni-Shiite killers in Iraq?
#2
I'll let more knowledgeable (not hard) people comment, but IIRC, about 20% of the israeli population is arab (don't know the muslim/christian/druze %, neither the part of bedouins, could look it up online I guess); during the last intifada round, the shifting of loyalty of israeli arabs towards their "brothers" has been quite evident, both in acts (coordinated demonstrations right at the very start of the preplanned "al aqsa intifada", terror) and politically, as demonstrated here.
IMHO, Israel should be very, very aware of that. Also, the "maternity war" is raging in Israel too, so don't think that Europe alone is threatened by the boumedienne "we'll conquer you with the wombs of our wimmen" strategy..
#3
Twenty percent of Israelis are Arabs. Post-Oslo, there has been a steady trickle of family unification citizenships given to Palestinians from the PA, who've brought their curious ideas with them. The womb competition is not a shoe-in for the Arabs, though. While the Europe-descended Jews (Ashkenazis) tend to have small families, those that fled/were expelled from the Muslim world post-1948 have birth rates approaching that of the Arabs. If I recall correctly, the Ashkenazis are now less than half of the Jewish population, taking the Labour party with it -- and the non-Ashkenazis do not have the same Western guilt hang-ups, but they do remember the pleasures of dhimmitude.
More than two-thirds of the Army National Guard's 34 brigades are not combat ready due largely to vast equipment shortfalls that will take as much as $21 billion to correct, the top National Guard general said Tuesday.
The comments by Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum came in the wake of disclosures by Army officials, analysts and members of Congress that two-thirds of the active Army's brigades are not rated ready for war.
The problem, they say, is driven by budget constraints that won't allow the military to complete the personnel training and equipment repairs and replacement that must be done when units return home after deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan.
"I am further behind or in an even more dire situation than the active Army, but we both have the same symptoms, I just have a higher fever," Blum said.
One Army official acknowledged Tuesday that while all of the active Army units serving in the war zone are "100 percent" ready, the situation is not the same for those at home. It is actually going to save a ton of money for all the old equipment to be left "over there", instead of warehoused, surplussed, sold off or disposed as scrap. And it will radically speed up NG force modernization.
#1
One Army official acknowledged Tuesday that while all of the active Army units serving in the war zone are "100 percent" ready, the situation is not the same for those at home.
No different in peacetime. for the 70s and 80s, Europe was always kept at 100% at the expense of stateside units, personnel, equipment, and training dollors outside the strategic reserve divisions like the 82nd. It enjoyed personnel authorizations above 100%. Given that there was always some part of the manpower pool in transit, in training, hospitalized, etc, that meant other units were well below authorized strength. Equipment priorities and funding followed a similar pattern. Further down on the food chain were the reserves and NG.
#3
More than two-thirds of the Army National Guard's 34 brigades are not combat ready due largely to vast equipment shortfalls that will take as much as $21 billion to correct, the top National Guard general said Tuesday.
and in other news, the pope is catholic. The NGB/DoD Has been looking at this as an opportunity to bring selected bde's up to modern standards since OIF I.
The problem, they say, is driven by budget constraints that won't allow the military to complete the personnel training and equipment repairs and replacement that must be done when units return home after deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan.
It will be done, it will just take longer and cost even more than they expect. This will be fun to watch.
Posted by: N guard ||
08/01/2006 18:25 Comments ||
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Across this most religious of Indonesia's provinces, brown uniformed policemen in black wagons enforce Shariah, or Islamic law. They haul unmarried couples into precincts and arrest people for drinking or gambling. Increasingly, many of the cases are pushed to the ultimate conclusion, public canings at mosques in front of pumped-up crowds.
In mid-July, a 27-year-old man sentenced to 40 lashes fainted on the seventh stroke of a rattan cane from a hooded man in the yard of a mosque here in the provincial capital.
The caning was televised nationally, with an announcer reporting that the man, who had been arrested for drinking at a beachside stall, would receive the remainder of his punishment once he had recovered.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john ||
08/01/2006 09:00 ||
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A battle brewing over a draft anti-smut law has laid bare deep divisions within Indonesia and, say critics, threatens its traditionally tolerant approach to Islam.
