A 21-year-old loner from Pennsylvania had an arsenal in his room, an Islamic radical online persona and paramilitary training videos before his arrest last week for biting two FBI agents, prosecutors said in court Thursday.
Therefore, Emerson Begolly will remain imprisoned pending trial, U.S. District Judge Maurice B. Cohill decided, over the strong objections of the defense attorney who said his client was not violent. A magistrate judge's decision last week to send him to a halfway house was shelved.
Begolly "has a strong desire to kill non-Muslims and many other groups of people," Assistant U.S. Attorney Soo C. Song said. "He was preparing, and he was getting closer and closer to bringing his words and aspirations to fruition."
Public defense lawyer Marketa Sims, representing Begolly, responded that his actions before agents startled him -- legally owning guns, posting radical views online -- were constitutionally protected. "They had no probable cause to believe that he committed any crime."
Begolly was arrested after two FBI agents approached him at a fast food restaurant, seeking to talk to him while other agents executed search warrants on his father's farmhouse and his mother's house.
He is accused of reaching for a pistol, for which he had no concealed carry permit, then biting the agents as they wrestled him into custody. He is charged with assault upon an officer and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime.
An initial hearing last week featured thirdhand testimony, poems and chants attributed to Begolly. On Thursday, prosecutors presented new evidence, gained from the execution of still-sealed search warrants in another federal court district.
Begolly's bedroom contained 14 firearms, thousands of rounds of ammo, a phony hand grenade, a helmet and a gas mask. Three of the weapons, including one under his pillow, were AK-47-type rifles. Rifle rounds that were found in the bedroom he sometimes used in his mother's home.
FBI Special Agent Thomas W. Ferguson III attributed to Begolly online communications from a person using the nym Abu Nancy. Some appeared on "a radical jihadi website", others were from online chats, all were from last year, according to the agent.
One message discussed how an old Buick could be turned into a car bomb using gasoline and propane tanks that could be ignited with a gunshot.
Another mentioned "being a suicide martyr on your school," or taking schoolchildren as hostages and demanding the release of Muslim prisoners.
"Clearly, not just military, but also civilian targets can be used," Ferguson read from a transcript of the message. "How can [Western forces] destroy our weddings and not expect to pay?"
Other messages said that the writer wanted more training before becoming a martyr, and would get it in the "mountains."
Still other online messages dealt with how to handle an arrest attempt. "I would make Waco look like a tea party," one post read by Ferguson said, and another suggested that anyone faced with arrest should hurt the agent any way possible, in order to become a martyr.
Ms. Song showed videos that she said were on the laptop computer in which a person Ferguson identified as Begolly fired a rifle at a pumpkin, and other things.
A voice identified as that of Shawn Begolly, the defendant's father, can be heard on some of the videos. In one, the voice said, "Now you wounded him now" in reference to a direct hit on the pumpkin.
Sims said he was accused of no violence "other then against a pumpkin" before the FBI agents "snuck up on him" sitting in his mother's car. She noted that he suffers from Asperger's syndrome.
What the government characterized as terrorist training was "common tomfoolery up there", Ms. Sims said. She questioned whether the online messages were really authored by Begolly.
She said he was being held in an psychiatric ward and didn't even have a bed. "The fact that he says things on the Internet that some people don't agree with doesn't mean you put him in a nuthouse," she said.
Judge Cohill said there was enough evidence against Begolly, and enough concern about his "mental condition," to hold him in jail.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/14/2011 15:31 Comments ||
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#2
This is the kid with Aspergers whose divorced mother (the professor) was dating the FBI agent, and whose father introduced the kid to Nazi stuff... or so went the story posted here at Rantburg last week. (link)
The Jawa Report has been on top of this story. (link 1link 2) Rusty Shackelford doesn't think much of the Asperger's claim or the father's active encouragement of jihadi nuttiness.
KABUL: The Taliban are prepared to drop their ban on girls' schools, an influential Afghan cabinet minister says.
The Education Minister, Farooq Wardak, says the movement has decided to scrap the ban on female education that helped earn it worldwide infamy in the 1990s. Just about ready to join the 17th century? Nosebleed speed!
Mr Wardak said the Taliban's leadership had undergone a profound change since losing power after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Being chased all the way to the next country in no time flat by a handful of infidels on horseback, then shot by unreachable toy airplanes while in a safe house in the bosom of one's family... it makes a man think, y'know?
''It is attitudinal change, it is behavioural change, it is cultural change,'' he told the Times Educational Supplement.
Whew! Nothing like smearing it on thick. Do you believe him? I do, but then, I'm gullible.
''What I am hearing at the very upper policy level of the Taliban is that they are no more opposing education and also girls' education.''
The minister, one of the most trusted members of the inner circle of the President, Hamid Karzai, has a central role in official efforts to bring the Taliban to peace talks.
Taliban spokesmen were unavailable for comment, and the Taliban have never made any public statements that back up Mr Wardak's claim. So it's all propaganda until they can take over again, at which time the little girls will be shut in their families homes until they can be married off. At the age of seven.
