The Taliban are a part of Afghan society and those among them who are not committed to endless violence must be brought into the political mainstream, President Gen Pervez Musharraf said in an address to the concluding session of the Pak-Afghan Peace Jirga on Sunday, APP reports. "We must understand the environment. Taliban are a part of Afghan society. Most of them may be ignorant and misguided, but all of them are not diehard militants and fanatics who even defy the most fundamental values of our culture and our faith Islam," Gen Musharraf said.
Some of them are just opium growers, or opium refiners, or drug peddlers, or drug financiers. Some of them just run guns. Some of them just thump women and measure the length of mens' beards. That doesn't make them diehards at all, does it.
He said that military action was necessary against Al Qaeda militants and Taliban diehards who refused to reconcile, but a more comprehensive political and development approach was needed to defeat extremism and 'Talibanisation'. "Talibanisation and extremism ... represent a state of mind and require a more comprehensive long-term strategy where military action must be combined with a political approach and socio-economic development," he said.
As in, kill the diehards, and the drug dealers, and the women-thumpers, and ...
More importantly, he said, the population that appears to be sympathetic to the Taliban is not militant. "Our approach must be focussed on isolating those diehard militants who reject reconciliation and peace. Here, it is a question of winning hearts and minds," he said.
He said the success of the Afghan jirga delegates in achieving peace in their country would "depend on political engagement and understanding in reaching out to the people".
Gotta understand the women-thumpers, won't have no peace til you do ...
Iqbal Khattak adds: Shortly before Gen Musharraf's speech, jirga delegates were handed copies of a joint declaration in which both Afghanistan and Pakistan vowed to pursue "an extended, tireless and persistent campaign against terrorism" and not to allow terrorists sanctuaries or training centres on their soil. Calling the declaration a "stepping stone" towards peace, Gen Musharraf told the jirga: "Along with Afghanistan, Pakistan has also witnessed the rise of militancy and violence attacking our society. We cannot remain mired in the past."
That's sort of where the ISI wanted both the Afghans and the Paks, isn't it?
He conceded that there was support from the Pakistani tribal areas for the insurgency in Afghanistan and extremism. Pakistan understood it had a "solemn responsibility" to fight against such influences, he said.
Not a word about the ISI, however.
The declaration said the jirga resolved to constitute a smaller jirga of 25 members from each side to "monitor and oversee the implementation of the decisions/recommendations" made at the joint Pak-Afghan jirga. Delegates also approved of dialogue and reconciliation with "opposition", an indirect reference to the Taliban and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
Just toss Hek a grenade, no way he can toss it back at ya ...
Talking to reporters on his return to Islamabad, Gen Musharraf termed the joint declaration and formation of the 50-member jirga "a good beginning" for a peace process. Gen Musharraf and Mr Karzai discussed cooperation against terrorism and the outcome of the jirga in one-on-one meetings before and after the conclusion of the jirga.
Over 600 delegates attended the Pak-Afghan grand jirga from both countries. The participants discussed means to strengthen bilateral relations. They also considered working out an effective mechanism to arrest the increase in poppy cultivation, processing and trafficking and underlying connection between terrorism and drug trafficking in the region. The initiative to hold a joint peace jirga was undertaken after a suggestion in Washington when President Musharraf and President Karzai resolved to settle contentious issues between the two countries by arranging a jirga of elders from both sides.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/13/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
The declaration said the jirga resolved to constitute a smaller jirga of 25 members from each side to "monitor and oversee the implementation of the decisions/recommendations" made at the joint Pak-Afghan jirga.
So, I take it, these 50 guys are the "insiders" who'll handle all the money, guns and drugs, eh?
Posted by: BA ||
08/13/2007 9:23 Comments ||
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#3
Not all deposed presidents make it to exile, either...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/13/2007 14:35 Comments ||
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#4
"Musharraf says not all Taliban terrorists"
Uhemmm, does anybody see anywhere in this or any other statment where Perv actually calls the Taliban "terrorists"? Sure there are pleanty of extremists, diehards, militants, and fanatics. You know...just a few bad apples. But don't piss off the good Taliban by streotyping them all as terrorists. Oh wait a sec...that's right, the US State Dept. doesn't designate the Taliban as terrorists either. By the way...how's that Repatriation thingy goin anyway?
All sides in the Somali capital's ferocious fighting have committed serious abuses, with indiscriminate attacks on civilian neighborhoods and hospitals, a leading human rights group said Monday. "None of the parties has takenas international law requiresall feasible precautions to spare the civilian population from the effects of attacks," New York-based Human Rights Watch said in its 113-page report.
"There is strong evidence that the indiscriminate bombardment of populated neighborhoods by Ethiopian forces was intentional," the report added. "Commanders who knowingly or recklessly order indiscriminate attacks are responsible for war crimes." Ethiopian denied the allegations.
Somali officials have also denied being behind abuses, blaming "terrorist" insurgents and saying they must be eliminated to pacify Mogadishu.
Violations by the insurgents include indiscriminate firing of mortar rounds into civilian areas; deployment of forces in densely populated neighborhoods; targeted killings of civilian officials of the transitional Somali government; and summary executions and mutilation of the bodies of captured combatants, the report said. "The insurgency placed civilians at grave risk by deploying among them," said Kenneth Roth, executive director for Human Rights Watch.
