A British Muslim released by police after being arrested in anti-terror raids last week lashed out on Thursday at the draconian treatment, which he says makes the country a police state for Muslims. Must be time to set out for greener pastures, eh?
Abu Bakr, one of nine people arrested, also said he believed his arrest was aimed at diverting attention from the cash-for-honours investigation which was threatening to taint Prime Minister Tony Blairs final months in office. Me, too. I question the timing.
Its just so draconian that somebody can be picked up, not told why they are being arrested, then detained for seven days, Bakr, who was one of two of the nine men released without charge this week, told ITV television. Police, who detained the nine Britons of Pakistani origin under anti-terrorism laws, have not detailed allegations against them, but security sources said the raids were over an alleged Iraq-style plot to kidnap and behead a British Muslim soldier, and show the execution on the Internet. Well, poo. What's the fuss about that?
Bakr, who is working for a doctorate in Political Islam in Birmingham, first voiced his anger in an interview with the BBCs Newsnight programme on Wednesday evening. Its a police state for Muslims, Bakr, who did not show his face for fear of attracting attention to him and his family. Its not a police state for anybody else ... These terror laws are designed specifically for Muslims. We are feeling the brunt of it all.
On ITV on Thursday he linked his detention to a police inquiry into claims that political parties, including Blairs Labour, offered seats in Britains un-elected upper chamber, the House of Lords, in return for financial support.
Bakr was detained the day after it emerged that Lord Michael Levy, Labours chief fundraiser, had been arrested for a second time, and the day before officials said Blair was questioned, also for the second time. With Lord Levy being arrested, and Tony Blair being questioned, to take attention away from that, away from Blair, this was leaked to the press, that theres some big plot, he said. Seven men are still being questioned by police.
According to Bakr, police burst into his house at 4:00 am and hand-cuffed me ... I wasnt told why I was being arrested, or what the allegations against me were. Only when the solicitor (lawyer) came did they inform me that there was some crazy plot about someone trying to behead people of the British army or what not. I just thought, maybe theyre just rounding people up, and they want to question people with regard to other individuals.
He also criticised the authorities for thinking he could just get back to his life as usual, saying: I am scared for myself, and my family, because Ive been picked up, Ive been told to go back home.
This is going to affect me for the rest of my life. He added that his parents had aged 10 years in one week because of his arrest.
Lord Brian Mackenzie of Framwellgate, a Labour peer, ex-police chief superintendent and former president of the Police Superintendents Association of England and Wales, told BBC radio that claims of a police state for Muslims were absolute nonsense. He suggested that Bakr should sue police for wrongful arrest if he had a grievance.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2007 00:00 ||
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Yeah. Try suing the police in Pakistan, or Saudi Arabia, or Egypt.
#3
SPoD:"What is a a doctorate in Political Islam and why is it being offered as a degree in the UK?"
Fast track for bureaucrats in what passes for a UK State Dept, I guess....
#4
Meanwhile in other news , the other 5 are charged under the Terrorism Act .
Its not a police state for anybody else ... These terror laws are designed specifically for Muslims. We are feeling the brunt of it all.
We all wonder why , with you and your ilk seething and fuming at every opportunity then playing the victim game . Of course the laws are directed at Islam , because its a pile of shit religion that promotes hate and disagrees with everything this country was founded on. Just lock him up or let the far right deal with them in an IRA kinda way . Fear is what they respect , fear is what they will get . Cause and effect .
Bring back Traitors Gate and apply medieval law to these tards . That will either cause a mass migration out of our country or shut them up
#5
SPoD What is a a doctorate in Political Islam and why is it being offered as a degree in the UK?
Something like this, to create Uni gradustes with a knowledge of Islam / Sharia, and how to implement it, perhaps. UoB & others offering such courses should be watched, along with mosques, as would happen in a "police state"
#10
MacNails: Word. I have said it before and I will say it again. It is time Her Majesty demanded her ministers defend the realm or time to rule by Privy Council. Best soon, too. The heir has the air of 1930s treason about him.
#11
A British Muslim released by police after being arrested in anti-terror raids last week lashed out on Thursday at the draconian treatment, which he says makes the country a police state for Muslims.
And, yet, this 'tard (like the LLL Hollyweirdos here in the States) somehow will NOT leave? If it's such a police state, why don't you just flee back to Wazoo? "Do as I say, not as I do" i guess.
Posted by: BA ||
02/09/2007 11:13 Comments ||
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Hang him from Tower Bridge for all the world to see, just to let his "fellow Muslims" know that Britain will no longer bend over for muzzie crap. Won't happen, but I can dream...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/09/2007 11:53 Comments ||
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To Koranimals.
My advice is this, get out while you still can!
I might help fund your exit if you promise never to return.