The Taliban insurgency has killed teachers in schools that have mixed classes. A rather better indicator of their true beliefs...
They've killed teachers in schools that have unmixed classes, too. And blown up a great many schools: girls', boys', and mixed. It's one of those foolish consistency of small minds thingies.
Alex Strick van Linschoten, a leading analyst of the Taliban, said an announcement was unlikely in the near future.
''It will all come up in any potential negotiations and this is one 'concession' they could make to the foreigners,'' he said.
Ooooh, a hudna!
Experts say that the attitude of the conservative Islamic movement towards women's education has always been far more ambivalent than popularly understood. What's ambivalent about killing little girls and burning down their schools?
You, my dear, are ignoring nuance and subtlety. So are they, but that's something else altogether.
Mullah Zaeef, a former senior Taliban official who served as Afghanistan's ambassador to Pakistan in 2001, said the movement was not against educating women and that the ban on girls' schools was only a ''temporary measure''. "We'll give the ban about a hundred years. After all, we've done without edumacating our wimmin folk ever since Mo' jumped the rock in Jerusalem!"
The sad thing is, in the early days of Islam women were involved and educated. Mohammed's first wife was an independent and successful businesswoman, his last wife Aisha led men in the field, until about 1,000 AD women were poets and teachers and fully involved in public life. Then something happened, and they weren't anymore.
Analysts say the policy was largely due to Taliban concerns about boys and girls being educated together and male teachers overseeing female classes. Except that they blow up girl-only schools...
Amir Mansory, an education expert at the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, which has supported schools in the country for decades, said 33,000 girls continued to go to school in the late 1990s, despite the official ban.
''It was a sort of hidden policy,'' Mr Mansory said. ''No one said girls could go to school, but in the provinces Taliban officials would approach me asking for the Swedish Committee's help in supporting girls' schools.''
And while insurgents have closed down many schools around the country in recent years, Mr Mansory said they have been actively supported in some Taliban-controlled areas, including in Paktika and Wardak provinces. They need something to blow up?
Madrassahs, perhaps. For boys only. That's where they make more little jihadis.
''I personally think the Taliban are not against education but simply against a Western type of education,'' Mr Mansory said. ''And if local people want to educate their girls the Taliban know they can't do anything to stop that.''
Taliban leaders have rethought many of their noxious notorious policies of the 1990s, Mr Strick van Linschoten said. For example, during the Taliban government mobile phones and video were considered un-Islamic but both technologies are now used extensively by insurgents. What is it with Australian news sources and their use of double-single quotes? Can't they tell that it looks funny?
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the Tunisian President, quit after 23 years in power and run away fled the country, Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi announced, saying he had taken over in the interim.
[WSJ] DOHA, Qatar - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, adopting a tone reminiscent of the Bush administration,
Make sure to send a "You were right" candygram to Dubya in your spare time, Hillary.
blasted Arab governments for stalled political change, warning that extremists were exploiting a lack of democracy to promote radical agendas across the Middle East.
Mrs. Clinton, addressing a conference on democracy as she wrapped up a four-nation tour of the Persian Gulf region Thursday, said the situation is exacerbated by dwindling natural resources and the difficulty of the region's large population of young people in finding jobs or channels through which to express their aspirations.
The secretary of state's speech marks a contrast with the tone of the Obama administration so far. President Barack Obama has been criticized by democracy activists for not more aggressively pushing leaders in the Arab and Muslim world to pursue political openness.
Mrs. Clinton appeared to put such reticence aside. "While some countries have made great strides in governance, in many others, people have grown tired of corrupt institutions and a stagnant political order," she told the Forum for the Future, an annual dialogue established by the George W. Bush administration following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S. "The region's foundations are sinking into the sand."
Filling the vacuum, she said, are "extremist elements, terrorist groups and others who would prey off desperation and poverty." Mrs. Clinton's speech came at the end of a diplomatic mission her aides said was designed to stimulate a debate on political and economic reforms, as well as to galvanize Arab support for financial sanctions against Iran for its nuclear work.
#1
grown tired of corrupt institutions and a stagnant political order
Them? Or us?
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/14/2011 6:03 Comments ||
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...warning that extremists were exploiting a lack of democracy to promote radical agendas across the Middle East.
During a trip to Abu Dhabi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and said extremists must be stopped - both in the Middle East and back home.
The United States will help Bangladesh stage "open and transparent" trials for crimes against humanity committed during the 40-year-old Bangladesh war for independence, a visiting U.S. envoy said on Thursday
Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, won independence with India's help in December 1971 following a nine-month war against Pakistan. Around 3 million people were killed and thousands of women raped.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/14/2011 18:45 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Defence attorneys for Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has said he could end up facing the death penalty in the US if the UK extradites him to Sweden, where he is accused of sex crimes. I doubt he'd get the death penalty. But he wouldn't like Leavenworth.
The lawyers fear that Sweden will in turn hand him over to the US.