I'd guess the traditionally tolerant approach loses, hands down...
With parliament back in session from August 18, the world's biggest Muslim nation faces what could prove a defining moment. Pressured by growing demands from Muslim activists, lawmakers are expected to hammer out the legislation in the coming months. Just what kind of bill emerges - and how much liberal Muslims, secular nationalists, and non-Muslim minorities water it down beforehand - remains to be seen. Already, proposed changes would remove kissing in public from its catalogue of proscribed acts. Other revisions exempt art and cultural activities from censorship, and reduce the chance of vigilante enforcement by Muslim hardliners. Supporters say tough measures are necessary to protect the public from corrupting Western influence. Although barred by law, explicit material is available with relative ease in Indonesia, and television programmes regularly feature bared flesh and sexual innuendo.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2006 00:00 ||
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Aha! A hundred years from now it will be written that it was p0rn that brought down the extremists, much like Captain Kirk brought down V'ger with conflicting interests!
I suggest giving free internet connections to all societies extremists live amongst because it's what extremists seem to fear the most!
Iran's foreign minister blasted the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday for failing to stop the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, and he called the United States and Israel "partners in these brutal crimes" against Lebanese civilians. "The U.N. Security Council has proven its uselessness and ineffectiveness during this (Israeli) aggression," Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters after meeting with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, a strong Hezbollah ally.
He also accused the United States, without naming it, of complicity in bringing about the death and destruction caused by Israel's 20-day-old offensive in Lebanon. "We think that the protectors of the Zionist entity and those who support it are partners in these brutal crimes being committed against the innocent women and children" of Lebanon, Mottaki said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2006 12:51 ||
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Britain and Germany today watered down a strong European Union call for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Lebanon conflict as foreign ministers clashed in Brussels. Instead of calling for an immediate ceasefire a convoluted statement issued by the 25 member states called for "an immediate end to hostilities to be followed by a sustainable ceasefire".
The move by Britain and Germany backs the stance of the United States which believes a ceasefire call should only be made if it was "sustainable". It will be also interpreted as a snub to Jacques Chirac, the French president, who has been demanding an immediate ceasefire. Margaret Beckett, the foreign secretary, was joined by her German, Czech and Polish counterparts in resisting a challenge by the Finns and the French to unite behind a stronger statement which also warned of breaches of international law in the three-week old conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2006 12:49 ||
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Is it time yet to start tallying up who all is on the Allies side?
#2
What was interesting was the split: for the cease fire, France, Sweden, Greece, Spain; against, Britain, Gernamy Czech, Poland. Yeah, I knew which ones I wanted on my side before I saw how they voted.
#3
I don't trust Germany. Actually, I don't trust any of them but Germany is the most likely to switch sides on us again. Sadly, I think Britain is next most likely.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
08/01/2006 16:07 Comments ||
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The German press is almost 100% anti american all the time. To the point of just making stuff up anti american. Not a reliable ally.
Israel and the US will go this alone. With the current3rd way Defense Minister of Israel we may end up going it alone in the end.
#6
Merkel is in charge for now. Germany will be a better ally with her and the press will probably also improve with time. I wouldn't write them off completely like France and Belgium.
A senior cleric has called on Muslim states to provide weapons to Hezbollah to fight Israel, an Iranian news agency reported Tuesday.
...it is expected that Muslim states not spare any assistance to Hezbollah and the Lebanese people, especially providing weapons, medicine and food...
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the hard-line head of the powerful Guardian Council, was quoted by the semiofficial Iranian Students News Agency as saying that Islamic states should arm Hezbollah in fighting Israel in Lebanon. "Now, it is expected that Muslim states not spare any assistance to Hezbollah and the Lebanese people, especially providing weapons, medicine and food," Jannati told ISNA.
Israel and the United States accuse Iran of arming Hezbollah but Tehran has repeatedly said it only provides moral support. The Guardian Council is a constitutional watchdog arbitrating between parliament and the government. Jannati is not considered a government official.
EU foreign ministers have clashed at emergency talks over a draft statement calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah in Lebanon. The statement also warned of violations of humanitarian law in the three-week-old conflict. It went on to say a political solution was needed before an international peacekeeping force could be deployed.