Somali government forces failed to provide effective warnings to civilians in combat zones, looted property, impeded relief efforts for displaced people and mistreated dozens of people detained in mass arrests, the report said.
Sexual abuse of local kufrs girls by Pious Moderate Muslims; where did we see that that already? Oh, yeah, in France, Holland, Australia, Sweden, Germany,...
A hidden world in which Asian men groom young white girls for sex has been exposed with the jailing yesterday of two men for child-abuse offences. Zulfqar Hussain, 46, and Qaiser Naveed, 32, from east Lancashire, were each jailed for five years and eight months after exploiting two girls aged under 16 by plying them with alcohol and drugs before having sex with them.
Both men pleaded guilty at Preston Crown Court to abduction, sexual activity with a child and the supply of a controlled drug.
Despite being told explicitly by police and social services that both girls were under-age and should be returned to care, the men picked up one girl from a childrens home in Blackburn and then drove on to collect her friend who was living in temporary foster care in North Wales.
Naveed, from Burnley, gave one girl the first of five Ecstasy tablets at a motorway service station before having sex with her on the back seat of the car while the group drove back to Lancashire. The court was told that the two men later took the girls to an address in Blackburn where Hussain, from Blackburn, had sex with the second girl and gave her a total of ten Ecstasy tablets.
Yesterday Judge Andrew Gilbart, QC, jailed the two Asian men under new sex laws designed to protect youngsters from being groomed for sexual activity. Judge Gilbart said: This is a truly shocking offence. You knew them. They were exploited for sex by the two of you. No other description is possible. They were under-age girls who you knew it was your responsibility to protect and not exploit.
The trial came amid growing concern at the attitudes of some Asian men towards white girls which campaigners for women claim few people wish to address. Parents have complained that in parts of the country with large Asian communities white girls as young as 12 are being targeted for sex by older Asian men yet the authorities are unwilling to act because of fears of being labelled racist.
Ann Cryer, a Labour member of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, has been at the forefront of attempting to tackle the problem after receiving complaints from mothers in her constituency about young Asian men targeting their under-age daughters. Although campaigners claim that hundreds of young girls are already being passed around men within the Asian community for sex, she said that attempts to raise the problem with community leaders had met with little success, with most of them being in a state of denial about it.
After the case, the mother of one of the girls, who cannot be named for legal reasons, welcomed the jail terms. This will hopefully act as a warning to others, the woman said. She had had to leave the court as details of the mens sexual relations with the teenagers were read out. After the trial, Ms Cryer said that young Asian men were caught between two cultures having been brought up in a Western society in families while retaining the cultural values of the Asian sub-continent.
She said: The family and cultural norms of their community means they are expected to marry a first cousin or other relative back in a village in Mirapur or wherever the family comes from. Therefore, until that marriage is arranged they look out for sex. Yet those two particular scumbags are 46 & 32; odds are they are already married, to a Pious, Modest girl from the old country, which was able to get residence in the Uk thanks to the marriage, and whose family will then be allowed to immigrate since she is an UK national.
At the point in their lives when they are ready for this sort of activity, Asians cannot go to Asian girls because it would be a terrible breach of the Honour of the community and their family to have sex with an Asian girl before marriage. She said that the reason Asian men targeted very young white girls was because older white girls knew that a relationship with an Asian youth was unlikely to last as the community would seek an arranged marriage with someone from the Asian sub- continent. Police and groups campaigning to protect women insisted that the grooming of youngsters is not segregated along race lines, though there is concern at the attitudes of some young Asian men towards white girls.
Parents claim that criminal networks are able to prey on young girls because the authorities are reluctant to tackle the issue for fear of upsetting race relations in areas of the North West with large ethnic minority communities.
However, Ms Cryer added: I think there is a problem with the view Asian men generally have about white women. Their view about white women is generally fairly low. They do not seem to understand that there are white girls as moral and as good as Asian girls. You know, a few decades ago, say right after WWII, the idea that a large and growing body of "asians" would live in the UK and that for all purposes they would be higher in the food chain than the british would have been laughed off as unthinkable. Boy, how times change.
Posted by: anonymous5089 ||
08/13/2007 03:34 ||
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#1
Don't they mean Middle Eastern?
Posted by: Boss Craising2882 ||
08/13/2007 7:10 Comments ||
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#2
5 years and 8 months? After time off for "good behavior" etc., maybe 3 years at worst. Disgusting. The racists in this case are the Asians, what will it take for the white community to get over it's political correctness and call a spade a spade?
#4
Parents have complained that in parts of the country with large Asian communities white girls as young as 12 are being targeted for sex by older Asian men yet the authorities are unwilling to act because of fears of being labelled racist.
Well then, mom and dad, it might be time to pick up a baseball bat and cave in some "Asian" guy's skull...
#5
Well then, mom and dad, it might be time to pick up a baseball bat and cave in some "Asian" guy's skull...
