[Quqnoos] Italian Premier called on foreign troops to leave Afghanistan after six Italian troops were killed in Kabul on Thursday. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who attended an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, said that they are "keen" to take international troops out of Afghanistan "as soon as possible".
The Italian leader conceded that any decision would only be made with the country's Nato allies, saying that Italy "is dealing with an international question that you can't decide on your own because that would betray an accord". But he added: "We are all convinced that we have to get out of Afghanistan as soon as possible."
At least six Italian soldiers and 10 Afghan civilians were killed in Thursday's suicide attack on a road linking Kabul's international airport to the US Embassy. Fifty other Afghans, most of them civilians, were also wounded, according to officials.
The suicide attack occurred just a week after a similar car bombing that left five dead on the same highway, including two US soldiers. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the bombing. Taliban militants have intensified their post-election attacks against international and Afghan troops across the country.
Italy has lost 21 of its military personnel in Afghanistan since beginning of the war in 2001.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I think Berlusconi is right - we should withdraw from Afghanistan - into Pakistan, along with our new ally, India. We should meet at the banks of the Indus River, and proclaim Pakistan "dead". It would end a lot of the problems this old world faces. There are a few other things we should do, but those can wait until this is done first.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/20/2009 16:11 Comments ||
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#2
"The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind."
Humphrey Bogart.
Posted by: Herb Clusomble8159 ||
09/20/2009 16:13 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Egypt's controversial candidate for UNESCO director general failed to win an absolute majority in a ballot of world envoys on Friday, with the vote now set to head to a third round, a spokesman said.
Envoys to the United Nations cultural organization started voting Thursday for a successor to Japan's Koichiro Matsuura as director general, with the Farouq Hosni, Egypt's culture minister for 22 years, seen as the frontrunner.
One of nine candidates, Hosni fell short of the 30 votes needed to win election, and a third ballot was set for Saturday, the UNESCO spokesman said.
According to a diplomat at the organization, the 71-year-old Hosni secured 23 of the votes from UNESCO's 58-nation executive council.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
UNESCO is screwed up, even by UN standards. Years ago, they even proposed UN control of speech, which even the Soviet Union thought was both excessive and incompetent.
A famous editorial cartoon of the time showed three typewriters. The first was an normal typewriter, labeled America. The second was a typewriter with chains wrapped around it, labeled Soviet Union. And the third was a typewriter smashed to pieces, labeled UNESCO.
#2
I'm still trying to figure out why this is an issue in this case, given the general tenor in the UN, both in official comments and general conversation.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The Yemeni government has not heeded to a self-proclaimed lull on its five-week operation against Shia fighters in the north of the country, Zaidi fighters say.
A statement issued by the office of the leader of the fighters Abdel Malek al-Houthi, on Saturday said government forces, backed by artillery fire and fighter jets, have advanced toward the city of Harf Sufyan in Amran Province.
"We were hoping for the government to prove their sincerity by ceasing all fire," it read, adding that despite the violation fighters "will continue to be committed to peace in the area."
The Yemeni army on Saturday said that it would suspend its fierce military operation against Houthi fighters in the northern provinces of Saada and Amran for the holiday of Eid ul-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Yemeni officials say the temporary ceasefire would become permanent if Shia fighters accepted government conditions, which includes Houthi withdrawal from all districts of Saada and mountainous sites and the return of the weapons they seized from the army.
The offensive, launched to crush the fighters, has left over 50,000 civilians displaced and UN aid agencies have repeatedly warned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the area.
A source close to the government on Saturday confirmed that the fighters have suffered a major blow as the army has targeted Zaidi strongholds in the north of the country.
"During clashes in the Malahit district the army managed to set fire to a terrorist vehicle carrying arms," the source added.
A similar vehicle, he added, was destroyed on the road from Harf Sufyan to Al Jouf.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2009 00:00 ||
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Morgenthau describing what his office learned as they took down several Iranian financial conduits used to procure arms and embargoed materials.
The DA isn't on dope or a paranoid mouthbreather. The threat is real.
My office has been told that that over the past three years a number of Iranian-owned and controlled factories have sprung up in remote and undeveloped parts of Venezuela--ideal locations for the illicit production of weapons. Evidence of the type of activity conducted inside the factories is limited. But we should be concerned, especially in light of an incident in December 2008. Turkish authorities detained an Iranian vessel bound for Venezuela after discovering lab equipment capable of producing explosives packed inside 22 containers marked "tractor parts." The containers also allegedly contained barrels labeled with "danger" signs. I think it is safe to assume that this was a lucky catch--and that most often shipments of this kind reach their destination in Venezuela.