#14
A police state that allows you to leave at will? Perhaps the Muslims in Britian should take advantage of that loophole before the coppers figure it out and seal the borders.
Has Britain become a police state for Muslims? No, nowhere near. Just ask anyone who has lived in a real police state. Ask any mother whose son was taken in the middle of the night and disappeared without a trace. Ask any political prisoner who has been interrogated and tortured just for questioning the status quo. Ask any ordinary citizen who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and found himself in jail for years on end without trial, without any recourse to justice. That is living in a police state, not what is happening to Muslims in Britain today.
The United States and North Korea signed a memorandum last month in which Pyongyang agreed to take the first steps toward denuclearization in return for energy aid, a source said Thursday.
The memorandum was signed during a meeting in Berlin between Christopher Hill, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan, according to the source close to North Korean officials.
The memorandum was signed during a meeting in Berlin between Christopher Hill, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan, according to the source close to North Korean officials involved in negotiations with the United States. Under the accord, Pyongyang agreed to move toward making the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear threats by taking such measures as halting operations at a nuclear facility in Yongbyon.
Hill told reporters in Beijing on Thursday that he did not sign any documents during the U.S.-North Korea talks in Berlin.
Hill told reporters in Beijing on Thursday that he did not sign any documents during the U.S.-North Korea talks in Berlin. However, the top U.S. envoy to the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear development has expressed an optimistic view that Pyongyang would start taking such initial steps within several weeks. The six-party talks, which resumed Thursday afternoon in Beijing, likely will be held based on the agreement, according to sources.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2007 00:00 ||
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And the Norks continue their policy of "make a promise, then break it". I can't blame them, they've had good results with it.
#2
"It doesn't matter what Mr. Hill thinks he didn't do, we've got his signature right here (forged by our best currency engravers, so you know it's genuine)."
#3
..So let me see if I have this right: The Norks are bragging about a nonexistent signature on a nonexistent agreement just so they can later repudiate it over what will turn out to be a nonexistent slight of some kind.
Man, these guys got problems.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/09/2007 9:36 Comments ||
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#3 ..So let me see if I have this right: The Norks are bragging about a nonexistent signature on a nonexistent agreement just so they can later repudiate it over what will turn out to be a nonexistent slight of some kind.
Dead on, it's all "Face".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/09/2007 12:05 Comments ||
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Here's a thought: When you are running from the police and decide to hide in an electrical sub-station don't stick your fingers in the glowing blue socket lest Allan smite thee.
#2
Hey! American LaFrance damn near invented firefighting equipment. Look at FireTrucks, very cool, but don't they sorta look weird? Especially the ones ladder guys drive (who are mostly gay). Now pumpers look significantly more manly like, able to knock down a fire and people at will. A good thing.
Democrat Nancy Pelosi received some rare help Thursday from the White House against a barrage of Republican criticism over how the new House speaker intends to get back home. For security reasons, Pelosi is entitled to fly to her San Francisco district on military planes.
The House sergeant-at-arms, who helps oversee security for the House, suggested that flying nonstop would be the safest way home for Pelosi, next after the vice president in the line of presidential succession. Republicans, led by aggressive junior lawmakers, seized on the most extreme possibility: Pelosi's flying on the military equivalent of a Boeing 757 with the latest in travel comforts. Too expensive, some critics said. Too polluting, others said. Too much ado about nothing, the White House weighed in. "I have never asked for any larger plane," Pelosi said. "I have said that I am happy to ride commercial if the plane they have doesn't go coast to coast."
To presidential spokesman Tony Snow, "This is a silly story and I think it's been unfair to the speaker."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2007 00:00 ||
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First rule of statecraft:
Keep your friends guessing, and your enemies happy.
#2
We have plenty of C-130E aircraft that can't haul heavy loads anymore. But I'm sure they could ferry the donks back and forth to Calexico non-stop. I propose we give here a Hercules and a smile, she can remodel the interior to her standards.
Posted by: Aiman joe ||
02/09/2007 1:54 Comments ||
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Just be sure to get lots of pretty pictures of Nancy and her entourage with their private 757.
Price to ferry Pelosi one round trip round trip on a US government Boeing 757: $300,000
Cost of the 757-200: $65,000,000 (2002)
Photos of Queen Nancy splashed across every newspaper, tabloid and TV news show: Priceless
Posted by: ed ||
02/09/2007 2:51 Comments ||
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#4
Give her the plane. Give her what ever she wants. This plane is just one noose of many she can't help but stick her head into as she expands the role of the Imperial Speaker.
#6
To presidential spokesman Tony Snow, "This is a silly story and I think it's been unfair to the speaker."
Should have said, 'If the people don't object to the extra cost of such an aircraft, then she should be able to fly home non-stop.'