Diplomats said France, Sweden, Spain and Greece backed the draft but it was rejected by Britain, Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland. That split is certainly not surprising. A British official said the text had been sprung on ministers without consultation and was completely unacceptable. Would the French do that?
Sky's Foreign Affairs Editor Tim Marshall said any call by the EU for the fighting to end now will fall on deaf ears. "On one hand you can argue the EU has a voice in the world... and it's taking the humanitarian line. On the other hand, you can say, 'How many divisions has the EU got? What difference does it make, this ground-breaking, historic agreement - the latest in a long line?'"
The row came as Israel pounded towns and villages after approving a military sweep four miles into Lebanon. Fierce resistance from Hizbollah reportedly left three Israeli soldiers dead in the village Aita al Shaab.
In other developments, Israeli aircraft have bombed eastern Lebanon near Syria to prevent "the transferring of weaponry" to Hizbollah, the army said.
Israel's Justice Minister Haim Ramon today claimed 300 Hizbollah fighters have been killed since the fighting began. The tourism minister has it at 400.
At least 605 people have died in Lebanon in the violence, although some estimates put the figure at well over 800.
At least 51 Israelis are known to have been killed.
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said there is no end to the hostilities in sight. That's the good news.
August 1, 2006: The current war in Lebanon involves keeping secrets to survive, and win. Take, for example, casualties. Hizbollah is a totalitarian organization, and does not have to release any casualty figures. In fact, Hizbollah has an interest in not letting the Israelis know how many Hizbollah operatives are being killed. That way, the Israelis won't know how badly they are hurting Hizbollah, nor how effective the Israeli tactics are. In addition to saying nothing, Hizbollah can also get away with lying. Since Hizbollah fighters don't wear uniforms, many of the Hizbollah dead can be reported as civilians. This makes sense in terms of propaganda, as Hizbollah wants to portray Israeli attacks as unwarranted attacks on innocent civilians.
When pressed, Israeli officials said that they believed they had killed about 200 Hizbollah fighters during the first two weeks of the fighting. But now Western journalists in Lebanon are reporting seeing dead civilians who were apparently Hizbollah members. The Israelis probably do have a better idea of Hizbollah losses than they are admitting, because Israel maintains a network of agents inside Lebanon. They know that the military wing of Hizbollah is not large, with only a few thousand trained fighters. Once that crew takes serious losses, Hizbollah will have to rely more on less effective part-timers. Israel really wants to know when that point is reached, for at that point new tactics can be applied, that will speed up the destruction of Hizbollah. So, for Hizbollah, secrecy is a matter of life and death.
Israel, being a democracy, with a free press, every military and civilian casualty has to be reported. So Hizbollah knows how their enemy is doing. But the Israelis are so much more powerful militarily than Hizbollah, that precise knowledge of Israeli losses is not all that important.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/01/2006 10:06 ||
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Hizbollah is a totalitarian organization, and like the UNdoes not have to release any casualty figures.
#2
That's not what's important. What's important is that we are burying them by the truckload. Massive death counts are the best way to get their attention. They are way too stoooopid to deal with any other way. Have you listened to any of these braying fools in any interview sessions ?
CAIRO - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on Monday the UN Security Council had revealed its impotence in its response to Israels conflict with Hezbollah, and again called for an immediate ceasefire.
In an address to the nation, Mubarak said the deadlock between Israel and the Palestinians was the core of the problem and so there was an urgent need to revive peace talks. Mubarak said: Egypt expresses its regret and annoyance at the failure to reach an immediate ceasefire... The Security Council has failed to deal rapidly and effectively with the Israeli aggression and to fulfil its responsibility for international peace and security.
This foot-dragging and impotence reflect the fundamental flaws in the joint defence system which the United Nations represents, the Egyptian president added.
Mubarak on Monday sent Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit to Saudi Arabia to discuss the crisis. Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia -- three of the Arab governments most friendly toward the United States -- face outrage and protest at home against Israels conduct, pushing them to try to take a tougher line with Washington.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/01/2006 00:00 ||
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Mubarak is missing a bet here. If he coordinates with Israel to send in Egyptian peacekeepers, Egypt would make out like a bandit.
