[Quqnoos] Afghanistan's most prominent opposition leader, Abdullah Abdullah, said Tuesday that he and his supporters will not participate in the Afghan Peace Jirga
The goal of the Afghan Consultative Peace Jirga is to lay the groundwork for reconciliation with the Taliban.
Abdullah, a former foreign minister, questioned the legitimacy of the Jirga starting in Kabul on Wednesday with some 1,600 delegates participating.
While noting that the presence of Afghan women in the Afghan Peace Jirga is minor, Abdullah highlighted that the only way to bring stability and security to Afghanistan is to reach out and identify the people's desires and to form a government of the people.
"If a decision is taken that is positive in terms of the Afghan people's interest, we will not object," said Abdullah. "Anything that is for the benefit of Afghanistan and the Afghan people, we will support."
The remarks come as, according to reports, the Taliban scorn the Afghan national peace conference and say it will not succeed.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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H/T Jihad Watch
On Tuesday, the Associated Free Press reported that Abdul Sattar Khawasi, deputy secretary of the Afghan lower house in parliament, called for the execution of Christian converts from Islam. Speaking in regards to a video broadcasted by Afghan television network Noorin TV showing footage of Christian men being baptized and praying in Farsi, Khawasi said, "Those Afghans that appeared in this video film should be executed in public, the house should order the attorney general and the NDS (intelligence agency) to arrest these Afghans and execute them." In a sane world Abdul Sattar Khawasi would be tried for crimes against humanity by the occupation authorities installed by Operation Infinite Justice. He would then be convicted, sentenced to death and publicly executed.
Yes, I really am bigoted and islamophobic enough to consider murder under the color of law a crime against humanity that should carry the death penalty.
/rant
The broadcast triggered a protest by hundreds of Kabul University students on Monday, who shouted death threats and demanded the expulsion of Christian foreigners accused of proselytizing. As a result, the operations of Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) and U.S.-based Church World Service (CWS) have been suspended over allegations of proselytizing. The Afghan government is currently undertaking an intensive investigation into the matter. According to Afghan law, proselytizing is illegal and conversion from Islam is punishable by death.
ICC sources within Afghanistan have reported that many national Christians are in hiding, fearful of execution. Under government pressure during investigations, some Afghans have reportedly revealed names and locations of Christian converts.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The Muslim Brotherhood said on Wednesday it would back a drive by former U.N. atomic watchdog head Mohammed ElBaradei to reform Egyptian politics after the group secured no seats in a vote to parliament's upper house.
Egypt's biggest opposition group, which controls a fifth of the lower house seats but none in the Shura Council upper house, said it would help ElBaradei collect signatures for change, a move bound to boost his efforts to gather a million names.
Tuesday's Shura Council vote for a third of the seats was marred by abuses reported by rights groups and independent monitors, a common feature of Egyptian elections. Officials said the vote went smoothly and complaints were investigated.
"None of the Brotherhood's candidates have won any seats in 2010 Shura Council elections, a blatant proof that vote rigging took place. Many candidates ran in constituencies which they won in the 2005 lower house parliamentary election," said Mohamed Saad el-Katatni, who heads the Brotherhood's lower house bloc.
Official results will be announced on Thursday and are expected to confirm that President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party swept up almost all of the seats.
While the overall outcome was not in doubt, Tuesday's vote was being watched to see how much space the authorities would give the Brotherhood and opposition in the parliamentary election later this year and presidential race next.
"The Shura vote is a clear indication that there is a decision from the state to exclude the Brotherhood from upcoming elections ... for the People's Assembly (lower house) where they hold a fifth of seats," political analyst Diaa Rashwan said.
Katatni had said in April the Brotherhood broadly backed ElBaradei's call for political reform but on Wednesday went further by backing the drive for collecting signatures for a petition to change the constitution and emergency law that critics say is used to stifle dissent.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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[Maghrebia] El-Abbes' surrender marks the latest in a series of defections from al-Qaeda. Another terrorist, Grig-Ahsine Abdelhalim, turned himself in the same day as El-Abbes. The Algiers native joined the GSPC in 1994 after escaping from Batna's Tazoult prison.
AQIM medical committee head Mokadem Lounis, aka Abou Naamane, surrendered in mid-April, as did former El-Farouk brigade emir Ahmed Mansouri Ahmed, aka Abdeldjebbar.
One counterterrorism officer downplayed El-Abbes' surrender, saying on condition of anonymity, "It's not like it was an emir like [southern zone commander] Abu Zeid."
"However, this surrender will certainly help security services," the officer conceded.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] A 17-year-old girl yesterday stated before the High Court that she was tortured physically during a village arbitration in Brahmanbaria for having an affair.
The girl's mother also backed her statement at the court. However, they both denied any instance of a fatwa (religious edict) against the girl. She was reportedly given 101 lashes as a punishment for having an affair.
The HC bench of justices Syed Mahmud Hossain and Gobinda Chandra Tagore recorded their statements separately in a chamber attached to the courtroom.
The judges later said the victim told them that she was physically tortured and they would pronounce a verdict soon on it considering the statement.
Daily Prothom Alo published a report on May 22 mentioning that the girl was punished with 101 lashes during a village arbitration at Banchharampur upazila on May 19.
