GHAZNI, Afghanistan As part of his new strategy for Afghanistan, President Obama has announced plans to send 4,000 more American troops this spring to train the Afghan National Police and Army.
But a shortage of American trainers is only one factor hampering the Afghan police. If the experience of the American troops already training police officers in Ghazni Province is any indication, better policing may be impossible for Afghanistan unless government officials at all levels stop cannibalizing their civil administration and police force for a quick profit.
In two weeks of interviews in this mountainous region of poor farmers and shepherds, exasperated American soldiers said it was hard to determine which was their more daunting opponent the few thousand Taliban who ruled villages through a shadow government of mullahs, or corruption so rife that it had deeply undercut efforts to improve the police and had destroyed many Afghans faith in government.
That lack of trust, coupled with the absence of security forces in almost all villages, further strengthens the hand of the Taliban as the only real power here. Ghaznis experience shows the challenge that corruption presents to efforts to establish better policing throughout the country.
The list of schemes that undermine law enforcement is long and bewildering, according to American and Afghan officers who cite some examples: police officials who steal truckloads of gasoline; judges and prosecutors who make decisions based on bribes; high-ranking government officials who reap payoffs from hashish and chromite smuggling; and midlevel security and political jobs that are sold, sometimes for more than $50,000, money the buyers then recoup through still more bribes and theft.
In some cases the American officers requested that their names not be used when discussing specific allegations or that the titles of certain Afghan government and police leaders be withheld, since it would otherwise make it impossible to work with these officials, an important part of their mission.
But the frustration was palpable as they described the enormous corruption running the length of the civilian administration in this province of 1.3 million people, whose capital, Ghazni, lies 80 miles southwest of Kabul.
Referring to one corrupt and high-ranking government official he sees routinely, Maj. Randy Schmeling, a 43-year-old Army National Guardsman who commands the American police mentoring teams in Ghazni, said, Id like to break down his door, stomp on his chest, point my 9-millimeter at his head and say, Stop what you are doing!
Some of the troops Afghan colleagues recognize the problem, too. In every office there is corruption, said Col. Mohammed Zaman, the departing provincial police chief. Its not only prosecutors and judges.
This is the reason no one accepts the rule of law, he said, because the government is not going by the rule of law.
The result is an ineffective and woefully undersupplied Afghan police force and a frustrating lack of justice for Afghans. Worse still, by comparison with the governments exercise of authority, the law imposed by the Taliban is far more certain quick and clear, if ruthless.
The appointed officials and elected officials, the people dont trust them, and they dont trust them with good reason, Major Schmeling said. They take from them and they give nothing back.
He added: Right now, there is no meritocracy here. Its, Hey, your sister has a pretty mouth do you want to be a general?
That culture of corruption affects everything: promotions, assignments, the resolution of cases. As one example, Major Schmeling pointed to a police officer who a year ago was a lowly patrolman and gate guard. Then, he said, the policeman scraped together the money for a new job: a top noncommissioned officer on the provincial police force.
As long as people are buying themselves into positions like that, the people will never trust the system, the major said.
To those buying jobs, the payments are an investment they intend to recover, along with a profit. Jobs that bring more money, like posts near the Kabul-Kandahar highway that allow opportunities for extorting truckers and smugglers, sell for a premium, soldiers here say.
#1
Seems like this is an activity that it is hard to stop. Would it be possible to harness? Pay good money for intel on corruption. Give a small amount for the info. Monitor the suspects and if it pans out, pay a big bonus.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
04/09/2009 16:34 Comments ||
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#2
Corruption Undercuts Hopes for Afghan Chicago, District of Columbia, New Orleans et al Police
How about some house cleaning at home while we're paying attention to what 'corruption' does [regardless of color, race, or creed].
ESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Afghan intelligence agents are sharing information with militants about U.S. and NATO troop movements, a top Taliban commander told NBC News.
"The people of Afghanistan are with us," said Sirajuddin Haqqani, in an exclusive interview. "The Afghan intelligence officials are sympathetic to the Taliban and they communicate the movements of the occupying forces [U.S. and NATO] to us."
#2
The AfghanPakistan intelligence officials are sympathetic to the Taliban and they communicate the movements of the occupying forces [U.S. and NATO] to us."
Fixed
Posted by: john frum ||
04/09/2009 15:02 Comments ||
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#3
"The Afghan intelligence officials are sympathetic to the Taliban and they communicate the movements of the occupying forces [U.S. and NATO] to us."
Quite correct Mr. Haqqani. Please continue your collection and monitoring.
#5
Just one more nail in Pakistan's coffin. The sooner we dismember this failed, terrorist-controlled state, the better. If only the US had a leader, instead of a "community organizer".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/09/2009 15:19 Comments ||
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#6
Funny that the link is to the biggest Taliban propaganda division in the media today.
#8
I had submitted my interview request through two Taliban commanders in South Waziristan. They are men I have known since I was a young reporter they fled Afghanistan and settled in Pakistan, after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.
Ah. An "independent" journalist.
Just the facts, ma'am...
#9
So, how does Haqqani benefit from revealing to imformation? Normally it seems like this the kind of thing sensible people would keep to themselves and deny vigorously if confronted.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
04/09/2009 16:26 Comments ||
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#10
"Afghan intelligence agents are sharing information with militants about U.S. and NATO troop movements"
That's just what we want you to think.
Oh, woe is us - what will we do?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/09/2009 17:50 Comments ||
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#11
This story brought to you courtesy of Inter Services Public Relations.
Posted by: ed ||
04/09/2009 18:36 Comments ||
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#12
Doofus has a little box out front of his hovel - says NYTimes on the side.
Secret talks have began between Somalia's interim government and a group of Islamist hardliners, with independent sources saying Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys is now part of the ongoing process, Radio Garowe reports.
Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, Somalia's new president, was the co-leader of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) with Sheikh Aweys when the group rose to power in south-central Somalia in mid-2006. "Sheikh Aweys is expected to come to Mogadishu soon, so he can join the talks," said a source close to President Sheikh Sharif's government.
The source noted that the Sudanese government has "convinced" Sheikh Aweys to join the peace talks with Sheikh Sharif's interim government, with Islamic scholars reportedly leading the mediation effort.
Mr. Abdullahi Ali, a Somali political analyst, told the VOA Somali Service that the Arab League's decision to give US$18 million donation to President Sheikh Sharif's government came with the "condition" of entering peace talks with the armed opposition, particulary the Sheikh Aweys camp.
Since January, Sheikh Aweys has been a key figure in the Hizbul Islam [Party of Islam] armed group where four Islamist factions merged into a united front, including the Eritrea-based ICU faction and Kismayo-based Ras Kamboni faction. The Hizbul Islam group has been divided in recent weeks, with ex-ICU defense chief Yusuf Indho Ade leading a camp rival to Sheikh Aweys. The Indho Ade camp has overtly supported Sheikh Sharif's government under the condition of introducing Islamic law.
It is not clear where the ongoing peace talks between the Somali government and a part of the armed opposition will lead, but Sheikh Aweys has recently left Eritrea and is currently in Sudan.
Sheikh Aweys has been on the U.S. terror watch list in recent years.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2009 00:00 ||
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Mombasa -- Seven Somalis accused of firing on a German ship off the coast of Yemen have been handed over to authorities in Kenya where they will be tried, officials said.