But how do you do that when the Youths own the street? You've got to remember that there is an ethnic solidarity that has been educated out of white populations, large extended families with lots of cousins, brothers (while european families are smaller, with no "big brothers" and "cousins" to defend the girls, and are often a minority in thez area), more time to devout to that kind of stuff (hard to wage a vigilante war when you're struggling to keep up with your 9-7 job, and when your opponents are on the dole and have all the free time in the world), a different tradition (european population tend to follow the rule of civilized societies, whereas immigrants from the third world see no problem in using street violence)...
Basically the social units of what you'd want to be "warring factions" are simply not the same. Not that I don't agree with you, but it won't happen.
Britain should begin talking directly with three of the Middle East's most prominent radical Islamic groups - Hamas, Hizbullah and the Muslim Brotherhood - a committee of lawmakers said in a report released Monday.
British diplomats should speak with "moderate elements" from such groups and continue engaging Iran and Syria because their influence can no longer be discounted, Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee said. "The Muslim Brotherhood is strong in Egypt, and Hamas and Hizbullah cannot be ignored," the report said.
The report criticized Britain's role in the international boycott of Hamas, saying it had contributed to the collapse of the unity government in the Palestinian territories amid the violence and political breakdown that engulfed the West Bank and Gaza in June.
Britain's priority should now be to draw Hamas back into a national unity government with the more moderate Fatah movement and persuade it to renounce violence, the committee said.
The lawmakers urged former Prime Minister Tony Blair, the new envoy for the Quartet, an international group of Middle East mediators, to negotiate directly with the insurgent Islamic organization.
A similar approach was recommended for dealing with Lebanon's Hizbullah and the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's outlawed opposition party. Lawmakers described Hizbullah's role in Lebanon as malign and said the scope of the Brotherhood's Islamist agenda was uncertain, but the power and influence of the two made dealing with them unavoidable.
The report said dialogue with Syria and Iran must feature in regional negotiations. It said Damascus - long accused of destabilizing Lebanon - "may slowly be changing for the better."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/13/2007 00:00 ||
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The report criticized Britain's role in the international boycott of Hamas, saying it had contributed to the collapse of the unity government in the Palestinian territories amid the violence and political breakdown that engulfed the West Bank and Gaza in June.
Yeah, it has nuttin' to do with that whole principle of "you deserve the government you elect," does it? How stuck on stupid are these "lawmakers"?
Posted by: BA ||
08/13/2007 9:28 Comments ||
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#3
This doesn't understand the Dutch way. The society is far less liberal than libertarian, and tends to some extent to have very reasonable ways of doing business.
For example, they think that if you want to do drugs, it is not really the business of the government to force you not to. *However*, if they catch you selling bad or tainted drugs, that is, not quality product, they will not only hunt you down like a dog, but throw the book at you.
They also have a serious down on anti-social violence, and have no sense of humor about making trouble. They are pretty slow to anger, but you do not want to be on the bad side of a pissed off Dutchman when his fuse is lit. That old Viking blood is in there somewhere.
(AKI) - From his hideout in northern Iraq, a top official of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has warned Turkey it will come off second best if it launches a cross-border offensive against his group. Abd al-Rahman Jadarji, a member of the PKK's 'diplomatic commission' in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI) also said he hoped Iraq's prime minister would renege a pledge made to Ankara to curb the PKK's presence in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region. "We are based in our motherland. Kurdistan is one nation which has been fragmented by its enemies. The current borders are artificial and we don't recognise them," said Jadarji whose group has for more than two decades battled Ankara to win secession for southeastern Turkey's ethnic Kurdish areas.
Jadarji was speaking from a PKK base near Mount Qandil in Iraqi Kurdistan from where the group has launched cross-border attacks against Turkish targets. Jadarji's remarks came in the wake of Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki's visit to Ankara on Wednesday when for the first time he described the PKK as a 'terrorist' group - a definition long used by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. "The Iraqi government is being put under Turkish pressure, as have several other countries in the region. However, we hope that Prime Minister al-Maliki will join Iraqi president Jalal Talabani (an ethnic Kurd) and the president of the Kurdistan region Massoud Balzani who are against military solutions for political issues. We renew our call to the al-Maliki government not to capitulate to Turkey's unjust position", Jadarji told AKI. "We don't want to harm the interests of our people in Iraqi Kurdistan nor those of Iraq with Turkey, even if we believe that the solution to Kurdish issue in Turkey cannot be found in [Iraqi Kurdistan's capital] Erbil, or in Baghdad, but in Diyarbakr," he said referring to the largest mainly Kurdish city in southeastern Turkey.
Jadarji was also commented on the recent parliamentary elections in Turkey which saw prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) score a comfortable victory, and also the election of several Kurdish candidates. In contrast to his secularist predecessors, Erdogan has made some overtures to Turkey's Kurds, acknowledging the existence of a "Kurdish question".
It is an opening Jadarji acknowledges, but the PKK official also said the Turkish prime minister had tarnished his reputation by making "racist an extremely nationalist" remarks following last month's elections. Erdogan renewed his threat of military intervention, including cross-border operations, against the PKK , which Ankara accuses of killing some 50 Turkish soldiers in attacks this year.
