THE United States has linked an aid package for Yemen to the imprisonment of an escaped al-Qaida fighter who reportedly was allowed to go home after turning himself in earlier this month.
Jamal al-Badawi was sentenced to death for the 2000 bombing of the US Navy destroyer Cole off Aden but escaped from prison in the Yemeni capital in 2006, along with 22 other al-Qaida militants.
Earlier this month, Badawi turned himself in and, according to witnesses, was allowed to return to his home in Aden in return for a pledge not to engage in any violent or al-Qaida -related activity.
The October 31 signing of a US$20.6 million aid agreement with Yemen has been "postponed until further notice", and no decision will be taken "until we can ascertain whether or not (Badawi) has been released," said a spokesman for the Millenium Challenge Account (MCA) development program.
It was not clear what Sanaa's position on Badawi was, but sources close to Yemeni security services told AFP their Government had negotiated Badawi's surrender with al-Qaida militants.
Yemen is the ancestral homeland of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.
"I can't say that we have a firm understanding of exactly what the situation is with respect to this individual," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told a regular press briefing Monday.
"Suffice it to say, in our view, this is somebody that needs to be behind bars," he added referring to Badawi.
"He was part of - an active part of the Cole bombing plot. So he needs to be behind bars."
After the USS Cole bombing that killed 17 US sailors Badawi was featured on a US list of most-wanted terrorists with a US$5 million bounty on his head.
He was sentenced to death in Yemen in September 2004 for his part in the bombing, which was claimed by al-Qaida, but an appeals court later commuted the sentence to 15 years in jail.
The MCA said in a statement that its director John Danilovich had canceled a trip to Anan to sign the aid agreement and was considering Yemen's current standing with the MCA.
The MCA fund was created by President George W Bush in 2002. It links development aid to human rights and democratic improvements in recipient countries.
A Yemeni Government spokesman in Sanaa quoted October 26 by the local Saba news agency said Badawi had been interrogated by the interior ministry, but neither confirmed or denied reports that he had been released.
Britain's first Muslim minister said he was "deeply disappointed" yesterday after being detained at a US airport where his hand luggage was tested for traces of explosive materials.
Shahid Malik, the MP for Dewsbury and an international development minister, was returning to Heathrow after meetings and talks on tackling terrorism, when he was stopped at Dulles Airport near Washington yesterday morning. He was searched and detained by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) - the department whose representatives he had been meeting on his visit.
Mr Malik said: "After a few minutes a couple of other people were also taken to one side. We were all Muslims."
Mr Malik said he was particularly annoyed as he was detained for an hour at JFK airport in New York last year by the DHS - despite the fact that he was a keynote speaker at an event organised by the department.
After his 40-minute detention yesterday, he said: "I am deeply disappointed. There was no malice involved but it has to be said that the US system does not inspire confidence."
Posted by: Seafarious ||
10/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
The Department of Homemade Security doesn't inspire much confidence in me either, but this particular incident doesn't lessen it.
First few comments to the Scotsman article give cause for some hope that all is not lost in the UK. Well at least not in the Scottish bits.
Posted by: Ulailing Scourge of the Faith3257 ||
10/29/2007 0:09 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Dunno, but if my name was Shahid (or Shaheed version of it thereof), I'd expect to be handled like a radioactive material, MP or not. Granted, the poor schmuck was given that name, but anone can legaly change name, even in UK. Guess he is wearing it as a badge of honor or sumtin, [shrug].
#3
Funnily enough, Mr Malik, plenty of Asians are stopped and searched on the tube too - I wonder why..?
Posted by: Howard UK ||
10/29/2007 8:42 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I am surprised we don't give out "good guy" cards for people like Malik who are invited to the States to attend meetings with our government. Just because of his name and ethinicity should not make him an automatic target but then again there is a understandable mathematical coincidence of random selection.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
10/29/2007 9:45 Comments ||
Top||
#8
At one time, back in the TSA's infancy, we had procedures for such occasions. Having left the Thousands Standaing Around employment agency several years ago, I cannot speak to the current state of special handling. If there are any current operatives lurking, perhaps you can expound.
#11
I work with a guy named Jihad. Nicest guy you could know. Get smarter than that BS, I know you are. That's the name given them
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/29/2007 22:36 Comments ||
Top||
#12
That's the name given them
Which they could never, ever consider changing no matter how repugnant or repellent it might be to the host country they have decided to adopt. Perish the fucking thought. Let's all name our children "Adolph" and "Osama". What a great idea!!!
It's not on the part you sit on! The printing is on the lid, something to read while trying to get the old prostate to let go. Now, if they printed it on the inside of the BOWL ---- where can I order?
ROME Italian Muslims have swiftly acted to stop the sale in local stores of toilet seat covers that feature verses of the Noble Qur'an in an unprecedented blasphemous act, reporting the matter to appropriate authorities and politicians, who proved forthcoming.
"I would like to thank Italian authorities who responded positively to our complaints against this profanity," Samir Al-Khalidi, the head of the Islamic Centre (Al-Huda) in Rome, told IslamOnlin.net Saturday, October 27.
"We reacted astutely to this provocation and threw the ball in the court of security officials and politicians, demanding them to seize the products immediately to head off angry Muslim reaction," he added.
The Lazio-based Orizzonte Company unveiled this month a new collection of bathroom products including the offensive toilet cover seats.
They feature verses from the Noble Qur'an printed on the double face of the cover seats and intersected by colorful flowers and Latin words.