Following Assange's appearance in a London court on Tuesday, his attorneys published an outline of the defence he will use at a full extradition hearing scheduled for February 7.
"There is a real risk that, if extradited to Sweden, the US will seek his extradition and/or illegal rendition to the USA, where there will be a real risk of him being nabbed at Guantanamo Bay or elsewhere" according to a legal memo on the website of the law firm Finers Stephens Innocent.
"Indeed, if Mr Assange were rendered to the USA, without assurances that the death penalty would not be carried out, there is a real risk that he could be made subject to the death penalty."
The Australian citizen, who has angered the US and other states by releasing embarrassing classified US diplomatic cables, is wanted by Sweden for questioning over alleged sexual offences against two women in Sweden last summer.
According to his lawyer, the allegations stem from a dispute over "consensual but unprotected sex".
The legal memo added that if Assange ended up in the US, there is "a real risk" he would be subject to ill-treatment or even torture.
The risk that he won't be is what disturbs a lot of us.
The US has not yet filed any charges against Assange, but officials are investigating whether he can be prosecuted under American espionage laws. Under a legal agreement on extraditions between Sweden and the US, Assange would have to be charged in the US with a crime carrying a minimum of two-year prison term under both countries' laws. Military or political crimes are not valid grounds for extradition.
As Assange would first have to be extradited from the UK to Sweden, the latter cannot extradite him to a third country unless the UK gives its approval.
Extraditions from Sweden to countries outside the European Union are relatively rare. Between 2007-2009, 14 people were extradited to countries outside the EU and the Nordic Countries.
The Swedish government takes the final decision on extraditions, and can decide not to have a person handed over even if there is legal ground for it. However, The infamous However... the government cannot have someone extradited if the legal requirements are not met.
Under European human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... conventions, the government cannot extradite a person to a country where the individual may face death penalty or ill-treatment.
Pointing to a dent in Sweden's laxity human rights record, Assange's lawyers mentioned a case in 2001 in which two asylum seekers were deported from Sweden.
The Swedish government was heavily criticised both domestically and by the UN human rights committee for the rough treatment of Ahmed Agiza and Muhammad Al-Zery, who the Swedish intelligence agency suspected of having links to an al-Qaeda affiliated organisation.
Before the deportation, Sweden had negotiated guarantees from Egypt that the men would not be tortured or executed. However, Another infamous However... strong allegations emerged that both men were tortured after they were transported to Egypt in a CIA plane with masked American agents. If they were masked, they could have been Ruritanians.
This article starring:
Ahmed Agiza
Muhammad Al-Zery
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
I think that picture looks more like Nancy Grace.
Posted by: Fornerly Dan ||
01/14/2011 7:27 Comments ||
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#2
I saw that face at the PX yesterday. She drew several admiring glances from some of the older contractors.
#5
Like I said earlier, Gitmo has become the boogeyman of the left. They think that anyone can be sent there, never to be seen or heard of again.
Actually, a large number of people have been released from Gitmo. Many of them have returned to their Jihadi ways. Several of those have ended up dead.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/14/2011 18:25 Comments ||
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#6
Preaching to the choir. They're the only ones buying this bullshit.
#7
Julian deserves a severe penalty if he conspired with Manning to leak U.S. secret material.
I bet Manning thinks they are pals. Butt-buddies working together to make the world wonderful -- rainbows above dancing unicorns.
Julian ought worry about what his buddy might say on the stand. About how they worked together. To get the truth out of the closet and into the light of day.
On the internet together; late at night; sharing encryption keys. O, the joy of it all. The two of them, together.
You know Julian saw what Manning was delivering. You know he sent back an encouraging note. You know he asked for info on older events that a 20 year old private didn't care about because they had happened when he was 4, but Julian was 24 then and knew what he wanted. You know Julian led his boy-toy on and on, just to get access to another vein of information. He had blown out earlier veins too soon, so he waited and cajoled and whispered. Just to get a little bit more.
Eventually, Julian became so over-stuffed from his feast he could no longer hold it in. It just started vomiting up on the internet, and he continues to this day. He pukes and pukes without regard to the broken little toy rotting away in the brig, who filled him up.
Julian is right to fear the long arm of the United States, but he really should avoid mirrors, as they show the terrifying horror that is Julian Assange, a soulless wreak tempting the foolish to sacrifice their lives in his empty temple.
[Chosun Ilbo] The North Korean regime appears to have started a new reign of terror to consolidate the succession of leader Kim Jong-il's son Jong-un.
The South Korean government and a North Korean source on Wednesday said public executions more than tripled last year. And increasing numbers of North Koreans have been killed trying to cross the Apnok (or Yalu) or Duman (or Tumen) River after the regime gave a shoot-to-kill order. The party and military, meanwhile, are engulfed in a whirlwind of purges, observers believe.
◆ Public Executions
A diplomatic source familiar with North Korean affairs Wednesday said there were 60 confirmed public executions in the North last year, more than triple the number of 2009. "Since last year, the regime has put a notice on bulletin boards warning that those who use Chinese-made mobile phones or illegally circulate dollars face public execution, the source said.