The men will appear before a judge for a preliminary hearing on Thursday morning, Germany's foreign ministry spokesman Jens Ploetner told a regular briefing, after a German court issued arrest warrants earlier Wednesday. "This morning (Wednesday) Kenyan prosecutors agreed in principle to take in the seven suspected pirates," Ploetner said.
The police commander of Kenya's Mombasa port, Ayub Gitonga, said: "We shall take them to court tomorrow to charge them with piracy, but we are still doing more investigation."
The seven were picked up late last month by Greek and Spanish forces from a European anti-pirate unit off Somalia after they reportedly tried to capture a German oil tanker, the FGS Spessart, off southern Yemen. The group was then transferred to a German frigate, which arrived in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa with the men shortly after 1030 GMT on Wednesday, Ploetner said. Kenyan police were on board the vessel to review the evidence against the suspects, he added.
The case of the seven men has highlighted the legal complexities arising from incidents in international waters.
CAIRO, April 7 (KUNA) — Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa discussed on Tuesday with Russian special envoy to Sudan Mikhail Margelov developments concerning the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the arrest warrant for President Omar Al-Bashir. The spokesman for Arab League Abdul-Aleem Al-Abyad told reporters that Moussa and Margelov, who is currently visiting Egypt to consult on the situation in Sudan, discussed the best ways to help Sudan out of this impasse. Talks between the two highlighted various challenges facing Sudan and how to overcome such challenges to maintain peace in Darfur region, Al-Abyad said. The spokesman also said the two discussed providing a suitable atmosphere to support stability, peace and development throughout Sudan.
Probe report into the brutal and bloody massacre inside Bangladesh Riffles [BDR] headquarters during February 25-26, 2009, done by a team of Bangladesh Army is reported set to be published by April 22. According to several sources, the preview of this much awaited investigation report was already completed last week.
Anticipating the publication of this report, some handpicked number of columnist, social figures, think-tanks, NGOs, politicians and journalists are continuing to publish commentaries opining the trial into this brutal incident in civil court, instead of Court Martial. Several known politicians, whose names already came as the prime suspects as collaborators or conspirators of this massacre, are pursuing such people in doing everything so that the trial into this incident does not take place under military code.
Even though the perpetrators were uniformed personnel ...
To stop the people whose names already came in the probe report, from fleeing the country, necessary instructions will be communicated with all the immigrations points by early next week. Meanwhile, a number of suspected politicians are reportedly planning to flee the country in the name of medical treatment or other excuses. Sensing such tendencies, restrictions may also be imposed on leaving the country without a valid medical ground, to be confirmed by a medical board, comprising representatives from various institutions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2009 00:00 ||
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Members of law enforcing and intelligence agencies have started working with over 2000 still photographs on the fugitive Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) men at 64 districts across the country. Picking up those photographs from different newspapers and television channels, those were later enlarged to different images for the easier identification of the disgruntled BDR personnel.
A competent source said, the photographs and other information on the fugitive BDR members are yet to reach all district and upazilla headquarters, police stations and other law enforcing agencies throughout the country.
With a view to identifying the culprits in connection with the February 25 Pilkhana carnage, the investigators are examining the BDR jawans' cell phones - earlier used for communicating with their relatives during the mutiny hours- through using the mobile-tracking system, said sources.
Meanwhile, efforts to nab about 1800 absconding BDR jawans including around 951 of three battalions inside capital's Pilkhana Headquarters, still continues. Earlier, the government announced Tk 50,000 bounty for handing over to the authorities each fugitive BDR member suspected of involvement in the massacre.
Three investigation committees - CID team led by ASP Abdul Kahar Akhanda, the government probe body headed by former bureaucrat Anisuzzaman and the Army investigation team led by Lieutenant General Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury - are conducting the enquiry into the BDR Headquarters massacre.
Talking to The Bangladesh Today, the chief of the CID Investigation Committee ASP Abdul Kahar Akhanda refused to tell anything about the progress into the investigation only saying, "We are working round the clock to find out the perpetrators of the incidents. I think that we are proceeding towards a conclusion."
Meanwhile, the BDR carnage case, earlier lodged with the Lalbagh Thana was shifted to New Market Police Station on Tuesday. About such move, the Investigation Officer Kahar said, "This was done to avert any Court complications as the Place of Occurrence (PO) is under the jurisdiction of New Market thana."
Asked, 'Would it lay an adverse affect on the investigation?" the CID official replied in the negative and said, "For the smooth completion of the case proceedings, the case was budged to the New Market thana."
"More time would be required to complete the investigation, but I can assure you that the root-cause behind the brutal incident will be come to light and a proper report regarding this would be ready soon," he hoped.
According to sources, a total of 25 BDR jawans so far confessed their involvement in the mutiny. As many as 165 BDR personnel and civilians have been placed on remand and 923 BDR jawans shown arrested, so far in connection with the case.
The law enforces on Wednesday raided some six residences of BDR jawans adjacent to the BDR Gate-1 and 4 in the capital. Joint forces, in presence of the investigation officers, yesterday conducted the search from 7am to 10.30am but failed to arrest anyone or retrieve any firearms, said police.
Meanwhile, BDR Headquarters could not asses accurately the arms and ammunitions which were in the armory before the mutiny and are also yet to finalise the list of absconding jawans officially, said the BDR headquarters office.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2009 00:00 ||
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The Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) yesterday finalised a list of some 202 absconding members of the border guards with their photographs, BDR sources said. A BDR official requesting anonymity told this correspondent last night that a list of 202 absconding jawans of the BDR with their photographs has been complied. The BDR members, who are now residing in Peelkhana, did 'Sheet Roll Parade' there for the first time yesterday, after the BDR carnage, he said. The BDR men usually do the parade on a regular basis, he added.
A joint team of the army, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and police yesterday conducted a joint search at BDR headquarters with a view to recovering firearms and ammunition, the sources said. The search continued from 6am to 11am, but no firearms or ammunition was recovered, the sources added.
A joint team of the army, RAB and CID yesterday raided several houses at Lalbagh in the old part of the city with a view to arresting absconding BDR men for their suspected involvement in the Peelkhana tragedy. But, none was arrested during the search. The law enforcers asked people residing in adjoining areas of the BDR headquarters about the absconding BDR jawans.
Meanwhile, six more BDR men and two outsiders were shown arrested yesterday in connection with the case filed against over 1000 border guards relating to the massacre at the BDR headquarters in Peelkhana. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) produced them before the court of the Metropolitan Magistrate Faisal Atique Bin Quader seeking to show them arrested in the BDR case, he said. The court sent them to Dhaka Central Jail after showing them arrested in the BDR case.
The two outsiders Akmal Hossain and Omar Chowdhury, who were arrested yesterday are the residents of BDR 5 No gate.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2009 00:00 ||
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Eleven out of 12 suspects arrested in a major anti-terror operation in Britain are Pakistani nationals, the head of Greater Manchester Police said Thursday.
"We've been very clear about the origin of the people that have been arrested... 11 of them are Pakistani nationals. That is a matter of fact," said Peter Fahy, briefing reporters on raids carried out across northwest England.
It had already been reported that 10 of those arrested, in raids hastily organised Wednesday after a security blunder by Britain's top counter-terror police chief, were of Pakistani origin, but not their nationality.
Posted by: ed ||
04/09/2009 12:12 ||
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#1
British born pakis or plain old native Pakis makes no difference in the UK they still hold the UK in contempt!!!