Jadarji welcomed the election of the Kurdish candidates to the Turkish parliament, describing it as a "great national achievement".
"They (the Kurdish MPs) are democrats who have entered the Turkish parliament thanks to efforts and the struggle of our party, to whom they have assured their commitment to resolving the Kurdish question".
The PKK also supported the role of Kurdish civil society groups in Turkey which Jardarji said were doing much to promote Kurdish rights. "From the beginning the PKK was a political party and we only took up arms when we were forced to do so to defend our people. If a political solution is reached then we will no longer need the arms ", Jadarji concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/13/2007 00:00 ||
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Mahmud Ali Durrani, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, told CNN on Sunday that while the intelligence services of the two countries are working together to hunt out Al Qaeda in the border areas, there do exist differences which he said need to be reconciled.
Asked about the state of emergency in Pakistan that appeared imminent last week, Durrani replied that a state of emergency was not what people thought it was. Provided for in the Constitution, President Musharraf did at one point consider imposing it to deal with terrorist incidents but decided not to. An emergency would not have meant that the parliament was going away or rights were to be suspended. The government did consider it for a limited period, fundamentally to deal with a "spate of suicide bombings". It was going to be a "counter-terrorism strategy". But then the president decided not to impose it after having looked at all the pros and cons. He denied that the president was thinking of a state of emergency to solidify his hold on power, arguing that the only purpose would have been to deal with terrorism and suicide bombings. "It was not for power grabbing. He is there. He is the president. He has the parliament, he has the prime minister. So what is the problem? Why should be grab power which he already has?" he asked.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/13/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
This year's winner of the coveted Barney Fife "Not Much Gets By Him" award.
The NWFP government has started efforts to hold talks with the Taliban in Darra Adamkhel to take control of the area, sources told Daily Times.
In the wake of the Taliban action against alleged criminals during their "drive against antisocial elements," the NWFP government has decided to resolve all issues through a jirga. For the purpose, a new committee will be formed with the Taliban's consent.
Leaders from the Darra Adamkhel Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, including Sheikhul Hadith Maulana Sher Bhadar, Maulana Saeedullah and Jan Mohammad Sadiq, and from the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan have also been trying to convince the Taliban to end their siege of Darra Adamkhel.
The Taliban earlier refused to hold talks with any government official or parliamentarian, including Senator from Darra Abdur Raziq and MNA Dr Nasim. They did not even allow the Khasadar force, militia, DCO and parliamentarians to enter their controlled areas.
Raziq said the Taliban belonged to five major tribes - Zargunkhel, Akhurwal, Bost-e-Khel, Torchapar and Sherki - and had formed a "reformative organisation against antisocial elements and un-Islamic activities".
Locals said the Taliban wanted "to eliminate social evils from society after the local administration and jirga system have failed on this front". They said that after completing their mission of killing several alleged criminals, the Taliban were now forcing the Khasadars to remain in checkposts, and were themselves marching at Darra Bazaar with rocket launchers and Kalashinikov rifles.
After the emergence of a deadlock between the Taliban and local administration, NWFP Additional Chief Secretary Javed Iqbal on Saturday convened a meeting and decided that all issues should be resolved through a jirga. The NWFP government decided so after the Taliban doubted "the role of Maliks, peace committee members and the local administration in the elimination of un-Islamic and anti-social activities". Iqbal said the jirga's job would be to devise a strategy to deal with local criminals, either by arresting them or by asking them to leave the Frontier Region of Kohat.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/13/2007 00:00 ||
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Pakistan has launched a fresh probe into the 7/7 bombings after a request from the British High Commission (BHC) for complete record of phone calls made from Samundri teshil of Faisalabad district to London, official sources told Daily Times on Sunday.
Interior ministry sources said that BHC in Islamabad had recently informed Pakistan about suspected phone calls made from Samundri to London and vice versa prior to the bombings.
National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) Director General (DG) and interior ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said that the Government of Pakistan did receive such requests from time to time. "Though I do not have specific information about a fresh request from the United Kingdom in this regard, if so, it is a routine matter."
When asked about existence of an extradition treaty with the UK, Cheema said though there was no specific agreement in place between the two governments, they shared secret information under a Commonwealth obligation.
The sources said during his recent visit to Pakistan, British Foreign Minister David Miliband had expressed satisfaction over investigations into the July 7/7 bombing. They said Pakistan and the UK had entered into an extradition treaty in 1960 but it was not operational.
The sources said that the interior ministry's special cell in Faisalabad district was checking the record of all international calls made to London or somewhere else.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/13/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Over here, phone records can be pulled in seconds. Then police check to see if the terror contact has been accessing jihadi websites, or has been a 3rd party on wiretaps. If he is a member of CAIR or the ISNA, then its time for an investigative detention.
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Secretary General Fazlur Rehman said on Sunday that the MMA will thwart any attempt by President General Pervez Musharraf to impose martial law in the country and denied having any deal with the president.
Addressing a press conference here, Maulana Fazl said the government has decided to impose martial law if General Musharraf is not re-elected in uniform, adding the MMA would not bow to General Musharraf's move and would start a strong movement against him.