Another source familiar with North Korean affairs said, "It's rumored that Kim Jong-un has called for 'gunshots across the country.' Kim Jong-il did exactly the same thing when he took power."
Jang Se-yul of the North Korean People's Liberation Front, a group of former North Korean soldiers and officers who defected to South Korea, said, "In Chongjin, North Hamgyong Province alone last year, at least six people were executed publicly on charges of human trafficking and robbery. People are executed publicly for crimes that would have sent them to prison for just a few years in the past."
"The number of public executions had gradually dwindled in the North since the famine of the late 1990s," said International security ambassador Nam Joo-hong. "But since last year, the regime has apparently relied increasingly on public executions to tighten control in the aftermath of the botched currency reform and complaints about the hereditary succession."
◆ 'Shoot-to-Kill' Order Against Defectors
Observers believe the regime has issued a shoot-to-kill order against defectors. According to a high-level source in the Changbai region in the Chinese province of Jilin, five North Koreans were shot dead and two others wounded by North Korean border guards on the Chinese side of the border after they crossed the Apnok River on Dec. 14.
And the military is being purged of unreliable elements. Quoting an internal North Korean source last Saturday, Free North Korea Radio, a shortwave broadcaster in the South, said the number of inmates has soared at a labor camp under the Ministry of People's Armed Forces in North Hamgyong Province. It said many of the inmates are former army generals who have been purged by Kim Jong-un.
The regime's determination to tighten control is also reflected in the Workers Party's new regulations, the first for 30 years. The regime recently added a new clause calling for all party members to abide by a new regulation requiring them "to oppose and fight against anti-socialist trends."
A South Korean intelligence official said the phrase refers to elements of capitalism that have flowed in from South Korea. "The regime has paved the way to publicly execute even people who watch South Korean soap operas or dress in South Korean style, branding them as anti-party elements," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
WHY aren't we counterfiting the NORK's currency and air dropping thousands per minute across the nation.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/14/2011 13:17 Comments ||
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A FORMER special forces officer and national security adviser to the former prime minister Kevin Rudd has been appointed commander of Australian troops in the Middle East.
Major-General Angus Campbell replaces Major-General John Cantwell as the commander of about 2500 troops, most of whom are stationed in the Afghan province of Oruzgan and at Al Minhad Air Base, near Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.
General Campbell was Mr Rudd's deputy national security adviser for about a year until early last year, before returning to take charge of military strategic commitments. He has also served as an officer in the elite Special Air Service.
General Campbell said yesterday that his national security background gave him good "context" to the war in Afghanistan and Australia's role in it. However, his focus was now on the execution of Australia's mission in the country, he said.
"My duties more generally in the army have given me a good basis to build on the work of General Cantwell, who did a magnificent job here," General Campbell said.
General Cantwell has proved popular among many of the troops in Afghanistan during his 12-month stint in charge.
Diggers in Afghanistan told the Herald they appreciated his willingness to visit isolated bases and conduct patrols. He has also been mentioned as a potential Chief of Army. Any relation to Angus Young?
#2
Make war on them until idolatry is no more and Allah's religion reigns supreme - 8:39 - also misinterpreted
When the sacred months are over, slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them. - 9:5 -- also misinterpreted
Fight those who believe neither in God nor the Last Day, nor what has been forbidden by God and his messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, even if they are People of the Book, until they pay the tribute and have been humbled. - 9:29 also misinterpreted
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/14/2011 11:23 Comments ||
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#3
What part of the poster was misunderstood?
the "don't", the "talk" or the "FBI"?
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/14/2011 11:55 Comments ||
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#6
Were used to this kind of attack by the Islamophobic hate machine and in this case there is some justification in terms of the possibility of misinterpretation of this poster.
So what he's saying is, in this case, the "Islamophobic hate machine" is...right?
[Asharq al-Aswat] The Turkish prime minister has called on Israelis to remove their foreign minister in a interview with the Arabic news channel Jazeera.
The Turkish prime minister seems to confuse himself with an Ottoman sultan, and Israel as one of his empire's semi-self-ruling millets.
Prime Minister Recep Erdogan called the outspoken Israeli minister "a problem at the head of Israel" in an interview broadcast Wednesday night.
He said Israelis had the duty to "rid themselves" of Avigdor Lieberman or risk him causing them more problems in the future.
Relations between the two countries hit an all-time low in May, when Israeli naval commandos killed nine activists from Turkey on board a Gazoo-bound ship that tried to breach Israel's naval blockade.
Turkey withdrew its ambassador from Tel Aviv and Turkish leaders denounced Israel repeatedly over the raid.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Why is whom Israel chooses for a foreign minister any business of Turkey's?
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/14/2011 10:52 Comments ||
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#2
Perhaps if Turkey returned Orthodox rule to Constantinople, and accepted Devan Harris' contract for Carmelo Anthony and others, we could work out a 3-way trade.
