#1
Iraq template? Talib following the Zarqawi example? One could claim US conspiracy but Occam would suggest it is just that there are a lot of seriously psychotic characters on the fringes of Islam.
#2
#1: Iraq template? Talib following the Zarqawi example? One could claim US conspiracy but Occam would suggest it is just that there are a lot of seriously psychotic characters on the fringes ofat the heart of Islam.
There, corrected it for you, Glenmore.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/01/2008 17:31 Comments ||
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#3
ya know, i really think OP is closer to the truth on that one..
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
11/01/2008 20:50 Comments ||
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The United States said Friday it has received $1.5 billion from Libya, the entire sum required to compensate the families of victims of terrorist attacks.
"The Bush administration will now move expeditiously to arrange for distribution of these funds," a statement by State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice certified to Congress that the United States has received $1.5 billion pursuant to the U.S.-Libya Claims Settlement Agreement," McCormack said.
The sum is to compensate U.S. and other families for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people, and for U.S. families of a Berlin disco bombing that killed two Americans and hurt 50 others. Settling the issue of terrorism claims is a key factor in improving ties between the two former foes, which first began warming after Libya gave up its weapons of mass destruction program in 2003.
On August 14, Libya and the United States signed the compensation deal in Tripoli for victims of Libyan attacks and Libyan victims of U.S. reprisals, paving the way for full normalization of ties between the two countries. Under the deal, a U.S.-Libya fund of $1.8 billion was set up, with 1.5 billion dollars for Americans and 300 million dollars for Libyans. State Department officials said the families of non-American victims of the Pan Am bombing are covered by the 1.5 billion dollars.
The deal prompted a visit to Tripoli in September by Rice, who became the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Libya in more than 50 years. Other diplomatic steps are expected to follow.
Libya made a substantial payment earlier this month, but U.S. officials said then that they could not start making payments until they had received the remaining agreed amount.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
GDP somewhere around $50 billion, it is a significant payment from Sprokets POV, didn't re-animate anyone tho.
"Visit scenic Mexico Die in a drug gang shooting" The place is going to hell, quickly, and it will spill over to the U.S.
Samuel Martines was the first to die. Heavily armed gunmen ambushed the Rosarito Beach police officer as he headed home, firing repeatedly at his 1995 Jeep Cherokee, investigators said.
Rosarito Beach's secretary of public safety, Jorge Eduardo Montero (right), is heavily guarded since he survived an assassination attempt soon after taking the position. He also works from an office away from the main police station.
Within a month of the Sept. 25 assault, six other Rosarito Beach officers were shot dead in similar gangland style. The small municipal police department is reeling from the attacks, and investigators said former and current police officers are involved. Two officers have been arrested, and at least a dozen others have left the force, out of fear or frustration.
As drug gangs have battled for control of the Tijuana and Rosarito Beach region, the police who work for them -- and perhaps some who won't -- have become increasingly targeted. The small force in Rosarito, on a major drug-trafficking route, is no match for the well-financed, powerfully armed traffickers, and the recent weeks have been especially telling.
Rosarito Beach, with a population of about 120,000, has 217 allotted police positions, but with the most recent deaths and defections, it's unclear how many are still on the force. Mayor Hugo Torres reports 170, a high-ranking officer said this week it was 150, and the police chief preferred not to say, for security reasons.
Officers could be targeted for a range of reasons by drug traffickers -- for working for the wrong side, for failing to fulfill a commitment, for refusing to cooperate with traffickers. Some are simply in the wrong place.
"The danger is everywhere," Jesús Echave, a motorcycle officer, said last week as he joined four dozen fellow officers at City Hall in confronting the mayor and police chief to demand better weapons and working conditions.
Reinforcements began arriving last week, and the mayor announced that the military and state police would help patrol the city. A $235,000 contribution from the state will allow the department to buy badly needed equipment, from helmets to bulletproof vests to patrol vehicles.
