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IDF moves to bisect Gaza
Today's Headlines
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Afghanistan
Afghanistan: Generals focus on new ways to defeat Taliban
(AKI) - By Syed Saleem Shahzad - Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kiyani arrived in Kabul on Friday for crucial talks with Afghani and US military leaders on new approaches to fighting the Taliban and other terror groups in South Asia. Kiyani was due to meet General Bismillah Khan, chief of staff of the Afghan Army and Gen.David D. McKiernan, the American chief of NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and other military officials.

Among the issues expected to discussed at the meeting is the highly effective strategy of Gen. David Petraeus, former head of the Multinational Force in Iraq, who is widely credited with the success of the troop surge that stabilised the country's security.

The talks were to take place as Pakistani security forces launched a massive military operation in the Khyber Agency on the Afghan border against the Taliban and other suspected militants in order to secure the most crucial supply routes for NATO forces in Afghanistan. Forty-three people with suspected links to the Taliban were detained while 107 others linked to tribal groups were arrested. Thirty-three homes and other properties belonging to the militants were demolished and a curfew has been imposed in the area at certain times of day.

The US called for the military operation after more than 450 containers carrying Afghanistan bound NATO supplies including 40 expensive bullet proof vehicles, oil and food supplies were destroyed in December.

The operation was to have been carried out two weeks ago but a sudden escalation of Indian forces on Pakistan's eastern border forced Pakistan to relocate many of its troops and equipment from north-western borders with Afghanistan to its eastern borders with India.

The US immediately intervened and played a crucial role in diffusing the increased tension between the two neighbouring countries that arose after the Mumbai terror attacks in November. US President Bush personally telephoned President Asif Zardari and urged him not to withdraw Pakistani troops from the western border.

Eighty percent of NATO's supplies for landlocked Afghanistan come through the Arabian Sea Port of Karachi and pass through the Khyber Agency. It is the least expensive route for transporting supplies, but the route came under frequent attack last year.

According to Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, from the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce, not only were NATO supplies facing disruption by December, but all Afghan trade through the Khyber Agency had been suspended.

In early 2009, four new American combat brigades are expected to join the foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan and the demand for supplies will increase. NATO has been exploring new routes from the Black Sea, Russia, Central Asia into Afghanistan. It is the most expensive landlocked route, but if fighting flared again in the Khyber Agency, NATO would have no other choice.
Posted by: Fred || 01/04/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  120K Indian troops would help a lot.
Posted by: 3dc || 01/04/2009 0:46 Comments || Top||

#2  The Russers might go for it at the right price.

Lotta kickbacks, lotta jobs (yes Ima being redunant and repeating myself).
Posted by: .5MT || 01/04/2009 6:44 Comments || Top||

#3  ...new ways to defeat Taliban

Killing every current and former member of the ISI would be a good start. Start with Gul.
Posted by: PBMcL || 01/04/2009 10:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Kiyani was due to meet General Bismillah Khan, chief of staff of the Afghan Army and Gen.David D. McKiernan, the American chief of NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and other military officials.

How humiliating! Poor General Kyani had to sit with an Afghan military man as an equal, his behaviour enforced and overwatched by a bloody kufr American, required to listen while they explained to him what his armies had thus far done incompetently. Thereafter he and his army will have to watch impotently as Petraeus' strategy is employed by others, because nobody would believe anything good and honourable of the Pakistanis... although they do march nicely in pretty uniforms on parade.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2009 12:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Kiyani was due to meet General Bismillah Khan, chief of staff of the Afghan Army and Gen.David D. McKiernan, the American chief of NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and other military officials.

How humiliating! Poor General Kyani had to sit with an Afghan military man as an equal, his behaviour enforced and overwatched by a bloody kufr American, required to listen while they explained to him what his armies had thus far done incompetently. Thereafter he and his army will have to watch impotently as Petraeus' strategy is employed by others, because nobody would believe anything good and honourable of the Pakistanis... although they do march nicely in pretty uniforms on parade.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2009 12:57 Comments || Top||

#6  Sorry about the double post. I've no idea what I did wrong.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2009 12:57 Comments || Top||

#7  Bringing the Russians in would be the stupidest thing the West could do. The Afghanistanis have a lot of unrelieved hatred for the Russians, going back to the 1979-1988 Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Bringing in the Indians would be a better option, especially if they came by ground through Musaraffabad, Rawalpindi, and Peshawar. I'm not sure 120,000 would be enough - we might want to send in a couple of divisions (Marine and Army) from Karachi to link up with them in Rawalpindi for the drive north.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 01/04/2009 13:01 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Uganda may exit Somalia
Uganda has warned that it may withdraw its troops from peacekeeping duties in Somalia, as insurgents appeared to begin seizing territory.

"Uganda is going to consider withdrawing its troops from Somalia and it will do so as soon as possible after weighing the risks on the ground," Deputy Foreign Minister Henry Okello Oryem said on Saturday.

Uganda has demanded a UN peacekeeping force of 8,000 troops, but UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has rejected the calls, saying there is "no peace to keep."
Posted by: Fred || 01/04/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Courts

#1  Uganda has demanded a UN peacekeeping force of 8,000 troops, but UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has rejected the calls, saying there is "no peace to keep."

Old Ban isn't as stupid as most UN leaders, now is he? He's pegged this one.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 01/04/2009 13:02 Comments || Top||


Britain
CIA tracking 4000 UK terror suspects
THE CIA has begun an unprecedented intelligence-gathering operation in Britain to help MI5 monitor 4000 terrorist suspects.

More than four out of 10 CIA operations to prevent attacks on US soil are now conducted against targets in Britain.

This has led to friction between British and American spies, with some US intelligence officers irritated that resources are being diverted to gather intelligence on suspects in their closest ally's backyard. British intelligence officers do not know the identity of all the CIA informers and are uneasy about some of the uses to which the intelligence has been put.

MI5 as a whole is glad of the help, however, and works closely with its sister service. US spies share information when it concerns security in Britain.

Intelligence from CIA informers is believed to have helped thwart more than one terrorist atrocity on British soil. Information passed on by a CIA source in Britain was also instrumental in locating Rashid Rauf, a British-born al-Qaeda operative killed by a US air strike in Pakistan on November 22.

A British official said: "There is a great deal of CIA activity inside the UK. The CIA has been given a free rein to raise, handle and process from intelligence sources inside the UK.

"In many cases we do not know who their assets are. Several of the recently foiled terrorist plots inside the UK were uncovered by informants run by US source handlers. We've been able to interdict these plots."

A former CIA officer who still carries out freelance work for the agency voiced the irritation of some American spies. "It's certainly frustrating that Britain is an Islamist swamp," he said. "You don't want to have to spend time spying on your friends."

British security chiefs have long turned a blind eye to a CIA presence in Britain and, since the attacks of September 11, 2001, MI5 and the CIA have worked together closely to combat the threat from Islamist extremists. MI5 also tolerates similar operations by the Israeli agency Mossad, which briefs members of the London Jewish community on threats to their security.

However, US security chiefs have stepped up their presence in Britain in the past two years, as they think Islamist extremists there are the biggest threat to US security and fear MI5 may be swamped by the scale of the threat. They also fear al-Qaeda recruits could travel to the US under America's visa waiver program.

MI5 director-general Jonathan Evans has estimated about 4000 people in Britain pose a direct threat to national security.

Bruce Riedel, a Middle East intelligence analyst for the White House National Security Council, said: "A great deal of concern about threats to the US homeland is based upon attacks coming out of the UK. The 800,000 or so British citizens of Pakistani origin are regarded by the American intelligence community as perhaps the single-biggest threat environment."
Posted by: tipper || 01/04/2009 11:55 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "A former CIA officer who still carries out freelance work for the agency voiced the irritation of some American spies. "It's certainly frustrating that Britain is an Islamist swamp," he said. "You don't want to have to spend time spying on your friends."