The CIA should investigate how its employees destroyed tapes of Sept. 11 detainee interrogations and explain how it will prevent such a thing from happening again, a federal judge told a government lawyer Friday.
"This kind of destruction never should have occurred," and the CIA should show it has learned its lesson, U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein told government lawyers representing the agency at a Manhattan hearing. It will never happen again. Until the next time some traitorous bas+ards want to undermine their efforts. Nope, it'll never happen again. Next time there won't be any tapes. And we'll shoot the bastards when we're done talking with them.
#1
No reason in the world for any of those scum to have made it as far as Gitmo. Afghanistan is a big place, and we could have left hundreds of them there for disposal.
"And the never would be missed, They never would be missed."
The project, called "Virtual Fence," was rolled out under the Bush administration in 2006 with much fanfare about how technology could help secure the border. Illegal immigrants crossing the border would be detected by a radar and picked up by remote cameras, which were monitored by border patrol agents. Another $1B boondoggle.
But numerous internal and Congressional reviews found consistent performance problems with the project's systems, which only spanned 53 miles of the vast U.S.-Mexico border. I wonder how many millions of dollars it cost to figure this out.
The new plan "will utilize existing, proven technology tailored to the distinct terrain and population density of each border region, including commercially available Mobile Surveillance Systems, Unmanned Aircraft Systems, thermal imaging devices, and tower-based Remote Video Surveillance Systems." Napolitano added. Welcome to the Obean administrations new, improved boondoggle.
Gorb's solution: Build a fence. Build another one in parallel. Shoot anything that moves in between. And under. A fence doesn't need to be high-tech. All it does is slow down whoever it is you're trying to slow down until you get your people on the scene. If you don't do the latter it doesn't matter how high, tall, wide, deep or high-tech the fence is.
#3
I still vote for planting tumbleweed between the fences. I've heard that's very effective for slowing people down, and the screams of pain are almost as good as thermal imaging for locating intruders...
#5
This thing has been a mess from the start. Not because the technology is difficult, but because it is politically radioactive.
The sensor part of the problem is easy. The hard part is deciding what to do with the information. Further, if the politicians are unwilling to answer that question, then actually getting the sensors in place just provides information that em-bare-asses them. So, they sabotage the whole acquisition and blame the contractor.
#6
a triple fence in the San Diego sector has done wonders. It's costly, but so is the influx damage. In very rough terrain, no need for it - use UAVs, IR, and collection crews
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/14/2011 21:02 Comments ||
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#9
How man YEARS did that idiot Bush waste with this? We could have ha a real fence all the way to the Gulf by now.
Bush is no idiot. Bottom line, he wants a porous border. The best way to do this was to spend the most amount of money possible on the least effective system. He succeeded, in spades. Now he can point to this failed project as just another sign that the border cannot be sealed.
The Pakistani ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva says most Pashtuns in Afghanistan, whether they are Taliban or not, see the United States and NATO as a presence of occupation. He says the Taliban, who are indigenous to Afghanistan, are in a good position to come out on top because it can outwait "the enemy." They certainly intend to out-wait Obama. Whether they can out-wait President Palin is another matter...
Pakistani Ambassador, Zamir Akram, says after nearly 10 years of war, promises of economic development have not been fulfilled and Afghan Pashtuns are disillusioned.
As a consequence, he says Afghans look at the United States and NATO as occupying powers. And, this he says feeds into the kind of propaganda the Taliban are eager to promote.
He says the use of force is only one element in a larger political strategy needed to oust or contain the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan. What do you want to bet that a large part of his proposed comprehensive strategy will include money?
#3
That outwaiting is getting expensive for the Taliban, according to Strategy Page analyses (well worth reading, and blessedly brief):
Patterns of Terrorism Deaths in Southeast Asia: Overall [in Pakistan], terrorist related deaths declined 37 percent from 2009 to 2010. There were 11,704 terrorism related deaths in 2009, versus 7,435 last year, and in both years, terrorists were about 70 percent of the dead, with about ten percent of the dead security forces and 20 percent civilians. [similar pattern and numbers in Afghanistan]
The Tradition Continues (Pushtunistan): Last year this war left about 15,000 dead. Over 90 percent of those killed were Pushtun. Over 10,000 were the Taliban and terrorist fighters determined to drive infidels (non-Moslems) out of the area and establish an Islamic state (under Pushtun control). Most of the other 5,000 dead were civilians, most of them killed by the Taliban. ...No one expects the Pushtuns to win this war, they never do. That's why there have been so few Pushtun kingdoms in the region, much less a modern "Pushtunstan."
#5
They have an endless supply of morons looking for virgins.
Sure, Ebbang Uluque6305, but it's so much more fun being a jihadi if one doesn't get killed on the way to the battlefield without even so much as wounding a single infidel, or if the safehouse is hit by a missile in the night, or if management bugs out, leaving the rearguard morons to face our guys. Especially when the bugged-out management get hit by a missile in the night, too. And apparently the Taliban have been suffering from a cash shortage, which means jihadi pay packets have been a bit lighter than promised.