#7
Unless I read the argument wrong the sticking point is that Pelosi wants a dedicated 757 at her disposal. The Air Force is offering an on-call aircraft that may have to refuel enroute. While I support her request for an on-call aircraft I don't think the Speaker warrants her own personal fleet. Sounds like she is getting a bit power hungry and I would add that the Donks (contrary to their belief) do not have a lot of friends in the DOD, so look for DOD to stall this as long as possible. The White House is playing it right, they support the request but leave it to the DOD to make decisions vis-a-vis aircraft usage.
#10
Did anyone catch Murtha threatening the Pentagon? Keeping in mind that Pelosi put jackassless Jacking in a chairmanship role allowing him to try and pull the military strings.
Then we get this bullshit story: "The fact that Speaker Pelosi lives in California compelled me to request an aircraft that is capable of making non-stop flights for security purposes, unless such an aircraft is unavailable," Livingood, who has been at his post for 11 years, said in a written statement. Complete crap since there are other planes out there that have the same range.
Wonder what Snow is thinking? Hot Air has been following this.
Somehow, I doubt it involves shooting them or feeding them to the sharks...
WASHINGTON - Key House Democrats said Thursday they are considering a plan to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by the end of 2008, with the exception of several dozen detainees in the war on terror who would be kept at the facility and tried there. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said he hopes to include the provision in legislation this spring that Democrats also intend to use to try to prevent further increases in troop strength in the war in Iraq. How'd I know his mug would show up in this story?
Without public notice, Murtha dispatched Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., to the detention center at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay on a one-day trip late last month to recommend ways for closing it. Both men said the prison has become counterproductive as the United States tries to win converts overseas in the war on terror. "Without closing it, this just plays into the propaganda of the enemy," Moran said in an interview. Yeah. Midnight basketball and gun buybacks. Let's try that...
The prison was opened on Jan 11, 2002, and none of the more than 700 prisoners who have entered the facility suspected of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban has ever been tried. Moran said there currently are 393 detainees at the prison, and added he had told Murtha about 80 of are likely to face trial, including 14 whom he described as high value targets. The Virginia lawmaker said 87 other detainees can probably be released without trial and should go either to their country of origin, or if that isn't possible, to Afghanistan, where they were captured. How about we move them in next door to Moran and Murtha?
Moran said he had recommended requiring the administration to review the cases of the remaining detainees promptly and decide which of them should be held for trial and which should be released. The facility at Guantanamo Bay has been the subject of extensive political and legal debate, and drawn protests by human rights activists since it was opened. The European Union has urged closing the facility. Oh, well, if the EU wants it we better get right on that...
Moran estimated that it could take five years for all the trials to take place. That gives us plenty of time for "David Hicks on edge of madness" stories...
He said the rest of the prison population should be out at least by the end of next year. "That is our intent. We feel this is one of the reasons we've lost so much credibility" in the war on terror, he said. Sure. Free 'em. That'll show we're serious...
Murtha is chairman of a House subcommittee with jurisdiction over spending on military matters. Moran is a member of the panel. They should be down there as cellmates...
#2
The prison was opened on Jan 11, 2002, and none of the more than 700 prisoners who have entered the facility suspected of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban has ever been tried. Moran said there currently are 393 detainees at the prison
I know the first sentence is untrue. The second sentence leaves unexplained how and why the significant drop in the number of detainees occurred. Idiots!
#3
Don't tell me you've forgotten the Democrat's mantra? "Don't bother me with the facts, my mind's made up"
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/09/2007 12:09 Comments ||
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I'm going to spend a couple of weeks reading the Constitution and the Federalist/AntiFederalist papers. I think the donks are trying to horn in on the duties and prerogatives of the President, and need to be shut up with a loud slap across their teeth. The donks are trying to FORCE a surrender in the war against islamists, which is not their duties. I think some treason trials need to be started. Of course, we'd also have to try a lot of nutjobs in the MSM as well, or no one would ever know exactly what the trials were all about.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/09/2007 12:23 Comments ||
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and should go either to their country of origin, or if that isn't possible, to Afghanistan, where they were captured.
Great plan Jimbo. Of course, as a US Congressman Im sure you realize that it violates established US federal law as well as international conventions on rendition but what the hey lets get Karzai on the blower and see if hes game for dropping off these savages on his doorstep.
Pakistani authorities are investigating claims by residents of a remote border village that NATO and Afghan forces crossed into Pakistan to search for suspected Taliban militants and killed a local tribesman, officials said on Thursday. Afghan troops entered the village of Qamar Din on Wednesday morning and began shooting, killing one villager, said Balochistan government spokesman Abdul Raziq Bugti, citing claims by residents. Villagers reported that the Afghan border security forces also wounded two Pakistani tribesmen and detained 11 villagers who were taken to Afghanistan, Bugti said.