At least this is a place where there is cooperation from the local government and the CIA folks don't stick out like a sore thumb. Pro's and Con's. Annoying, yes. But not the worst situation.
Posted by: tipover || 01/04/2009 13:11 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm quite happy with the overlap. Especially as I suspect that MI5 employs the finest public school then oxbridge idiots that run this country into the ground decade after decade.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/04/2009 13:26 Comments || Top||

#3  "More than four out of 10 CIA operations to prevent attacks on US soil are now conducted against targets in Britain."

That is one scary development.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 01/04/2009 14:15 Comments || Top||

#4  See if they can spy on our mosques for us.
Posted by: Super Hose || 01/04/2009 16:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Great idea, Tipover. We do some of the dirty work for the Brits. They do the same for us. Maybe send some MI5 operatives with Pakistani roots over our way to sniff around the mosques.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 01/04/2009 17:56 Comments || Top||

#6  PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM/TOPIX > OMAR BAKRI [UK Pro-IslamistMilit Activist] ACCUSED OF RECRUITING, TRAINING AL QAEDA TERRORISTS, includ for TERROPS IN BRIT + AROUND EUROPE???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/04/2009 23:55 Comments || Top||


Britain: Our Army failed its test in Iraq
As we enter the year when the last British troops leave Iraq, further evidence is emerging of just what an abject failure Britain’s military intervention in Iraq has been. Despite the bravery of many individual soldiers, the only real success of the Government has been the extent to which it has managed to hide from view how, thanks to its catastrophic misjudgements, this has been the one of the most humiliating chapters in the history of the British Army.

In recent weeks, drawing on a wealth of published and unpublished sources, my colleague Dr Richard North has been compiling the first comprehensive account of this story, for a book to be published this summer as our troops beat their final inglorious retreat. Like any tragedy, it is a story which has unfolded through five main acts or stages,

Stage one began in April 2003 when, after 40,000 British troops took part in the US-led invasion, Britain was given the responsibility of restoring order in the predominantly Shia south-east of the country centred on Basra. We began with hubris, imagining we would be welcomed by the local population as liberators and that, such was our experience in Northern Ireland, establishing order would be no problem, Almost immediately, however, our troops came under sporadic attacks by armed militias, notably the “Mahdi Army’’ run by a militant cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr. Having dismantled the structures of authority and reduced our troop numbers to 11,000, we had nothing like enough men to fulfil our legal duty under the Geneva Convention to maintain public order and safety.

Stage two began with the fateful decision in late 2003, endorsed by General Mike Jackson as head of the Army, to deploy 178 Snatch Land Rovers as our chief patrol vehicle. The intention, as part of the attempt to ''win hearts and minds’’, was to avoid using armoured Warriors in favour of vehicles looking less aggressive. In 2004 Muqtada’s Mahdi Army launched a conventional uprising in several cities, including Baghdad, provoking a massive US response which led to its defeat. In Basra and the south, therefore, the Mahdi Army resorted to guerrilla tactics, notably roadside bombs which caused havoc with the hopelessly unprotected Land Rovers. By summer 2005, as yet more soldiers died, the British were forced to suspend Snatch patrols. As the cities of Basra and Al-Amarah to the north came under militia control, this was where the British lost the confidence of an increasingly terrorised population,

Stage three in 2006 centred on the extraordinary, largely unreported drama surrounding Al-Amarah and the nearby base at Abu Naji, our largest after Basra. Unable to keep control over the city, the British hunkered down in Abu Naji, subjected to constant mortaring which they had neither the men nor the equipment to deal with. In August we retreated, supposedly handing over to the Iraqi army, only for the base to be triumphantly looted by the Mahdi Army, which by the end of October had turned Al-Amarah into a vast bomb-making factory, supplying insurgents all over Iraq.

Stage four in 2007 saw the Americans launch their spectacularly successful ''surge’’ to the north, with 20,000 additional men, equipped with the properly mine-protected vehicles the British so tragically lacked. Now impotently confined to just four bases in Basra, under constant attack, the British could do no more than protect the convoys needed to supply them. Forced to abandon one base after another, in September they retreated to Basra airport. In effect, for the British the war was over.

The fifth and final stage came in March 2008, when the Iraqi government and the US Army, frustrated by the failure of the British to carry out their responsibilities, and determined to end the flow of weaponry out of Al-Amarah, launched the operation known as ''the Charge of the Knights’’.

Entering Basra in overwhelming force, they routed the Mahdi Army, restoring the city to peaceful normality. Last June, Iraqi and US forces similarly liberated Al-Amarah. It was made clear to the British that their presence in Iraq was no longer relevant.

The British Army had entered Iraq in 2003 with a reputation as ''the most professional in the world’’. Six years later it will leave, having failed to fulfil any of its allotted tasks and having earned the contempt of the Iraqis and the Americans after one of our most humiliating defeats in history.

The fault for this lies almost entirely with Tony Blair, abetted by one or two very senior military commanders, who failed at any point after the invasion to provide the men and equipment needed to carry out the task to which Blair had vaingloriously agreed. The price paid has been measured partly in the deaths and injuries of our men – but above all it has been in that destruction of the Army’s reputation which will be one of the most painful and lasting legacies of the Blair era.
Posted by: mrp || 01/04/2009 00:38 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency

#1  Bad, bad Tommy---can't win with both hands tied behind his back and a 60 pound weight chained to his leg.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/04/2009 8:37 Comments || Top||

#2  The individual soldiers of the British army are still some of the best. Once again though, their leadership lead them to defeat. The British military and political leaders have always been the British Army's Achilles' heel.
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/04/2009 8:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Yes, but it didn't stop 'senior' Army officials to issue criticism, eaten up and expounded upon by the usual MSM Quislings, on the Yanks handling of the whole affair did it?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/04/2009 8:50 Comments || Top||

#4  I don't care who you blame as long as it's not the ranker!
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/04/2009 8:51 Comments || Top||

#5  *Ahem* Tony Blair "and his Labour government, along with the weaselly complicity of the Europhile Conservatives, as well."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/04/2009 8:53 Comments || Top||

#6  Tommy didn't fail Britain. Britain failed Tommy. "Softly, Softly" send the British Army softly into that goodnight. The sun set long ago on the British Empire. Tommy, we hardly knew ye.
Posted by: William Marcy Tweed || 01/04/2009 9:29 Comments || Top||

#7  This article said it all.
Posted by: tipper || 01/04/2009 11:16 Comments || Top||

#8  The intention, as part of the attempt to 'win hearts and minds', was to avoid using armoured Warriors in favour of vehicles looking less aggressive.

The above is the prime idiocy of the "leader class" in England. And army;s job is NOT to look less agressive nor to be less armored nro to be passive, espedcially in an area where hostiities are ongoing.

Its the upperclass twits that believe the Arabs think like upperclass leftards that came up with this idiocy (similar to our state department). Strong Horse, that's how the Arabs go, and its very practical from a peasant standpoint. If you have one set if people telling you "Here have a bag of food and we are nice guys", and the other ones telling you "we will slice your throat like we did your neighbor's if you don't do as we say and don't bet on the nice guys to save you - they don't stay and they don't fight.", well its pretty clear which side will win support of the popukace.

The libtards in Europe have starte to believe their own bullshit completely, and have the military and some conservatives doign so as well. They are about as adept at dealing with reality as was Hitler in the bunker moving imaginary divisions around while the Soviet artillery was hammering his roof.
Posted by: OldSpook || 01/04/2009 11:39 Comments || Top||

#9  Speak any English?
Posted by: .5MT || 01/04/2009 11:41 Comments || Top||

#10  In August we retreated, supposedly handing over to the Iraqi army, only for the base to be triumphantly looted by the Mahdi Army, which by the end of October had turned Al-Amarah into a vast bomb-making factory, supplying insurgents all over Iraq.

I must have missed that bit somehow. Still, a pointed lesson in how hearts and minds can only be won after security has been established by force.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2009 12:35 Comments || Top||

#11  "The British Army had entered Iraq in 2003 with a reputation as the most professional in the world".