First of all, it would be a huge boost to their national prestige. Second, it would get Iran, Syria and Hezbollah out of the Sunni's face and settle down much of the conflict in the area, including Egypt.
Third, the Christians, Jews, Sunni and Druze would be happy with them being there. After a short time, nobody would be shooting at them, so they could just chill out and be friends with the Lebanese.
Best of all, both the US and the EU would gladly pay big bucks to Egypt for the service. The Egyptian army would get a mild workout, and Egyptians would have bragging rights over the entire Moslem world.
UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations on Monday indefinitely postponed a meeting called by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to begin planning a new international peacekeeping force for Lebanon.
A UN official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the meeting, which had been scheduled for Monday afternoon, had been delayed until there is more political clarity on the path ahead in the Middle East conflict.
Meaning they can't find anyone to donate troops.
And all the hotels in Cyprus are full.
Organizers hoped to reschedule the meeting later in the week, but the timing remained uncertain.
Annan had announced the meeting of potential troop-contributing countries last Friday, saying the time had come for the international community to help the warring sides and civilians caught in the middle. Annan had said from the start the discussions would be preliminary because the Security Council has not yet set out a mandate for the international force, defining what the troops would be asked to do.
Major powers have said a force could not be deployed while fighting continued and without the consent of Israel, Lebanon and the Hezbollah organization. The force would aim to implement a peace plan that has yet to be outlined by the 15-nation council. Only after the council has approved a mandate for the new force will countries actually decide whether they to participate.
I hear the French volunteered.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/01/2006 00:00 ||
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France is, indeed, angling (hard) to "lead" the new UNIFIL farce, er force. This is an excellent opportunity to both stall the process so Olmert can do his thing and to wring something out of France, though I admit I don't know WTF they have that we want. I'm sure Bush, Rice, and Bolton can come up with something interesting. France seems quite desperate to make this play and bolster their "Arab Creds". It will be after the Israeli deeds are done, so I don't know that it will pose a big problem - as long as there is some participant in the force that isn't on the take and will actually report shit for a change.
#2
O'REILLY on FNC continues to believe and insist that FRANCE had a significant role in both protecting Saddam from UN resolutions as well as in hiding Saddam's WMD assets in order to ensure Amer humiliation once the USA decided to mil enter Iraq ala IRAQI FREEDOM. Meanwhile, LEBANON'S ONLY REALISTIC HOPE FOR DEMOCRACY AND SOVEREIGNTY IS EITHER UNDER THE IDF OR A US-LED UN COM CAPABLE OF KOREAN WAR 1-STYLE MIL ACTION AGAINST THE TERROR GROUPS. Anything less only means new conflicts later on. IRAN is proceeding wid its ambitions for regional, later global, radical empire and domination. The Frenchies have gotta know that FRANCE = LEBANESE/SUNNI/NON-IRANIAN SHIA MUSLIMS, ETC. > ANY DEFEAT OR DESTRUCTION OF THE USA = ISRAEL DOES NOT MEAN THEY WILL BE SPARED OR TREATED AS EQUALS-PARTNERS BY THE VICTORS. Iff Syria + Iran see no borders between their nation(s) and Lebanon, why should they see between them and Paris = Europe??? Radical Islam defeating andor destroying "the Crusaders" from Spain to the ME = also "from the Entire/Whole World". Within the narrow, subjective context of Radical Islam = Islamofascism, iff the Failed Left is engaged in a GLOBAL SECULAR ANTI-DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT/
CAMPAIGN, Radical Islam = Islamofascism = engaged in a GLOBAL GOD-BASED ANTI-DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT/CAMPAIGN. The antithesis of Islamo-Fascism is Islamo-Communism/Islamo-Stalinism - HyperGovt, Commie "Permanent War/Revolution" = "Permanent Jihad", Centralism, and despotic Totalitarian Ultra-Conservatism. Islamification/Islamization is the new Cold War-era Sovietization, Maosification, Militarization and Communization-Stalinization. IFF SYRIA + LEBANON, ETAL. EXPECT TO STAY SOVEREIGN, NATIONALIST, AND INDEPENDENT, espec vv EMPIRE-CENTRIC IRAN, THEY NEED TO WORK WITH ISRAEL + USA-UNO, NOT AGAINST THEM.