The opposition leader in the National Assembly denied providing "safe passage" to President Musharraf. According to NNI, he said General Musharraf has no constitutional or moral right to rule the country and demanded his immediate resignation. "I make it clear we stand by our commitment, but we do not want confrontation," Fazl said.
He said Musharraf wanted to declare an emergency in the country to obtain an alternate supporter, but is now unable to do so because of Condoleezza Rice. He said Rice would play an important role in bringing Pakistan People's Party Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto to power. He said if the PPP made a deal with General Musharraf, then it was no better than the ruling Pakistan Muslim League. He said "stiff resistance" would be offered if Musharraf were re-elected from the present assemblies. "We will abide by the decision of the opposition at the platform of the All-Parties Democratic Movement (APDM), including quitting the governments in NWFP and Balochistan and resignation from the assemblies," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/13/2007 00:00 ||
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Interesting article. It's not as simple as it sounds, but getting some prosperity back into the country would help convince some that feudin' 'n fightin' is a losing game.
BAGHDAD - Years of economic policy mistakes after the fall of Saddam Hussein left unemployed young Iraqis easy targets for recruitment by Al Qaeda and other insurgents, a US Defense Department official said on Sunday. Paul Brinkley, deputy under-secretary of defense for business transformation in Iraq, said Iraqs shattered industrial base had to be revitalised to bring down unemployment levels of about 60 percent and help reconciliation.
He said political, social and economic stability would be much easier if factories, many left idle since the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam, could win even a small fraction of the trade the United States conducts every year with economies like China, India, Indonesia and Thailand. If we could just get some of that factored into Iraq wed uplift the lives of every Iraqi and Al Qaeda wouldnt have any people to recruit, Brinkley told Reuters in an interview.
Brinkley said early economic planners had made the understandable mistake of assuming that a free market would rapidly emerge to replace what he described as Saddams kleptocracy, and create full employment. This mistaken assumption led to a series of decisions which sowed the seeds of economic malaise and fuelled insurgent sympathies after industrial production collapsed and imports flooded in to replace locally made goods.
Brinkley said unemployment and under-employment of the proportions in Iraq would create unrest in any country. In a recent Military Review article he said Iraqs unrelenting violence is in no small part a result of economic distress.
Increased industrial output creating more jobs would help Iraq achieve the reconciliation between the warring Shia majority and the Sunni Arab minority dominant under Saddam that politicians have so far been unable to bring about. The job of political reconciliation is infinitely simplified when you have people trading with each other, said Brinkley, who heads a task force, formed in late 2006, which works closely with the U.S military in Iraq.
Current policy needed to reflect pre-2003 conditions, when more than a decade of U.N. sanctions on Iraqi products had the indirect effect of leaving Iraqs Shias, Sunni Arabs and Kurds with no choice but to trade among themselves.
Brinkleys task force is now assessing factories across Iraqs industrial base, from textiles to petrochemical industries, engineering and agriculture, to find suitable candidates for micro-financing grants. These factories used to sell to each other. They couldnt export, so Sunni, Shia and Kurd traded with each. They havent done that for several years, he said.
Nine factories, from among 65 assessed by Brinkleys task force, have already received funds from $50 million designated this year by the US Congress for industrial revitalisation. Brinkley said the $50 million was about $150 million short of what some estimates said would be needed but the US and Iraqi governments would likely be easily persuaded to contribute more if early successes were made.
Iraqs deputy industry minister, Sami Al-Araji, said his department was working on a plan to have a small number of Iraqi textile products like mens suits in US department stores by Thanksgiving or Christmas this year. We thought well start modestly, Araji told a news conference. You could call it a public relations campaign.
#1
Reasonable as far as it goes. But "unrest" and lethal quasi-military or terrorist activity are far from the same thing. I'd submit that the refusal (not too strong a word) to restore/establish order, and to crush resistance in the readily identifiable places it was centered, was far, far more important than economic malaise.
A young Iraqi will not take $400 to plant an IED if he thinks (1) there's a decent chance he'll be killed, wounded, or captured (2) there's a decent chance his neighborhood, clan, or family will be subject to property/business confiscation, preventive detention, and other harsh penalties (3) he's seen or heard about other communities that were essentially shut down, put on WFP rations, and had their military-age males detained or punitively monitored and restricted.
Establishing order through intimidation and force is very hard, but can be done and done fairly quickly. Undercutting the economic motivation for misbehavior is even harder, and by definition takes much, much longer. So which did we choose? Neither, in most of Anbar and other Sunni areas that were the key to the problem.
Biggest economic policy mistake - not deregulating petroleum and energy immediately. Maintaining artificial prices had the predictable distorting effect on the local economy, but even more important created huge mafias built on oil smuggling (i.e., gave life to existing, and created new, clan and organized criminal networks built on oil smuggling). These criminal networks are a key part of the overall problem with order and rule of law.
#2
OK Paul, let me explain the matter to you. As was pointed out by a man of extraordinary perception, people come in three categories: makers, fakers, and takers. Arabs are takers by preference, or fakers by necessity. Nothing anyone can do---short of extermination & re-population, can give Iraq a sound economy.