IMO, most of the poor decisions resulted from the admirable quality known as “British Pride”. Unfortunately, that pride soon grew into arrogance. (In both civilian and military leadership) Almost immediately, the commanders of the elite fighting force with the most respected counter-insurgency pedigree were squawking about playing second fiddle to less experienced Yanks. Blair, to his credit, put on a good face but clearly his “poodle” moniker left him pining for his days in short-pants. The premature and very public denials of Iranian involvement in supplying weaponry was the clearest sign that disruption of the Shia rat-lines was no longer their main objective. At that point, even a stooge like Sadr could figure out that a sustained assault would send shivers up the skirts of the British Parliament.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 01/04/2009 13:14 Comments || Top||

#12  The intention, as part of the attempt to 'win hearts and minds', was to avoid using armoured Warriors in favour of vehicles looking less aggressive.

Kinda like equipping Alexander's Companions with Show Jump horses.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/04/2009 15:17 Comments || Top||

#13  Ideally, the Marines that marched in with the British should have stayed with them. Dealing with restive populations in both Iraq and Afghanistan supplemented by every nutcase available from Pakistan, Syria and Saudi Arabian with funding from Iran was a tall order for the small post-Cold War military forces available in the USA and UK. It would have been nice to have help from other interested parties, but I think the will of Europe has been broken.

I expect that the end result will be a nuclear Iran that will blackmail Europe into ponying up the Danegold in perpetuity.

The United States will retain its membership in the club of countries willing to engage in significant international action. The club membership has shrunk to the US, Israel, Russia, China and India. The UK will probably adopt the same type of risk adverse policy that the US adopted post VN until Reagan and post Somalia.
Posted by: Super Hose || 01/04/2009 15:36 Comments || Top||

#14  I call Horse shit. The British Army from Capt. doen is a damned good force. It's the Politicians and the Upper Eschelon that are Dickekweeds. Go Tommys!!
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 01/04/2009 15:54 Comments || Top||

#15  Agreed DB - after reading the story about the 3 Brit ex-soldiers attempting to repel pirates armed with McGyver era weapons quite sharply the quality of the soldiers vs. policy.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/04/2009 18:47 Comments || Top||

#16  The Brits have suffered a humiliating defeat. They need to get their hands around it before they find themselves part of the EUropean Defence Force. I doubt they have the time to do so as did we after Vietnam because their domestic enemies have such powerful foreign allies.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/04/2009 19:13 Comments || Top||

#17  Chalk up another one for The Left. They keep inflicting failure on the world, but they keep getting elected.
Posted by: Cynicism Inc || 01/04/2009 19:13 Comments || Top||

#18  Deac, nothing wrong with the British military at the mid-level (battalion, ship commander) officer level nor the enlisted. Its the leadership and upper-level officers who have contributed to the mess by allowing the rot to continue in less functional equipment, less supplies, and a lack of political courage.
Posted by: OldSpook || 01/04/2009 19:23 Comments || Top||

#19  NS, the Brits have not suffered a humiliating defeat. Those good, brave soldiers did; but the Brits that run things got just what they wanted. They're selling PC soft power to the rest of the EU cause that's what the EU wants. It's cheap and allows them to look down their noses at the US.

They can't DO crap, but they can blather on for ever.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/04/2009 21:22 Comments || Top||


Brit usual suspects call on Obama to speak out over Gaza
Several international artists, writers and political figures threw their weight Friday behind a call for a stop to Israel's bombing of Gaza and called on U.S. president-elect Barack Obama to speak out.

Former London mayor Ken Livingstone, British artist Annie Lennox, rights activist Bianca Jagger, Politician George Galloway and even Mexico's rebel leader joined campaigners who have staged a week of rallies, culminating in a demonstration Saturday which will include a symbolic shoe protest outside Downing Street.

" People throughout the world were hopeful when he was elected and we must appeal to him to ask for the immediate cessation of the bombardment of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip "
Bianca Jagger"
"I would like to make an appeal to president elect Obama to speak up," said Jagger. "People throughout the world were hopeful when he was elected and we must appeal to him to ask for the immediate cessation of the bombardment of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip."

Former Eurythmics star Lennox added: "A few days after Christmas I came downstairs, put the television on, and saw smoke pyres coming from buildings and I was shocked to the core. Because I was thinking as a mother and as a human being, how was this going to be the solution to peace?" she added.

Ethnic cleansing
The rally will march past Downing Street, where protestors will leave old shoes for Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in the spirit of an Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush.

Livingstone, who was ousted as London mayor in May, said that in the last few days there has been a ratio of 100 Palestinian deaths to Israelis killed in the Gaza conflict, in its seventh day Friday. "There is no sense that that can be proportionate," he said, calling Israel "a state built on ethnic cleansing," referring to its creation in May 1948, after which some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled.

"Obama supports force"
" A few days after Christmas I came downstairs, put the television on, and saw smoke pyres coming from buildings and I was shocked to the core...Because I was thinking as a mother and as a human being, how was this going to be the solution to peace? "
Annie Lennox
In Mexico, the Zapatista rebel leader "Subcomandante" Marcos slammed U.S. president-elect Barack Obama for failing to speak out on Israel's bombing of Gaza. The masked leader of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation--which rose up in arms in Chiapas, southeast Mexico, on January 1, 1994--said Obama "supports the use of force" against Palestinian people.

Obama has kept a low profile on the Gaza conflict, stressing that there is only one president at a time ahead of his inauguration on January 20.
Posted by: Fred || 01/04/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  The rally will march past Downing Street, where protestors will leave old shoes for Prime Minister Gordon Brown

I wonder what Kipling would say.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/04/2009 0:26 Comments || Top||

#2  A former mayor, a former pop singer, a former wife... these people define "has been".
Posted by: Grunter || 01/04/2009 6:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Obama has kept a low profile on the Gaza conflict, stressing that there is only one president at a time ahead of his inauguration on January 20.

The Great...um...and Powerful...um...Oz has the matter Well in Hand! Now go home folks! Get outta here!

(Translation: Obama sees no immediate advantage in grandstanding on this issue ahead of a sitting president, unlike the economy for example.)
Posted by: Flusomble the Wide5751 || 01/04/2009 11:21 Comments || Top||

#4  calling Israel "a state built on ethnic cleansing," referring to its creation in May 1948, after which some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled.

More revisionist history. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem ORDERED the palestinians to flee Israel, to allow the Egyptians, Jordanians, and Syrians a free hand in "slaughtering the Jews". Israel actually BEGGED them to stay and help build the new country. The palestinians went into "refugee" camps (more like internment camps), where they still reside, unwanted by their "host" nations.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 01/04/2009 13:24 Comments || Top||

#5  I thought that people from England ordering around people from a former empire country was the very definition of imperialism.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/04/2009 13:43 Comments || Top||


Europe
Thousands in Europe protest against Israel offensive
All the usual suspects, from 'youts' to commies ...
LONDON (AFP) Thousands of people across Europe demonstrated against Israel's airstrikes on Gaza Saturday, calling for an immediate halt to the military offensive even as Israeli troops entered the Palestinian region. The biggest rallies were in Paris, where police estimated 21,000 demonstrators took to the streets, and in London, where they put the number at 10,000.

Thousands of people also voiced their opposition to Israel's military action in rallies in Madrid, Amsterdam, Stockholm and Athens along with other European cities.

In London, many demonstrators carried Palestinian flags and chanted "Free, free Palestine" and "Israel terrorists" as they filed along the River Thames before gathering in Trafalgar Square, an AFP reporter saw. Some protesters threw their shoes at the iron gates of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Downing Street residence to express their anger at his refusal to condemn Israeli airstrikes, which Palestinian medics say have killed more than 450 people in a week.

Brown issued a statement saying he had urged Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a phone call to agree to an "immediate ceasefire."
Coward ...
The London march, which organisers Stop the War Coalition claimed had attracted 50,000 people, was led by singer Annie Lennox and veteran left-wing politician Tony Benn.

Former Eurythmics star Lennox said the approach of both the Palestinians and Israelis was "wrong" and a total ceasefire was the only option. "For every one person killed in Gaza, they are creating 100 suicide bombers. It's not just about Gaza, it's about all of us," she told the BBC.

Elsewhere in Britain, 2,000 people demonstrated in Manchester in northwest England and 500 braved the cold in the Scottish capital Edinburgh.