The government has ordered authorities in the area to investigate the alleged incident in the village, about 210 kilometres northeast of Quetta, he said. Maulvi Mohammed Sharif, district nazim of Zhob where Qamar Din is located, said on Thursday that NATO forces also entered Qamar Din along with the Afghan government troops, citing reports by villagers and security officials. Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said he had read about the incident in newspapers but had no confirmation of it. Military and Foreign Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment. In Kabul, Lt Col Angela Billings, a spokeswoman for NATOs International Security Assistance Force, said it was aware of a number of incidents in the border area of Balochistan, Zhob and Qamar Din. The incidents are under investigation and there are no specific details available at this time, she said. Earlier, ISAF said none of its forces were involved. The Urdu-language newspaper Jang, citing villagers, said NATO and Afghan troops riding in three pickup trucks and three armoured personnel carriers entered Qamar Din on Wednesday morning and began firing heavy and small weapons at several homes, killing one villager.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2007 00:00 ||
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Just like they investigated the accusation that Winky is in the Quetta Hilton's penthouse suite.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
02/09/2007 5:51 Comments ||
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The recent surge in suicide attacks has put security agencies focus on funeral prayers, especially the ones offered in the absence of dead bodies ghaibana namaz-e-janaza in their efforts to identify the bombers that have carried out attacks and to determine which group they were attached to, sources told Daily Times. The sources said that funeral prayers in the absence of dead bodies were suspected of being offered for suicide bombers, and one such gathering in Mulazai village on the outskirts of Peshawar on Wednesday was under security agencies scrutiny.
With suicide bombers leaving little evidence behind, such gatherings are seen as one of the few ways for investigators to reach the perpetrators of the crime. We are investigating whether the funeral prayers in Mulazai village were offered for the bomber who blew himself up in Islamabad on January 26, said the sources.
Undercover agents from all security services were among hundreds present at Wednesdays funeral prayers for Muhammad Amin (29) a resident of Mulazai village who was associated with Al-Rashid Trust in the absence of his body. Yes, the prayers were offered for our brother Amin, Rahat Sher told Daily Times in an open field near his mud house. Rahat said Al-Rashid Trust had told their family that Amin embraced shahadat. No, the trust did not say whether Amin was killed in a suicide mission or a gunbattle.
I think he died in Kashmir, as he spent much of his time with Al-Rashid Trust while assisting earthquake relief activities in Kashmir and NWFP, he added.
However, residents of the area told Daily Times they had heard from Amins close relatives that he blew himself up in Afghanistan to target Americans.
You want to visit the home of Amin, who died in a suicide mission? said local residents when they were asked for the location of the house of the man for whom the prayers were offered.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2007 00:00 ||
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About damn time.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/09/2007 11:56 Comments ||
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How about targetting funerals and car swarms? That would put the Fear of God into the terrorists and sympathizers, which would drive funerals underground (no pun intended) and would further serve to demoralize our enemies. Plus the secondary explosions would be something for the kiddies to watch.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/09/2007 12:59 Comments ||
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Today's dispatch from Inter Services Public Relations...
For all the doubts about Pakistans commitment to fighting the Taliban, a recent wave of suicide attacks on its soldiers and cities belies suspicions that they might be in cahoots, analysts and diplomats say.
Hardly a week passes without President Pervez Musharraf having to fend off accusations, mostly from Kabul, that the Pakistani Army tolerates Taliban sanctuaries and its spies support the insurgents in Afghanistan.
I dont see that there would be any sense in supporting the Taliban when it is killing our troops and creating embarrassment with the international community, commented Talat Masood, a retired general-turned-analyst.
Last November, a suicide bomber killed 42 Pakistan Army recruits in revenge for an air strike on a militant madrassa in Bajaur tribal agency that killed about 80 men and boys. Over the past few weeks close to 30 people, many of them police and soldiers, have been killed in similar attacks believed by intelligence officials to have been ordered by a Pakistani Taliban commander, Baitullah Mehsud, after an air strike on one of his bases in South Waziristan on January 16.
Yet, for the past year the Afghan government has fuelled suspicions that Pakistan has not given up its old habit of using militants to further its interests in neighbouring countries. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has good reason to look for a scapegoat given his sagging popularity amid rising violence and his failure to deliver economic improvement despite billions of dollars poured into Afghanistan, analysts and diplomats say.
US President George W Bushs public support for Musharraf shows he doesnt doubt the Pakistani leaders sincerity, and the White House swiftly opposed moves by the House of Representatives last month to make military aid to Pakistan conditional on results.
On January 10, NATO forces intercepted and killed about 130 insurgents crossing the border, three weeks earlier a top Taliban commander was killed in an air strike. NATO thanks Pakistan for its role in both operations.