Following Muslim complaints, police raided the four braches of the company in the town of Latina, 60km south of Rome, and seized 2,000 such pieces on sale.
Interior minister Giuliano Amato met Friday with Italian Muslim leaders at the main Rome Mosque to reassure them that Italy would not tolerate such outrageous acts.
"This is an insult to the Muslim faith," The imam of the Lazio town of Latina's mosque, Sheikh Yusuf, told Amato.
Amato reassured Yusuf, saying: "I would like to tell our friends from Latina that we have been informed of this matter and are taking action because it is offensive."
Italy has a Muslim population of some 1.2 million, including 20,000 reverts, according to unofficial estimates.
Posted by: Glenmore ||
10/29/2007 09:01 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
sigh. now how many will have to die because of this?
Not possible, even farting in Mecca's general direction will spark an "angry Muslim reaction". I'm sure it has something to do with their childhood toilet training.
"This is an insult to the Muslim faith"
And pray tell exactly what on earth isn't? Just being an infidel is "an insult to the Muslim faith", so we're pretty much screwed now, aren't we? Since they're always offended no matter what we do and they won't let us simply ignore them without shit getting blown up, maybe we just need to take apart their shitpot of a "religion" at the seams, light it all afire and piss on the ashes for grins.
#5
Italy seems to be one of the few countries where blasphemy is actually a crime. I don't think this quite qualifies as blasphemy, however. Over-zealous multi-culti idiocy is more likely.
#6
Once again, let me suggest the creation of a bogus Koranic toilet paper company. It would be a great way to test computer security against hackers and DDoS threats, and could even be used as a trap to capture terrorists.
You could say that the production facility was located in a very rural area, where you had to take a strict set of directions to get there. Then anybody who drove out there with a car full of guns and explosives would be an easy bust.
#14
why is there a moon cut in the out house door?
Orizzonte designed the original outhouse. But seriously, folks. Originally, farmsteads usually had two outhouses, one for each gender. A lunette signified the womans' latrine and a sun symbol was used for the mens'. For reasons lost to the mists of time, outhouses went unisex and fortunately managed to retain the appropriate Muslim-enraging symbol.
The US foreign affairs department has asked the Netherlands to take over a number of prisoners from its Guantanamo Bay camp on the island of Cuba, the Parool reports on Friday. The paper says the request was made to Dutch MPs who are on a fact-finding mission at the highly controversial camp.
The request for help applies to prisoners who are being released from the detention camp but cannot return to their country of origin.
Because, for some strange reason, they aren't wanted. Indeed, they'd be torturedkilled imprisoned in their home countries. Now is that any way to treat a Moose-Limb hero, I ask?
Some 800 people have been through Guantanamo Bay since its opening in 2002. The camp currently houses some 400 prisoners, 85 of whom are waiting to be released because the US no longer considers them to be a danger.
This keeps up and we'll have to dump them on a deserted Pacific island ...
The Dutch foreign affairs ministry has told the Parool that it has not received a request from the US to take over prisoners. Until it does, the Dutch position is that the US must look after prisoners on its own territory.
The right-wing Liberal (VVD) and anti-immigration PVV parties both welcome the idea of taking over prisoners from Guantanamo. 'It will be a great day when the Netherlands has such a detention centre of its own,' PVV leader Geert Wilders tells the paper. The Christian Democrats are less keen on the idea, the paper says.
Officially, the Netherlands considers the treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay a contravention of international agreements, a point made by foreign minister Maxime Verhagen when he met US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice in April.
It's wrong but they won't help us make it right. Typical Y'urp-peon response.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
TOPIX > MEXICAN SEPARATISTS CLAIM RESPONSIBILITY FOR CALIFORNIA FIRES. California rightly belongs to Mahico.
#6
If we did not already have a Gitmo we would need to invent one. Maybe we can be open to a compromise instead. We will expand the facility but allow the prisoners easier access to legal representation.
King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz will start Monday a four-nation tour to the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, and Turkey, said a statement by the Royal Court Sunday. The statement broadcast by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said the 13-day tour would be aimed at bolstering bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and these countries During the tour, the King would discuss with European leaders regional and international issues of mutual interest, indicated the statement. This is King Abdullah's second tour to Europe since assuming the leadership of Saudi Arabia in 2005. The previous tour in June included France, Poland, and Spain.
#1
Liquor in Marseille, gambling in Monaco, whores in Luxembourg. Oh, and drop by Berne to see how those secret Swiss accounts are doing...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/29/2007 9:03 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Abdulaziz doesn't have to leave home for any of that. More likely: dropping the peg to the US $$ for oil prices, lining up indirect opposition to Iran, feeling out responses if HRC is elected ....
#3
And of those the ditching of the dollar is the most important. One of those little things that has no immediate dramatic impact but will affect the lives of every American for years to come. How the Fed can drop rates and look itself in the mirror is a mystery.
The Bush administration and New York cut a deal Saturday to create a new generation of super-secure driver's licenses for U.S. citizens, but also allow illegal immigrants to get a version. The deal comes about one month after New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced a plan whereby illegal immigrants with a valid foreign passport could obtain a license.
Saturday's agreement with the Homeland Security Department will create a three-tier license system in New York. It is the largest state to sign on so far to the government's post-Sept. 11 effort to make identification cards more secure. New York is the fourth state to reach such an agreement on federally approved secure licenses, after Arizona, Vermont and Washington. The issue is pressing for border states, where new and tighter rules are soon to go into effect for crossings.