In Paris, where organisers claimed 25,000 turned out for a march led by Communist and left-wing politicians, the crowd chanted "We are all Palestinians" and "Israel killers." Many sported traditional Palestinian scarves. As the protesters dispersed, between 200 and 300 tried to make their way toward the Israeli embassy near the Champs Elysees but were blocked by police barricades. Several cars were set alight as well as Israeli flags, an AFP correspondent reported.

Several cars were also torched or overturned and windows smashed in the city's midtown shopping district, but calm appeared to return as of early evening, according to an AFP journalist.

Thousands of people also demonstrated in the French cities of Marseille, Lyon, Nice and Mulhouse, with organisers and police again offering vastly different turnout numbers.

In neighbouring Spain, more than 2,000 people rallied outside the foreign ministry in Madrid, burning several Israeli flags. Police detained a man who tried to break through a police barrier and injured three police officers. Hundreds of the demonstrators, most of them Arabs, then marched through the streets of Madrid brandishing signs such as "This is not a war but a genocide."

Protests were also staged rallies in Greek and Italian cities, with the largest turnout reported in Milan -- an estimated 5,000 people, most of them immigrants.

Meanwhile, scuffles took place in front of the Israeli embassy in Athens at the end of a rally that drew about 3,000, pitting stone-throwing demonstrators against police who responded with teargas. Two people were arrested as more than 1,000 marched through Amsterdam condemning the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza and calling for a boycott of Israeli goods, police said.

More than 2,300 people also demonstrated in the Austrian city of Salzburg, police said.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/04/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Protests were also staged rallies in Greek and Italian cities, with the largest turnout reported in Milan -- an estimated 5,000 people, most of them immigrants.

No sh*t?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/04/2009 0:14 Comments || Top||

#2  "most of them immigrants"

Makes it convenient for Immigration to round 'em up and ship 'em back to their home shitholes.

If Immigration had any b*lls, that is.... :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/04/2009 0:17 Comments || Top||

#3  I Protest.

You Offend me, Europe.
Posted by: newc || 01/04/2009 0:30 Comments || Top||

#4  It doesn't happen that often but the German government has taken a clear stand in favor of Israel, blaming Hamas only for the escalation.

And yes Germany does more but prefers not to talk about it loudly and Israel plays along.
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/04/2009 1:01 Comments || Top||

#5  Considering how much free publicity the MSM traitor class have provided it's not actually that much support.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/04/2009 1:06 Comments || Top||

#6  Is there some place I can go to protest never being invited to these protests?
Posted by: Mike N. || 01/04/2009 1:09 Comments || Top||

#7  Somehow European anti-semitism is fashionable again. It's both frightening and sad. Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 01/04/2009 1:42 Comments || Top||

#8  Is there some place I can go to protest never being invited to these protests?

Your local community college would be a good place to start. If one is not nearby, try the United Church of Christ.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/04/2009 2:41 Comments || Top||

#9  "a total ceasefire was the only option."
Why Annie. Ya don't say! You'd think someone might of tried that. Time and again. Time after time. Again and again and again. And who breaks it? Funnily enough, it's the Pals, Annie. Every freaking time. Got a song for that?

Keep marching on the side of terrorism, Lennox. Got a boogie chorus for that?
Posted by: thinempwimble || 01/04/2009 5:58 Comments || Top||

#10  Still no comments on Sobibor, Treblinka, Bergen- Belson, Dora, Flossenburg, Theresiendstad...etc.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/04/2009 6:57 Comments || Top||

#11  We need a little crowd control.
Posted by: Parabellum || 01/04/2009 9:56 Comments || Top||

#12  And where were the protests against the continued missile attacks on Israeli civilians?

Curious how that's never really an issue for these louts.
Posted by: OldSpook || 01/04/2009 11:23 Comments || Top||

#13  Former Eurythmics star Lennox said the approach of both the Palestinians and Israelis was "wrong" and a total ceasefire was the only option.

Well, Annie, you poor ignornat dupe, its like this: you get Hamas to stop shooting rockets into Israel, and the Israelis will gladly get out of Gaza.

Hamas has left Israel no choice.
Posted by: OldSpook || 01/04/2009 11:25 Comments || Top||

#14  And, once again, another world leader/entertainer heard from. As The Old Spook said Ms. Lennox, ..."Hamas has left Isreal no choice"... Stick to what you know, Annie.
Posted by: WolfDog || 01/04/2009 12:30 Comments || Top||

#15  It doesn't happen that often but the German government has taken a clear stand in favor of Israel, blaming Hamas only for the escalation.

And yes Germany does more but prefers not to talk about it loudly and Israel plays along.


We don't want to know the details, however much we would like to know. Please remind us of this from time to time, European Conservative.

Separately, thousands
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2009 12:45 Comments || Top||

#16  100's of millions worldwide support it then, or at least could care less about the blight of hummus.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/04/2009 14:47 Comments || Top||

#17  trailing wife

German logistic and military support for Israel is a lot more substantial than the press will ever report (or know).
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/04/2009 15:52 Comments || Top||

#18  Weren't there submarines, not so long ago?
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2009 16:48 Comments || Top||

#19  yes but they are no secret
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/04/2009 16:55 Comments || Top||

#20  From 1988 to 2000, she was married to Israeli film and record producer Uri Fruchtmann. They have two daughters, Lola and Taliir; however, their only son, Daniel, was stillborn in December, 1988.[12][13]

Bitter much?
Posted by: Frank G || 01/04/2009 17:03 Comments || Top||

#21  If I know about it, by definition it isn't a secret, European Conservative. ;-) The universe has thus far been kind enough not to burden me with secrets, so I don't have to remember what not to say to whom. Not telling Mr. Wife for an entire week that I'd got him a chainsaw for his birthday was really quite as much secrecy as I can handle.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2009 17:04 Comments || Top||

#22  If memory serves, Israel bought a small handful of Dolphin class subs from Germany. Supposed to be quite nifty and capable of launching the land attack version of the Harpoon missile, IIRC.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/04/2009 17:06 Comments || Top||

#23  tw, a Chainsaw for Christmas! You know what a man likes.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 01/04/2009 18:06 Comments || Top||

#24  trailing wife

that would make you less chatty than many CIA ops...
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/04/2009 19:39 Comments || Top||

#25  He was trained as an engineer, Deacon Blues. :-)

Back on topic, 12,000 demonstrated for Israel in Paris. link Unlike the preceding pro-Palestinian rally, no cars were torched, no shop windows smashed, no innocent by-standers beaten. Perhaps the natives will learn something from the comparison.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2009 19:43 Comments || Top||

#26  "Pro-Palestinian protesters Saturday burned Israeli flags, torched several cars and smashed windows of shops along the chic Hausmann Boulevard near the Paris Opera house."

And how often did they yell out Death to the Juice?
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/04/2009 19:46 Comments || Top||

#27  "Perhaps the natives will learn something from the comparison."

Or not, tw. :-(

Though I guess we can dream....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/04/2009 19:50 Comments || Top||

#28  The biggest rallies were in Paris, where police estimated 21,000 demonstrators took to the streets
Were carbeque rates lower while they were busy?
Posted by: Darrell || 01/04/2009 19:57 Comments || Top||

#29  It's good to hear about Germany backing Israel. I was in Germany the summer before 9/11 and walking through the streets of Munich the hate banners and folks yelling hate to jews was staggering. So glad to hear that bit of change, although it's hard to believe this change.
Also, reading various articles, one said, "Sarkozy has condemned Israel's use of ground troops, reflecting general world opinion" I wonder what countries they polled to get this "world opinion". What a bunch of crap.
Posted by: Jan || 01/04/2009 23:11 Comments || Top||

#30  "hate banners and folks yelling hate to jews was staggering"

Really? Do you remember the occasion maybe? These things are not tolerated here so I'm a bit surprised.
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/04/2009 23:15 Comments || Top||

#31  Prime Minister Merkel spoke most decidedly on the side of Israel as well.

Or here, if the link doesn't work again:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230733155804&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2009 23:29 Comments || Top||

#32  I read the article with the descriptions of the demonstrations.