North Korea's state-run media reported Tuesday that Kim Jong-Il shed tears of regret during the country's controversial rocket launch because he could not use the launch funds to provide aid to his people, the AFP reported.
Kim "felt regret for not being able to spend more money on the people's livelihoods and was choked with sobs," AFP quoted ruling communist party paper Rodong Sinmun as saying.
The missile launch cost more than a full year's worth of food aid.
"Chants of jubilation are reverberating throughout the country on the news that our satellite is beaming back the 'Song of General Kim Il-Sung' and the 'Song of General Kim Jong-Il,'" the paper said, according to AFP.
State-run television aired video of an apparently healthy leader mingling with farmers and watching bears at the zoo.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Think of the improvements if only he'd watch the farmers and mingle with the bears.
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA -- The satellite that North Korea insists it has sent into orbit was evidently a dummy that the North manufactured to justify testing a Taepodong-2 missile, South Korean space experts say.
No, reeeeaally? What would we do without experts?
The apparent use of a dummy that looked like a satellite on the launch pad boosts US, Japanese, and South Korean claims that the North fired its long-range missile on Sunday to continue developing the technology rather than to pursue space exploration.
Disagreement over North Korea's motivation is one issue blocking the UN from issuing a resolution on Sunday's launch. China, which wields veto power on the UN Security Council, says it's still unclear if North Korea launched a missile or a satellite.
And it won't ever be clear to them ...
Scientists and engineers here disagree. "They cannot have been shooting a real satellite," says Myung Noh-hoon, director of the Space Research Center at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, the country's leading base for science and engineering. "They did not build a satellite."
Mr. Myung, in charge of development of South Korea's satellites in his facility in the city of Daejeon, about 90 miles south of here, bases that assessment on two realities. First, he says, in the two days since the missile was launched, we have been "trying to catch the signal from the satellite." That was not possible, he says, "because it was a dummy, not a real one."
Can't hear the songs and praise for the Dear Leader ...
Second, he adds, while North Korean scientists and engineers are known to have built several hundred short- and mid-range missiles as well as nuclear warheads, there's never been any sign of fabrication of a satellite. "I never heard of them building a satellite," says Myung. "Their level of satellite technology is lower than South Korea's." Six South Korean satellites have gone into space successfully from launch sites in other countries. In July Seoul plans to launch a 100-kilogram (220-pound) satellite -- its first from South Korean soil.
Another factor adding to the conclusion that North Korea never had a satellite was the similarity between the latest episode and the launch on Aug. 31, 1998, of Taepodong-1, which also flew over Japan before landing in the Pacific. Then, as on Sunday, North Korea said the satellite went into space broadcasting patriotic paeans to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and his father, Kim Il Sung, who died in 1994 but holds the title of "eternal president."
Scientists do not understand how North Korea could fail in such costly attempts if they ever intended to loft satellites in the first place. North Korea is believed to have obtained the technology from Iran, which has shot its own satellite into space.
And if you can't trust Iranian satellite technology, what can you trust?
Myung believes, though, that North Korea can count the launch as a success. "They shot a long-range missile farther than ever before," he says. This one went approximately 2,000 miles, twice the distance of Taepodong-1 and nearly half the distance needed to deliver a warhead to Alaska or Hawaii.
As for ever finding the debris from whatever North Korea had as the payload on the latest launch, "it may have been burnt up while returning to the Earth," says Kim Tae-woo, vice president of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses. "As far as I know, their satellite technology is very outdated," says Mr. Kim. "They have tried to advance ballistic missile technology. They do not care about satellites."
No kidding ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2009 00:00 ||
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UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) North Korea warned the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that it would take "strong steps" if the 15-nation body took any action in response to Pyongyang's launch of a long-range rocket.
"If the Security Council, they take any kind of steps whatever, we'll consider this is (an) encroachment on our sovereignty and the next option will be ours," Deputy Ambassador Pak Tok Hun told reporters. "Necessary and strong steps will ... follow that."
Washington, Tokyo and Seoul say North Korea launched a long-range ballistic missile on Sunday in violation of a 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution banning the firing of such missiles by Pyongyang. The resolution was passed after a nuclear test by North Korea.
In a rare appearance before reporters at U.N. headquarters, Pak said criticism of the launch was undemocratic and any country was entitled to use outer space peacefully. "It's not fair. It's not fair," he said. "While they themselves launch more than a hundred times the satellites ... we are not allowed to do that. That is not democratic."
The Security Council held a 3-hour emergency meeting on Sunday but took no action apart from agreeing to return to the issue. Russia and China, with the support of three other council members, made clear that they opposed U.S. and Japanese demands for a resolution punishing North Korea.
Even though past resolutions called for just that if the Norks launched an ICBM ...
The five permanent members of the Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- plus Japan met at U.N. headquarters on Monday to explore a possible compromise, but Japan and the three Western powers failed to persuade Russia and China that strong condemnation was needed.
Diplomats from the six powers had planned to meet again on Tuesday. But that meeting was postponed because several delegations "are not ready," one diplomat said. It was not clear when the meeting would go ahead.
No need, we all already know the outcome ...
Russian Deputy U.N. Ambassador Konstantin Dolgov said he hoped the six could agree on a response that could be put to the full council for unanimous approval.
"So far we are not yet there," he added.
One diplomat close to the talks on Monday described the situation as a "stalemate." Another diplomat said on Tuesday the talks were still deadlocked.
As permanent council members, China and Russia have veto powers and have made clear they would be prepared to use them to stop new sanctions on Pyongyang. The United States and Japan would like a resolution that expands existing financial sanctions against North Korea.
But U.N. diplomats say the United States and Japan might have to accept a non-binding warning statement from the council instead of a legally binding resolution.
That's telling 'em ...
A Western diplomat said China had proposed a weak statement, "a completely watered down text which is unacceptable to us (and) ... not even worth discussing."
So walk out, implement sanctions on your own and be done with the asshats at Turtle Bay.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday the council "must avoid any hasty conclusions" on North Korea, which foolishly says the rocket placed a satellite into orbit.
The United States, Japan and South Korea insist that the rocket launch was a clear violation of Security Council resolution 1718, which the council adopted unanimously after North Korea's nuclear test in October 2006.
China and Russia are not convinced it was a breach. "We believe the U.N. Security Council should act carefully concerning resolution 1718," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in Beijing.
"There are similarities but also differences between rocket and missile technology," she said. "Launching a satellite is different in nature from firing a missile or a nuclear test. This issue also involves the right of all countries to peaceful use of outer space."
Beijing, the nearest North Korea has to a major ally, has said any U.N. reaction must be "cautious and proportionate."
As in, do nothing.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
What strong steps---the entire population of N. Korea will go on a hunger strike?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/09/2009 11:59 Comments ||
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#5
In that case, the drink has to be made w/ Everclear.
Posted by: ed ||
04/09/2009 12:05 Comments ||
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#6
Yeah, yeah. North Korea, we surrender. Here, we'll give you the UN. I hear you have a mostly-empty half-completed skyscraper in Downtown Pyongyang. We'll pay you to finish it if you'll take the UN diplomatic corps!
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/09/2009 14:33 Comments ||
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A hard-line cleric who negotiated a peace accord that halted fighting between the Taliban and security forces in part of northwest Pakistan said Thursday he is leaving the region to protest the government's failure to impose Islamic law.
The announcement casts serious doubt on the durability of a cease-fire in the Swat valley that U.S. officials worry will create another sanctuary for allies of al-Qaida responsible for a rising tide of violence in the nuclear-armed country.