Spitzer, who has faced much criticism on the issue, said the deal means New York "will usher in the most secure licensing system in the nation."
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said he was not happy that New York intended to issue IDs to illegal immigrants. But he said there was nothing he could do to stop it. "I don't endorse giving licenses to people who are not here legally, but federal law does allow states to make that choice," Chertoff said. "It's going to be a big deal up in Buffalo, it's going to be a big deal on the Canadian side of the border."
The governor made clear he is going forward with his plan allowing licenses for illegal immigrants. But advocates on both sides of the debate said Spitzer had caved to pressure by adopting the administration's stance on tighter security standards for most driver's licenses.
GOP Rep. Thomas Reynolds, who represents the Buffalo suburbs, said he was glad Washington had heeded his concerns about border identification. But he said he feared that Spitzer "is taking this state down a risky path" by giving any kind of license to illegal immigrants.
Under the compromise, New York will produce an "enhanced driver's license" that will be as secure as a passport. It is intended for people who soon will need to meet such ID requirements, even for a short drive to Canada. A second version of the license will meet new federal standards of the Real ID Act. That law is designed to make it much harder for illegal immigrants or would-be terrorists to obtain licenses.
A third type of license will be available to undocumented immigrants. Spitzer has said this ID will make the state more secure by bringing those people "out of the shadows" and into American society, and will lower auto insurance rates. Those licenses will be clearly marked to show they are not valid federal ID. Officials, however, would not say whether that meant local law enforcement could use such a license as probable cause to detain someone they suspected of being in the U.S. illegally.
"Besides being a massive defeat for the governor, I can't imagine many _ if any _ illegal immigrants coming forward to get the driver's licenses, because they'd basically be labeled as illegal," said New York Rep. Peter King, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee.
New York has between 500,000 and 1 million undocumented immigrants, many of whom are driving without a license and car insurance or with fake driver's licenses, Spitzer said in September when he announced his executive order.
The administration has not finalized standards for Real ID-compliant driver's licenses. Spitzer said he believed the new licenses would meet those standards or come very close. Many states say it is too expensive to comply with the law; seven of them have passed legislation opposing Real ID. Neither the governor nor Chertoff would say how much it would cost to put the system in place or who would pay for it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It should be illegal to drive without collision insurance. And it is in some states.
#2
Keep an eye on this. If this stirs up a grass-roots protest and puts Spitzer further in the hole he has dug, it could be a big opening for the Republicans in 08.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
10/29/2007 9:50 Comments ||
Top||
#6
I proudly announce formation of the "Spitzer for Federal Inmate." Election campaign.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/29/2007 13:10 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Why is there even any discussion of this? People who gain illegal entrance to our country are criminals and should not be accommodated in any way save by being imprisoned or deported. End of story.
#11
State and Federal leaders foist this crock of shit in the state where 9-11 occurred. EVERY damn one of the officials involved in this crock of shit should be removed from office--by whatever means necessary.
#12
Those licenses will be clearly marked to show they are not valid federal ID. Officials, however, would not say whether that meant local law enforcement could use such a license as probable cause to detain someone they suspected of being in the U.S. illegally.
Again I ask--have they lost their collective minds? Who the hell is running this country? Are they all blissfully unaware that we're at war???
Afghanistan on Sunday denied allegations it was involved in the unrest in Waziristan and Swat, saying that it would not let Afghan soil be used for anti-Pakistan activities. We will not allow anyone to use our soil against Pakistan, President Hamid Karzais spokesman Humayun Hamidzada told Daily Times, a day after the NWFP caretaker chief minister hinted at the possible involvement of India or Afghanistan in terrorist activities in the Swat region. Using terrorism as a foreign policy tool will serve nobodys interests; such a practice is bound to backfire, Hamidzada said. Terrorists and fundamentalists, he added, posed a common threat to the two neighbouring countries. Therefore, we are willing to continue working with our Pakistani friends to fight terrorism, he said. He said the government and people of Afghanistan felt sorry for the incidents of terrorism in Pakistan. Hamidzada also referred to Karzais recent interview in which the Afghan president had regretted bomb attacks in Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: TNSM
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Sunday that the federal government didnt succeed in launching a military operation in Swat during the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) government. Addressing a gathering at a Swabi madrassa, the MMA general secretary said that the MMA had become an international power and that the US and Pakistan governments should think twice before taking any action against the alliance. Fazl also criticised the provisions of the polls code of conduct draft that barred people from criticising the army, judiciary and foreign policy. The army will have to face criticism if it tries to interfere in politics, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
The Islami Jamiat Talabas campaign to recruit freshmen at Punjab University is at its peak even though political activity is banned on campus.
PU authorities have called the recruitment drive part of student activity, which is not banned. The IJT has arranged welcome parties at the department level and has also distributed books amongst students. They have displayed large banners with welcome quotes and traditional slogans at various locations on campus. The IJT has also set up committees in all departments and has tasked them with running its agenda.
PU Registrar Dr Naeem Ahmad Khan told Daily Times that he did not think IJTs advertisement campaigns and other activities were illegal. He said, There is no ban on student organisations or activity. He said the environment on campus was peaceful and no IJT student was involved in political or illegal activity. He said the university provides equal opportunity to all students to take part in extra-curricular activities.