But in Rosarito Beach and other municipalities along drug corridors, the biggest struggle is often from within: rooting out corrupt officers who cooperate with drug traffickers, either because of terror or ambition.
Torres vowed to clean up the department when he took office Dec. 1. Now, 11 months later, his battle is clearly far from over.
Rommel Moreno Manjarrez, Baja California's attorney general, said investigators are "finding the tip of the iceberg" as they uncover a network of former and active officers linked to organized crime. He plans to turn over his findings to federal organized-crime investigators.
In the meantime, many police officers in the city have been saying they're afraid, even if they aren't involved with criminal groups, because they could be assigned to a partner who is and could end up in the line of fire, said José Manuel Ciprés Tinoco, a councilman who oversees security issues.
More than 400 police officers at all levels of government have been killed across Mexico this year, according to a tally by the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego. Earlier this year, three Mexican police chiefs along the border with Texas and New Mexico sought asylum in the United States, fearful of becoming targets after mass desertions of their officers.
Of some 300,000 police in Mexico, about 70 percent are municipal officers, said Arturo Arango, a public security analyst who works for a Mexico City-based think tank, the Citizens Institute for Studies on Insecurity.
In Mexico, municipal police officers are responsible for enforcing traffic laws and watching out for other administrative infractions such as public misconduct. They're often the first on the scene when larger crimes occur that require them to notify state and federal agencies. Low salaries, few benefits and a system that pressures them to extort citizens and pay a portion to their superiors has made change almost impossible to achieve, Arango said. He believes the only alternative is "starting from zero" with new, well-paid, well-trained recruits and offering benefits such as housing.
Investigators said the violence in Rosarito Beach, which has claimed 30 lives since late September, is largely the result of a power struggle centered in Rosarito and neighboring Tijuana between factions of the Arellano Félix cartel. Tijuana has registered close to 170 deaths in that time period, according to state figures.
Tijuana, with a 2,300-member police department, more than 10 times larger than Rosarito's, has lost five officers in the time Rosarito has lost seven.
Rosarito's troubles predate the Torres administration. A previous police chief, Carlos Bowser, was shot to death in 2005, and a state police officer was among those accused of his slaying. Federal investigators said Bowser had refused to "make arrangements" with organized crime.
Vowing to eradicate corruption, Torres named Jorge Eduardo Montero, 42, a retired military captain, as his secretary of public safety, a position akin to police chief. Less than three weeks after taking the job, Montero was the target of an assassination attempt; he survived, but his bodyguard was killed. A dozen active members of the force were named as suspects.
Torres estimated in a recent interview that "about half" of the untrustworthy officers have been removed.
Since the assassination attempt, the slight, bespectacled Montero doesn't move without heavy protection, working out of a second-floor office at City Hall, away from the main police station in northern Rosarito.
Montero said he feels terror at times but has persisted in his campaign to rid the department of corrupt police. Nearly 60 officers have left since he took over.
"Organized crime relies on the support that it receives, and who are the principal supporters? The police -- federal, state and municipal," Montero said. "When a police force is honest and has no outside commitments, has a strong organization, I feel it could confront organized crime."
For now, Montero said, outside help is essential, especially from the federal government, if there's to be any hope of gaining control over the drug traffickers. "We haven't been receiving the same level of help as other cities in the state. . . . They've been far more focused on Tijuana."
Martines was a veteran police officer hired in Rosarito in 2003, after stints in Tijuana and the state prison system, where he was a shift commander at the La Mesa Penitentiary.
Montero said Martines initially appeared trustworthy. He was named the officer commander of the Primo Tapia substation south of town, one of the most difficult and sensitive patrol areas, where investigators say drugs are unloaded in remote coastal areas and transported inland. But after receiving "delicate information" about the officer, Montero transferred him back downtown, naming him a shift commander.
As the chief's doubts grew, he ordered Martines demoted to patrol officer Sept. 25. The officer was off duty and unarmed, but still in uniform, when he was shot to death hours later.