Posted by: john ||
08/01/2006 11:50 Comments ||
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#5
Actually, they're proposing to send a shipload of phone sanitizers, philosophy professors and toilet attendants first. The troops will follow later.
(RIA Novosti) - Iran's ambassador to the UN rejected Monday the UN Security Council's demand that it suspend uranium enrichment by August 31. "Iran's peaceful nuclear program poses no threat to global peace and security," Javad Zarif said, adding that the UN's resolution was legally groundless and of no practical use. The UN Security Council voted Monday in favor of a resolution to set August 31 as a deadline for Iran to suspend all uranium enrichment activities. If Iran fails to fulfill UN demands, economic and diplomatic sanctions may be imposed on the Islamic Republic.
Zarif said the Security Council's approach would yield no positive results and could only exacerbate the situation. "The people and government of the Islamic Republic are not seeking a confrontation and have always been ready for sincere and constructive talks on the basis of mutual respect and equality. But they have also been firm in the face of pressure, threats and injustice," he added.
Iran's nuclear program has been a source of major controversy since the beginning of the year, as many countries suspect the Islamic Republic of pursuing a covert weapons program under the pretext of civilian research, despite its claims to the contrary.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2006 00:00 ||
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well, I'm shocked.....
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/01/2006 0:22 Comments ||
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Damn, and they had ordered special stationary for the proposal.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/01/2006 0:39 Comments ||
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#3
"Kofi, it doesn't seem to be having an effect. What do you want to do now?"
"God forgive me, but hit them with the secret weapon. Please change condemn to strongly condemn. I hope that I shall be able to sleep tonight."
"Kofi, remember, the secret weapon doesn't work with terrorists."
"Stop pestering me. Just because I forgot to pull the monitors out of southern Lebanon doesn't mean you have to remind me about everything. Now what was I going to do before you interrupted my manicure?"
Iran's foreign minister on Monday called for an immediate cease-fire to the Israeli-Hizbullah fighting and criticized the UN Security Council's failure to stop the crisis. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki spoke after holding talks with his Lebanese counterpart in Beirut in the first visit by an Iranian official to war-torn Lebanon since fighting broke out between Israel and Hizbullah guerrillas nearly three weeks ago. Mottaki arrived over land from neighboring Syria, border officials said. It was not immediately known if he planned to meet Hizbullah's leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah as he traditionally has done on past visits to Lebanon.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2006 00:00 ||
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Israel's Ambassador to the UN reminded the Fox audience that both SYRIA + even IRAN DO NOT NOTICE ANY BORDER BOUNDARIES BETWEEN THEIR NATIONS AND ISRAEL. Simply verifies, however imperfect or subjective, that Lebanon is viewed as Syria + Iran as the same's sovereign territory > also same as saying Syrian andor Iranian Shia territory, since Shia Muslims govern both nations. Within this narrow context/scope, LEBANON = BERUIT > controlled from either DAMASCUS vs. TEHRAN - QUESTION IS WHETHER BERUIT CAN BE CONTROLLED FROM TWO CAPITAL CITIES, OR JUST ONE??? KEEP BUYING THAT POPCORN. IFF IRAN RECOGNIZES NO BORDERS BTWN IT AND LEBANON, IMPLIES PART OF JORDAN IS ALSO IRANIAN TERRITORY, BESIDES OF COURSE SYRIA.
Move along, boyz, obviously no Radical Iranian empire, or design for empire, here - Lebanese Muslims or Other are now Syrians or Iranians, with "Syrian" = "Syrian" but "Syrian" also meaning "Iranian", as "Jordanian" also means "Iranian".
For the first time since the recent conflict with Hizbullah began, the IDF buried 10 bodies of guerillas that were killed in clashes with the IDF in southern Lebanon. Members of the IDF Rabbinate oversaw the burial which took place in the Cemetery for Enemy Dead in northern Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2006 00:00 ||
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I saw an Israeli graveyard for fallen fighters on the opposite side on TV. The (Hebrew) sign was said to have warned all to treat the site and its residents with respect. You'd think SOMEONE would notice the difference between the 2 sides.