The U.S. Embassy said "heightened security" was prompting it to suspend routine consular services Friday in Pakistan's capital. Spokesman Lou Fintor declined Thursday night to detail what led to the security concern in Islamabad, but said consulates in other major cities would remain open and that emergency services would still be available for Americans.
Imposing Islamic law in Swat, a one-time tourist haven, was the key plank of an accord worked out in February between the provincial government and Sufi Muhammad, a cleric who once led thousands of volunteers to fight U.S. forces in Afghanistan but has since renounced violence.
Thanks in part to Muhammad's mediation, the agreement ended 18 months of terror and bloody clashes that had left hundreds dead and forced up to one-third of the previously prosperous valley's 1.5 million residents to flee.
But the militants have retained their arms and this week pushed into a neighboring area just 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Islamabad, where they fought deadly gunbattles with villagers and police.
Why it's almost as if the Taliban were planning on extending their grip all along ...
Posted by: ed ||
04/09/2009 12:09 ||
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Posted by: Oscar Whavinter7650 ||
04/09/2009 13:32 Comments ||
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#3
...Sufi Muhammad, a cleric who once led thousands of volunteers to fight U.S. forces in Afghanistan but has since renounced violence.
But the militants have retained their arms and this week pushed into a neighboring area just 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Islamabad, where they fought deadly gunbattles with villagers and police.
Geez, just think of what would've happened if he hadn't "renounced violence"?
ISLAMABAD, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The visit by Richard Holbrooke, U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, to the region has, for the first time, exposed sharp differences between the United States and Pakistan with regard to anti-terror operations.
"The stance of the Pakistan side came as a rude shock to Americans," Pakistani newspapers on Wednesday quoted a source in the U.S. delegation visiting Islamabad as saying after parleys between the two sides.
Differences between Washington and Islamabad with regard to their mutual cooperation in the war against terrorism, now called international contingency operations, had been simmering since long.
However, their 'trust deficit' has emerged more vividly in the wake of announcement of the new U.S. policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan, which has given a regional aspect to the Afghan problem. This trust deficit now seems to have changed into a full-grown standoff.
"Islamabad has flagged certain red lines that cannot be crossed by the United States," uttered a seemingly defiant Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the foreign minister of Pakistan, while addressing a joint conference with Richard Holbrooke and Mike Mullen, after their talks in Islamabad on Tuesday.
He categorically said: "Pakistan has made it clear to the United States that it would not accept any foreign boots on the Pakistani soil."
Islamabad has been criticizing the U.S. drone attacks in the tribal areas along the Afghan borders, ever since their commencement in August last year. However, Washington persistently says these attacks have proved effective and would be continued.
U.S. drones have so far made over 35 missile strikes in the tribal areas, killing more than 300 people, including a large number of foreign militants. U.S. officials claimed that 13 of the top 20 Al-Qaeda leaders have been eliminated in these drone attacks.
However, Pakistan said these attacks are hampering its efforts to eliminate terrorism.
Rather, Islamabad on Tuesday demanded drone technology and authority to itself carry out these attacks.
For its part, the United States - alleging links between ISI, Pakistan's top military intelligence agency and Taliban - does not seem to trust the Pakistani forces.
"There are challenges associated with the ISI," Admiral Mike Mullen explicitly said at a joint briefing in Islamabad, while addressing Pakistan's concern against U.S. allegations against the Pakistani spy network.
"There is support (in the ISI) for some (militant) organizations," he further asserted.
Perhaps that is the reason that General Asif Shuja Pasha, the ISI chief, reportedly refused to hold separate meeting with the visiting U.S. officials.
Besides the ISI issue, differences also surfaced during the talks on the issue of carrying out joint military operations against militants in the tribal agencies.
"Pakistan rejects the U.S. proposal for carrying out joint operations against militants," newspapers quoted Pakistan government sources as saying.
Last week, there were reports in British and American media that U.S. and Pakistani forces contemplated joint operations in South Waziristan tribal agency to eliminate Baitullah Mehsud, the chief of Pakistani Taliban, for whom Washington has fixed 50 million dollars bounty.
Earlier, while charting out the new war on terror policy of his administration, President Obama had said that the U.S. and Pakistani forces would continue cooperation to eliminate terrorism.
However, Yousuf Raza Gilani, the prime minister of Pakistan, rejected these reports the other day, saying they were mere speculations.
The new defiant posture of Pakistan is not an instant flare up of sentiments on the part of the Pakistani leaders.
There are reports that Pakistan's defiant mood came after a collective decision of the government and the security establishment to adopt a tough posture.
"The Pakistan Army chief, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, expressed Pakistan's concern (to the U.S. delegation) without mincing his words," Pakistani government sources said.
Pakistan seems to be not bothered even about the tempting 1.5 billion dollar annual aid package, which Washington has promised in response to Islamabad's cooperation in the war on terror.
"Blank check policy should be for both sides," Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in his press briefing, referring to a last week report, which quoted U.S. officials as saying that while extending aid, Washington would not give any blank check to Pakistan and would rather 'hold Pakistan accountable' for the spending it makes on war on terror.
If the impression gathered from the joint press conference of Holbrooke and Qureshi and the ensuing media reports are some things to believe in, Islamabad appears determined not to 'do more,' at the call of Washington - as has always been alleged by the opponents - if not fully parting ways with its long-time ally
Posted by: john frum ||
04/09/2009 10:56 ||
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#1
The Mullah-Pak Army alliance have always been Jihadi,anti west actually anti anyone who is non muslim!!!
At least we are starting to treat them as enemies which is what they are not as Allies like before.Saudi please note!!!
WASHINGTON: A begging bowl in one hand hasn't stopped Pakistan from staging finger-wagging histrionics against the United States after Washington conveyed tough metrics for massive new financial aid it has earmarked for Islamabad.
US officials in Washington acknowledged tensions at a meeting in Islamabad between principals from the two sides to discuss security and intelligence issues, but said the Obama administration would continue to work with Pakistan.
''We have been working with Pakistan as best we can to support them in their efforts to fight extremists. Were going to continue to do so. Will there be differences of opinion from time to time on how we move forward? Yes. But this is normal in this type of relationship, particularly when youre dealing with very difficult, thorny issues, state department spokesman Robert Wood said on Wednesday, following reports of a tension-filled meetings.
Advice by US interlocutors to Pakistan that it has to forgo terrorism as a policy option, cut its intelligence agency ISI's ties with the Taliban, stop pandering to an extremist agenda, and submit to an strict audit of foreign aid, was met with shrill denunciation by Pakistani leaders, including a public display of pique by its foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at a press conference in Islamabad.
Asked about President Barack Obama's observation during the unveiling of the new Af-Pak policy that there would be no ''blank checks'' for Pakistan, Qureshi retorted that Pakistan would neither accept blank checks nor give them.
The snarky response was a rejection of US request for joint ground operations in Pakistan to hunt down al-Qaida and Taliban leadership, according to reports in the Pakistani media.
Qureshi also publicly denounced US drone attacks at a joint press conference with US interlocutors Richard Holdrooke and Mike Mullen by his side, bluntly saying the two sides disagreed on the matter and there were certain red lines he had flagged.