The officer-in-charge of Banchharampur Police Station produced the victim and her mother before the bench following a previous court order.
The court ordered police to ensure security of the victim and her family members.
It asked the attorney general's office to talk to the Brahmanbaria deputy commissioner about the report on the incident and inform the court about it today.
On May 24, the HC bench directed the Brahmanbaria DC to submit within a week a probe report on the incident.
It asked the government to explain why it should not be directed to include an article on awareness against fatwa in school, madrasa, college and university textbooks.
The court directives had come after Supreme Court lawyers Mahbub Shafique, KM Hafizul Alam and Imranul Hye filed a writ petition challenging the issuance of fatwa and seeking legal action against the people responsible.
Deputy Attorney General Razik Al Jalil and the petitioners were present at the court.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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There seems to be conflicting versions as to what was seized. The herd seems to think it was 147 AK-47s, which is the latest information, but others including two different AP stories say the quantity is either 147 or 175 "automatic weapons".
Short version: There appears to be so much agenda at work in this it is hard to get a final accurate number and breakdown of the types of weapons seized.
The BATF website has nothing on this bust, nor does the Webb County, Texas Sheriff's office, nor does the Laredo, Texas police department websites.
The Police in Laredo stopped a truck filled with new automatic guns, bayonets and the ammunition, a shipment that, according information Wednesdays weapons by the US authorities, was for Mexico.bound
The confiscation of Saturday in the evening took place barely two weeks after Mexican president Felipe Calderón asked to him to the American Congress that helps to restrain the flow of arms of the United States towards Mexico.
Acting on a tip from Webb county officials, the police of Laredo stopped a vehicle that contained 175 automatic guns still in their boxes, 200 high capacity magazines, 53 bayonets and 10,000 rounds. AP reports 147 assault rifles, but I suspect the writer wouldn't know an assault rifle if it was shoved up his ass...
Hopefully he would be aware that something was amiss, at least.
One of the men in the truck tried to escape, but was captured, said to Wednesday police investigator Joe Baeza.
Authorities displayed the shipment of arms in a conference hall in the federal building of Laredo Monday that covered half with the floor.
Officials claim the seizure is the largest confiscation of arms in ten years in the area of Laredo, which borders Mexico.
The Border Patrol officials and the Office of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms also investigated the case.
Baeza declined to reveal the names of both suspects arrested in the seizure.
The investigator said that the confiscation is important in the context of the recent visit of Calderón to Washington, during which the Mexican chief executive suggested the United States reinstate to prohibition on the sale of automatic guns.
Mexico has complained for a long time which its violent war of narcotics traffickers is fed partly by arms acquired in the United States.
But mostly by arms acquired elsewhere, a minor detail.
Thanks for the pic. I saw that in another website. A lot of AKs, to be sure, but I bet there were 175 weapons total seized of which the AKMs were a large subset.
#5
Be interesting to know what the source is, especially if they are indeed new. AFAIK AK variants are not manufactured in the US. Anyone have better knowledge?
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
06/03/2010 9:45 Comments ||
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#7
That's a lot of money.
It also presumes about a hundred and fifty guys ready to use the stuff. They are probably using something now, and this would be an upgrade.
Sheeeit.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
06/03/2010 10:58 Comments ||
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#8
There are at least 3 or 4 companies producing AKs in the US nowadays, from American parts. HOWEVER, these are all self-loading ONLY, and take incredible amounts of time and effort to convert -- cheaper and easier for the gangbangers to just buy a load of military issue AKs along with the dope. If those are the American made rifles, they run $700-1000 per copy, which would be stupid beyond belief for any Mexican drug gang to buy them. Nicaraguan AKs that are military issue run about $250 a copy, let alone if they buy some of the North Korean crap through Panama.
More UN programs for NORKS, with the result in enabling the NORKS to divert resources for their regime. We know the UN for what they are, but our State Department is in on it, too. RTWT, follow the links, and weep tears of rage. That is all.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/03/2010 15:12 ||
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#1
if nothing else, the law of diminishing returns applies. it must. musn't it?
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has appeared in public for the first time since an international inquiry concluded 12 days ago that North Korea sank the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan.
The North Korean media had kept silent about his activities since the findings were announced, but the official Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday reported that Kim watched a performance by an art propaganda band of the Guard Command of the North Korean Army.
Bet that was a real toe-tapper ...
The last report on his public activities came on May 21, when Kim went on one of his "on-the-spot guidance" tours to the Ryongsong Machine Complex and Hamhung University of Chemistry in South Hamgyong Province.
Kim apparently chose the Guard Command with an eye on growing tensions on the peninsula since the unit is charged with protecting him in an emergency.
Kim made 68 public appearances since the beginning of the year, almost the same as last year. In May alone, the North Korean media reported 12 occasions, mainly visits to rusty old factories.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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For that matter, with the younger Kim so raw and lacking in authority, why would the generals *not* use the doubles to put off the official "death" of the Dear Leader as long as possible?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/03/2010 9:23 Comments ||
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[Kyodo: Korea] North Korean media as of Wednesday afternoon had not reported Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's announcement that he will step down, but the North is believed to be closely watching how the ruling coalition led by the Democratic Party of Japan will run domestic and foreign policies after Hatoyama's departure. North Korea was considering seeking to resume dialogue with Japan after the political situation stabilized following a House of Councillors election in July but an increasingly murky political situation in Japan may force Pyongyang to reconsider its policy.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
ION WORLD NEWS > CHINA'S STANCE ON NORTH KOREA COULD LEAD TO WAR.