A PU teacher alleged the universitys policy on the IJT had changed after the appointment of Dr Arif Butt as acting vice chancellor. He said Dr Butt had a soft corner for the IJT, as he had been an activist during his college days.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami
#1
I remember being back in College back in the early 80's in Boston and the Hari Kirishna's decided to enter the college lobby. Needless to say, they were immediately escorted out by security. They afterwards passed out their materials and invitations outside on the sidewalk.
BAGHDAD-Ahmad Chalabi, the controversial, ubiquitous Iraqi politician and one-time Bush administration favorite, has re-emerged as a central figure in the latest U.S. strategy for Iraq.
His latest job: To press Iraq's central government to use early security gains from the surge to deliver better electricity, health, education and local security services to Baghdad neighborhoods. That's the next phase of the surge plan. Until now, the U.S. military, various militias, insurgents and some U.S. backed groups have provided those services without great success.
That the U.S. and Iraqi officials are again turning to Chalabi, this time to restore life to Baghdad neighborhoods, speaks to his resiliency in this nascent government. It's also, some say, his latest effort to promote himself as a true national advocate for everyday Iraqis.
Chalabi, in the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, provided White House and Pentagon officials and journalists with a stream of bogus or exaggerated intelligence about Iraq's weapons programs and ties to terrorism. He also suggested that he'd lead Iraq to make peace with Israel and welcome permanent U.S. military bases, which could apply pressure to Iran and Syria.
But Chalabi's proven a resilient politician since then and Iraqis yearn for someone who can make the government help them. In sermons in the holy Shiite city of Najaf and in Sunni newspapers alike, Iraqis here often reject their central government, saying it has done nothing for them since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Instead, the government's critics say, local tribal leaders and residents rejuvenated neighborhoods by pushing fighters out and securing the streets.
U.S. officials maintain that it's up to the central government to provide Iraqis with longer-term stability. Iraqis agree, especially when it comes to services beyond the capability of neighborhood councils, such as providing electricity, bringing doctors back into neighborhoods, establishing and paying a police force and building a school system, Traditionally, Iraq's central government delivered these services.
"The key is going to be getting the concerned local citizens and all the citizens feeling that this government is reconnected with them," Gen. David Petraeus, the top military commander here, said Saturday. Chalabi "agrees with that."
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki named Chalabi as head of the services committee, a consortium of eight service ministries and two Baghdad municipal posts, that is tasked with bringing services to Baghdad, the heart of the surge plan.
Chalabi "is an important part of the process," said Col. Steven Boylan, Petraeus' spokesman. "He has a lot of energy."
Unless the government steps in, U.S. military commanders stationed in small outposts throughout Baghdad fear their rebuilding programs and other efforts to weaken one-time al Qaida and militia bastions will collapse as soon as troops leave. If that happens, those groups will dominate the neighborhoods again, they say.
Lt. Col. Ken Adgie, of National Park, N.J., commander of the 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment out of Fort Stewart, Ga., is in charge of securing Arab Jabour, a southern Sunni Baghdad neighborhood long under al Qaida control.
With no U.S. or Iraqi forces in this almost exclusively Sunni neighborhood since the fall of Saddam's regime, al Qaida controlled it, in part, by rationing food and electricity to the residents.
Adgie's troops now are building a health care facility, securing water supplies and working with local concerned residents to secure the area's main street, which is lined with a handful of mud shack stores.
"Right now, it's a Band-Aid. ...But boy it would be nice if we got the government's help," Adgie said. "We refuse to let al Qaida creep back in. ...You can't let up. It's slow constant pressure."
So far, the central government has not been effective. On Saturday, Petraeus traveled to Arab Jabour with Chalabi, their first trip together to a Baghdad neighborhood since Chalabi's new posting. During the trip, Col. Terry Ferrell, 2nd brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division described where he wants to see a new health care facility. Chalabi chimed in: "Where is the Health Ministry in this?"
"That's your job," Petraeus replied.
And as Chalabi tried to assure the residents of Arab Jabour that the government would help, they told him they had heard it before. So far, the vice president, the governor of Baghdad and a top Iraqi police commander have traveled to Arab Jabour promising to deliver 200 police officers. None have shown up.
"We made life better here, not the government," said Abdul Raziq al Jabouri, a newly-named security officer in Arab Jabour. "If we had waited for the government we would have been gone by now. We are not waiting. We don't expect anything."
So Chalabi has his work cut out for him.
Iraqi politicians have used service ministries to promote themselves before, and some suspect that Chalabi took this post to reach a populace that rejected him in the 2006 election when he won no official seats in the government..
Since the fall of Saddam's regime, Chalabi has held several jobs including deputy prime minister, head of the de-Baathification committee and chairman of several investigative committees.
"I think Ahmad is trying to come back through this committee. But the reality is that there has been no action," said Mithal Alusi, a secular member of the parliament. "We Iraqi don't accept this."
But Chalabi's supporters reject that, saying he is the best suited to work with several ministries. And Hussein al Shaheen, a Chalabi advisor, said the government chose him because "everyone knows he can do it."
As he met with residents of Arab Jabour concerned about security and basic services, however, it was Chalabi the historian speaking, not Chalabi the ombudsman.
He reminded them that Alexander the Great once traveled through their neighborhood and that, at one point, 600,000 people lived in the area.
"We have a doctor among us," one resident remarked politely.
Minutes later, another muttered: "He cannot help us."