Nor has the CIA joined in criticism of its counterpart, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), since Musharraf rang changes at the spy agency, after switching support from the Taliban to the United States, after September 11 attacks.
All the arrests and killing, apprehensions, have been through the good services, good performance of ISI, and the CIA knows it, Musharraf told a news conference last week, defending his spies against preposterous accusations that they helped the Taliban.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2007 00:00 ||
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Why not arrest Hamid Gul then as he is openly helping the Taliban?????
Baitullah Mehsud, a local Taliban commander from South Waziristan, has rejected the governments allegations that he is involved in the recent spate of suicide attacks in the country.
Senator Saleh Shah of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal said that he and 21 other tribal elders met Mehsud at an undisclosed location on Wednesday and the militant commander had denied that he was behind the terrorism incidents. I had announced I would seek revenge for the Zamzola attack in anguish over the violation of the peace agreement by the government, but I have repeatedly denied my role in attacks in Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and Islamabad, Shah quoted Mehsud as telling the tribal elders.
Mehsud had made a peace agreement with the government on February 5, 2005, but swore to avenge a January 16 airstrike by the army on an alleged Al Qaeda camp in the Zamzola area of South Waziristan in which more than 30 alleged terrorists were killed. In an interview with BBC a day after the airstrike, Mehsud said that he would avenge the attack and six days later a military convoy was targeted in a suicide attack in North Waziristan, leaving four soldiers dead.
Senator Shah told Daily Times that the South Waziristan political agent had asked the tribal elders to meet Mehsud. A spokesman for NWFP Governor Ali Jan Orakzai declined to comment on the issue.
Shah said the peace committee which had brokered the Sararogha peace accord in February 2005 would now meet Orakzai to discuss the situation with him.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2007 00:00 ||
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Perv start by throwing the MMA out of Parliament!!!
Saudi Arabian culture and religious affairs minister, Dr Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah, met several leaders of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) on Thursday and stressed unity.
Attending a meeting with Markazee Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadis Senator Professor Sajid Mir, the Saudi minister said that Muslims should end sectarianism and unite against the enemies. He said that the clerics should abstain from disunity and help each other to stop the propaganda against Islam. Sajid Mir said that only by following the Quran and the Sunnah could society be changed. MMA president, Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Dr Abdul Aziz exchanged views on different topics.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2007 00:00 ||
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Saudi and MMA the people who we should be targeting as the main Sunni enemies to the West!!!!
#2
Agree. The Sauds fund hundreds of Muslim terrorist supporting Mosques in the USA. Sadly it's going to take a nuke on our own soil before we the people wake up and deal with this followers of Muhammad. Islam=terrorism, Democrats=muslim supporters. Spit.
IN civilian clothes, Lt. General David Petraeus, the newly appointed Commander of the U.S. forces in Iraq, looks more like an academic discussing an intellectual topic rather than a war leader preparing for battle.
However, in an informal "off-off-off-the-record" exchange, over a plate of cheese and grapes and bottles of mineral water in a London restaurant, the general, on his way to Baghdad, showed that he knows what he's after. And that, compared to the contradictions that have plagued U.S. policy in Iraq since before the liberation, is refreshing.
Petraeus begins his mission with three advantages over his predecessors.
The first is his reassuringly deep understanding of the Iraqis, their sensibilities and their complexities. Having picked up a smattering of Arabic over his long tenures in Iraq, Petraeus seems to have also developed a genuine sympathy for Iraqis.
Second: His predecessors - especially Gen. George W. Casey Jr., a successful war leader by normal standards - have achieved much in what matters in the long run: the creation of a new Iraqi army capable of defending the country against internal and external foes. It is in recognition of that fact that the new operation for restoring security to Baghdad will be under Iraqi command.
Finally, Petraeus arrives on the scene at a time when both the insurgency and the Shiite militias are facing major problems.
* Having failed to achieve their "Ramadan Objectives," which included the creation of an "Islamic Emirate of Iraq" somewhere in the ethnic fault-lines west of Baghdad, the insurgents are being sucked into turf wars. They're also losing some funding sources as moderate Arab states begin to disrupt networks that raised money for jihadists in Iraq.
* The Shiite mischief-makers, especially the loose coalition known as the Mahdi Army, are also splintering under military pressure from Iraqi and U.S. forces. Since December, hundreds of Mahdi fighters have fled to Iran - following their nominal leader Muqtada al-Sadr, who is in Qom. More than 1,000 others have been killed or captured.
The broader regional picture also looks promising. America's Arab allies have rallied to create a front to oppose Iran's strategy (as part of its proxy war against Washington) of fomenting chaos in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon. The new front has succeeded in frustrating attempts by Hezbollah and its Maronite allies to topple the Lebanese government. It has also taken initiatives to stop Tehran's domination of Hamas, thus preventing the mullahs from extending their sphere of influence to the Palestinian territories.