To follow Turkish discourse in recent years has been to follow a national decline into madness....while there was much hand-wringing in our own media about "Who lost Turkey?" when U.S. forces were denied entry to Iraq from the north in 2003, no such introspection was evident in Ankara and Istanbul. Instead, Turks were fed a steady diet of imagined atrocities perpetrated by U.S. forces in Iraq, often with the implication that they were acting as muscle for the Jews. The newspaper Yeni Safak, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's daily read, claimed that Americans were tossing so many Iraqi bodies into the Euphrates that local mullahs had issued a fatwa ordering residents not to eat the fish. The same paper repeatedly claimed that the U.S. used chemical weapons in Fallujah. And it reported that Israeli soldiers had been deployed alongside U.S. forces in Iraq and that U.S. forces were harvesting the innards of dead Iraqis for sale on the U.S. "organ market."
The secular Hurriyet newspaper, meanwhile, accused Israeli soldiers of assassinating Turkish security personnel in Mosul and said the U.S. was starting an occupation of (Muslim) Indonesia under the guise of humanitarian assistance. Then U.S. ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman actually felt the need to organize a conference call to explain to the Turkish media that secret U.S. nuclear testing did not cause the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. One of the craziest theories circulating in Ankara was that the U.S. was colonizing the Middle East because its scientists were aware of an impending asteroid strike on North America.
The Mosul and organ harvesting stories were soon brought together in a hit Turkish movie called Valley of the Wolves, which I saw in 2006 at a mall in Ankara. My poor Turkish was little barrier to understanding. The body parts of dead Iraqis could be clearly seen being placed into crates marked "New York" and "Tel Aviv." It is no exaggeration to say that such anti-Semitic fare had not been played to mass audiences in Europe since the Third Reich....
Posted by: Mike ||
06/03/2010 06:50 ||
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#1
Wacky? No. Blood libel? Yes. Let's sell the Turks 100 of our most advanced stealth fighters. That's sure to make them like us.
Posted by: ed ||
06/03/2010 13:43 Comments ||
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#2
Sounds like they get their news from Louis Farrakhan. Is there like a rule or something that demands muzzy's to believe BS?
Posted by: Jefferson ||
06/03/2010 14:51 Comments ||
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#1
Erdogan thinks he can maintain an Islamic orientation and still enjoy a modern westernized country and good ties with the west (especially with US).
He is very wrong.
I think if he continues this hardline and the patronizing of the Terror groups in the Gaza Flotilla tricks, he is going to be surprized by the strength of the Israeli response.
The question is what will happen first:
1) Turkish army revolt and taking over
2) An armed skirmish followed by an all out war with Israel.
Israel has made a big mistake by trusting an Islamic snake in the grass with the hope that he could be restrained by the secular generals in the turkish army. We should now disconnect completely from Turkey and refresh all geo-strategic assesments to include Turkey as a mortal enemy to be dealt with in the coming war.
I think the Turkish/Iranian/Syrian unholy alliance is the greatest ever risk to Israel's existance.
I also think that since Turkey may use it's Semi-
Westernized Status and ties with the US to perform an aggressive act against Israel (such as for example sending Turkish warships as escort to the Al-Kaida Flotila) Israel should respond very aggressively to any turkish provocation.
We are going to have to fight this war very soon because the US is not going to Attack Iran untill its too late - so we will have to fight the Iranians (and thus, possibly the Turks) anyhow.
So sooner is better in this case.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
06/03/2010 7:45 Comments ||
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#2
The US has an easy answer if the Turks go with Iran: arm and support the Kurds. They are the majority in the oil producing areas of Turkey. They also are strong in a sizable portion of Iran.
The Kurds have also been loyal friends to the US, and their controlled areas in Iraq are the most free and open society areas in all of Iraq. Much better off than the Turkish controlled areas where Kurds live and are legally repressed.
Posted by: No I am The Other Beldar ||
06/03/2010 9:09 Comments ||
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Before we castigate Erdogan too much, look at Turkey's situation:
1) they will NEVER be allowed into the EU
2) their citizens are disliked throughout Europe
3) the Soviet Union, the threat to the north, is gone
4) Russia is willing to cut deals
5) they see that the US has, and is likely to have, weak leadership
6) their traditional interests are south and east of them
7) Armenia has its plate full and so is no threat to the Turks
8) Iraq is weak, Syria is accommodating, and
9) Iran is, well, interesting right now.
Add to that: the Turks, while Muslim, are cosmopolitan and secular in ways the Arab Muslim world doesn't get.
If you were in Erdogan's shoes, your foreign policy wouldn't be much different.
It makes no sense for Turkey to cozy up to Europe: they've been trying these last few decades and the Euros don't want them.
Therefore, you turn east. The Turks have a long history of dealing with Arabs and Persians. They know how to play that game. And the pickings are better.