Let me say this:

1) Hateful remarks against Jews are not tolerated and the person, if caught, will be prosecuted

2) The Far Left is a special antisemitic piece of cake.

3) The worst offenders in those demonstrations are usually no buddhists if you get what I mean
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/04/2009 23:39 Comments || Top||


Paris to house exiled writer Taslima Nasrin
The Paris mayor's office says it has decided to provide exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin with a rent-free apartment in the French capital.

A spokesman says the writer asked the city for help after being made an honorary citizen. The spokesman said Saturday that she will move into a former-convent-turned-artists' residence in February.

Nasrin left Bangladesh in 1994 after Islamic extremists accused her of insulting Islam in her writings and threatened to kill her. In March 2008 she moved to Sweden from India to seek medical assistance. The spokesman says he doesn't know what motivated Nasrin to ask for a place to live and write in Paris.

In Stockholm, Maria Modig, a spokeswoman for Nasrin, declined to comment about Paris' decision, or to say whether the author was still in Sweden.
Posted by: Fred || 01/04/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Global Jihad

#1  Tell her not to park on the street.
Posted by: Super Hose || 01/04/2009 0:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Up to the 90s she was just a standard feminist who wrote, among other things, about the sexual abuse of women as she observed through her medical practice. Then she said that the Koran needs to revised. She hasn't lived in Bangladesh since then.
Posted by: mhw || 01/04/2009 7:07 Comments || Top||


Great White North
Canada releases long-time terrorism suspect
A judge in Canada has ordered the release of the last remaining Canadian terrorism suspect held under a controversial national security certificate. Syrian-born Hassan Almrei has been in detention for seven years and never charged.

Under a national security certificate, brought in after the September 11, 2001 attacks a suspect can be held indefinitely without being charged. But a federal court judge has ordered Mr Almrei's release, saying his continued detention can no longer be justified.

His release carries strict conditions - he can have no access to the internet, he must wear a GPS so his movements can be tracked, cameras will be placed around his home and armed agents will be posted outside.

He could still be deported to his native Syria, if found guilty of having ties to a terrorist ring.
How about deporting him anyway as an 'undesirable'?

This article starring:
Hassan Almrei
Posted by: tipper || 01/04/2009 12:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They kept him for seven years without determining he deserved it? Why?
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2009 13:34 Comments || Top||

#2  How would one "wear a GPS"?

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) developed by the United States Department of Defense. It is the only fully functional GNSS in the world. It uses a constellation of between 24 and 32 Medium Earth Orbit satellites that transmit precise microwave signals, which enable GPS receivers to determine their current location, the time, and their velocity.
Posted by: Parabellum || 01/04/2009 14:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Now squeezed dry. Will be monitored for any further . . . activities. Think of him as a form of "chum".
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 01/04/2009 17:36 Comments || Top||

#4  They kept him for seven years without determining he deserved it? Why?

There's 'determining' and then there's 'not able to publicly convict him without exposing important and still useful intel / means of collection / sources'.

A serious issue in the GWOT.
Posted by: lotp || 01/04/2009 17:44 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
FBI hands over Mumbai evidence over to Pak:
The FBI has reportedly given to Pakistan evidence amassed on involvement of elements based in that country in the Mumbai carnage even as Islamabad today rejected India's fresh demand to turn over terror suspects linked to the strikes.

The evidence included the Laskhar-e-Toiba handlers' warning to the attackers about the arrival of Indian commandos while watching the mayhem live on TV and a "Aag lagao" (Light the fire) order, the British newspaper Sunday Times reported.
Not good enough, nope, nope, evidence doesn't meet the strict standards of an Islamic court, so no can do, nope, can't be done ...
The report said Pakistan has rejected the alleged FBI evidence Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi ruled out handing over the suspects insisting that there was no extradition treaty between the two neighbouring countries. There can be no comparison between Pakistan's extradition of terror suspects to the US and India's demand for the handing over of persons linked to the Mumbai attacks, Qureshi told reporters in his home-town in Multan, a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanded that Pakistan hand over terror suspects linked to the Mumbai attacks.

"We have a treaty with the US, we do not have an extradition treaty with India. Please do not compare, every situation is not identical," Qureshi said on the eve of arrival of a top US diplomat Richard Boucher visiting Islamabad to push Pakistan to act against the Mumbai attack perpetrators.

Another media report in a Pak daily quoting a senior unnamed Pakistani official said Pakistan may allow Indian investigators to "grill" the suspects after being provided with "sufficient evidence" of their involvement but will not hand them over to New Delhi.
Posted by: tipper || 01/04/2009 12:42 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I am absolutely convinced this will make the paks change their ways.
Posted by: Unique Battle || 01/04/2009 15:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Give them whatever paperwork you want. Give them a subscription to Mad Magazine. Just don't stop the Whack-A-Mole in the Swat valley.
Posted by: Super Hose || 01/04/2009 16:05 Comments || Top||


Hand over Mumbai suspects: Singh
Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh asked Pakistan on Saturday to hand over the suspected perpetrators of last month's terrorist attacks in Mumbai so that they could be tried in India. Talking to reporters in the northeastern city of Shilong, Singh said his country would root out terrorism using 'any means'.

"War is no solution to the problems," the Indian prime minister said. "We sincerely hope that better sense will prevail with Pakistan because this is an area where there is a need for maximum possible cooperation between our two countries."

Singh said the biggest challenges before India was the "menace of terrorism and Naxalism" and the global economic slowdown.

Bangladesh: Calling Bangladesh another emerging terror front, Singh said Indian militants from the Northeastern states continue to operate out of bases in the neighbouring country. "The porous border that India shares with Bangladesh is a matter of concern for us as infiltration and cross-border terrorism does take place. We need to accelerate fencing and discuss this issue in next week's meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security," the he said.

Asked whether his government was open to talks with banned militant outfits, Singh said, "All insurgent groups must recognise that the only course open to them is to lay down arms."
Posted by: Fred || 01/04/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Iraq
Placards of Ashuraa, elections compete in Sadr city
Aswat al-Iraq: Ali Munther and two of his colleagues removed electoral leaflets that were attached to an electricity cabin in Sadr city, eastern Baghdad, to replace them with one big black banner on which they wrote "Oppressed Hussein," celebrating the Shiite celebrations of the Ashuraa, the day that marks the killing of Imam Hussein bin Ali.

It is almost the same situation throughout Sadr city streets where Ashuraa and electoral placards are currently competing to find a place.

"The cabin is located near our house and shop," Munther told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "I do not know who gave candidates the right to put their stickers and banners on it. They glued their electoral leaflets on the cabin at night," he added.

"Those candidates should share our sadness in Ashuraa rather than jockeying for positions," he noted. "They are just deceiving poor people with false promises."

The Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) said that it received complaints from several political entities that their electoral leaflets were taken off from their places. "The IHEC formed an ad hoc committee to look into those complaints," a media source from the IHEC told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The committee will take measures to stop those violations," he said.

For its part, the Iraqi interior ministry forces arrested some of those involved in removing electoral leaflets and are now being interrogated.
Posted by: Fred || 01/04/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Mahdi Army

#1  "They are just deceiving poor people with false promises."

Just like politicians in America.
Posted by: crosspatch || 01/04/2009 4:54 Comments || Top||


Iraq is not a proxy battleground: PM Maliki
Iraq's prime minister, who started a visit to Iran on Saturday, told Iranian state television his government would not allow Iraq to be used as a base to threaten its neighbors. Nouri al-Maliki--on a two-day visit during which he will meet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki--said to Iran's Arabic news channel that he "will not let Iraq be a launching ground to threaten any country," Al-Alam said on its website.

Ministerial members of Maliki's delegation immediately went into talks with their Iranian commerce, power and transportation counterparts, the official IRNA news agency said.

U.S. forces in Iraq came under Iraqi mandate on Jan. 1, a move Maliki said restored sovereignty nearly six years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Analysts say any U.S. attack against Iran would most likely involve air strikes rather than any land invasion. Washington used its bases in regional countries to attack Iraq in 2003.