#3
Missed in this discussion is the reciprocal point: Terrorist activity hurts investment. You just have to look at the Kurdish and Shia areas to notice how much more economic activity there is in those areas.
The Sunni (like the Whites in South Africa) could have used their greater wealth and managerial expertise to regain a strong position in Iraq. Instead they tried to terroize their way back into power. Now, not only are they out of power, but they're poor besides.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/13/2007 12:21 Comments ||
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Youtube vid at link.
Doubt cast by Arab bystanders and family members of Friday's Old City terrorist regarding his guilt and the security guards' response have been cast aside as footage of the attack has been released.
Police have released closed circuit video footage of the terrorist incident in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday which clearly shows that the terrorist, Ahmed Hatib, grabbed a security man's gun, fired on the same guard from close range, and was not the victim of an execution-style gunshot with no provocation.
The terrorist's family Israeli Arabs from the village of Manda near Haifa have been saying that their son was just a "quiet boy" and that he was the Victim of a premeditated cold-blooded murder by the security guards. The family members of the Arab terrorist swore that he had made no provocation whatsoever warranting any response by the security personnel.
Until the release of the filmed documentation, Israeli media cooperated with the family. For example, the Ynet news site dropped the word "terrorist" in their descriptions of the Hatib. Channel 2 TV quoted the Arab lies of an execution-style shooting in their initial reports of the incident, immediately turning the focus of the report against the security guard whose heroism saved the day.
However, the closed circuit footage clearly shows that the claims of the family members regarding the terrorist's guilt are baseless.
Another aspect of the incident that was the focus of attention on Voice of Israel state-run radio immediately following the attack was the claim of a local Arab shopkeeper that the terrorist had been on the ground and injured when the guards shot him dead, carrying out a "confirmed kill."
The footage that would show the final shots was not released. Fellow security guards told Arutz-7 that they know the police are reviewing the footage, but that the killing of the terrorist was done in the only way possible to ensure that the armed man, even once injured, would not continue to shoot bystanders with the gun that he swiped from the guard.
Sheikh Raad Salah, leader of the northern branch of the Islamic movement in Israel, said that Ahmed Hatib, the terrorist who was killed in a shootout in Jerusalem on Friday, is now part "of a line of Martyrs marching from generation to generation."
Speaking at Hatib's funeral, Salah said: "If the Israeli establishment thought it would give us a frightening message through this murder, we trample this message underfoot. We must remember that there have been many occupiers here and they have all disappeared." That's because, you know, arabs are the original inhabitants of Israel, yeah, that's the ticket.
Salah is due to stand trial for incitement for a speech he made in Jerusalem several months ago, following Israeli attempts to conduct an excavation outside the Temple Mount.
Police have yet to respond to inquiries on whether they will investigate Salah for lavishing praise on the terrorist Hatib and thereby inciting to violence.
Posted by: anonymous5089 ||
08/13/2007 08:34 ||
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#1
We must remember that there have been many occupiers here and they have all disappeared.
#2
We must remember that there have been many occupiers here and they have all disappeared.
The Jews have made the same observation to the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Romans, the Turks, the British (though they might have been kinder to us) and the Arabs.
#3
Something tells me that even if this punk had crawled off into a secluded corner light years miles away from the nearest Jew and then killed himself, he would still be touted as another Martyr who was a Victim that died in the cause of Resistance against Zionist Oppression.
The day cannot arrive soon enough when all Arab claims of victimhood are immediately dismissed out of hand as being just so many cries of "wolf!".
RAMALLAH: A global Islamic movement yesterday denounced the moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank as infidels. It will be ironic when some even more whacked Islamist outlet would declare that Hizb'u-Tahrir are infidels, after all they seem to shun armed jihad. At some point, Islam would be like an Oroboros, devouring itself from its tail. It is only a damn shame that a lot of by-standers will get mangled as a collateral.
At a rally attended by more than 10,000 people in the West Bank, the Liberation Party called for re-establishing the caliphate, or Islamic state, across the Muslim world.
Palestinian security officials said they would not restrict the movements activities as long as it does not resort to violence.
In a statement distributed in the crowd, the movement said the Palestinian Authority, a result of interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals a decade ago, was set up by infidels and is fighting against the caliphate. Its known that no one fights the caliphate, expect for infidels or representatives of the infidels, the statement said. The employees in the Palestinian Authority are supposed to be Muslims. How can they stand with the infidels fighting their religion and their nation.
The current leader of the group, Ata Abu Rishta, said pro-US leaders in the Arab world are being used by the US.
Hazem Bader, a member of Liberation Party, said an Islamic state is nearer than ever, but that holy war would have to wait until that state has been established.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas plans to hold legislative and presidential elections within six months, PA officials in Ramallah said Sunday. They said the votes would be held in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and expressed hope that Hamas would not try to torpedo the balloting. However, Hamas representatives in the Gaza Strip said the movement strongly opposed early elections. Hamas would not allow Abbas to hold early elections "to serve the interests of Israel and the US," one Hamas official said.
"There is no need for early elections," a top Hamas official in Gaza City said. "The next legislative elections are scheduled to be held in two years. Besides, we are certain that Abbas and Fatah will forge the results of the elections, especially in the West Bank."