Yes, Erdogan is a closet Islamist, though not the same way as bin-Laden or Short Round. He's a Turk first and foremost, and Turkey, rebuffed by the West, has to turn east.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/03/2010 9:37 Comments ||
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The Soviet Union may be gone, but Mother Russia is definitely feeling her oats.
#5
We and the Euros have nothing to offer Turkey except demands that they support our military efforts. Russia doesn't seriously threaten them, Greece has blown up, and there's now a huge power vacuum to their east. They know that Barry's a clown and that the US is distracted in any case.
They have only upside, and no downside, from opposing us and the Israelis. This is simple power politics in action. THe generals would not behave much differently from Edogan.
Russia and Turkey are natural enemies and have been for hundreds of years. They both consider the Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia their sphere of influence or territory and will return to warring for it.
Posted by: ed ||
06/03/2010 12:47 Comments ||
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#7
The Turks are not likely to make a play in the Balkans or try to seize the Crimean peninsula. They certainly want increased trade and investment opportunities across the turkmen "republics" in CEntral Asia, but they've been doing business there for the past two decades with no incidents or major issues with the Russians who, for their part, send thousands of mom-and-pop "shuttle traders" back and forth to Istanbul every day to buy stuff they sell to Russian consumers. Everyone's happy, and the Turkish firms generally stay out of the path of Russia's corrupt and violent metals, mining, oil etc oligarchs.
As to Iran, their interests are largely aligned with Russia's interests: stick a finger in Uncle Sam's face and collect lucrative contracts.
A LEBANESE-AMERICAN couple were arrested and charged with providing material support to Hezbollah, a designated foreign terror organisation, and other crimes.
The Justice Department said Hor Akl, and his wife Amera Akl, both 37, were arrested in Ohio today without incident and were to appear in federal court later in the day.
The Toledo residents, who are dual citizens of the United States and Lebanon, were charged in a criminal complaint with conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation, money laundering charges and arson relating to an insurance fraud scheme.
Hor Akl is also charged with two counts of bankruptcy fraud and one count of perjury, US Attorney Steven Dettelbach said.
According to the complaint, the Akls agreed to send money to Hezbollah after they were approached in 2009 by a confidential informant for the FBI who claimed he worked for an anonymous donor eager to support the group which has been on the US terror list since 1997.
The charges of supporting a terrorist organisation carry a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, and money laundering charges carry a penalty of up to 20 years.
GRAND RAPIDS -- Former President George W. Bush was by turns affable, relaxed -- and deadly serious in his local appearance Wednesday.
"Yeah, we water-boarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed," Bush said of the terrorist who master-minded the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. He said that event shaped his presidency and convinced him the nation was in a war against terror.
#1
Heres a poll taken at a military college about their thoughts on torture.
The paper that did the poll is biased against the military and they selectively published the most retarded of the comments while deleting some of the most levelheaded ones from the raw data but its still pretty funny.
#5
I personally would have ripped off his left testicle and shoved it up his nose and threatened to do the same with the other if he didn't talk.
Fuck this waterboarding shit.
Then after he talked and we got all the useful info we could out of him, I'd dump him out the back of a C-130 at 33,000 ft. AFTER I ripped off his right testicle and shoved it up his nose.
[Dawn] Pakistan and Spain expressed their joint commitment to fight terrorism as they signed a broad bilateral agreement Wednesday aimed at enhancing cooperation on security, trade and other issues.
The deal came during a meeting between Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani, who is on the highest level visit to Spain since then-president Pervez Musharraf in 2007.
"The commitment by both governments in the fight against terrorism is a commitment to collaborate," Zapatero, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU, told a joint news conference after the talks.
"I am very grateful to Pakistan and thank you for the efforts you have made to fight against radicalism and terrorism in the region. I would like you to know that you can count on Spain for the stability of Pakistan."Gilani noted that Spain and Pakistan "have both been victims of terrorism, and both countries are cooperating to root out this menace."
Pakistan, which borders war-torn Afghanistan, has suffered from increasing attacks by extremists in recent years as it fights a home-grown Taliban insurgency.
The Spanish government announced in February it was sending 511 more troops to Afghanistan, boosting its contingent with NATO-led forces fighting Taliban insurgents to nearly 1,600.
Spain suffered its worst ever terror attack on March 11, 2004 when bombs exploded on packed commuter trains in a Madrid suburb, killing 191 people and wounding 1,841 others.
In December a Spanish court convicted 10 men from Pakistan and one from India in connection with a plot to stage suicide attacks on the Barcelona metro in 2008 which it said "could have caused many casualties".
Gilani said the two countries signed a "framework of cooperation" agreement covering "diverse fields from trade and finance to science and technology, from defence and security to cultural and people-to-people contacts."
They also signed a deal to avoid double taxation, which Zapatero said "opens up a whole array of economic relations in the future."
Gilani is to continue from Madrid to Brussels for an EU-Pakistan summit and a visit to NATO headquarters.
He had been scheduled to come to Europe in April but the visit was canceled because of the air transport chaos caused by an Icelandic volcano.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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Over poor security arrangements at the Jinnah Hospital, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday showed his dissatisfaction and said the attack on the hospital poses a big question over the performance of police, the local administration and security agencies.
According to an official statement, Sharif chaired a high-level meeting on the province's law and order situation.