(The Taliban meanwhile insists that the Drone strikes are taking place with the connivance of the Pakistani government and the military and its attacks in the Pakistani heartland is in retaliation for Islamabads partnership with US)
However, the Pakistani histrionics over the drone strikes have evidently not made the slightest impression on US. Shortly after Holbrooke and Mullen left Islamabad for New Delhi on the third and final leg of their regional visit, US drones struck again in South Waziristan on Wednesday night, hitting a vehicle allegedly carrying terrorists and killing four.
From all accounts, especially in the Pakistani media, the Holbrooke-Mullen mission to Islamabad was a disaster that has further exacerbated already fraught ties between the two sides.
''Drone attacks and other sensitive issues cast shadows over high-level talks between senior Pakistan and US officials,'' the Pakistani daily The News reported on the exchanges, adding that ''the body language of the foreign minister at the press conference said it all, and unlike other times with foreign dignitaries, Qureshi appeared ill and uncomfortable.''
There was no such discomfort from the US side as it conveyed several tough messages. US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen bluntly told his hosts that the top leadership of Taliban is hiding in Pakistan and controlling the covert war against US-led forces in Afghanistan.
In an obvious reference to Pakistan's denials, Mullen said the US knew from various sources that the Taliban shura was hiding in Balochistan and that had serious implications for the new US strategy for the region. He said the issue had been discussed with the Pakistani leadership.
Washington has warned that it is considering expanding drone attacks to Baluchistan.
Mullen's civilian counterpart, Af-Pak Special Representative Richard Holbrooke, on his part, rejected Pakistani demand for US intervention in Pakistan's dispute with India over Kashmir, sticking to the familiar line that it was up to the two countries to resolve the matter bilaterally.
But the issue that has caused the most bitterness between the two sides is the US charge, amplified publicly several times in the last few weeks, that Pakistan's spy agency ISI is in cahoots with the Taliban and other terrorist networks. Pakistani leaders have raged against the allegation, but Washington has not backed down, insisting that Islamabad purge the organization of rogue elements.
The flap over the ISI issue became so serious that the Pakistani sources leaked a story to the local news media that the countrys chief spook, Ahmed Shuja Pasha, had declined a one-on-one meeting with the US visitors as a mark of protest against (or a snub to) the American allegations.
A Pakistani military spokesman later denied the reports and said Pasha had been present at a joint meeting the Pakistani delegation had with Holbrooke and Mullen
But US observers were unimpressed, and the feeling continues to be strong in Washington that Pakistan is pushing the envelope with Washington to extract more US aid.
''Islamabad carefully stage-managed this unprecedented snub by the ISI chief as a means of telegraphing its resentment over a number of issues brewing between Washington and Islamabad,'' said Stratfor, a US think-tank, in its assessment of the exchanges with Pakistan.
''The snub is also part of an emerging consensus between Pakistan's military and civilian government that Islamabad needs to increase its bargaining power with the US as an ally in the war against militant Islamists,'' Stratfor said.
Pakistani leaders also repeatedly called for a ''no strings attached'' aid from the world, saying it should be left to decide how it will spend the billions Washington is lining, ostensibly to save the country from collapse.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/09/2009 08:47 ||
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Fuck them. Let it collapse, bulldoze it over, and start again.
#3
Also, not only do they have the most corrupt leader in their history who was convicted and sentences to 11 years, he's now looting the highway toll which go directly into his personal swiss account based on what I've been hearing. I don't trust them with no strings attached with our billions and they don't seem to be able to give a straight answer for sh*t.
#6
Halfway to Freedom: A Report on the New India,Simon and Schuster, New York, 1949 - By Margaret Bourke-White
"America needs Pakistan more than Pakistan needs America," was Jinnah's reply. "Pakistan is the pivot of the world, as we are placed" -- he revolved his long forefinger in bony circles -- "the frontier on which the future position of the world revolves." He leaned toward me, dropping his voice to a confidential note. "Russia," confided Mr. Jinnah, "is not so very far away."
This had a familiar ring. In Jinnah's mind this brave new nation had no other claim on American friendship than this - that across a wild tumble of roadless mountain ranges lay the land of the BoIsheviks. I wondered whether the Quaid-i-Azam considered his new state only as an armored buffer between opposing major powers. He was stressing America's military interest in other parts of the world. "America is now awakened," he said with a satisfied smile. Since the United States was now bolstering up Greece and Turkey, she should be much more interested in pouring money and arms into Pakistan. "If Russia walks in here," he concluded, "the whole world is menaced."
In the weeks to come I was to hear the Quaid-i-Azam's thesis echoed by government officials throughout Pakistan. "Surely America will build up our army," they would say to me. "Surely America will give us loans to keep Russia from walking in." But when I asked whether there were any signs of Russian infiltration, they would reply almost sadly, as though sorry not to be able to make more of the argument. "No, Russia has shown no signs of being interested in Pakistan."
This hope of tapping the U. S. Treasury was voiced so persistently that one wondered whether the purpose was to bolster the world against Bolshevism or to bolster Pakistan's own uncertain position as a new political entity. Actually, I think, it was more nearly related to the even more significant bankruptcy of ideas in the new Muslim state -- a nation drawing its spurious warmth from the embers of an antique religious fanaticism, fanned into a new blaze.
Jinnah's most frequently used technique in the struggle for his new nation had been the playing of opponent against opponent. Evidently this technique was now to be extended into foreign policy
Posted by: john frum ||
04/09/2009 11:34 Comments ||
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#7
It ain't personal - they bite every hand around.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/09/2009 18:06 Comments ||
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LAHORE: Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan, chatting quietly with Admiral Mike Mullen, the Joint Chiefs' chairman, was perceived as rude and contemptuous, BBC said on Wednesday.
In other news, water is wet ...
Reporting from Islamabad, the broadcaster said both sides looked a little ill at ease in Tuesday's joint press conference after "frank" discussions -- a sign it concluded that tensions had emerged between Washington and Islamabad.
Holbrooke and Mullen were on their first visit to Pakistan since Barack Obama unveiled his new strategy to fight the Afghan war. They had come to discuss details of the strategy and deepen co-operation. Instead, their visit highlighted quite publicly clear differences between Pakistani and American views.
One was missiles strikes against suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives on Pakistani soil by unmanned CIA drones. These are expected to continue and possibly increase, despite objections from Islamabad. "We did talk about drones and let me be frank, there's a gap between us and them," Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said.
American officials have implied that Islamabad has given tacit approval for the attacks, which they say have eliminated Al Qaeda operatives. But the missiles also kill civilians and critics argue that the strikes compound anti-Americanism and further destabilise the country.
The Americans were asked to transfer the drone technology and authority to the Pakistan Army. This came as a rude shock to the Americans, who have taken Pakistan's leadership for granted. Adm Mullen dodged the question.
Another bone of contention was an American "slander campaign" against the ISI.
"The challenges are associated with the ISI's support historically for some of the [militant] organisations and I think it's important that that support ends," Mullen has told journalists.
The US is also concerned about Pakistan's border areas when pressed for evidence on allegations that the Taliban leadership was based in Pakistani, Holbrooke said, "I hear there is a Quetta Shura because people tell me about it."
When asked whether the public pressure on the ISI was not counter-productive, he said, "We're putting on as much pressure as the system can bearm ... but we're not beating up on anyone." The Pakistani perception is that they are. A security source told the BBC that the Americans had been given a sharp message to back off.
"The bottom line," the foreign minister said, "is the question of trust ... We can only work together if we respect and trust each other. There is no other way, nothing else will work."