In the following weeks, six more officers were killed. Manuel DNaz Ayala was shot while guarding a municipal park Oct. 14; Javier Gelista Uribe was driving home on the free road to Tijuana Oct. 16; Jesús Rivera RamNrez and Froilan Olivares were on patrol Oct. 19; and Luis Arturo Granillo Cordova and José Luis Franco Gómez were in a car together, having just come off their shift Oct. 23.
Moreno said Martines' death was ordered by a former officer named Cesar Beltran, who left the force in March and was believed to be working for a breakaway faction of the Arellano Félix cartel -- until he also was shot to death last month.
Moreno wouldn't discuss details of the case. Others with knowledge of the investigation but who asked not to be identified said the first three victims -- Martines, DNaz Ayala and Gelista Uribe -- and Beltran had worked for drug trafficker Eduardo GarcNa Simental, who operates in the area.
The deaths of the last two officers remain under investigation, but Moreno said the fourth and fifth victims are considered a case of mistaken identity: They had borrowed another officer's patrol car that day.
The morning after the last two deaths, City Hall was flooded with nearly 50 officers. They were frightened and angry, and complained that they must check out their weapons when they leave while criminals are always armed. "You have to believe in us," one officer said indignantly. "Because we are officers; we are not criminals."
Farther south, at the Primo Tapia substation, officers were visibly nervous, grabbing their weapons and crouching for protection one recent afternoon each time a passing vehicle slowed down. "When it comes, I don't know where it will come from," one officer said.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/01/2008 13:13 ||
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India blocked a North Korean plane from delivering cargo to Iran in August, responding to a U.S. request based on fears about the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The secret action, described by Western and Asian officials, took place nine weeks before President George W. Bush removed North Korea from Washington's list of terrorism sponsors, as part of an agreement to declaw the North's nuclear program.
U.S. diplomats say engaging North Korea is the best way to ensure its nuclear program doesn't grow more dangerous. But the August incident underscores concern about the Stalinist state's ties to America's foes across the globe. U.S. intelligence officials have said North Korea was helping Syria build a nuclear reactor until the site was bombed by Israel last year. Syria and North Korea reject the charge.
According to the Western and Asian officials, the North Korean plane, an Ilyushin-62 long-range jet owned by the North Korean state airline, made a stop in Myanmar on Aug. 7 and sought permission from Indian air-traffic controllers to fly over Indian airspace. India eventually blocked the flight at Washington's behest, the officials said.
Neither the White House nor the Indian prime minister's office would comment on the operation or describe the cargo believed to be aboard the plane. But officials familiar with the matter said the move was part of the Bush administration's Proliferation Security Initiative, which aims to block the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Any action under the initiative would be ordered only if the plane was suspected of carrying nuclear materials, long-range missile components or other potentially lethal cargo, they said.
The U.S. has long charged Pyongyang with supplying missile technologies to countries like Iran, Syria and Libya. In June 2007, the Bush administration worked with allies to block a Syrian aircraft from landing in Pyongyang on the belief it was engaged in the missile trade. A 2006 United Nations Security Council resolution bars North Korean involvement in long-range missile sales or purchases.
"We never saw nuclear cooperation" between North Korea and Iran, "but ballistic-missile cooperation is a key part of the process of delivering a nuclear payload," said John Bolton, who started the antiproliferation initiative and helped to oversee it as a State Department official during President Bush's first term.
In October, the Bush administration reached a nuclear deal with Kim Jong Il's government that focuses on verifying the dismantlement of the Yongbyon nuclear reactor and shutting down other parts of North Korea's nuclear program. However the agreement doesn't outline steps to end North Korea's production and sales of its medium- and long-range missiles, known as the Nodong and Taepodong.
On Oct. 23, the State Department blacklisted two North Korean companies, Korea Mining Development Corp. and Korea Taesong Trading Co., for violating U.S. bans on the sale of equipment used in building missiles or other weapons of mass destruction to Iran and Syria.