Sharif said he will not tolerate any negligence in the prevailing situation and added that all efforts should be made to safeguard the life and property of common man.
Pakistan is going through a difficult time and we are fighting the war for our existence, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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(CNSNews.com) -- The targeted assassination of terror suspects by remote control, a program expanded significantly under the Obama administration, comes under the spotlight Thursday, when the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council considers a report warning of the "risk of developing a 'PlayStation' mentality to killing."
The report by Philip Alston, the U.N.'s special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, deals with various types of "targeted killing" carried out by states, paying considerable attention to the use by the U.S. of unmanned drones to fire missiles at terror suspects along the Afghan-Pakistan border.
Earlier this week it was reported that Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, purportedly the al-Qaeda terrorist network's No. 3 figure, had been killed in a missile strike in Pakistan's North Waziristan last month.
The U.S. is a member of the Human Rights Council, having joined last year after the Bush administration steered clear of it. Some of its members hostile to the U.S. have frequently used the forum to attack American policies, particularly those associated with what used to be called the war on terrorism.
In his 29-page document Alston cites reports indicating that the U.S. has carried out more than 120 drone strikes since the 2002 killing by missile of Qaed Senyan al-Harthi, a senior al-Qaeda member suspected in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen's port of Aden.
One study last October by the New America Foundation found that drone strikes since President Obama took office had accounted for about 450 deaths, about one-quarter of them civilians. There have been many more incidents since then, and some senior al-Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban fugitives have been killed.
Alston does not state that all "targeted killings" are unlawful, but says there are specific criteria and circumstances under which they may be legal against a combatant or other individual who "directly participates in hostilities."
In the context of armed conflict, these include the requirements under international humanitarian law (IHL) that the killing must be militarily necessary, and the use of force must be proportionate -- with the anticipated military advantage weighed against the expected harm to civilians. Moreover, "everything feasible must be done to prevent mistakes and minimize harm to civilians."
Outside the context of armed conflict, however, Alston says that human rights law prohibits targeted killing, because "unlike in armed conflict, it is never permissible for killing to be the sole objective of an operation."
That does not limit the use of lethal force in circumstances where law enforcement officials are confronted by a criminal -- including a terrorist or suicide bomber -- threatening to harm individuals. "Lethal force under human rights law is legal if it is strictly and directly necessary to save life," the report says.
Alston raises concerns about the fact the drone program is run by the Central Intelligence Agency, suggesting that a military-run operation would be preferable because the U.S. military has a relatively public -- if "by no means perfect" -- accountability process.
"Because this program remains shrouded in official secrecy, the international community does not know when and where the CIA is authorized to kill, the criteria for individuals who may be killed, how it ensures killings are legal, and what follow-up there is when civilians are illegally killed," he said in a statement accompanying the report.
"Intelligence agencies, which by definition are determined to remain unaccountable except to their own paymasters, have no place in running programs that kill people in other countries."
Alston cites media reports indicating that the program is controlled from CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, with the pilotless craft taking off from hidden airfields in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"[B]ecause operators are based thousands of miles away from the battlefield, and undertake operations entirely through computer screens and remote audiofeed, there is a risk of developing a 'Playstation' mentality to killing," he says in the report.
"States must ensure that training programs for drone operators who have never been subjected to the risks and rigors of battle instill respect for IHL and adequate safeguards for compliance with it."
Among his recommendations, Alston says governments carrying out targeted killings should set out publicly the rules of international law which they consider provide a basis for the action, and make public the number of civilians killed collaterally, as well as measures to prevent such casualties.
Neither the State Department nor the White House had a response to issues raised in Alston's report.
Last March, State Department legal advisor Harold Koh delivered a speech in which, for the first time, an administration official publicly laid down a legal basis for targeted killings.
"In this ongoing armed conflict, the United States has the authority under international law, and the responsibility to its citizens, to use force, including lethal force, to defend itself, including by targeting persons such as high-level al-Qaeda leaders who are planning attacks," Koh said.
"A state that is engaged in an armed conflict or in legitimate self-defense is not required to provide targets with legal process before the state may use lethal force," he said. "Our procedures and practices for identifying lawful targets are extremely robust, and advanced technologies have helped to make our targeting even more precise."
Koh said principles of distinction and proportionality were implemented rigorously throughout the planning and execution of the operations.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 14:29 ||
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#1
Because the terrorist the strikes kill are so respectful of human rights?
#3
...they're acting nervous. Guilty conscious? If the US ever acted like the criminal bastard the world and UN portrays it, they certainly would have reason to be concerned. Particularly when the people running the place play the 'Chicago Way'.
#6
If you continue to insist on punishing someone for something they did not do, they are eventually decide to go ahead and do it. Hey, UN Human Rights Council - look up!
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: The al-Iraqiya bloc could support Adil Abdilmahdi as nominee to occupy the position of Iraq's prime minister if unable to form the new government, the official spokesperson of al-Iraqiya said on Wednesday.
We will not give away our constitutional right to form the new government, but in case we are unable to form it, we support Dr. Adil Abdilmahdi as a nominee to occupy the position of Iraq's prime minister,' Hayder al-Mullah told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Abdilmahdi currently holds the position of Iraq's Vice President; he is also a leading figure of the Iraqi National Alliance (INA).