Posted by: john frum ||
04/09/2009 08:46 ||
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LAHORE: The United States has assured Pakistan it will not carry out drone attacks in Balochistan, President Asif Ali Zardari said in an interview with Daily Times Editor Najam Sethi for Dunya TV on Wednesday.
Those aren't our drones. Check with the Samoans ...
Not only the people of Pakistan, but also the government is concerned over the drone attacks, Zardari said. He said the US had incorporated several of Pakistans suggestions in its new policy for Afghanistan, but the two countries disagreed on the drone strikes. However, he said Washington has assured us it will not carry out drone attacks in Balochistan.
Nope, nope, wasn't us, we said we wouldn't, nope, check with Finland ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2009 00:00 ||
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NEW DELHI: The US has no plans to mediate between India and Pakistan, Washingtons Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said during his visit to India on Wednesday. We cannot negotiate between the two countries. Our trip was designed to move forward a process in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We stopped here to inform and consult the Indian government, he said when asked if the US was trying to push India and Pakistan to settle Kashmir.
Talking to reporters after his talks with Indian officials, Holbrooke and US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen called for cooperation between India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US to fight the common threat and stabilise the region.
The common threat is Pakistain ...
Holbrooke said Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Masood was a danger to Pakistan and Afghanistan, but his threats to the US were not backed by events.
The envoy expressed concern over the events in Swat. We met people of the area to learn more about it. It was a very difficult and touching meeting. What has happened in Swat has stunned many people in Pakistan. Events in Lahore attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team and a police academy have raised concerns. Everyone should know what is happening, he said.
Holbrooke said his visit to India was also aimed at moving beyond bilateral relations and involving India in global and strategic issues. We cannot settle Afghanistan and many other issues without Indias full involvement, he said.
That'll twist a few tails in Pak-land ...
The US officials had extensive discussions with Indias National Security Adviser MK Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon in the last leg of their whirlwind tour. Mullen separately also met navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2009 00:00 ||
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The first glimmer of brains in the current US admin.
MINGORA: Pakistani Taliban commander Mullah Nazeer Ahmed said in an interview with Al Qaedas media arm, Al-Sahab, that the Taliban would soon capture Islamabad.
Pakistani Taliban factions had united and would take their war to the capital, he said. The day is not far when Islamabad will be in the hands of the mujahideen.
He accused the Pakistan Army of sending spies to facilitate US drone strikes against Al Qaeda and Taliban, and said Pakistani authorities were misleading the public by saying it was the United States carrying out the attacks. All these attacks that have happened and are still happening are the work of Pakistan, he said, according to a transcript of the interview posted on Al-Sahabs website.
So Naz, the Pak government, and all the experts tell us that the drone attacks are helping the Talbunnies. Guess we should keep doing them ...
Mullah Nazeer Ahmed also blamed the Pakistani militarys Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency for sowing divisions between factions, saying the ISI was the Talibans main enemy.
He's saying that for western consumption, of course ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2009 00:00 ||
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WAFF.com > POSTER = seems large parts of AFPAK were part of ANCI-I-I-IENT PERSO-IRANIAN, etc. EMPIRES.
UNITED NATIONS: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said the flogging of a girl in Pakistan was unacceptable and the chief justice had taken the right decision to launch an investigation.
While I appreciate different systems and traditions in different countries, respecting and upholding basic human rights this is most important, Ban told reporters. These are universally accepted and upheld principles which we must respect.
Not that anyone in Pak-land listens to you ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2009 00:00 ||
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Keep talking Banki, and you'll lose OIC support.
WASHINGTON: Al Qaeda, Taliban and other militants have been relocating from the Tribal Areas to Pakistans overcrowded and impoverished cities, which is likely to make it harder to find and stop them from staging terrorist attacks, officials say.
Doesn't make it harder for us to drone-zap them, but it does push them farther from the border.
Concerns are growing among US intelligence and military officials that CIAs drone strikes are bolstering the insurgency by prompting radicals to disperse from the Tribal Areas into Pakistans heartland. Putting these guys on the run forces a lot of good things to happen, said a senior US defence official. It gives you more targeting opportunities. The downside is that you get a much more dispersed target set and they go to places where we are not operating.
Moreover, the officials point out, the strikes by the missile-firing drones are a recruiting boon for extremists because of the civilian casualties.
Yup, that's it, might as well give up now ...
The attacks may have hurt more than they have helped, said another US military official involved in counter-terrorism operations. The official called the drone operations a recruiting windfall for the Pakistani Taliban.
Good lord, stop the hand wringing and man up!
As a result of the drone attacks, insurgent activities are more dispersed in Pakistan and focusing on Pakistani targets, said Christine Fair of the RAND Corp, a think tank that advises the Pentagon.
US officials have long identified Karachi as the headquarters of the Afghan Talibans fundraising committee, and many top Taliban were educated at the Binori Mosque. An upheaval in Karachi would be catastrophic, they say.
For who?
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2009 00:00 ||
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Binori Mosque and a plane crash - sounds like an appropriate drone.
#2
"Taliban and other militants have been relocating from the Tribal Areas to Pakistan's overcrowded and impoverished cities"
Where we have a better chance of getting someone to drop a dime on them for a cool million or five. And where their communications are more likely to be intercepted and their interactions with others more easily watched.
I say this is a "good thing".
"US intelligence and military officials"
This could mean two people out of thousands believe this. And a "military official" doesn't need to be "in the military". This could be some mid-level civilian working at the Pentagon cafeteria for all we know.
Safe to ignore this story until they can give a clearer picture of the source. This one is vague enough to have been made up by the reporter.
#4
Let them move into the cities, then ARCLIGHT the cities. Once there aren't more than a handful of survivors, give the eastern half to India. Use the western half as a carrot to get rid of the corruption in Afghanistan.
Works for me, anyway...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/09/2009 22:39 Comments ||
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The multibillion IPI gas pipeline project has been delayed largely owing to US pressure on Pakistan and India
Pakistan's Federal Cabinet Wednesday approved the construction of long-delayed Pakistan-Iran-India (IPI) gas pipeline and also gave the go ahead for purchase of 750 million cubic feet gas from Iran to fulfill the growing local requirements.
The cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, also decided to a gas import agreement with Iran and to utilize the imported gas for power generation in place of furnace oil which would prove about 40 percent economical, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira told media after the meeting.
The multibillion IPI gas pipeline project has been delayed largely owing to US pressure on Pakistan and India and also differences over the price mechanism between the three countries.
India has quietly drawn out the project, but China has shown interest to be part of the overland gas pipeline project and Pakistan has remained committed due to ever-increasing energy crises in the country.
Minister Kaira told media that the cabinet called for aggressive planning for exploration of natural resources so that the countrys dependence on import of oil and gas could be reduced. To a question about US pressure, the minister rejected interference by any other country in the project and said that Pakistan is a sovereign country and makes its decisions independently.
#1
Pakistan isn't enough of a market to justify construction of a pipeline.
India is the market but they don't trust the Paks not to shut off the supply or to simply secure the pipeline from the Bugtis and Mazaris (who have yet to see a pipeline they don't want to blow up)
Posted by: john frum ||
04/09/2009 19:18 Comments ||
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South Park's creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were given a signed photo of Saddam Hussein. During his captivity, US marines forced Saddam, who was executed in 2006, to repeatedly watch the move South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut, which shows him as gay, as well as the boyfriend of Satan. He was also regularly depicted in a similar manner during the TV series.