Nevertheless, Petraeus still faces a number of major problems - the most important one being uncertainty in Washington.
Go to the link to read Mr. Taheri's analysis of the defeatists in DC... although much of that has been pointed out on Tantburg before.
BAGHDAD, Feb. 8 -- Iraqi and U.S. forces should not launch a military offensive against the militias -- most of them Shiite -- that are a major source of turmoil in Iraq, but should instead rely on nonviolent steps to bring militiamen into the political fold, according to an Iraqi report that draws largely on the views of prominent Shiite politicians.
"In the short-term at least, there can be no military offensive against the militias. Military confrontation, in the current climate, will only strengthen their appeal and swell their ranks," the Baghdad Institute for Public Policy Research concludes.
The institute said the 18-page report, "Dismantling Iraq's Militias," was based on a round-table discussion by six Shiite politicians, two Kurds and a Sunni Arab. Government officials said Thursday it would be considered in setting policy, but some here saw it as reflecting the private thinking of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as more U.S. troops arrive to try to end the violence.
Maliki has publicly declared that the joint effort will target all lawbreakers equally, regardless of sectarian affiliation. But late last year, his advisers said the prime minister was urging the Americans to combat Sunni groups while Iraqi forces focused on Shiite militias.
"The tense situation between the Mahdi Army militia and the U.S. military means that it would be unwise for multinational forces to go into Shia strongholds at this stage," the report says. The Mahdi Army is led by anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a key Maliki supporter.
Many Iraqi officials say previous Baghdad security plans failed because Maliki did not take a tough stance against that militia.
"I don't want to see the prime minister again violating his commitment," said Tariq al-Hashemi, an Iraqi vice president who leads the most powerful Sunni Arab party. The report's goals would be a "complete deviation of what has been agreed upon from the beginning by the political entities," he said in an interview. "I don't support the theme that the militias could be accommodated or be resolved by the political process," he added.
The report reflects "the government's point of view," said Mahmoud Othman, a Sunni Kurd and a legislator who was a member of the round table. "This prime minister won't go against Sadr or the Mahdi Army. Those people are his supporters." Like other participants, Othman had not been given the finished report and commented based on a reporter's description.
Ahmed Shames, a member of Maliki's media office who was a co-author of the report, said in an interview that it will be widely read in the government, but "it does not mean the government will follow these recommendations."
Sadiq al-Rikabi, a political adviser to Maliki and one of the politicians involved in the discussions, said the report emerged from frank discussion and did not necessarily represent the prime minister's views. Rikabi reiterated that Maliki will use force against anyone regardless of sect if political solutions are not possible.
The only Sunni Arab in the round table, Mithal al-Alusi, said he was unaware of the report's publication and angered that his name was attached to a document that did not represent his views. "The Dawa party, they organized this meeting in the name of the Baghdad Institute," Alusi said, referring to Maliki's political party. "More than one [participant], not just me, said there is no place for a political solution for killers, militias and terrorists."
The report outlines a three-phase approach to solving Iraq's militia problem. The short-term goal, over a period of about two years, is to use government forces for "defensive military campaigns" to break the cycle of violence in Baghdad. This will deprive militias of their role of protecting embattled neighborhoods, the report says. The second phase would be provision of such services as clearing sewers and cleaning and paving streets. The final step would be integration of some militiamen into the security forces or civil service in a way that holds their political patrons accountable for any crimes they commit.
The US military said joint Iraqi and American operations had led to 16 "high-level" Mehdi Army militiamen being detained and one commander being killed.
The Americans said the number of Mehdi Army members in detention now stood at over 600, a figure higher than that given by Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki, only a week earlier. But this was said to be a result of 52 operations carried out over a six-week period and, pointedly, the statement giving details of these moves against the Mehdi Army also said there had been 42 raids targeting Sunni extremists.
The BBC's take on What it all means...
The Mecca agreement, reached after two days of intensive negotiations in the Saudi city of Mecca between the Palestinian factions, raises two sets of questions.
1.Will it end the weeks of fighting in Gaza between Hamas and Fatah fighters? Over/under: 2 weeks.
2.Will it persuade the United States, the Europeans and other international players to resume much-needed economic aid to the Palestinian Authority? Over/under: No.
Only if both things happen can the deal be regarded as a breakthrough. Hence the caution with which news of the Mecca accord has been greeted. The most immediate test is for the two factions to rein in their fighters while the politicians finalise the creation of a power-sharing government. Take the guns...and the cannolli. SCORECARD HEAH!