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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Born out of military interests rather than ideological affinity, Muslim Turkey's relationship with Israel is headed for a major shift as it re-assesses its role and security needs in the Middle East. Israel's raid on Turkish-backed aid ships bound for Gaza show how far ties between the unusual allies have deteriorated, creating a problem for the United States which saw Ankara as a vital partner in reconciling the Muslim world with Israel.
Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, has called for the Jewish state to be punished for what he called "state terrorism."
"The relationship between Turkey and Israel was the product of a very specific set of circumstances that do not exist anymore," Ian Lesser, from the Washington-based German Marshall Fund think tank, told Reuters. "It was clear that Turkey and Israel could not go on with that same strategic relationship. Now we have to see what is left. They can still work together, but on a more modest scale."
Turkey, a moderate, secular state, has long been Israel's only Muslim ally and trade partner, having recognized the Jewish state soon after its establishment in 1948.
Driven by their countries' armies, the alliance strengthened in the 1990s, when they signed military and intelligence deals.
At the time they shared a common desire to contain Syria, Israel's long-time Arab enemy. Syria had also incurred Ankara's wrath by harboring Kurdish separatist PKK rebels waging war on Turkey.
Israel provided military hardware and intelligence on PKK activities to Turkey, which nearly went to war with Syria in the late 1990s over Damascus' hosting of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.
For its part, Turkey allowed Israel, at war with Syria over the Golan Heights and wary of hostile Arab neighbors, to use its airspace and vast Anatolian plateaux for military training.
Far more than Syria, Iran's militant "fundamentalism," coupled with the rise of political Islam in the region, were seen as even more serious threats to both Turkey and Israel.
But since then a change has been under way.
The easing of PKK violence and Turkey's dramatic improvement of ties with Damascus and Tehran since the Islamist-leaning government of Erdogan took office in 2002 means Ankara no longer views the Israeli link as vital to its survival.
Turkey's powerful secular generals, who saw close links with Israel as an antidote to combat political Islam at home, have seen their influence wane.
Following Monday's raid, Turkey has suspended joint military exercises, withdrew its envoy in Israel and mobilized the U.N. Security Council to censure Israel.
"(The flotilla incident) has cemented a process that has been under way for years which is the gradual lost of importance of the Turkish-Israeli relationship," said Gareth Jenkins, an Istanbul-based security analyst.
I'm only quoting the parts of the article that deal with the imminent shift if US policy.
The New York Times. America's newspaper of record.
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration considers Israel's blockade of Gaza to be untenable and plans to press for another approach to ensure Israel's security while allowing more supplies into the impoverished Palestinian area, senior American officials said Wednesday.
Clearly, President Obama is taking a new tack with regard to Israel. Or not. Functionally this is no different than what Hamas has been demanding... except for the ensuring Israel's security bit.
The officials say that Israel's deadly attack on a flotilla trying to break the siege and the resulting international condemnation create a new opportunity to push for increased engagement with the Palestinian Authority and a less harsh policy toward Gaza. "There is no question that we need a new approach to Gaza," said one official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the policy shift is still in the early stages. He was reflecting a broadly held view in the upper reaches of the administration.
"We need a new approach because the new approach the President brought in with him hasn't worked," the official continued. "We thought that by giving into the Palestinians and by insulting the Israelis we could further the peace process. Instead, those damned, stiff-necked Jews insist on defending themselves and their country."
But the American officials said they believed that even Mr. Netanyahu understood that a new approach was needed.
Yet Mr. Netanyahu has resisted American pressure in the past. The Obama administration initially demanded a complete freeze on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, but had to accept a 10-month partial freeze. Pressure on Israel also carries domestic political risks for Mr. Obama, given the passion of its supporters in the United States.
What is it about stupid joooo politicians who insist on their own understanding of events instead of accepting President Obama's clearly superior version of events and implications, one can hear the entire White House staff fuming among themselves.
But the world powers have grown increasingly disillusioned with the blockade, saying that it has created far too much suffering in Gaza and serves as a symbol not only of Israel's treatment of Palestinians but of how the West is seen in relation to the Palestinians.
"Gaza has become the symbol in the Arab world of the Israeli treatment of Palestinians, and we have to change that," the senior American official said. "We need to remove the impulse for the flotillas. The Israelis also realize this is not sustainable."
It would be, Mr. Anonymous Senior Official, were the U.S. to have Israel's back.
At a meeting of the Quartet a year ago in Italy, for example, the group asserted that the current situation was not sustainable and called for the unimpeded provision and distribution of humanitarian aid within Gaza, as well as the reopening of crossing points.
But Obama administration officials made it clear that the deaths had given a new urgency to changing the policy. Biden's remarks may have been part of a good cop/bad cop routine...
[Al Arabiya Latest] The U.N. Human Rights Council on Wednesday adopted a resolution setting up an independent international probe into Israel's interception of Gaza-bound ships.
The resolution, which also condemned Israel's "outrageous attack," was adopted after a vote, with 32 countries voting in favor, three against, and eight abstentions.
It "decides to dispatch an independent international fact-finding mission to investigate violations of international law, including international humanitarian aid and human rights law, resulting from the Israeli attacks on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance."