#6
The tactic, and I believe there was one, for Perv to set up a unified Pakistan under a central government, instead of a bunch of contentious enclaves, showed a lot of promise early on; but Pakistan is just not ready for nationhood yet.
In short, a whole lot of violent people have to be put down, and put down so hard that they give up, and stop fighting. How many? Perhaps 10 million.
What brought it up short was when Perv threw out the corrupt supreme court leaders, and all the radical lawyers, those now throwing rose petals at the governor's assassins, broke his will and he reinstated them.
Then what stopped it cold was the attack on the red mosque. While it was successful, it let all the other factions know that their time was limited, unless they could drive Perv out and end the momentum to unification.
#7
they probably can outwait the US. I mean what the hell else have they been doing for 10,000 years besides sitting on their hands waiting for someone too do something for them or barely surviving?
Posted by: chris ||
01/14/2011 20:25 Comments ||
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#8
Keep thinking that way. Waiting out the U.S. worked great for those Imperial Japanese holdouts too.
[Geo News] Former Senator and Attorney General of Pakistain, Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa took oath today as Governor Punjab.
Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice, Justice Aijaz Chaudhry administered oath to Sardar Latif Khosa in an imposing ceremony here at Governor House.
Leading stalwarts from the Pakistain People's Party, office bearers of People's Lawyers Forum and other important personalities attended the oath-taking ceremony.
It should be mentioned here that Khosa was scheduled to take oath on Wednesday but the ceremony was postponed owing to the murder of Justice Javed Iqbal's parents. Khosa was appointed as the Governor of Punjab by President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who showed remarkably little curiosity about who actually done her in ... on 11th January.
An important point to note here is that his appointment was challenged in the Lahore High Court the next day when a citizen filed a petition against him. It said that he was not eligible for the post under the articles 62 and 63 of the constitution because he was removed from the office of Attorney General in 2009 under charges of corruption. The court adjourned the hearing till January 19.
Latif Khosa took the post of Salmaan Taseer, who was murdered by his own bodyguard last week for giving out statements against the blasphemy law. Khosa is the 27th Governor of the Punjab and is considered to be a close ally of President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ... .
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2011 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Interior Minister, Rehman Malik on Thursday reiterated that government has no intention to bring any amendment in blasphemy laws, owing to its sensitivity, the people should not play up the issue after the government categorical stance on the subject.
The Interior Minister was talking to newsmen after expressing condolence and offered Fateha for the departed soul of former Governor KPK and PPP leader late Gen Naseerul Babar at Pirpai here at Pirpai village.
The Interior Minister maintained that the matter would be taken up with noted Ulema and religious scholars of different schools of thoughts and office bearers of Wafaqul Madaris and the issue would be amicably resolved.
He said the government has no intention of repealing or amending the blasphemy law and ensuring the respect of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PTUI!) is part of our faith. Hazrat Muhammad (PTUI!) is the last messenger of Allah Almighty and we believe in Khatm-e-Nabbuwat.
The Interior Minister announced to block all un-Islamic materials put on various websites and urged people to inform government if they found any matter of blasphemy on the Internet.
"That trickle of water at the bottom of the hole has become an underground river, so let's drop in a bulldozer."
He said the government has highest regards for judiciary and its decisions are being implemented in latter and spirit.
Eulogizing the sacrifices and contributions of former Governor KPK and Interior Minister Gen Nassesrullah Babar for the country and PPP, the Minister said that his death is a great loss for the country and people. He said that leaders like Gen Babar are born in centuries and was a brave leader. The vacuum created due to his death would hardly be overcome in near future.
Earlier, the Minister visited the residence of Gen Babar and condolence with his family over his sad demise.
He remained there for sometime and offered Fateha for the departed soul. Later, he visited to Gen Babar grave and laid floral wreath on behalf of resident Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who showed remarkably little curiosity about who actually done her in ... , Prime Minister Syed Yusaf Raza Gilani and Interior Ministry and offered Fateha. Tough security arrangements were made on this occasion.
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(PTI) Pakistain today skirted the issue of defending JuD chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed in a US lawsuit filed by relatives of two American Jews killed in the Mumbai attacks, saying it would only protect the interests of ISI officials who had been named in the case. Not that they can be expecting to get any dough...
Pakistain's decision to defend ISI officials in the lawsuit in a Brooklyn court does not apply to "non-officials," Foreign Office front man Abdul Basit told a weekly briefing. ... meaning they've either got to admit Hafiz Saeed's a government agent -- along with his organizations -- or throw him to the legal wolves. Since they don't expect to pay anything it's the wolves for the old Hafiz.
Basit was responding to a question on Saeed's demand that the government should appoint a counsel to defend him in the US court as he is a Pak national and no terror charges had been proved against him. "Dere's ain't no proof! Da witnesses are all dead!"