#2
The obvious problem in Iraq is that there is no common agenda, no common direction. Some are in the government for power and control, others for change, but everyone, for this to work, should be in it for defined results. More power, better water and sewage, the end of terrorism, available healthcare, jobs, schools, and safe streets. The major problem with third world cultures is graft and corruption. That's what keeps them from development. That along with their retarded religion, but not many Iraqis are of the overly pious jihad-r-us variety.
#3
U.S. officials maintain that it's up to New Orleans' government to provide its citizens with longer-term stability. Residents agree, especially when it comes to services beyond the capability of neighborhood councils, such as providing electricity, bringing doctors back into neighborhoods, establishing and paying a police force and building a school system, Traditionally, New Orlean's city government delivered these services.
N' Owlins might have a lower crime right than Baghdad's, though.
#4
No, mrp, I am not confident N'Awlins does have a lower crime rate than Baghdad right now. At least not on a per capita basis. Our population is less than 10% that of Baghdad, so our murder rate would be roughly the same as 10 per day in Baghdad. I don't know what they average, but I do know it makes the news when it hits double figures or more there.
Baghdad may be a bit ahead of us in corruption though. Nagin is kind of weird, and not very competent, but he doesn't seem corrupt (to me). Now as to the school board ......, well, Baghdad's school system may be ahead of ours.
#5
Look, as per a post from yesterday, these people will not even pick up their own garbage, they stand around with their thumbs up their asses waiting for our Marines to do it. Show me the politician ANYWHERE who brags about making it to the top by getting the sewers fixed. I don't think even Bob Byrd ever bothered to get a sewage pumping station named after himself in WV...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/29/2007 8:51 Comments ||
Top||
#6
It is time for the military to start pulling back from the infrastructure type missions in Baghdad. Pay those people to do it and make them.
#7
Actually Chalabi never went away. He has held a number of cabinet level positions and has generally been recognized as a good technocrat. The problem is he doesn't have the personality to be a "man of the people" so he doesn't do well in elections even though he seems to have administrative ability.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
10/29/2007 10:39 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Ironically, in the long run, the lack of a strong central government may prove to be a good thing.
Back in the founding of the US, the federalists first had their chance, and did much to get the local and State government running smoothly. Only then did the anti-federalists step in to get the central government working and efficient. It was much easier to do with State power pushing it up than dragging it down.
A strong foundation, as it were. In Iraq, now that the people are creating much better local and regional governments, it is approaching the time when the central government can be the capstone--not, like it is in so many failed states, the only government that works.
#9
That the U.S. and Iraqi officials are again turning to Chalabi, this time to restore life to Baghdad neighborhoods, speaks to his resiliency in this nascent government.
No, it speaks to what a gigantic sack of shit the entire Iraqi parliament is. The one single repetitive theme throughout this entire article is how effing useless the Iraqi government continues to be. With its popularity so non-existent, this is a golden opportunity to disband the entire sideshow, stop the inmates from running the asylum and install a new bunch of goons who will take their marching orders from us and never, ever even dream of installing an iota of shari'a law. Had we the wisdom to do this, there might be a chance of realizing some of America's most vital security goals in the MME (Muslim Middle East). Scrubbing the region clean of theocratic Islam should be our top priority. It is what entrenches the most pernicious forms of graft and corruption, breeds up the very worst scum and drives global terrorism.
#12
They do not understand local government and community activism, prohibited under Saddam's tight control. Several Iraqi women have toured the rural regions of the Midwest,& were pleasantly surprised at their own preconceived notions, but were especially interested in the local schools and farmers markets. One woman even teaches elementary kids Arabic in an Amish town, in a positive but unusual cultural exchange! I don't know how this could be implemented on a larger scale IMMEDIATELY, but educating the refugees and returning them to rebuild may inspire and teach the dregs that are left there. How about micro loans to buy dumpsters and garbage trucks and skidloaders for a landfill so they can start their own small businesses instead of paying security billions more?
#13
1 the opening paragraphs of this article imply that Chalabi is being pushed by the US, when the article actually shows that he was selected by Maliki, which makes sense in terms of his Shiite orientation.
2. From what I understand, he did a decent job as Oil Minister. He may have no real political support in Iraq, he may be a snake oil salesman and be unreliable, but he seems to be a decent administrator by Iraqi standards.
#14
"No common agenda, no common direction
...defined results" + "Want Government to help them ... [but] Government does nothing" > ISN'T THIS WHAT OSAMA, i.e. HIDDEN IMMAMS/MAHDIS = MESSIAHS, etc. are for??? MOUDIAN -ISLAMIST APOCALYPSE > Even iff Osama + Radical Islamists in the present should fail or only partially succeed, would NOT a TRUE IMMAM/MAHDI correct and finish the job for them, for "doing the right/just thing" "in the name of God-Heaven"???
In late June, three of Saddam Hussein's senior military officials were found guilty of war crimes, including the notorious Chemical Ali. Iraqi law required that they be executed no more than 30 days after Iraqi courts rejected their final appeal. That deadline has passed, but the men are still alive and in US custody. The reason is questions raised by prominent Iraqi officials and a spirited behind-the-scenes deliberation between senior Iraqi and US officials over the death sentence of one of the men, Sultan Hashem Ahmed al-Jabouri al-Tai, the former defence minister.
Hashem's fate has become a test case for reconciliation and whether Iraq's fractious sects and political alliances can work together to resolve the thorny issues surrounding his death sentence. There are also doubts among some Iraqi officials about the fairness of his conviction and punishment.