Washington and Tehran have traded accusations about who is responsible for violence in Iraq. U.S. officials say Tehran backs Iraqi militants. Tehran blames the presence of U.S. forces and says they should withdraw from Iraq and the whole region.
Posted by: Fred || 01/04/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Iraq's prime minister, who started a visit to Iran on Saturday, told Iranian state television his government would not allow Iraq to be used as a base to threaten its neighbors.

Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/04/2009 0:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Neither will Turkey and inm guessing Iran understands we don't need Iraq to launch attacks from.
Posted by: Mike N. || 01/04/2009 1:15 Comments || Top||

#3  He forgot to finish the sentence:

... anymore, thanks to the US Military and Iraqi army eradicating the proxy terrorists Iran and Syria sent here
Posted by: OldSpook || 01/04/2009 11:41 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Bush Condemns Hamas in Radio Address
President Bush issued a sharp condemnation of Hamas late today, accusing the Palestinian militant group of provoking Israeli military action with rocket attacks and increasing the death toll by secreting its arms within civilian populations.

In his weekly radio address, to be broadcast Saturday morning, Bush also said he would not support "another one-way ceasefire," and he called for a strict monitoring system to curtail weapons smuggling into Gaza. A transcript of the address was released a day ahead of broadcast.

"This recent outburst of violence was instigated by Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist group supported by Iran and Syria that calls for Israel's destruction," Bush said. He also referred to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who rules the West Bank, as "the legitimate leader of the Palestinian people."

"I urge all parties to pressure Hamas to turn away from terror, and to support legitimate Palestinian leaders working for peace," he said.

The address marked Bush's first public comments on the conflict since Israel began targeting Hamas positions with airstrikes on Saturday.
Posted by: Fred || 01/04/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Bush also said he would not support "another one-way ceasefire,"

Rice is awfully quiet.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/04/2009 0:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Rice is awfully stupid when it comes to these matters. Glad she is quiet.
Posted by: OldSpook || 01/04/2009 11:42 Comments || Top||

#3  The miracle is, Rice has managed to keep the rest of the anti-US State Department from commenting. That in itself is a blessing. Too many of the members of the DoS have "second pensions" funded by Saudi Arabia. It'll take a brigade of Marines and more water than there is in the Potomac to clean that place out.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 01/04/2009 13:37 Comments || Top||


Middle East: Muslim protests against Israeli attacks
(AKI) - Thousands of people held demonstrations around the world on Friday to protest against Israel's air attacks in Gaza. From the Australian city of Sydney to the West Bank city of Ramallah, protesters gathered to call for an immediate ceasefire.

Thousands of Palestinians demonstrated in the West Bank city of Ramallah, after calls by Hamas for a "day of wrath". "We will sacrifice our soul and our blood for Gaza," chanted the demonstrators, who shouted pro-Hamas slogans and called on fighters to strike the city of Tel-Aviv.

In Jerusalem, protesters clashed with police after Friday prayers. Israel closed the West Bank territory for the day as well as key parts of Jerusalem and men under the age of 50 were prohibited from entering the Al-Aqsa mosque.

In the Jordanian capital Amman, riot police fired teargas to push back hundreds of protesters marching towards the Israeli embassy and demonstrators clashed with police in other cities across the country.

Egypt's Islamist opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, claimed 300 protesters had been surrounded by security forces outside a mosque in central Cairo, while many others had been detained.

Earlier in the day, around 10,000 demonstrators took to the streets of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and the Australian city of Sydney.
Posted by: Fred || 01/04/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  A pathetic show. Several orders of magnitude more came out against the American conquest of Iraq back in 2003. It appears the Gazans are not as popular as they thought.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2009 13:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Thousand! Wow!

Probably had more Muslims sitting at home in an easy chair and chugging on a beer laughing at the reports on TV.
Posted by: gorb || 01/04/2009 17:51 Comments || Top||


OIC FM's slam Israel's 'ruthless aggression'
Foreign ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference opened their meeting on the Gaza violence on Saturday by slamming Israel's "ruthless aggression" and urging a ceasefire.

O.I.C Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told ministers gathered in Jeddah of the need for all parties "within and beyond Palestine to put aside political calculations and act toward stemming the bloodshed and enable the population of the Gaza Strip to at least maintain living conditions, however harsh they are.

"Therefore, we call strongly for an immediate ceasefire and for medical and humanitarian supplies to be allowed into the Gaza Strip through all crossings," he said in a statement.

Ihsanoglu said he was seeking to coordinate "an Islamic move to protect the Palestinian people from Israel's ruthless aggression and secure their urgent needs." He also stressed the need for various Palestinian factions and parties to launch a national dialogue and end their divisions.

Ihsanoglu also urged the O.I.C, whose 57 member states act as a collective voice of the Muslim world, to consider calling an emergency meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council to seek an end to the Israeli attacks on Palestinians, the statement said.
Posted by: Fred || 01/04/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  whose 57 member states act as a collective voice of the Muslim world

Ah, that explains that constant, low-level whining sound
Posted by: SteveS || 01/04/2009 1:56 Comments || Top||

#2  that must be the 57 states Obama was campaigning in?
Posted by: Frank G || 01/04/2009 11:37 Comments || Top||

#3  "I wonder where Ruth is?"
Posted by: mojo || 01/04/2009 19:13 Comments || Top||


Hezbollah: Israel should expect major losses in Gaza invasion
Ma'an/Agencies -- Hezbollah's spiritual leader warned Israel over its ongoing ground invasion of the Gaza Strip late on Saturday night. According to Hasan Nasrallah on Hezbollah's official satellite television station, Al-Manar, Israel should expect "big losses" in their incursion into Gaza.

"We will be witnessing new victories of blood over the sword" in Gaza, Nasrallah told a crowd of tens of thousands on in south Beirut on Saturday night. "Israel's incursion into Gaza is aimed at dividing Gaza and imposing a new status quo," the Hezbollah leader insisted.
This article starring:
Hasan Nasrallah
Posted by: Fred || 01/04/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Same old, same old from Nasty: "Let's you and him fight."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/04/2009 0:11 Comments || Top||

#2  I agree. IDF soldiers should expect to return home short on tank rounds and 7.62.
Posted by: Mike N. || 01/04/2009 1:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Well at least they won't have to worry about them becoming infected with gonorrhea.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/04/2009 8:55 Comments || Top||

#4  So Nasrallah knows Hamas is lost?
Posted by: Darrell || 01/04/2009 13:09 Comments || Top||


Jailed Fatah lawmaker: Attack on Gaza is 'genocide'
Ma'an -- A senior Fatah lawmaker issued a statement from his Israeli prison cell on Saturday condemning Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip as "genocide."
Ohfergawdsakes, why hasn't this mook been muzzled?
Jamal At-Tirawi, the speaker of Fatah parliamentarian bloc in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), said "This aggression, using one of the most advanced military arsenals in the world against an area under the attacker's occupation, is a war crime and genocide."

"The crippling siege of the Gaza Strip over more than a year and a half, along with closure of crossing points with Arab countries, is not less harmful than military aggression going on now," he added.

At-Tirawi also reiterated the resentment of the Arab public at their governments for not taking more effective action to aid the people of Gaza. He said: "We expected Arab foreign ministers who met in Cairo to come up with a decision that matches the pulse of the streets in Arab countries who showed extreme solidarity with Gaza and Palestine. Unfortunately, they cancelled an Arab League summit which was scheduled to be held soon in order to adopt a joint Arab stance towards Israeli aggression on Gaza and to demand immediately lifting the crippling siege."

At-Tirawi applauded calls by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas' leader Khalid Mash'al for unity.

This article starring:
Jamal At-Tirawi
Posted by: Fred || 01/04/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  "This aggression, using one of the most advanced military arsenals in the world against an area under the attacker's occupation, is a war crime and genocide."