"Pakistain will defend its officials. So, here we are talking about officials. As far as defending non-officials is concerned, I would not be in a position to answer your question," Basit said.
This article starring:
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
Lashkar-e-Taiba
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Overtaking Indonesia and Thailand as the country facing the greatest threat from terrorism, according to FTI-International Risk, a security consulting firm based in Hong Kong with offices in China.
[Ma'an] Leb's parliament speaker Nabih Knobby Berri ... the Hizbullah sock puppet ... on Thursday announced that consultations on appointing a new prime minister would begin on Monday, following the collapse of the national unity government.
"Consultations with parliamentarians will begin Monday at noon," the state-run National News Agency quoted Berri as saying.
The announcement came a day after Hezbullies forced the collapse of Prime Minister Saad Hariri's government in a dispute over a UN-backed probe into the liquidation of Hariri's father, ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.
Eleven ministers withdrew from the government, providing the minimum number of resignations needed to automatically dissolve the 30-member cabinet, now acting in a caretaker capacity.
The Special Tribunal for Leb is reportedly set to indict high-ranking Hezbullies operatives in the 2005 liquidation of Hariri.
The Shiite cut-thoat group has warned any such accusation would have grave repercussions and has been pressing Western-backed Hariri to disavow the tribunal.
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[An Nahar] Hizbullah MP Mohammed Raad unveiled Thursday that the March 8 forces ... the opposition to the Mar. 14th movement, consisting of Hizbullah and its allies, so-called in commemoration of their Mar. 8th, 2006 demonstration of strength in Beirut ... will name a personality with a history of national resistance to head the new government.
The opposition is consulting with all parties and hopes to achieve solutions that would consolidate Leb against foreign interferences, Raad said after meeting former President Emile Lahoud.
The foreign meddling "wants to politicize everything in favor of Israel," the head of the Loyalty to the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... bloc told news hounds.
When asked which personality the March 8 coalition would name to head the new cabinet following the collapse of the government, Raad said: "A personality with a national resistance biography."
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[An Nahar] Sources from the parliamentary majority predicted on Thursday that Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Wally Jumblat ... who's been on every side in Leb at least four times... is likely to select caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri as a new premier as the MP will not take a step that would harm his ties with him.
The sources told the Central News Agency that House Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri ... the Hizbullah sock puppet ... is also expected to take the same position as Jumblat "which would almost definitely ensure Hariri's return to his position."
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... opposition circles revealed on Thursday that its leadership had met Wednesday night away from the spotlight.
They told the news agency that the leaders had suggested a number of names to take over as premier, including former PM Omar Karami, former minister Abdel Rahim Murad, and former MP Oussam Saad.
Political sources from the majority noted that the March 8 forces ... the opposition to the Mar. 14th movement, consisting of Hizbullah and its allies, so-called in commemoration of their Mar. 8th, 2006 demonstration of strength in Beirut ... seek to sever any official Lebanese link to the Special Tribunal for Leb.
The March 8 camp will be holding an expanded meeting in the upcoming days to reach an agreement on its final choice for prime minister, they added.
The opposition is aiming to find a way to take control of power through pressuring Jumblat to shift his support from the majority to the opposition, they continued.
Once this is achieved, then a government affiliated with one political camp would be formed, which would then take the legal measures to transfer the case of the liquidation of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri to the Lebanese judiciary, the sources stressed.
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[An Nahar] Parliament Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri ... the Hizbullah sock puppet ... on Thursday announced that consultations on appointing a new prime minister would begin on Monday, following the collapse of the national unity government.
"Consultations with parliamentarians will begin Monday at 12:00 p.m.," Berri said after talks with President Michel Suleiman at the Baabda Palace, adding that "the meeting was very good."
According to article 69 of the constitution, the 14-month-old cabinet is now considered resigned after more than one third of its ministers walked out -- 10 from the March 8 coalition and a minister loyal to Suleiman.
An Nahar daily said that the president is waiting for Prime Minister Saad Hariri's return to Beirut to issue the decree accepting the ministers' resignation.
However, The infamous However... the presidency issued a statement on Thursday asking the cabinet to stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new government is formed.
"In line with clause one of article 69 in the Lebanese constitution on the circumstances under which the government is considered to have resigned ... and as the government has lost more than one third of its members ... his Excellency ... has requested the cabinet act as a caretaker government until the formation of a new government," read the statement released by Suleiman's office.
Media reports said Syrian President Bashar "Pencilneck" al-Assad ... hereditary dictator of Syria ... telephoned his Lebanese counterpart to discuss the political situation.
The immediate trigger for the withdrawal from the cabinet was the failure of talks between Syria and Soddy Arabia to try to find a solution to the Lebanese crisis that erupted over the Special Tribunal for Leb.
"This cabinet has become a burden on the Lebanese, unable to do its work," Jebran Bassil, who resigned his post as energy minister, said at a news conference, flanked by the other ministers who stepped down.
"We are giving a chance for another government to take over," he said.