The heated arguments about Hashem's guilt beg the question: are Iraqis ready to stop the retaliatory killings of members of the former regime? It seems some of them are. "We need to show there have been enough deaths. We are tired of it, we need to stop it," said a senior adviser to President Jalal Talabani.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Seafarious ||
10/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Baath Party
#1
Heh, heh. Pretty good trick getting him to turn himself in like that. "Oh, no, WE won't arrest you. We'll just turn you over to these guys over here..." A legal nicety worthy of an apparatchik.
#3
It appears to me that Gen. Petraeus may have over-stepped his authority with the offer to Hashem in the letter and now the only honorable thing is to deliver on the promise as best he can. Taking Hashem out of the country is a big problem, so perhaps all Petraeus can do now is appeal to the Iraqis and let them sort it out. If I were Petraeus I'd feel a bit dirty if they ultimately execute Hashem.
Head of the Fatah faction in the Palestinian parliament, Azam el-Ahmad, said Sunday that talks between Israel and the Palestinians had reached a dead end. "There has not been an agreement on any issue," said Ahmad, defining the outcome of the talks as a "big round zero." He went on to say that if the situation does not improve, the Annapolis conference will not take place, Israel Radio reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#1
The outcome will ALWAYS be a "big round zero" as long as the Palestinians' ultimate goal is the elimination of Israel. Annapolis may get Condi Rice a Nobel Peace Prize, but it won't get her peace. There is no win-win or even stalemate here given the Palestinians' hopelessly dysfunctional perspective.
Following an appeal to the High Court of Justice from Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, against the decision to cut off electricity to Gaza for short periods of time following Kassam attacks, Attorney General Menahem Mazuz has decided to convene a special meeting on the matter with representatives from the Defense Ministry, and for the time being, the decision to cut off electricity has been frozen, Army Radio reported.
Adalah and several other human rights organizations also pushed the high court to issue an injunction against the government's decision to curb the flow of electricity and fuel to the strip. Deputy Supreme Court President Eliezer Rivlin refused to issue an injuction, but requested that the state respond to the allegations.
"The collective punishment of a million and a half Palestinians in Gaza is illegal and will cause irreparable damage to the health and wellbeing of the residents of the Strip," the human rights group said. "Despite the government's claims, that the residents of Gaza will suffer minimal harm from the move, the disruptions may create a humanitarian crisis that could endanger human lives."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#2
"The collective punishment of a million and a half Palestinians in Gaza is illegal and will cause irreparable damage to the health and wellbeing of the residents of the Strip," the human rights group said.
But not one effing peep about the collective punishment of Israel by Islamic terrorists or the "irreparable damage" to the health of so many Jews by Palestinian bomb vest murderers. Damed hypocrites!
#3
No one for Israelis to blame but themselves. The paleos know they can tie the Jews up any time they want by calling a lawyer. Doesn't work the other way, paleos only care about killing Jews and getting their checks from their enablers. If Israel tried to sue them, they would kill the lawyers, the judges, and the jury.
The visit to Kuwait by President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Mahmoud Abbas due on Monday would be within framework of coordination and consultations between the Palestinian and Kuwaiti leaderships, the PNA spokesman said.
Nabil Abu Rudainah, the official spokesman of the authority, described in a statement to KUNA on eve of the visit that the Kuwaiti-Palestinian relations were very good. "We value Kuwait's unwavering stance in support of the Palestinian people," he added.
Abbas is due to travel via Jordan to Kuwait, where he would hold talks with HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.
Abu Rudainah confirmed that Abbas' mission would serve the continous coordination and consultations between the Kuwaiti and Palestinian leaderships regarding current regional conditions and affairs, namely the forecast conference for peace in the Middle East. Regarding the talks with Israel, he indicated that the Palestinian and Israeli sides have not worked out a common document, but the negotiations in this respect were continuing.
Israeli and Palestinian officials have held inconculsive talks in a bid to draw up a joint document ahead of the fall conference for Mideast peace. The Palestinians have been seeking to include major issues in the aspired paper -- namely final status of Jerusalem and the question of Palestinians in diaspora, among other topics.
He also indicated at continous US efforts, namely the forthcoming regional tour by US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, to find common ground for a possible settlement to the regional question.
President Bashar Assad was personally involved in Damascus nuclear deal with Pyongyang. Documentary proofs of this, obtained from the presidential bureau and signed by Assad in person, are now in the hands of the US and Israeli intelligence services, DEBKAfiles intelligence sources report. In one, Assad hands down a specific order in his own handwriting that North Korea not be charged for Syrian goods, including an annual shipment of 100,000 tons of Durham wheat for five years worth a total of $120 million. This is the equivalent of the value of the reactor for producing plutonium up to its most radioactive stage, which North Korea promised Syria.
A high-ranking Western intelligence source speaking to DEBKAfile described the evidence against Assad in US and Israeli hands as solid and much closer to a smoking gun than the West has turned up against Irans nuclear program. The following sequence of events unfolds from the garnered documents:
Damascus and Pyongyang settled between them that the nuclear transaction would be masked as a joint venture to build a cement factory in northern Syria; meanwhile, North Korea would sell Syria cement for its development projects.
According to DEBKAfiles sources, North Korean freighters, which began putting in at Syrias Latakia and Tartus ports in January 2007, unloaded cargoes of cement in which nuclear reactor components and materials were concealed.