From Israelicool:
Here, I’ll lift Bruce’s comment since it is a pearler:
Number of Palestinian Arabs in 1948 = 1,308,00.
Number of Palestinian Arabs in 2008 = 10,574,521.
Israeli attempted genocide of Palestinian Arabs over 60 years = EPIC FAIL!
Posted by: Old Patriot || 01/04/2009 13:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Gaza is a bloody rookery, OP.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/04/2009 14:26 Comments || Top||


Hamas leader: Israel killing Gaza civilians, not our fighters
Ma'an/Agencies -- A Hamas leader early on Sunday morning denied reports that armed groups affiliated with the Islamic movement had been killed by invading Israeli forces. Appearing on Al-Jazeera just after midnight on Sunday, Mousa Mohammad Abu Marzook claimed that "there are casualties, but they are of the people of the Gaza Strip, not us."

The Qatar-based network had reported Israeli claims that up to 13 Hamas fighters were dead. "We're defending our people, defending ourselves against this aggression," Abu Marzook insisted, noting that Israel has "the upper hand" in the ongoing conflict.

"We know they have the upper hand in the air and sea, but we know our land. We know ourselves very well," he added. "We will fight."

"We will fight the Israelis anywhere in the Gaza Strip, Abu Marzook warned, "the rights of the Palestinian people cannot be turned off."

On the prospect of a ceasefire, Abu Marzook said Hamas would consider it under certain circumstances. "If there is a ceasefire, if the gates are opened, we would deal with this kind of initiative."

"Discussions in the area (Gaza) at the moment are that France or Turkey could achieve a ceasefire," he said.

And commenting on reports from Israel that Hamas is using civilians as human shields, the Hamas leader rejected that civilians in Gaza have the means to protect themselves no matter where they are, saying, "We have no shelters; we have crowded refugee camps."

Finally, Abu Marzook denied reports that Arab countries had pressured Hamas to stop rocket fire. "Everyone is calling on Israel to stop their aggression," he noted.
This article starring:
Mousa Mohammad Abu Marzook
Posted by: Fred || 01/04/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  there are casualties, but they are of the people of the Gaza Strip, not us

Us not being people of Gaza strip?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/04/2009 0:22 Comments || Top||

#2  the audacity....

we are getting our asses handed to us, but we would only accept a cease fire on the condition that the Israelis give us every thing we want and let us keep killing them...

sheesh (shakes head)
Posted by: Abu do you love || 01/04/2009 1:18 Comments || Top||

#3  The Israelis are filthy murderers! They bully and provoke, then have the nerve to be surprised when people fight back. Here they torture with guns: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/05/hebron-settlers-shooting-israel-palestinians

Here they try to starve by plowing up fields and orchards about to be harvested: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1221142469693&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

And these are all incidents in the West Bank which is controlled by a government that Israel claims that it finds "acceptable".

If this is how they treat what they find "acceptable", then you can surely see how they treated Palestinians in Gaza.

If Israel has a right to murder and destroy because of rockets fired into Israel, then how is that Gazans don't have a right to respond to illegal destruction of property, torture of humans, starvation, and murder by firing the rockets in the first place?

Israel is the worst of what the 20th century had to offer. It defines humanity as only themselves, and everyone else as pawns or prey.

Madoff, a significant supporter of Israeli interests and his downfall is just the beginning of Israel's troubles in the 21st century.
Posted by: kaddie001 || 01/04/2009 8:33 Comments || Top||

#4  I agree Gazans should protest murder and the destruction of property.

They could start by protesting the destruction and looting of state of the art greenhouses *given* to them when Israel withdrew. Those greenhouses could have fed many children and provided valuable exports so that Gazans could be self-sufficient and have self-respect instead of nursing a deep sense of grievance and remaining welfare ticks.

They could have protested the killings between Fatah and Hamas that have destroyed the peace there.

They could have had fewer children and concentrated on being a functional state rather than being shameless welfare recipients.

They should protest the lousy education their own political leaders provide to their kids. They should protest the massive corruption that diverts funds which could have been used for roads, education and building an industrial base.

I'm just getting warmed up regarding the things Gazans *should* protest.

What they do instead has sealed their own fate.

As for Israel, I notice you fail to mention that Israel has given full citizenship to Arabs and regularly provides state of the art medical care to Palestinians who hate them. Moreover, they developed many of those medical advances, as they have in many fields.

How much has the Muslim world developed? Nothing, despite billions of dollars and euros in aid for decades. Nothing - not in science, not in technology, not in literature, not economically -- nothing but the short term exploitation of oil resources that are quickly becoming exhausted.

'Palestine' was a poverty-stricken desert backwater until Jews returned to their ancestral lands and founded the state of Israel. In less than a generation, they made that desert bloom and created a thriving democracy - something that the many more numerous Arabs have still to achieve. If your eyes weren't so blinded by hatred and superficial propaganda, you would be calling on the Muslim world to learn a few lessons from Israel.

But it's easier to hate and to demand handouts than to work and build and achieve.
Posted by: lotp || 01/04/2009 10:58 Comments || Top||

#5  -- nothing but the short term exploitation of oil resources that are quickly becoming exhausted.

They can't even do that - they import westerners to develop the oil resources.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 01/04/2009 11:09 Comments || Top||

#6 
Posted by: OldSpook || 01/04/2009 11:45 Comments || Top||

#7  Hamas Death Benefit Plan - You're killed in the line of Duty and HamAss will disclaim all knowledge of your existence - you automatically become a civilian.

I suppose it would save on paying those death benefits to the widows and children.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 01/04/2009 12:23 Comments || Top||

#8  Maybe there wouldn't be so many "civilian" deaths if Hamas "fighters" didn't hide among them and use them as shields/pawns...Ya' know?
Posted by: WolfDog || 01/04/2009 12:37 Comments || Top||

#9  Judging by the number of muslim trolls today, Israel must REALLY be doing all right in Gaza. Sucks to be a muslim, kiddie001.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 01/04/2009 13:46 Comments || Top||

#10  Imagine what Israel could be if it did not have to sink countless resources into managing the thugs next door.
Posted by: Darrell || 01/04/2009 14:30 Comments || Top||

#11  GDP per capita:
Israel $26,600
Iran $11,700
Lebanon $10,300
Egypt $5,000
Jordan $4,700
Syria $4,700
Yemen $2,500
Ethiopia $700
Gaza $600
Posted by: Darrell || 01/04/2009 15:00 Comments || Top||

#12  Ethiopia has a higher GDP than Gaza?

That's pathetic. But then, so are the inhabitants losers of Gaza.

(It amazes me that either Ethiopia or Gaza has a GDP. Doesn't that require production of some kind?)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/04/2009 15:10 Comments || Top||

#13  Per CIA Factbook:
"Industries: generally small family businesses that produce textiles, soap, olive-wood carvings, and mother-of-pearl souvenirs"
Posted by: Darrell || 01/04/2009 15:25 Comments || Top||

#14  Sorry, that's Gaza.
Posted by: Darrell || 01/04/2009 15:26 Comments || Top||

#15  Gaza produces soap, Darrell?

Obviously for export only....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/04/2009 15:33 Comments || Top||

#16  Killing Civilians?
OK let's check their OWN propaganda...

"Reference is made to the martyrs of the Israeli bombardment since Saturday reached 368 martyrs and more than 1700 injured, including a large number of serious injuries.

The Khalil Abu Shamala, director of Conscience Foundation for Human Rights to the martyrs of the 36 children and nine women in the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip."

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&langpair=auto|en&u=http://fpnp.net/arabic/%3Faction%3Ddetail%26id%3D15992&tbb=1

Now... 50% of Gaza inhabitants are women, 50% are people 17 and under.

Given the facts that they prefer to hide under the skirts of women and the cradles of babies this looks like DAMN PRECISE IDF-bombing of terrorists to me.

I think the IDF derves another round of pizzas

http://pizzaidf.org/
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/04/2009 15:44 Comments || Top||

#17  Barbara, when terrorists produce soap, I'm thinking of... ugh perish the thought
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/04/2009 15:48 Comments || Top||

#18  That'd be Fight Club soap, but from goat.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/04/2009 16:12 Comments || Top||


Turkey delivers 13 tons medical aid to Gaza Strip
Ma'an -- Turkey delivered 13 tons of medical aid to the Gaza Strip, according to a statement.