The admission comes with the show's 13th season already running in the US. It will celebrate its 12th anniversary later this year. The show, which satirises a wide range of topics, including religion, sexuality and mental illness, has won a number of awards including three Emmys for Outstanding Animated Programme.
Stone, 37, said both he and Parker, 39, were most proud of the signed Saddam photo, given to them by the US Army's 4th Infantry Division. He said: "We're very proud of our signed Saddam picture and what it means. Its one of our biggest highlights.
"I have it on pretty good information from the marines on detail in Iraq that they showed Saddam the movie. Over and over again -- which is a pretty funny thought.
"That's really adding insult to injury."
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2009 10:50 ||
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Hope they translated it for him too.
Of course, now they need a new boy friend for Satan. Please let it be Bammo, please let it be Bammo...
Two military contractors, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman, agreed on Wednesday to a Pentagon deal that will clear the way for all three of the Navys multibillion-dollar stealth destroyers to be built at General Dynamics shipyard in Maine, Pentagon and industry officials said.
Northrop Grumman, which had expected to build one of the DDG-1000 destroyers at its shipyard in Mississippi, will contribute major components for each of the vessels. It will also receive contracts for two other destroyers as the Navy restarts production of an earlier model.
Stock analysts said the deal, pushed by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, appeared to be a winning proposition for both contractors.
Mr. Gates delivered a gift to the shipbuilders, said Loren B. Thompson, a military consultant and the chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute, a research group.
Military officials said the precise financial arrangements still needed to be worked out.
Pentagon officials had estimated that the first of the new destroyers, also known as the Zumwalt class, would cost $3.3 billion, with additional ships costing at least $2.5 billion each if the Navy had built the 10 that were originally planned.
But given Mr. Gatess decision to limit the program to three ships, independent analysts said, various economies of scale would be lost, and the average cost could rise to $5 billion or more.
Still, in proposing a range of cuts in arms programs on Monday, Mr. Gates said he would build only one of the destroyers if General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman would not agree to have all three built at Bath Iron Works in Maine.
Mr. Gates said it would have been far too costly and inefficient to have both shipyards gear up to be the lead contractor.
Representative Gene Taylor, a Democrat from Mississippi and the chairman of a House armed services subcommittee, said the deal was good for Northrop Grumman because it ensured that the company was aligned with where the Navy sees its future.
Under the plan, Northrop Grumman will restart production of the DDG-51, also known as the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, at its Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., and build the first two ships. General Dynamics will build the third once it completes work on the DDG-1000s at the Bath Iron Works. Officials said it was likely that the companies would split any subsequent orders through some type of competitive bidding.
Military analysts have estimated that the DDG-51s could cost an average of $1.5 billion to $2 billion each, depending on how many are eventually built.
Navy officials had originally embraced the shift to the DDG-1000, in part because it would have new types of radars, designed by Raytheon, that allowed it to make precise scans in relatively cluttered areas near coastlines. That ability was designed to fit the Navys increasing emphasis on operating in shallower, coastal waters.
But as the cost estimates rose last year, Navy officials began backing away, saying they could no longer afford the ship.
Still, the DDG-1000 had substantial political support from Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the Democrat from Massachusetts, where Raytheon is based, and other legislators from New England who were concerned about losing jobs at the Maine shipyard, which employs 5,600. The yard, which began building the first ship in February, expects to deliver it in 2013.
Analysts said that the Navy generally fared better than the Air Force and the Army in the Pentagons proposals.
Mr. Gates said the Navy would gradually slow the production of aircraft carriers, with the total dropping to 10, from 11, after 2040. Northrop Grumman, which builds the carriers, said in a note to employees that it believed that proposal requires a closer look.
Mr. Gates also said he would delay development of a new cruiser and amphibious ships.
But he endorsed the Navys goal of buying 55 Littoral Combat Ships, a high-speed coastal combat vessel that has experienced huge cost overruns. His proposals included money for expanding construction of the Virginia-class submarines to two each year, starting in fiscal 2011, from one now. And he said the Navy could start planning a new generation of ballistic missile submarines.
#1
joint ventures among competitors are good for all involved if the price is right - it keeps both employed and operative, because you can't jumpstart a defense construction company of that size should another big "test for Obama" emerge
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2009 21:25 Comments ||
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The single point of negotiations: How quickly will Obama disarm the USA.
Iran's president said Thursday his country is open to talks offered by the U.S. and other countries over its nuclear program. But he insisted the talks must be based on respect for Iran's rights, suggesting the West should not try to force Tehran to stop uranium enrichment.
Hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made the comments during celebrations for Iran's Nuclear Day, in which a number of advances in Iran's nuclear program were announced.
Among them, officials said the number of centrifuges at Iran's uranium enrichment facility had increased to 7,000 up from 6,000 announced in February and that a new, more advanced type of centrifuge had been tested. Ahmadinejad also announced the opening of a new plant for developing uranium fuel for a planned hard-water reactor.
...
Ahmadinejad said the new centrifuge has been tested, and has several times more capacity more than the P-1 centrifuges currently used at the Natanz uranium enrichment plant in central Iran. Neither gave details on the new centrifuge or said when it might be brought into use.
Ahmadinejad also said the country has inaugurated a new facility producing uranium fuel for a heavy-water nuclear reactor that is under construction in the town of Arak and is expected to be completed in 2009 or 2010.
Heavy-water reactors use a different process than light-water ones, but has its own nuclear proliferation concerns. The West fears that Iran could eventually reprocess spent fuel from the heavy-water reactor to produce plutonium for a warhead.
Iran has been building the 40-megawatt hard(heavy)-water reactor in the central town of Arak for the past four years. Hard-water reactors do not need enriched uranium for fuel, and can instead use more easily produced uranium oxide ore, fashioned into pellets.
Posted by: ed ||
04/09/2009 11:59 ||
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Most likely they have reached the stage they wanted to ie nuclear bomb capability so talks are easier now!!!!
Ahmad al-Asaad has decided to stand up to the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon's June 7 parliamentary elections, despite the widespread belief he stands no chance in the face of the Shiite Goliath. "I will topple the Iranian project," Asaad, a south Lebanon native who heads his own mainly Shiite party, told AFP. The election will pit the Hezbollah-led alliance, backed by Syria and Iran, against the Sunni-led majority, backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia.
The Lebanese Option Gathering, as Asaad's party is known, is an "independent" movement that aims, he says, to stand up to Hezbollah's "monopoly over Shiite representation" in Lebanon. The 46-year-old mathematician-turned-businessman ran for a seat in the 2005 parliamentary elections but lost to Hezbollah by a wide margin. Unfazed, the silver-haired father of two plans to run again, this time with a list of 14 members of his party, founded in July 2007.
Lebanon's rival political groups joined ranks in a unity government, in which the opposition has veto power, at the start of the summer of 2008 under a Doha-sponsored accord aimed at ending the worst inter-Lebanese violence to rock the country since the 1975-1990 civil war. The national unity government has been largely paralysed, however, with ministers locking horns over Hezbollah's stockpile of arms.
"The opposition's plans are dangerous for Lebanon and for the Shiites in particular," said Asaad, the son of former House Speaker Kamel al-Asaad. "The opposition uses the Shiites as fuel in their plan to establish an Iranian empire."