The text also decides to "authorize the president of the council to appoint members of this independent international fact finding system."
Israeli commandos boarded one of the aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip in the pre-dawn raid on Monday that left at least nine passengers dead. Hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists were also arrested.
The move sparked global outrage and prompted states from the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to ask for the special session of the 47 member states in the rights council.
It also drove Pakistan, Sudan and the Palestinian delegation to propose the resolution during the urgent sitting, during which countries ranging from Laos to Peru to Iceland all spoke out against Israel's move.
The United States said it was "deeply disturbed" by the violence but opposed the resolution.
U.S. ambassador Eileen Donahoe said the text "rushes to judgment on a set of facts" that were only starting to emerge.
"It creates an international mechanism before giving the responsible government the opportunity to investigate the incident itself," she added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
FOAD
Posted by: chris ||
06/03/2010 10:05 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] The United States' statements on the Freedom Flotilla attack were utterly hypocritical and the US was a co-criminal in the enterprise, a US academic says.
Ralph Schoenman, the author of The Hidden History of Zionism, told Press TV that despite the widespread protests across the world against the attack on the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla, Israel is not likely to be brought to justice for the assault.
Israel has been emboldened by the unrelenting support from the US and certain European countries and thus continues to threaten its neighbors and maintain the blockade of Gaza.
He cites the additional 205 million dollars in military aid to Israel that the White House asked the US Congress to approve a couple of weeks ago as another example of this support.
The financial assistance was meant to support Israel's Iron Dome, a rocket shield system which is allegedly designed to defend against rocket fire from Hamas and Hezbollah, he stated.
But Iron Dome is actually going to be deployed against the people of Lebanon and Gaza, Schoenman says.
He noted that the The Sunday Times recently reported on Israel's decision to deploy three German-built submarines armed with nuclear-armed cruise missiles to the Persian Gulf near the coast of Iran, adding that the report said the first of the submarines has already been sent to the Persian Gulf region.
He says he believes that this is all part of the overall escalation of plans for a major war in the region, which the US is fully cognizant of and fully supportive of.
The Israeli military attacked the Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea early on May 31, killing at least 19 people on board the six ships, mostly Turkish nationals, and injuring about 50 others.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas has denounced Israeli navy's deadly attack on the Freedom Flotilla aid convoy bound for Gaza as an act of "state terrorism."
Speaking to foreign government officials at the Second Palestine Investment Conference in Bethlehem on Wednesday, Abbas also called on the international community to take concrete steps in order to lift the blockade of Gaza.
"We expect international justice, and the blockade must be lifted. Stopping the attacks is the first step towards peace," he was quoted by Ynet as saying.
"The settlements must be halted as they are illegal; including what is defined as an expansion of settlements for natural needs." Abbas added.
Acting Palestinian Authority Chief also bristled at Israeli attack on the Flotilla, saying the activists onboard of the vessels bound for the besieged Gaza Strip were subject to "state terrorism".
Israeli navy on Monday launched an assault on the Freedom Flotilla convoy carrying 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza in international waters, killing at least 20 activists and wounding 50 others.
"The Freedom Flotilla is not the first serious attempt to support the Palestinian people and break the siege, and it will not be the last," Abbas stated.
The attack prompted response from the international community with many countries across the world summoning Israeli envois.
Millions of People took to the streets of cities across the world to express their ager at Israeli over the fatal assault.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
If Gazans correct the reasons for the blockade, the blockade will be lifted. It is senseless to lift the blockade until the conditions are met. Elsewise, the lifting of the blockade will last no longer than a camel's fart. Palestinians must accept responsibility for their pathetic situation.
Mind you, decades of propoganda, lack of education, disinterested to improve their lot in life, perpetual hand-outs rather than work, decades of instruction in hatred and violence. None of these ills can be overcome without future decades of work. Even then...
The United Nations peacekeeping force has conducted an evacuation exercise from Lebanon in case of war with Israel.
Organized and supervised by the Mighty Uruguayans ...
Over the last two months, the UN has warned of increasing tension along the Israeli-Lebanese border, including Israeli overflights and Iranian weapons shipments to Lebanon from neighboring Syria.
Officials said the UN Interim Force in Lebanon concluded a one-day exercise to test its response to an emergency in southern Lebanon. The exercise aimed to evacuate UN civilians and their families from the area south of Lebanon's Litani River.
"This training is routine and conducted by all UN personnel and civilians wherever there is deployment by an international force," UNIFIL spokesman Neeraj Singh said.
During the exercise, UN civilians were directed to a helicopter strip for rapid evacuation from southern Lebanon. Officials said the exercise was coordinated with the Lebanese Army.
UNIFIL contains about 13,500 troops from both NATO and Asian states.
#2
I'm not sure why the UN needs to practice that, Grunter.
They already have such copious experience in that area....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/03/2010 11:25 Comments ||
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#3
So the UN has not stopped the flow of rockets, weapons, and materiel into Lebanon, but has just observed some of it. Totally useless expenditure of funds and resources.
It is all appearances and no substance. That is the UN, all right.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/03/2010 11:30 Comments ||
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#4
You mean they're not going to hang around and get ground into dogmeat in the war they've spent the last couple years enabling?