The State Department's point man on North Korea, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, has regularly argued that engaging North Korea and dispatching inspectors to the country greatly enhances Washington's ability to monitor Pyongyang's activities. U.S. officials also say North Korea's missile program can be addressed as negotiations gain momentum and Pyongyang gains confidence in diplomacy.
In the August incident, the North Korean Air Koryo jet, which had stopped in Mandalay, Myanmar, was initially given permission by air-traffic control in Kolkata to fly through Indian airspace.
At 6:35 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time on Aug. 7, India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation in New Delhi sent a message to the Kolkata controllers canceling permission, according to D. Guin, a supervisor at Kolkata Air Traffic Control. Mr. Guin reviewed the flight records of Air Koryo Flight 621 at the request of The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Guin said the denial was then passed on to air traffic control officials in Yangon, Myanmar's capital, who turned back the flight.
A Western official working on antiproliferation activities who was briefed on the Indian action said the U.S. requested the move in support of its antiproliferation program. The official didn't specify the cargo but said the Air Koryo flight was scheduled to fly to Iran.
"North Korea has been supplying missiles to Iran and Syria for some time," said the official. "North Korea has never agreed to stop selling arms to anyone," despite the nuclear accord, he said.
Posted by: john frum ||
11/01/2008 13:07 ||
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#1
So, since it's asserted that the plane never reached Iran, is this another load awaiting the Iran Deyanat?
(APP): Five Pakistani prisoners are held in Guantanamo prison, said a Foreign Office spokesman here on Friday. Pakistan has secured the repatriation of 68 Pakistani detainees from Guantanamo Bay since 2003.
The Spokesman said the Pakistani government is in regular contact with the Office of War Crimes Issue, US Department of State regarding treatment of Pakistani detainees and their early repatriation. "We are committed to seek return of all Pakistani detainees back to Pakistan," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2008 00:00 ||
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ISLAMABAD: President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have agreed for not taking loan on tough IMF conditions.
Fatima Bhutto has pointed out that the current Pak Government is the first in the world headed by two former convicts (between them the president and prime minister have served time on charges of corruption, narcotics, extortion and murder, no less)
According to sources, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met with President Asif Zardari in Presidency and briefed him on Turkey's visit.
Both leaders have agreed that final decision about taking loan from IMF would be taken after President Zaradari's visit of Saudi Arabia and meeting of friends of Pakistan which would be held in Abu Dhabi.
President and prime minister also have the same opinion that attacks of U.S drones in North and South Waziristan is violation of Pakistani territorial sovereignty and it should be halted immediately. Cabinet would be expanded before president's visit to Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: john frum ||
11/01/2008 07:06 ||
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#1
Too bad they haven't figured out the Saudis won't have any excess cash with oil approaching $50 per barrel. Sounds like they're going to have to bootstrap on drug money.
#2
They don't want to borrow the money under any terms. They want it given to them without any strings. I wish them good luck, I've never been able to hook up that sort of thing.
SRINAGAR The resolution of the Kashmir dispute lies in the hands of India and Pakistan, the states main opposition party, the National Conference (NC), has said in its vision document released on Friday as part of the campaign for the upcoming assembly polls. Our governance agenda will not be any hurdle in the resolution of the Kashmir dispute by India and Pakistan but they must keep the aspirations of the people of the state in mind while reaching that resolution, the party said.
Its vision document highlights the partys political and economic agenda for governance in Jammu and Kashmir in the next 15 years. It was prepared by a panel of its leaders headed by Abdul Rahim Rather and included two former chief secretaries of the state, Sheikh Gulam Rasool and Vijay Bakaya.
This vision document is aimed at achieving self-reliance, eradication of unemployment, environmental conservation and good governance in the state, party patron and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah told reporters at the Nawa-e-Subha headquarters of the party in summer capital Srinagar. Party president and MP Omar Abdullah was also present at the function. He reiterated his decision to contest the assembly polls from north Kashmirs Ganderbal constituency.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/01/2008 00:00 ||
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A previously unknown group has claimed responsibility for the serial blasts in India's northeast state of Assam that have claimed 76 lives. The group, identifying itself as the 'Islamic Security Force-Indian Mujahedeen', warned such attacks would continue in Assam state, AFP quoted police as saying on Friday.