IRANIAN Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, whose country is a main backer of Hezbollah, met his French counterpart in Beirut today for talks on resolving the crisis in Lebanon. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said earlier today in Beirut that contacts with Tehran were needed to help restore stability to the Middle East.
France and Iran have called for an immediate ceasefire to halt the war between Hezbollah and Israel. The United States has refused to back calls for an immediate halt, instead calling for a sustainable end to the conflict which erupted on July 12 when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a raid into Israel. Mr Douste-Blazy had said Iran was a significant, respected player in the Middle East which is playing a stabilising role, putting him at odds with Washington which accuses Iran and Syria of destabilising the region.
Mr Douste-Blazy said Iran was a significant, respected player in the Middle East which is playing a stabilising role
Mr Mottaki met Mr Douste-Blazy at the Iranian embassy in Beirut. Journalists were invited to the Iranian Embassy to cover the meeting but Mr Douste-Blazy had not been expecting press and did not want to speak to reporters, Iranian embassy sources said. Iranian embassy officials escorted cameramen and photographers to see Mr Douste-Blazy sitting on a couch with Mr Mottaki. "The Islamic Republic of Iran underlines the necessity for an immediate halt to the attacks of the Zionist entity on Lebanon," Mr Mottaki told reporters after an earlier meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2006 00:00 ||
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How can you tell the Israelis are winning?
When the French, Iranians, and Syrians call for an immediate ceasefire.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/01/2006 0:38 Comments ||
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I hope the become very stable. Stone cold stable.
Iranian U.N. Ambassador Javad Zarif rejected as without legal basis on Monday a Security Council demand that it suspend its nuclear activities by the end of the month or face the threat of sanctions. "Iran's peaceful nuclear program poses no threat to international peace and security and therefore dealing with this issue in the Security Council is unwarranted and void of any legal basis or practical utility," Zarif told the council.
... dealing with this issue in the Security Council is unwarranted and void of any legal basis or practical utility...
In lengthy comments following the council's 14-1 vote on a resolution giving Tehran until August 31 to comply with its demands, Zarif said Iranians were determined to exercise their "inalienable right" to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. Iranians were not interested in developing nuclear weapons or any other weapon of mass destruction, he said, recalling a chemical attack staged by then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on the Iranian people in 1980. "As the only victims of the use of weapons of mass destruction in recent history, they reject the development and use of all these inhuman weapons on ideological as well as strategic grounds," Zarif said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2006 00:00 ||
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"Iran's peaceful nuclear program poses no threat to international peace and security and therefore dealing with this issue in the Security Council is unwarranted and void of any legal basis or practical utility."
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.
Somali MPs threw punches and wrestled on the floor after Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi survived a crucial confidence vote that could have led to the collapse of his weak government. Armed police entered parliament to separate four brawling members of parliament and escort Mr Gedi out during several minutes of chaos, witnesses said. 
LONDON -- The head of Britain's domestic spy agency refused to testify on anti-terror practices before a parliamentary human rights committee, outraging lawmakers demanding to know whether the country receives intelligence gleaned from suspects tortured overseas.
LONDON - Protesters demonstrated on Monday outside a British air base believed to have been used at the weekend by US flights transporting weapons to Israel. Around 30 campaigners gathered outside the US Air Force-operated RAF Mildenhall base in eastern England, where two US flights are thought to have stopped over to refuel after being diverted away from Glasgow Prestwick Airport.
General of the Army Yury Baluyevsky, Russia's chief of staff, has written an article entitled "U.S. NMD: What Next?" It was published by the Russian national defense weekly Voenno-Promyshlenny Kuryer 10 days after the G8 summit in St. Petersburg. Leaders as senior as the chief of staff, who is also deputy defense minister, seldom write articles for the Russian press. They prefer writing articles and giving interviews to the foreign media before official visits abroad, and seldom reach out to the people via the Russian media. When they do, it is usually for a very serious reason. 