The new government, like the present one, will be headed by Ismail Haniya, who belongs to Hamas. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has given him five weeks to form a new cabinet. Hamas will get nine posts, Fatah six and other factions four. Some sensitive posts will go to independents. Youse got five weeks, Izzy. I suggest youse get movin...
Reports from Mecca suggest Salam Fayyad, a respected technocrat, will become finance minister - a job he has held before. I'm finance minister in a place with no economy! Yippee!!
An independent MP, Ziad Abu Amr, is expected to become foreign minister. I get to beg for money!
Trickiest of all is the interior ministry. Palestinian press reports indicate the job may go to Major Hamouda Jerwan, who is also an independent. I'm da Boss of all Bosses. Or at least I'm in charge of da guns...
Given the violence of recent weeks, and the depth of mistrust between the two sides, further wrangling over the details cannot be ruled out. Oooops. "Wrangling". That can't be good. Keep those weapons cleaned...
Equally, a fresh flare-up of violence might jeopardise the whole process. Nah. They'll just go to TrucefireXI. Mecca symbolism
The symbolism of meeting in Mecca, within sight of Islam's holiest place, does seem to have had some effect. See! The Allah thing! I knew it!
The promise of a billion dollars in Saudi aid was no doubt an additional incentive. See! The billion dollar thing! I knew it!
But, for the long-suffering Palestinians, the real prize is the resumption of international aid. And that is not assured. Izzy, Mahmoud...it's bad for business. Blood costs money.
Much of the wrangling in Mecca was over the word "respect". Rather than agree to "commit itself" to existing Israeli-Palestinian agreements, Hamas insisted it would merely "respect" them. What is this, a rap convention in Vegas?
The international community has demanded much more: the Islamist movement must recognise Israel, renounce violence and formally accept existing peace agreements. How about we give you...none of the three? And you give us lots of money.
The Mecca accord is embodied in a letter from Mr Abbas to Mr Haniya. It states: "I call upon you to respect international resolutions and the agreements signed by the Palestine Liberation Organisation." But what does that actually mean? Ummmmmmm...let's kill Jews instead of each other? That's just a guess...
So far, the world's response has been "let's wait and see". Nevertheless there is already speculation of a possible split between the Americans and the European Union. Some Europeans may argue the situation is so bad in the Middle East that it makes sense to lift, or ease, the embargo - and do business with the new government once it is up and running. Sure. Let's give them lots of money. They deserve it.
The Bush administration will be reluctant to take that course. There's another bet I wouldn't take...
#1
Actually, the gun sex has rather smoothly shifted right over to the Temple Mount ... and now the head cheeses have lots of bling in their diplomatic pouches...
#4
The million dollar question is would bombing key sites cause the Iranians to rebel against their Persian theocrats or would it unite them all together.
Hezbollah MP Mohammed Raad has warned that a cabinet session to be held by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government Thursday which is expected to ratify the tribunal of the murder of Hariri, Lebanon's former PM was a "thunderbolt."
"The ruling team persists with its schemes," Raad told reporters on Wednesday after a meeting between Hezbollah legislators and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
"This team's determination on holding so-called cabinet sessions is a thunderbolt that blasts the crisis and collapses salvation efforts trying to find a political solution to the crisis," Raad added.
An Opposition source also described as "serious escalation" Thursday's cabinet session.
The daily An Nahar quoted the source as saying the upcoming session was a "serious escalation which could drag the country into more crises."
Hezbollah also issued a statement attacking Siniora for sending what it said two letters to the United Nations on the issue of the international tribunal.
The statement said the ultimate motive behind the letters was to "torpedo Parliament's role and contribute to the serial agitation against the parliament speaker."
Last week, Siniora sent a signed copy of the agreement for creating the court to the United Nations. U.N. Undersecretary-General for Legal Affairs Nicolas Michel signed the agreement in New York on Tuesday and returned it to Lebanon for ratification.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I want to see some real action before unpacking any popcorn.
Iranian Ambassador to Syria Mohammad Hassan Akhtari said that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad will visit Iran in the near future. He made the remarks on the sidelines of a dinner banquet organized on the occasion of the 28th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, IRNA reported. The ambassador noted that the exact date of the Syrian presidents visit to Tehran has yet to be fixed.
Meanwhile, Syrian Information Minister Muhsin Bilal referred to Iran-Syria relations as `exemplary.
Speaking to Syrian and foreign media in a joint press conference with Akhtari on Tuesday, Bilal underlined that mutual ties should serve as a model for other countries. The Syrian official criticized the double standards of the international forums with regard to Irans nuclear issue. Though some big countries have declared that Irans nuclear activities are peaceful, international organizations have protested against it. This is while the 'Zionist' regimes nuclear weapons are ignored, he said.