Abbas told members of the PLO executive committee who met in Ramallah over the weekend that preparations were underway to hold elections within six months. Ghassan Shakaah, one of the committee members, said early elections were the only way to resolve the crisis with Hamas. "The legislative and executive branches of the Palestinian Authority are in a state of paralysis," he said. "This is an intolerable situation and the time has come to go back to the people so they will be able to express their opinion through the ballot box."
Shakaah urged Hamas to reconsider its opposition to early elections. "This is an opportunity for Hamas to participate in the Palestinian political process," he said. "If they want to be part of the decision-making process, they must agree to the elections. But if they decide to boycott the vote, they will exclude themselves from the process and will never be able to play any role in the political arena."
Meanwhile, Ahmed Yusef, a political adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, said Sunday his movement was conducting secret talks with Fatah leaders in a bid to resolve the crisis. He said Abbas had authorized some Fatah personalities to negotiate on his behalf with Hamas. Yusef said Abbas was facing heavy pressure from Israel and the US not to talk to Hamas. Abbas, he added, had decided to keep the talks on "low flames" to see if he could gain anything from his close relations with the Israelis and Americans. "Abbas is making a mistake by betting on the Americans and Israelis," Yusef said. "He will never get any concessions from Israel. He's wasting his time if he thinks that the US administration, which is in its final months, will do anything good for the Palestinians."
Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a top Fatah official and an aide to Abbas, vehemently denied that his faction was holding secret talks with Hamas. "Our position remains very clear," he said. "There will be no negotiations with those who staged the coup in the Gaza Strip. These statements are untrue."
Abdel Rahman said the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip was trying to extricate itself from the severe crisis it faced by spreading rumors about secret talks with Fatah and various mediation efforts. "Hamas's coup has changed the entire political picture in Palestine," he said. "It's impossible to hold talks with Hamas. The coup must end, and the only way to solve the crisis is by holding early parliamentary and presidential elections so that the Palestinians can have their say after this bitter experience with Hamas."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/13/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
(AKI) - After suffering some of its heaviest casualties in decades, the Philippines' armed forces have vowed to wipe out militants in the south of the country. Over 50 people have been killed in the Philippines in fighting between troops and Islamic militants on the southern island of Jolo. The military was deploying two extra battalions with 1000 troops to back up the 4,000 troops already there.
Of those killed at least 26 were soldiers , Major Eugene Batara, spokesman for the military's Western Mindanao Command said. The army has blamed the al-Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf terrorist group which has its stronghold in the Philippines. However Hatimil Hassan, a representative of the separatist Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), said his group was also involved in the clashes.
The MNLF, one of the oldest Islamic rebel groups in the Philippines signed a peace deal with the government in 1996, in which it agreed to lay down its arms in exchange for limited autonomy. However the deal has never been applied fully and this has led to frustration among some MNLF leaders. According to sources, various factions within the MNLF consider the peace deal "invalid" and believe that a return to the use of arms is "legitimate".
Clashes between the groups linked to the MNLF and the military have become more frequent in the past few months. This latest attack follows an operation launched by the military against suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf in the nearby island of Basilan where 10 soldiers were decapitated on 10 July. The soldiers were part of a group of 14 killed in a clash with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest Islamic rebel group in the Philippines with 12,000 militants.
Manila and the MILF have been involved in peace talks since 2001. The MILF has re-positioned its forces in Basilan to allow for the Filipino troops to advance. The MILF and the Abu Sayyaf derived from the radical wings of the MNLF. In the southern Philippines, where clans and tribal links are particularly strong, the divisions between the various groups are often difficult to define.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/13/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf
TEHRAN--Defense Minister Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said the US is secretly backing terrorist groups in Iraq and blaming others.
Speaking to the members of Policymaking Committee at the Defense Ministry, Najjar rejected recent allegations made by the US president about Irans involvement in illegal smuggling of arms to Iraq, IRNA reported.
He said that while the US president is blaming others, classified information obtained by Iran indicates that the US is now secretly supporting terrorist groups in Iraq and masterminding bomb explosions in that country.
Iran considers Iraqs security as its own and believes that a secure and united Iraq could play a significant role in restoring stability and security to the region, he said.
Najjar further said that the withdrawal of occupiers and cessation of support for terrorist groups are the only way to restore tranquility and stability to Iraq.
Welfare, security and development would be materialized by an independent and democratic government in Iraq which would have good ties with its neighbors, he said.
The minister pointed out that the US administration is now concerned about reduction of tension and restoration of tranquility to Iraq and the whole region, because their illegitimate presence in the region is being questioned.
Noting that Irans strategic policy is to strengthen and expand ties with other countries in the region, its neighbors in particular, he said, We will never let the US or the Zionist regime create tension in our relations with regional countries.
Najjar stressed that expansion of defense and security cooperation with regional countries is among Irans main defense principles, adding that Iran will further broaden such ties in future.
Posted by: anonymous5089 ||
08/13/2007 09:15 ||
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[9 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#2
So the US is killing its own people in Iraq so it can continue to occupy Iraq and kill its own people, just to interfere with Iran's grand plan for stability and harmony?