Pyongyang (KCNA) -- The Reunification Solidarity, the South Headquarters of the National Alliance for the Country's Reunification, the south Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the south Korean Federation of University Student Councils and the south Korean Council of Youth Organizations reportedly called a news conference in front of the "government" building in Seoul on July 24 at which they condemned it for toeing the U.S. hostile policy towards the north. A press release read out at the conference accused the "government" of taking the lead in pressurizing the north, pursuant to the U.S. hostile policy towards it despite the fact that the situation on the Korean Peninsula is getting tenser as days go by and the existence of whole nation is threatened due to the U.S. financial sanctions and large-scale war exercises targeted against it. 
THE ABC has apologised to the Jewish community for presenting biased, anti-Israeli information to school children during an episode of Behind the News. The educational program described Hezbollah terrorists as "soldiers" and as "refugees" whose land had been "taken by Israel".
Turkish police yesterday detained some 130 people at a meeting organized by the countrys main Kurdish party on the grounds that the function was linked to armed Kurdish rebels, security sources said. Police said the meeting in the southeastern city of Sanliurfa was held in the name of the terrorist organization, the official term used by Turkish authorities to describe the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Key Democratic leaders in the House and Senate have united to call on President Bush to begin pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq by the end of the year, citing an overtaxed military, billions of dollars spent and ongoing sectarian violence. In a letter to Bush released Monday, the Democrats backed a plan for the "phased redeployment" of troops. "U.S. forces in Iraq should transition to a more limited mission focused on counterterrorism, training and logistical support of Iraqi security forces and force protection of U.S. personnel," the Democrats wrote.
A Democratic filibuster of John Bolton's nomination as United Nations ambassador is "unlikely," Senator Schumer said yesterday. Mr. Schumer supported an effort last year to block Mr. Bolton's nomination from gaining a full Senate vote, but he confirmed that he is considering changing his position.
Although Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee were highly critical of Mr. Bolton at a hearing last week, the minority leader, Senator Reid of Nevada, has not committed to mounting another filibuster attempt.
The top fundraiser for an Islamic charity walked out of a detention facility to cheers from a few dozen supporters, more than two years after the government claimed his group had ties to terrorism. No words can describe how Im feeling right now. Im ecstatic, 
TEHRAN - The nuclear disarmament of the Zionist regime would be the best way to establish lasting peace and security in the region, Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said here on Monday.
The prosecution on Monday asked the State Security Court (SSC) to convict the three Islamist deputies charged with fuelling national discord and inciting sectarianism. The three deputies betrayed the Jordanian people by their actions, the SSC prosecution said in its 16-page closing argument.
Termed a "child killer" and "scoundrel" by Arab MKs during an appearance at an emergency Knesset session Monday, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Israel must not agree to an immediate cease-fire, but rather expand and strengthen its attacks on Hizbullah.
Across this most religious of Indonesia's provinces, brown uniformed policemen in black wagons enforce Shariah, or Islamic law. They haul unmarried couples into precincts and arrest people for drinking or gambling. Increasingly, many of the cases are pushed to the ultimate conclusion, public canings at mosques in front of pumped-up crowds.
A battle brewing over a draft anti-smut law has laid bare deep divisions within Indonesia and, say critics, threatens its traditionally tolerant approach to Islam. 
CAIRO - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on Monday the UN Security Council had revealed its impotence in its response to Israels conflict with Hezbollah, and again called for an immediate ceasefire.
UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations on Monday indefinitely postponed a meeting called by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to begin planning a new international peacekeeping force for Lebanon.
(RIA Novosti) - Iran's ambassador to the UN rejected Monday the UN Security Council's demand that it suspend uranium enrichment by August 31. "Iran's peaceful nuclear program poses no threat to global peace and security," Javad Zarif said, adding that the UN's resolution was legally groundless and of no practical use. The UN Security Council voted Monday in favor of a resolution to set August 31 as a deadline for Iran to suspend all uranium enrichment activities. If Iran fails to fulfill UN demands, economic and diplomatic sanctions may be imposed on the Islamic Republic. 
For the first time since the recent conflict with Hizbullah began, the IDF buried 10 bodies of guerillas that were killed in clashes with the IDF in southern Lebanon. Members of the IDF Rabbinate oversaw the burial which took place in the Cemetery for Enemy Dead in northern Israel.
IRANIAN Foreign Minister 