The so-called Holocaust Foundation of Iran demanded from Austria, Germany and Poland that they submit documents related to the massacre of Jews during the Second World War, state news agency IRNA reported Tuesday. The head of the Foundation, Mohammad-Ali Ramin, told IRNA that the documents were needed for the "fact-finding commission" to clarify the real extent of the Holocaust and the number of Jewish victims. The fact-finding commission was formed during a Holocaust conference in Tehran last December, which had been attended by controversial historians challenging the extent of the mass killings of Jews by the German Nazi regime.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had branded the Holocaust as a "fairy tale" and demanded the relocation of Israel to either Europe or America.
The conference had prompted widespread international criticism, and Ramin is well-known for his anti-Semitic standpoints and sympathies for neo-Nazi groups. He has however no official position in Iran's political system.
Yewbetcha, no official position what-so-ever.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had branded the Holocaust as a "fairy tale" and demanded the relocation of Israel to either Europe or America. Ahmadinejad had not attended the Holocaust conference in Tehran but welcomed the formation of the fact-finding commission at a reception of the participants. Ahmadinejad had blamed the West for allegedly prohibiting any investigation into the Holocaust, while accepting insults against Muslim Prophet Mohammed in form a cartoons as part of freedom of expression.
Iranian propaganda cheerfully relayed by Deutsche Presse Agence
#7
I said it before - give them the proof. Invite a high level delegation from Iran to Germany and lay it all out for them. Let them look at the death camp movies and pictures like doc posted. Let them watch the movies of people being loaded onto boxcars so they have some idea how much death a modern industrial power can deal out. Emphasize to them that it could happen again and if they're not careful they could be on the wrong end of it. While we're at it we could give them a little info about the hazards of nuclear fallout, strontium-90 and stuff like that but make it simple enough so that even an ignorant ayatolla can understand that their country could be rendered uninhabitable for thousands of years. Make it a big media event with the Iranians front and center so the world can see the looks on their faces when confronted with the "proof".
#8
Doesn't matter how much proof you've got, they'll dismiss it all as fabricated, you cannot educate a closed mind.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/09/2007 18:23 Comments ||
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#9
And thus reveal themselves as unreasonable, Redneck Jim, establishing themselves fully in the "Hate-Jews" camp of nations. Let's help them hang themselves before the media. Get Merkel et al in front of the cameras with the evidence and then immediately after have them press Iran to stop its nuclear centrifuge work, as they advise, with the voice of an elder sibling admonishing a rash, reckless, younger one, Iran to avoid the lethal mistake of anti-Semitism. Have backup evidence showing how this ethnic hatred wasn't limited in its expression to Europe, but was an extension of anti-Semitism with roots deep in history, finding centuries of expression in Islam and Christianity, as well. Let them struggle to find a way of saying they don't hate Jews after that. Ahmedinejad has a big mouth and the world has media archives of it.
This move would undercut the loony left, which is always pining for that ever-vaunted "international opinion", and assists in the media battle against a nuclear Iran. Two birds with one stone.
#11
You forget, they admire Hitler, I've read here on Rantburg, that they think Hitler just didn't finish the job.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/09/2007 19:25 Comments ||
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#12
Maybe the doubting ayatollahs and other assorted muzzy dirt-bags should go in an auschwitz chamber and get a first hand demonstration - problem solved.
#13
Yes, Jim, they do, which is why their view should be repeated again and again in the media, and challenged regularly by presidents and prime ministers the world over as Jew hate. Let's get this anti-Semitism/anti-Zionism out in the open and take away the shell-game-switcheroo cover of support for "occupational resistance". Every country in the world should have to go on record about their conduct towards Jews/Israel.
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.
On ITV on Thursday he linked his detention to a police inquiry into claims that political parties, including Blairs Labour, offered seats in Britains un-elected upper chamber, the House of Lords, in return for financial support. 
The United States and North Korea signed a memorandum last month in which Pyongyang agreed to take the first steps toward denuclearization in return for energy aid, a source said Thursday. 
The recent surge in suicide attacks has put security agencies focus on funeral prayers, especially the ones offered in the absence of dead bodies ghaibana namaz-e-janaza in their efforts to identify the bombers that have carried out attacks and to determine which group they were attached to, sources told Daily Times. The sources said that funeral prayers in the absence of dead bodies were suspected of being offered for suicide bombers, and one such gathering in Mulazai village on the outskirts of Peshawar on Wednesday was under security agencies scrutiny. 
BAGHDAD, Feb. 8 -- Iraqi and U.S. forces should not launch a military offensive against the militias -- most of them Shiite -- that are a major source of turmoil in Iraq, but should instead rely on nonviolent steps to bring militiamen into the political fold, according to an Iraqi report that draws largely on the views of prominent Shiite politicians.