The Asaad dynasty has itself come under fire among residents of the south, some of whom accuse the family of a political monopoly of its own. "Ahmed al-Asaad is from a feudal family which wants to take us backwards and which considers us as servants," said Rami Hammud, a businessman from the southern coastal town of Tyre.
But Ahmad al-Asaad says his plan for the south, much of which was destroyed during Hezbollah's month-long war with Israel in 2006, is one of reform and development. Yet his is a vision from afar, as he rarely frequents his hometown, 10 kilometres (six miles) from the Israeli border. In fact, he only returned to Lebanon in 2003 after decades abroad. "Of course I'm afraid," Asaad told AFP. "I'm afraid they'll liquidate me. I fear for my life and my project."
In early April, a Lebanese Option Gathering member's car was set on fire in Beirut's southern suburbs, one of three major Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese press. Tens of cars owned by party members have been reported set on fire or bombed in the past year. The party's offices, also in the southern suburbs, came under fire in March.
"They come at night, like bats, and burn our cars. This is Hezbollah's responsibility," Asaad said. The militant party has denied any involvement.
And while he has openly denounced Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah's call for "open war" with Israel last year, he says he is ready to launch a war of his own against the Shiite militia. "The resistance's role is over," Asaad said. "We have had enough of Hezbollah using us and exploiting the people in the name of the resistance."
This story has been kicking around for a while. Why anyone would travel to Iran to 'report' is beyond me.
TEHRAN - US-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi, who has been in Iranian custody since January, has been charged with spying, Tehrans deputy prosecutor Hassan Haddad said on Wednesday.
Her case has been sent to the revolutionary court. She, without press credentials, was carrying out spying activities under the guise of being a reporter, Haddad was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency. The evidence is mentioned in her case papers and she has accepted all the charges. She has been arrested under the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Saberi, who also holds both US and Iranian nationalities, was initially reportedly detained for buying alcohol which is prohibited in the Islamic republic.
If it's prohibited then how did she find some ...
In March, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said Saberis press identity card was revoked in 2006 and since then she had been working illegally in the country.
Haddad said on Wednesday that Saberi had entered Iran as an Iranian citizen. She has an Iranian citizenship, passport and an Iranian national identity card. She has entered Iran as an Iranian citizen and if she has another citizenship, we are unaware of it and it has no effect on how we will proceed with her case, he said. There is no evidence that she has another citizenship and the investigation is still on.
US-born Saberi has reported for US-based National Public Radio (NPR), the BBC and Fox News, and had been living in Iran for six years.
Her parents, Reza and Akiko Saberi, arrived in Tehran on Sunday to pursue her case. They had a 20-minute meeting with her in Tehrans notorious Evin prison on Monday. Her father told NPR on Tuesday that he planned to stay in Iran until her case was resolved.
He said Roxana, 31, was surprised by their visit, and that she looked pale and weak but was in good spirits. He said she also wanted to see her lawyer to point out ... that apparently some of the statements were made under pressure, under threat, you know. So that they were not valid.
Iran, which does not recognize dual nationality and has had no ties with the United States for three decades, has detained several Iranian-Americans, including academics, in recent years.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2009 00:00 ||
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BEIRUT - A Lebanese investigating judge on Wednesday lifted arrest warrants against four high-ranking generals jailed since 2005 in connnection with former premier Rafiq Hariris murder, a judicial official told AFP. However the official, who asked not to be identified, added that Judge Sakr Sakr also ordered that the four remain in jail pending a decision on their fate by The Hague-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).
That's it, send them to the hotel prison at The Hague. They can die a comfortable old age.
Sakr issued his decision as he approved the transfer of Lebanese documents linked to a probe into Hariris 2005 assassination to the tribunal set up to try suspects in the case and in the killings of other Lebanese figures. Lebanons justice system has decided to stand back from the case and stop its probe, Sakr said in his ruling.
He added that it was up to the STL to decide whether the generals, who have not been formally charged, would remain behind bars.
The four generals are the former head of the presidential guard, Mustafa Hamdan, security services director Jamil Sayyed, domestic security chief Ali Hajj and military intelligence chief Raymond Azar.
The UN-sponsored tribunal had called on Lebanon last month to hand over documents related to the Hariri case and results of the local investigation.
Hariris murder in a seafront bombing was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since its 1975-1990 civil war and led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops after a 29-year presence. A UN investigative commission has pointed to evidence that Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services were involved in Hariris February 14, 2005 killing.
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04/09/2009 00:00 ||
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DAMASCUS - Syria is ready to resume indirect peace talks with the new Israeli government on the basis of a total pullout from the Golan Heights, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said on Wednesday.
The old 'something-for-nothing' trick: Israel gives away something, that is the Golan, and Syria gives away nothing, that is, they agree to talk.
He said the four rounds of Turkish-mediated talks held last year had been launched on the basis of three principles, but without preconditions. A full agreement from Israel to a commitment to a withdrawal from the Golan Heights, was the main point, Muallem said at a joint press conference with his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini.
The talks process was suspended when Israel, which seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war, waged a deadly offensive against the Palestinian Islamist Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip in December-January.
Muallem said Syria is now ready to resume a land-for-peace process on the same basis as arranged with the government of (former Israeli prime minister) Ehud Olmert under Turkish mediation.
These indirect talks must not in any way affect the Palestinian-Israeli talks and also not be used as a cover to launch attacks against Lebanon or Gaza, the Syrian foreign minister said.
Late last month a largely right-wing coalition headed by hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to power in the Jewish state and quickly ruled out a pullout from Golan in exchange for peace with Syria. There is no cabinet resolution regarding negotiations with Syria, and we have already said that we will not agree to withdraw from the Golan Heights, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in his first days at his new post.
Peace will only be in exchange for peace, said Lieberman.
There's an original idea ...
Frattini, who met President Bashar al-Assad during his visit to Damascus, said Italy was prepared to play an active role toward the relaunch of the negotiations as soon as possible.
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How about: after IDF breaks Syrian military, the Sunni majority rises and exterminates the Allawites?
"One lump or two, Walid?"
"One please, Manuchehr. My triglycerides are a trifle high."
TEHRAN — Visiting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Muallem on Wednesday affirmed Iran's significant role at the regional level and praised its stances of support for Arab causes. Speaking at a news conference with his Iranian counterpart, Manuchehr Motaki, in the Iranian capital, Al-Muallem said his visit to Iran was part of continuous coordination between the two countries.
Syria will not play a mediation role in the Iranian nuclear issue because Damascus believes that Tehran's program is peaceful, he said. Mottaki said the talks with the Syrian minister dealt with a host of regional and international issues.
The Iranian foreign minister said the world should prepare for global cleansing of nuclear arms.
He added that the talks with the senior Syrian official dealt with various issues including Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Palestine and Israel's formation of a new government. "We have called the new government (in Israel) as the unmasked government for the previous governments masked their real intentions, " he said, alluding to the new cabinet led by ultra right-wing leaders.
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.
North Korea's state-run media reported Tuesday that Kim Jong-Il shed tears of regret during the country's controversial rocket launch because he could not use the launch funds to provide aid to his people, the AFP reported.
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA -- The satellite that North Korea insists it has sent into orbit was evidently a dummy that the North manufactured to justify testing a Taepodong-2 missile, South Korean space experts say.
MINGORA: Pakistani Taliban commander 
DAMASCUS - Syria is ready to resume indirect peace talks with the new Israeli government on the basis of a total pullout from the Golan Heights, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said on Wednesday.