The Turkish Health Ministry noted that these materials will be delivered by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Turkey's behalf. The ministry added that it is awaiting permission from Egypt to transfer injured Palestinians for treatment in Turkey.
Posted by: Fred || 01/04/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  But, but, but...

Also nice move by ITT.
Posted by: .5MT || 01/04/2009 6:48 Comments || Top||

#2  IIT.... Ima of the ITT era... couldna hep it.
Posted by: .5MT || 01/04/2009 6:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Sorry, but the hospital basement is full of rockets. Send it back.
Posted by: Darrell || 01/04/2009 13:10 Comments || Top||


Ban to Olmert: 'Deeply concerned' over ground operation in Gaza
As the UN Security Council on Thursday night began emergency consultations to address the escalation of violence in Gaza UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged an immediate halt to Israel's ground operation. Ban said in a statement that he was "deeply concerned over the serious further escalation" of violence in Gaza.

The statement said Ban had spoken with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "and conveyed his extreme concern and disappointment" at the incursion. "He is convinced and alarmed that this escalation will inevitably increase the already heavy suffering of the affected civilian populations" and "called for an immediate end to the ground operation," the statement said.
Posted by: Fred || 01/04/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  "Ban to Olmert: 'Deeply concerned' over ground operation in Gaza"

I'm deeply concerned too.

That they won't kill enough paleos terrorists.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/04/2009 0:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Why---Iran is going to cut supply of Caspian caviar in protest?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/04/2009 0:17 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm deeply concerned that someone important may actually listen to this guy.
Posted by: Mike N. || 01/04/2009 0:29 Comments || Top||

#4  Did Mr Ban have anything to say in the past about Hamas's attacks on Israeli civilians?
I didn't think so.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 01/04/2009 0:40 Comments || Top||

#5  Should we be "deeply concerned" when the starving north attacks South Korea?
Posted by: 3dc || 01/04/2009 0:52 Comments || Top||

#6  Who is he to call the playoffs like that?

What a bad ref.
Posted by: newc || 01/04/2009 1:03 Comments || Top||

#7  I wish Bolton was still around to set this half-assed twit straight.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2700 || 01/04/2009 11:22 Comments || Top||

#8  These incursions are unacceptable. Unacceptable, I tell you.
Posted by: KBK || 01/04/2009 11:56 Comments || Top||

#9  Israel should offer him a helmet and a tour.
Posted by: Darrell || 01/04/2009 13:12 Comments || Top||

#10  Olmert to Ban: FOAD Sh**Brain.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/04/2009 13:51 Comments || Top||

#11  First I'd like to tell me why s is so deeply concerned over Kassam fire into Israeli communities. Then I'd like to heare him detail what kind of UN force he's going to put into place to stop it. And how he's going to live there himself after that force gets put in place. And when I say force I mean "FORCE" as in "HAS TEETH", not some kind of "PRESENCE". Presence does not equal force.
Posted by: gorb || 01/04/2009 17:55 Comments || Top||

#12  Olmert to Bam,

You stop the rockets and we'll stop.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/04/2009 17:56 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iranians Put $1M Contract Out On Mubarek
The regime-run news agency, Fars News reported that the Islamic Republic of Iran has announced a one million dollar reward for individuals who assassinate the president of Egypt. The news agency wrote:

"The ceremony for the designation of the reward for the revolutionary execution of the filthy traitor, Husni Mubarak has been organized through the justice-seeking movement of the (militant Basij) students as well as the cooperation of various other organizations. During this ceremony Forooz Rejaii, the secretary general of the organization entitled Rewarding The Martyrs of the World of Islam (and the suicide bombers brigade) spoke."

It is important to that the Rewarding The Martyrs of the World of Islam is an organization designed and supervised by the Iranian revolutionary guards.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/04/2009 16:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Only $1 million? American dollars? Insulting! But then, perhaps Iran hasn't as much to spare, now that their oil industry is running at a deficit.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2009 16:58 Comments || Top||

#2  The Muslim Brotherhood have been trying to do it for free, but just can't get to him. If the Shiite's in Iran assassinates Mubarak (Sunni), the "Arabs united against Israel" slogan, will be a foregone conclusion.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 01/04/2009 16:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Wonder what Mubarak will offer for the murder of Imadinnerjacket...
Posted by: Old Patriot || 01/04/2009 18:18 Comments || Top||

#4  Lest we fergit, the REGIONAL-GLOBAL "ISLAMIST JIHAD" as symbolized by 9-11 is NOT just agz any and all non-Islam, but also BETWEEN THE HISTORICAL "GREAT CENTRES/SCHOOLS" OF ISLAMIC THOUGHTS-POWER FOR CONTROL OF ISLAM'S PRESENT AND FUTURE BELIEFS, DIRECTIONS, AND GEOPOLITICS.

Not just SHIA versus SUNNI [variants/sub-ISMS therein] but also CAIRO versus TEHRAN versus MECCA-MEDINA versus DAMASCUS versus ISTANBUL versus ........@!?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/04/2009 19:08 Comments || Top||

#5  $1 million dollars!

/same old Dr. Evil
Posted by: Frank G || 01/04/2009 19:44 Comments || Top||

#6  That's a lot in THEIR currency.
Why did they offer DOLLARS?
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/04/2009 19:47 Comments || Top||

#7  The Brits and Jimmuh Cahtah obviously thing differently, but isn't that an act of war?

Imagine if the Egyptians treated it as such. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/04/2009 19:52 Comments || Top||

#8  I think Mubarak's reaction will be... take a ticket and be seated, now serving number 322...
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/04/2009 20:02 Comments || Top||

#9  and what exactly happened to the Muslim ummah and religion of peace?
Posted by: hammerhead || 01/04/2009 20:20 Comments || Top||

#10  Isn't that like a breach of international law, or something. I wonder what the UN will have to say. (yeah, I know...).
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 01/04/2009 21:30 Comments || Top||

#11  "I wonder what the UN will have to say."

You already know what the Useless Nitwits will have to say about it, Scooter.

They'll blame the Joooooooos. (And us.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/04/2009 21:37 Comments || Top||

#12  Wonder what Mubarak will offer for the murder of Imadinnerjacket..

I'm willing to chip in a couple of bucks.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/04/2009 22:29 Comments || Top||

#13  This is getting out of hand. The Persians are really going bonkers on the Arabs as of late.

Methinks the Persians have some sort of plan, and I'm too ignint to understand it.
Posted by: Mike N. || 01/04/2009 22:50 Comments || Top||

#14  Good point, JosephM. :-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2009 23:13 Comments || Top||

#15  Called him worth as much as a US Senator, eh. That is indeed beard curdling.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/04/2009 23:16 Comments || Top||

#16  If this is true.... While Iran might have to wait in line for their shot this could PO the Arab/Sunni clans/tribes as outsider interference in the family feud.
Posted by: tipover || 01/04/2009 23:50 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2009-01-04
  IDF moves to bisect Gaza
Sat 2009-01-03
  Sri Lankan troops capture Kilinochchi
Fri 2009-01-02
  Girls to marry militants, orders Taliban
Thu 2009-01-01
  Senior Hamas leader killed in IAF air strike in Gaza Strip
Wed 2008-12-31
  Iranian 'students' attack Jordan, UK embassies, Saudi air office; threaten Egypt; burn Benneton store ...
Tue 2008-12-30
  Death toll in Gaza rises to 350; over 1,600 injured
Mon 2008-12-29
  Somali president resigns
Sun 2008-12-28
  230 killed as Israel rains fire on Hamas in the Gaza Strip
Sat 2008-12-27
  Israel Launches Unprecedented Series of Strikes on Gaza
Fri 2008-12-26
  Spokesman: Somali President not resigning
Thu 2008-12-25
  Pak in war frenzy; intensifies troop movement
Wed 2008-12-24
  Æthiops to withdraw all 3000 troops from Somalia by end of year
Tue 2008-12-23
  Pak air force on alert for Indian strike
Mon 2008-12-22
  Israel threatens major offensive against Gaza
Sun 2008-12-21
  Truce ends with airstrike on Gaza

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