"The Islamic Security Force-Indian Mujahedeen takes the responsibility for yesterday's blasts," a text message sent to the Newslive television network in Assam read. The message added, "We warn all of Assam and India about situations like this in the future and we thank all our holy members and partners."
The announcement came as the government announced in New Delhi that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and some of his senior cabinet members will visit Assam on Saturday.
A total of 12 explosions - all within the space of an hour - shook northeastern Assam state on Thursday. Six of the blasts ripped through crowded areas in the main city of Guwahati, killing 76 and injuring a reported 470 people. Police speculation had previously focused on the rebel United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA).
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2008 00:00 ||
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ISTANBUL - Iraq is waiting for the United States to provide details of a deadly U.S. military raid on a Syrian border village, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said on Friday.
The government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has opened an investigation into the incident and has said Iraq must not be used to stage attacks on other nations. We have not received any details from the United States. We have put a request to be informed about the incident, Dabbagh told Reuters on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum meeting in Istanbul. We have expressed our position that Iraq is not accepting this kind of aggression that is creating difficulties with our neighbours, he said.
Syria says eight kittens civilians were killed in the attack on Sunday, which occurred in an area close to Syria's border with Iraq and which Damascus has angrily condemned as terrorist aggression by the United States.
Washington has yet to officially confirm the raid but officials have said on condition of anonymity that the operation is believed to have killed a major al-Qaeda militant responsible for smuggling foreign fighters into Iraq.
Dabbagh also called on Damascus to halt to what he described as insurgent activity inside Syria and to step up intelligence cooperation and border patrolling. 'We would like the Syrians to act as good neighbours, but we are not satisfied with the level of cooperation from the Syrians, he said.
Hence the raid ...
The raid has highlighted the delicate position of the U.S.-backed government, caught between its ally Washington and Damascus, which has long been a target of American ire. Baghdad initially said the raid targeted an area used by militants to launch attacks into Iraq but later denounced it.
Iraq has been hoping for rapprochement with Syria and other Arab neighbours, despite complaints since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that Syria has failed to stop the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq. Dabbagh said relations between Baghdad and Damascus should not be affected by the raid.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/01/2008 00:00 ||
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WASHINGTON- The United States on Thursday condemned the sentencing of 12 leading Syrian dissidents sent to jail for advocating for freedom of expression and a democratic constitution in Syria. A Syrian court sentenced 11 men and a woman to 2-1/2 years each in prison on Wednesday for political crimes.
"The United States condemns the sentencing of 12 members of the Damascus Declaration National Council to two and a half years in prison," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement.
The dissidents were arrested last year in a case that drew international condemnation, with the United States and European nations repeatedly calling for their release. Syrian-U.S. are already strained after a deadly American raid on eastern Syria this week. "This judgment once again underscores the Syrian regime's contempt for the fundamental rights and freedoms of their people," Perino said. "The Syrian regime cannot expect to be treated as a respected member of the international community when it engages in such systematic repression of its own citizens."
The United States called for the immediate release of the 12 Damascus Declaration members, as well as all other political prisoners in Syria.
The 12, who are among Syria's leading intellectuals and opposition figures, have been in jail since their arrest. Most of them are former political prisoners who had already spent long years in Syrian jails. The National Organization for Human Rights in Syria said those convicted had only exercised their rights and quoted an article in the Syrian constitution saying freedom was a "sacred right guaranteed by the state to its citizens".
But Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had said that the 12 were arrested because they had violated the constitution and some of them had associated themselves with what he described as anti-Assad Syrian elements.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/01/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Yeah, but after Jan 20, will we (as in the official US position) still condemn the jailing of dissidents, wherever they may be???
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.