Now that's a Rovian Plan™
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/13/2007 10:49 Comments ||
Top||
Damascus does not believe Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's public statements of reassurance that Israel has no intention of attacking Syria, and is genuinely concerned about an Israeli preemptive attack, according to official Israeli assessments.
Other than forming a 'Golan Heights Resistance Front', and re-arming, and buying Soviet Russian weapons, and talking about war plans, and plotting with the Iranians, and coordinating with Hezbollah, and helping other Paleo terrorist groups, and digging new positions, why would the Israelis want to launch a pre-emptive attack?
Olmert's attempts over the last few weeks to calm Syrian jitters have not been overly successful, and Syrian President Bashar Assad still believes he plans to attack, according to these estimates. Just over two weeks ago, at a National Security College graduation ceremony, Olmert said: "I believe, in all my heart, that this summer and the fall will not be too hot. There is no reason to exaggerate in creating an atmosphere of the eve of war. Our neighbors know well that we prefer sitting and discussing peace with them, rather than proving to them that we are stronger"
Posted by: Fred ||
08/13/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Ehud Olmert's public statements of reassurance that Israel has no intention of attacking Syria
#3
The pathetic part is how Israel announced its terrible strategy in advance, how if Syria attacks Israel with missiles, the Israelis will enter Syria, destroy the missiles and leave. Exactly wrong.
Instead, Israel should have said that if Syria attacks Israel, Israel will invade and depose Assad, then take control of Syria from the Alawite Shiite 10% minority, and turn it over to the Sunni majority.
This would terrify the Alawites, and Assad, and Iran, beyond pooping in their pants. And not only that, but both the Egyptians and the other Sunni nations would be all in favor of it. Israel might even ask the Egyptians to send a few divisions into Syria while the Israelis leave. As "peacekeeping" forces.
The Alawites know that if they are ever deposed, the Sunnis and Kurds will eat their lunch.
#4
Olmert's attempts over the last few weeks to calm Syrian jitters have not been overly successful
Huh? Excuse me but I don't see how this makes any sense. If Baby Assad is jittery that's because he's in over his head and in bed with Ahmadiwhackjob. The only thing Olmert can do it that is prepare for a Syrian attack.
#5
Who writes this stuff? official Israeli assessments? It might be easy for me, in the comfort of my cubicle, to misinterpret the situation but it sure as hell looks to me like these Israeli officials have been conned into believing Syrian propaganda. So, while the Syrians prepare for war the Israelis keep trying to convince them that they won't attack? Interesting.
#2
Jackson Hole isn't a very big town, but it is a wonderful ski resort... at the back end of nowhere. Quite possibly those 250 or fewer were a significant portion of the current occupants. Not that it makes it any less pathetic.
#3
Protesting at a ski resort in August. Not exactly the optimum strategy for attracting attention.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/13/2007 13:19 Comments ||
Top||
#4
If Jackson Hole is like Sun Valley, Idaho then it is full of rich liberals. I know it's full of rich folks, I suspect the liberals are there too. Jackson Hole is nice country but the town is nothing but a "rich folks" tourist trap.
Many of the ordinary folks commute 40 miles each way because the land values are too high for any except millionaires (Both Sun Valley and Jackson Hole).
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Taliban are a part of Afghan society and those among them who are not committed to endless violence must be brought into the political mainstream, President Gen Pervez Musharraf said in an address to the concluding session of the Pak-Afghan Peace Jirga on Sunday, APP reports. "We must understand the environment. Taliban are a part of Afghan society. Most of them may be ignorant and misguided, but all of them are not diehard militants and fanatics who even defy the most fundamental values of our culture and our faith Islam," Gen Musharraf said. 
All sides in the Somali capital's ferocious fighting have committed serious abuses, with indiscriminate attacks on civilian neighborhoods and hospitals, a leading human rights group said Monday. "None of the parties has takenas international law requiresall feasible precautions to spare the civilian population from the effects of attacks," New York-based Human Rights Watch said in its 113-page report.
Britain should begin talking directly with three of the Middle East's most prominent radical Islamic groups - Hamas, Hizbullah and the Muslim Brotherhood - a committee of lawmakers said in a report released Monday. 
Pakistan has launched a fresh probe into the 7/7 bombings after a request from the British High Commission (BHC) for complete record of phone calls made from Samundri teshil of Faisalabad district to London, official sources told Daily Times on Sunday.
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Secretary General Fazlur Rehman said on Sunday that the MMA will thwart any attempt by President General Pervez Musharraf to impose martial law in the country and denied having any deal with the president. 
RAMALLAH: A global Islamic movement yesterday denounced the moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank as infidels.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas plans to hold legislative and presidential elections within six months, PA officials in Ramallah said Sunday. They said the votes would be held in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and expressed hope that Hamas would not try to torpedo the balloting. However, Hamas representatives in the Gaza Strip said the movement strongly opposed early elections. Hamas would not allow Abbas to hold early elections "to serve the interests of Israel and the US," one Hamas official said. 
TEHRAN--Defense Minister Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said the US is secretly backing terrorist groups in Iraq and blaming others. 