#6
What would be funnier still is if Isreal refused and told them to go parallel (west) to the Coast. At gunpoint, since they can't be sure who among them has been helping Hezbollah get all those arms. After-all, they were supposed to STOP it, so there must be traitors.
Please let them do that. PLEASE.
Posted by: Charles ||
06/03/2010 15:44 Comments ||
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#7
Actually the "Mighty Blue Helmets" have had a significant impact on the military situation in Northern Israel/Southern Lebanon.
They have been de facto human shields for Hezbollah.
I'd be surprised if that wasn't the intent in the first place.
#1
I wouldn't be surprised if this target gets hit by a neutron bomb as soon as the action begins.
In particular taking account of the chemical stuff the Syrians have.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
06/03/2010 6:39 Comments ||
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#2
if a lot of these are stored together, the secondary explosions should be spectacular
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/03/2010 9:09 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] A top Iranian lawmaker says the recent report released by the International Atomic Energy Agency on Tehran's nuclear issue was mostly positive in content.
In its latest quarterly report issued on Monday, the IAEA reconfirmed the non-diversion of nuclear material in Iran, but then again, voiced concern about Tehran's decision to add a second set of centrifuges to enrich uranium at higher levels.
The report also acknowledged that the Tehran government has allowed UN inspectors much better oversight at the enrichment site.
Head of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi said Wednesday that the new IAEA report was less skeptical in content and differed from Amano's usually negative take on Tehran's nuclear plans.
"Compared with Amano's last reports on Iran's nuclear issue, the new one bore significantly less negative points," said Boroujerdi, adding that despite the report's somewhat positive tone, it was clearly obvious that it was tailored to suit US interests.
"Of course, it is clear that the Americans played their share [in the making] of the report," he noted.
Boroujerdi added that Iran is determined to pursue its rights to peaceful nuclear technology for peaceful purposes within the framework of the IAEA and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Despite Iran's approval of a deal to a send about half of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for fuel rods for the Tehran research reactor, Western powers have refused to stop calls for sanctions against the country.
Only one day after the Tehran declaration was issed, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the US - unanimously agreed on a new resolution for a fourth round of sanctions against Iran.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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[5 views]
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Fresh international sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program could lead to confrontation, foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki warned during a visit to Brussels.
"There are two options," to resolve the problem, he told an audience at the European Policy Center think-tank.
"The first is based on cooperation, the other is based on confrontation," he said on the second and last day of his visit to the Belgian capital.
"The resolution" at the United Nations Security Council on imposing new sanctions against Iran" is a basis for confrontation," he warned.
"That is not our preferred option but that's up to other parties who would like to move in that direction," Mottaki added.
Increasing pressure
Enrichment lies at the center of international fears about Iran's nuclear program as the process can make the core of an atom bomb in highly purified forms of over 90 percent.
Last month the United States introduced a draft resolution at the U.N. to impose tough new sanctions on Iran.
The draft resolution would expand an arms embargo and measures against Iran's banking sector and ban it from sensitive overseas activities like uranium mining and developing ballistic missiles, a U.S. official said.
Western powers fear that Iran's atomic program is a cover for a nuclear weapons drive. Tehran denies this, saying the program is aimed at peaceful energy use, which it insists it has the right to pursue.
Iran is already subject to three sets of U.N. sanctions for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, one of the crucial steps towards the production of nuclear energy for civil or military use.
Mottaki stressed that Iran had no intention of giving up its plans of enriching uranium to 20 percent.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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[9 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
See also WORLD NEWS > [Top Iranian Official]IRAN TO CONTINUE URANIUM ENRICHMENT EVEN IFF FUEL DEAL WORKS.
#2
Nostradamus already called it. Iran will get the nuke, they will hit us with one, and after that...well, that's where the documentary ended. Pretty frustrating we don't have old-school leadership when we desperately need it.
Posted by: John Wayne Resurrected ||
06/03/2010 20:13 Comments ||
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#3
not likely we'd be the first target - Israel is. Then it's Old Testament time
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/03/2010 20:48 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has pardoned or commuted the sentences of a number of convicts involved in the post-election riots in Iran last year.
Eighty-one convicts implicated in the unrest following the June 12, 2009 Iranian presidential polls were pardoned or had their sentences reduced upon the Leader's approval on Wednesday.
The request for amnesty came from Judiciary Chief Sadeq Amoli Larijani.
In his letter to Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Judiciary chief had underlined that the 'regretful' convicts would be eligible for pardon or sentence reduction if the Leader approved.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
they were tortured/recuited and will be sent back to report on the democratic movement.
#1
"On December 5, 1997, Turkish police raided the IHH headquarters office in Istanbul and arrested its principal leaders. Following their preliminary inquiry, on April 27, 1998, Turkish investigators launched a formal legal case against the IHH."
how times have changed
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/03/2010 9:11 Comments ||
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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.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The Muslim Brotherhood said on Wednesday it would back a drive by former U.N. atomic watchdog head Mohammed ElBaradei to reform Egyptian politics after the group secured no seats in a vote to parliament's upper house.
[Iran Press TV Latest] A top Iranian lawmaker says the recent report released by the International Atomic Energy Agency on Tehran's nuclear issue was mostly positive in content. 