As Safir daily on Thursday was not optimistic about Suleiman's ability to form a new government quickly. It said the reasons that led to the collapse of the government will hinder the process of cabinet formation if a political understanding was not reached on how to deal with the indictment that will be issued by the tribunal.
Opposition sources told As Safir that the March 8 forces ... the opposition to the Mar. 14th movement, consisting of Hizbullah and its allies, so-called in commoration of their Mar. 8th, 2006 demonstration of strength in Beirut ... will not name Hariri as premier during consultations with Suleiman. "He has become part of the problem," they said.
The sources expected Syria to have the upper hand in deciding the name of the new premier.
However, The infamous However... the March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... forces are holding onto Hariri as premier. He is expected to get the largest numbers of backers given that he heads the largest bloc in parliament, but he could not build a coalition again without appealing to Hizbullah and its allies.
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[An Nahar] The resignation of Adnan Sayyed Hussein, a minister aligned to President Michel Suleiman, came after a telephone conversation with Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's political assistant, An Nahar daily said Thursday.
Sayyed Hussein's resignation was crucial on Wednesday because it meant more than one-third of the cabinet had quit after the resignation of 10 ministers from the March 8 coalition. The resignations caused the fall of the government.
According to An Nahar, Nasrallah's assistant Hussein Khalil informed Sayyed Hussein that the Hizbullah chief was sending him his regards and wishing him to use "his conscience and take the appropriate stance."
In his statement, Sayyed Hussein said he tendered his resignation after the cabinet failed to deal with the priorities of the citizens.
"Consistent with the consensus policy sponsored by President Michel Suleiman ... I announce my resignation from the cabinet," he said.
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This being the official line of the Medes and the Persians...
[Iran Press TV] The tribunal probing into the liquidation of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri is engineered by world powers to harm the resistance front in Leb, an analyst says. And what analyst might that be, you might ask...
"There are foreign powers, who have invested a lot of time and a lot of efforts in this tribunal, thinking that this is an instrument to get to the major worry of Israel in the area, that is the resistance," said Daoud Khairallah, a Georgetown University law professor, in an interview with Press TV. "The entire idea of the tribunal is an instrument of political pressure to reach political objectives," he added. Those objectives would be to find out who actually killed Hariri the Elder. There aren't any similar tribunals for the long series of other lesser (and in some cases greater) murders. One can only wonder what they would turn up.
Khairallah argued, "It has never happened in the history that major powers, US included, go to the Security Council and get resolutions about establishing a tribunal on a crime that is not known in the international law." Here's a relatively harmless country that's been subjected to Syrian occupation -- Syria actually refused to recognize Leb independence until a couple years ago -- plus a seemingly interminable civil war, Paleostinian occupation, and the assassination of scores of its political oligarchy. Hariri's assassination wasn't a purely internal affair.
"Justice is the first victim and justice, that is supposed to bring together a country, has turned through the tribunal into a reason for dividing the country and keeping it divided and keeping a certain chaos inside the country and that is what we are witnessing." ... rather than just sweeping the murder under the rug with all the others and pretending it never happened.
"This is not a totally independent tribunal and that is why there is disturbance and anger on one side and that is why there is lack of confidence in the legal process," he further emphasized. Problem is, it's much more independent that it would be if it were a purely Leb court. That's the problem for Hezbollah. They can bully most of Leb, but they can't bully the entire world.
Former premier Hariri and 20 other people were assassinated on February 14, 2005, when explosives equal to around 1,000 kilogram of TNT were blown up in downtown Beirut. They used a ton of dynamite on the poor man. But we were all so much younger then. Best to put it all behind us...
The Washington-sponsored Special Tribunal for Leb (STL) was set up some two years later to look into the deadly incident. Actually it's a UN tribunal. But it flies better with the reflexively anti-American crowd to hang it on Washington.
Reports say that the court would likely issue an indictment against some Hezbullies members. My guess is that they're pretty big turban Hezbullies. Hezbullies Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has vehemently rebuffed the allegations. He has described the tribunal as part of dangerous projects that are targeting the resistance movement.
This article starring:
Daoud Khairallah
Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah
Hezbollah
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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.
A 21-year-old loner from Pennsylvania had an arsenal in his room, an Islamic radical online persona and paramilitary training videos before his arrest last week for biting two FBI agents, prosecutors said in court Thursday.
KABUL: The Taliban are prepared to drop their ban on girls' schools, an influential Afghan cabinet minister says.
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the Tunisian President, quit after 23 years in power and 
Defence attorneys for Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has said he could end up facing the death penalty in the US if the UK extradites him to Sweden, where he is accused of sex crimes.
A FORMER special forces officer and national security adviser to the former prime minister Kevin Rudd has been appointed commander of Australian troops in the Middle East.
(PTI) Pakistain today skirted the issue of defending JuD chief 
Overtaking Indonesia and Thailand as the country facing the greatest threat from terrorism, according to FTI-International Risk, a security consulting firm based in Hong Kong with offices in China.
[Ma'an] 