The North Korean traffic at these ports and the Durham wheat transaction attracted the attention of US and Israeli secret services.
During the next eight months up until the Israeli attack on Syrias North Korean installation - wheat prices shot up on international markets. Indeed the price of Durham wheat doubled. Had this been a normal commercial transaction, Syria would have claimed additional North Korean goods in compensation. In fact, when import-export officials in Damascus, who knew nothing of the nuclear reactor tradeoff, pointed Assads office to the price fluctuations on the wheat market, they were told that the contracts signed by the president in person must go through without changes.
When later, the Syrian wheat crop fell short of expectations, Syrian officials were again told to fill the North Korean orders in full.
On Sept. 3, the North Korean cement ship Al Hamed docked at Tartus. The freight it unloaded was trucked directly to the cement factory at Al Tibnah in the Syrian Desert, east of the Euphrates River. The Israeli attack took place three days later.
Last Tuesday, Oct. 23, the Syrian ambassador to Washington Imad Mustapha was invited to address the prestigious Institute on Religion and Public Policy. In answer to a question, he acknowledged, Syria gives North Korea wheat, oil and other products. He declined to disclose what Syria got in return. When pressed on this point, Mustapha said in exasperation: Stuff. We get stuff.
Thursday, Oct. 25, a number of leading American media simultaneously ran satellite images of a nuclear installation standing at Al Tibnah in August 2007 and the same site in the second half of September, after it had been cleared of the debris left by the Israeli attack.
This time, Damascus found nothing to say although Syrian officials had commented on former leaks related to the episode. DEBKAfiles Syrian sources report that this and other symptoms indicate that Assad finds himself in a tight corner. He is at a loss to explain to the Syrian public and, worse, to most of his colleagues in the political and military leadership who were kept ignorant of the nuclear transaction with North Korea, how he came to entangle the country in this ill-fated adventure.
In the view of DEBKAfiles Western intelligence source, the Syrian presidents internal and international plight is more acute than that of the Iranian regime or Saddam Hussein in the days leading up to the 2003 US invasion. No incontrovertible proof has so far been shown to demonstrate that Iran has attained the capacity to produce nuclear or radioactive weapons, any more than the Iraqi ruler was positively shown to have weapons of mass destruction. Assads case is more unfortunate; it is now supported by solid evidence in American and Israeli hands.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/29/2007 00:51 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
9/6 > what happened to the nuke fuel, iff any,???
ION, COUNTERTERRORISM BLOG > ISRAEL - WAR WITH EGYPT IN THE WINTER?; + ISR OP-ED > DOES ISRAEL WANT WAR WITH EGYPT?
#3
That part about the rise in grain prices rings true. That's the sort of thing that good intelligence people are supposed to notice. If I was really motivated I'd go look at commodity prices and see if Debka made it up or not.
#4
An Israeli war with Egypt? Egypt would have to drive through the Sinai desert and Gaza Strip to get to Israel, right? And the troops would be wide open to pounding by Israel's air force the entire time? I seem to recall the last time Egypt tried anything like that, Israeli tanks got halfway to Cairo before a ceasefire was imposed.
#5
No fuel yet. Still building and erecting. It would be interesting to speculate how to bring in the rods [from Iran? from NKOR?] Or do they exist underground in Syria from Saddam's program transfer pre-war? I think another shoe has to drop.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
10/29/2007 9:55 Comments ||
Top||
#6
NKor's only real cash crops are nuclear tech and missiles. The tree bark elixir is a bit of an acquired taste, I suspect, due to the high juche content.
Posted by: ed ||
10/29/2007 12:01 Comments ||
Top||
#9
I was surprised to learn that Syria produced anything of any worth. There is a poor wheat crop in Syria and production has gone down due to low rainfall. Also consumption has gone up due to the rising number of refugees. Both influences would tend to drive up the price of wheat. 100,000 tons to NK isn't that much of the crop. Wheat for nuclear technology?
Lebanese leaders fear that Iran and Syria are planning a new assassination campaign in Lebanon as part of an effort to derail the complex negotiations now underway to elect a new president. Newsmax has learned of the plot from interviews with key political and religious leaders in Lebanon.
Lebanese cabinet ministers and some 40 anti-Syrian members of parliament have holed themselves up in an annex to the luxury hotel Phoenicia in downtown Beirut, to protect themselves from assassination. Many have not even seen daylight for the past month, living in separate wing of the hotel with heavy curtains, complex security arrangements, and restricted access, even for family members. One cabinet member was not even allowed to go out this week to attend his father's funeral.
Its either this or the cemetery, said Wael Abou Faour, one of the deputies.
Six anti-Syrian members of parliament, including a government minister, have been assassinated since 2005. The latest victim was Antoine Ghanem, a constitutional scholar murdered along with four others on Sept. 19. Ghanem was a key strategist for the opposition Cedars Revolution who explored constitutional precedent for electing a president with a simple majority of Lebanon's 126 member parliament, instead of a two-thirds quorum, as the pro-Syrian and pro-Iranian parties are insisting.
The constitution is very clear on this point, said Roger Edde, a prominent businessman who is also a lawyer. It says that on the first round of the election, the winner must have two-thirds of those present. But there is no mention of a quorum. If no one is elected on the first round, Edd added, then whoever gets more than 50 percent of the votes will be elected.
Hezbollah and the pro-Syrian parties have been insisting on the two-thirds quarum because they feel confident that can intimidate enough members of parliament to stay home from the special session that will be called for the election, as happened earlier this week.
Fear of assassination has forced Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to literally camp out in his office for most of the past year.
After Ghanem's assassination last month, the U.S. embassy in Beirut issued a statement tacitly accusing Syria and Iran of masterminding the terror campaign. It is not a coincidence that these attacks target those figures who have been working to secure Lebanon's independence from renewed Syrian hegemony, embassy members said. "We note with concern that many Lebanese politicians allied with Syria have in fact warned that murder and violence would be the results of any effort to exercise genuine parliamentary democracy."
Those warnings continued this week.
They have prepared 21 cars, and are planning to kill several top leaders over the next two weeks, a prominent figure in the Cedars Revolution told Newsmax. I received a call on my cell phone a month ago, he said. They were laughing. You think you are protected in your bulletproof car? We will melt you into the pavement with our C4.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
IRAN-DAILY > IRAN WILL FIRE AT [US]MILITARY RECON FLIGHTS.
Lebanon's top Shiite cleric asked Britain on Sunday to adopt the European approach to the region rather than an American one which is using Lebanon to pressure on Syria and Iran.
Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah made his comments during a meeting at his office with visiting British envoy to the Middle East Michael Williams, according to a statement released by the cleric's office. "We want Britain to be European and not to be American or work on the side of America's foreign policy in the region," the black-turbaned cleric said.
Fadlallah received Williams along with British Ambassador to Lebanon Frances Guy, the statement said. The cleric was referring to the to Lebanon's serious political crisis that many in this country see as an indirect conflict between the United States and Syria. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's pro-Western, anti-Syrian government has been deadlocked for 11 months with the pro-Syrian opposition factions led by the militant group Hezbollah.
Many Arabs have criticized Britain in the past for being America's top ally during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Major European countries such as Germany and France were opposed to the war then.
"Britain should move with a new vision of how to end crisis in the region after the matters worsened because of the American intervention in the region and the support of the government of (former) British Prime Minister Tony Blair," the statement added.
The British envoy has been in Lebanon for several days where he has met government and opposition officials over the political crisis. On Thursday, Williams said he was optimistic that Lebanese politicians will reach an agreement in the coming weeks over next month's presidential elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
MP Samir Franjiyeh told Voice of Lebanon( VOL)during an interview that Syria is against holding the presidential elections in Lebanon, according to its most recent instructions to its allies. "Syria sent instructions two days ago to its allies " Franjieh told VOL "the Lebanese should decide between the presidential elections and the International Tribunal ( to try the suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri )." He added " Lebanon cannot have both " Syria has instructed its Lebanese allies.
The UN investigation of the assassination of Hariri blamed several high ranking Syrian security officials for the crime. One of these officials is Assef Shawkat, brother-in -law of the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Syria according to reports from Damascus is worried that the International Tribunal could spell the end of the Assad dynasty.
Franjieh, a presidential candidate and a prominent member of the pro-Government March 14 alliance told VOL that he is not a consensus candidate and does not know if his name is on the list of candidates submitted by the 4 member Christian committee to Cardinal Sfeir.
Franjiyeh said as far as Syria is concerned a consensus candidate means the return of Syria to the Lebanese political scene as a decision maker just like before it was forced out of Lebanon. Syria according to Franjiyeh wants a Lahoud clone , in reference to the despised pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud , whom the Syrian president refers to as " my personal representative in Lebanon".
Posted by: Fred ||
10/29/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
It would be nice to see Lebanon invade Syria. That would be a neat hat trick.
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.
King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz will start Monday a four-nation tour to the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, and Turkey, said a statement by the Royal Court Sunday. The statement broadcast by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said the 13-day tour would be aimed at bolstering bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and these countries During the tour, the King would discuss with European leaders regional and international issues of mutual interest, indicated the statement. This is King Abdullah's second tour to Europe since assuming the leadership of Saudi Arabia in 2005. The previous tour in June included France, Poland, and Spain.
The Bush administration and New York cut a deal Saturday to create a new generation of super-secure driver's licenses for U.S. citizens, but also allow illegal immigrants to get a version. The deal comes about one month after New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced a plan whereby illegal immigrants with a valid foreign passport could obtain a license. 
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Sunday that the federal government didnt succeed in launching a military operation in Swat during the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) government. Addressing a gathering at a Swabi madrassa, the MMA general secretary said that the MMA had become an international power and that the US and Pakistan governments should think twice before taking any action against the alliance. Fazl also criticised the provisions of the polls code of conduct draft that barred people from criticising the army, judiciary and foreign policy. The army will have to face criticism if it tries to interfere in politics, he said.
BAGHDAD-Ahmad Chalabi, the controversial, ubiquitous Iraqi politician and one-time Bush administration favorite, has re-emerged as a central figure in the latest U.S. strategy for Iraq.
Following an appeal to the High Court of Justice from Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, against the decision to cut off electricity to Gaza for short periods of time following Kassam attacks, Attorney General Menahem Mazuz has decided to convene a special meeting on the matter with representatives from the Defense Ministry, and for the time being, the decision to cut off electricity has been frozen, Army Radio reported. 
The visit to Kuwait by President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Mahmoud Abbas due on Monday would be within framework of coordination and consultations between the Palestinian and Kuwaiti leaderships, the PNA spokesman said.
Lebanon's top Shiite cleric asked Britain on Sunday to adopt the European approach to the region rather than an American one which is using Lebanon to pressure on Syria and Iran.