Turkish authorities detained an Iranian vessel bound for Venezuela after discovering lab equipment capable of producing explosives packed inside 22 containers marked "tractor parts."
The containers also allegedly contained barrels labeled with "danger" signs.
(W)ith the groundwork laid years ago, we are entering a period where the fruits of the Iran-Venezuela bond will begin to ripen.
That means two of the world's most dangerous regimes, the self-described "axis of unity," will be acting together in our backyard on the development of nuclear and missile technology. And it seems that terrorist groups have found the perfect operating ground for training and planning, and financing their activities through narco-trafficking.
The Iranian nuclear and long-range missile threats, and creeping Iranian influence in the Western Hemisphere, cannot be overlooked. My office and other law-enforcement agencies can help ensure that money laundering, terror financing, and sanctions violations are not ignored, and that criminals and the banks that aid Iran will be discovered and prosecuted. But U.S. law enforcement alone is not enough to counter the threat.
The public needs to be aware of Iran's growing presence in Latin America.
HT to Weasel Zippers. Your Obama/Eric Holder corrupt DOJ in action again. *spit*
Airplane shoe bomber Richard C. Reid no longer faces severe limits on his prison activities or communications after the Obama administration quietly ended years of hard-nosed curbs against the British-born al-Qaeda terrorist.
This summer the Justice Department halted six years of measures that kept Reid from associating or praying with fellow jailed Muslim terrorists, and limited his access to the news media and pen pals.
That move has outraged victims of al-Qaeda and security experts. The recommendation to lift the restrictions was made with input from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston, which prosecuted Reid in 2002, federal officials said.
"Terrorists should be held as incommunicado as possible," said Howard Safir, a former New York City police commissioner and CEO of Safir Rosetti, a division of Global Options Inc., a security consulting firm. "If they can communicate with the outside world, they can direct other people to commit terrorist acts."
An emotional Hermis Moutardier, one of the flight attendants who thwarted Reid's botched shoe bombing and was injured by the hulking terrorist, reacted with anger upon learning the news from the Herald by phone Friday.
"What's wrong with our system?!" cried Moutardier, 54, who lives in Florida and still works as a flight attendant. "I am concerned about the safety of my country, my fellow citizens, my children, the public buildings, that's my concern."
Life term in supermax
On Dec. 22, 2001, Reid tried to blow up a Miami-bound American Airlines [AMR] flight from Paris by igniting a fuse connected to powerful explosives stashed in his left shoe.
The flight was diverted to Boston, where Reid - who was subdued by crew and passengers - was tried and convicted in federal court. His failed terror bid led to the much-bemoaned rule requiring airline passengers to remove their shoes at security checkpoints.
Reid is serving life in a federal supermax in Florence, Colo., that is home to fellow terrorists Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Zacarias Moussaoui, the 20th hijacker from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Yousef is the nephew of Khalid Sheik Mohammad, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.
Over the last six years, the U.S. Justice Department annually renewed special restrictions on Reid, including limits on who he could call and write to and on the kinds of articles he could read or TV channels he could watch. They also banned him from group prayers.
Reid, 36, appealed the restrictions within the federal Bureau of Prisons several times, to no avail. In 2007, the London-born terrorist filed a lawsuit against the government alleging the restrictions violated his First Amendment rights.
On June 17 - after two years spent fighting Reid's lawsuit - federal prosecutors notified the courts that the restrictions, called "special administrative measures," or SAMs, would not be renewed.
The decision to let the SAMs lapse was based on a "collective assessment of the potential threat posed by Reid's communications and contacts," said Department of Justice spokesman Dean Boyd.
That assessment was made by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston, the FBI and the DOJ counterterrorism section, Boyd said. Pressed repeatedly for more details, he would not say why those agencies came to the new conclusion. Christina DiIorio-Sterling, spokeswoman for the Acting U.S. Attorney in Boston, Michael K. Loucks, who was appointed in April, said the Boston office would not comment on the matter.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/20/2009 08:48 ||
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#1
We can thank those that never try or will defend, you, me, and the country, because they are philosophically superior to the rest of us (you know, the failures, mouth breathers, the racists, gun-clinging, god loving, family respecting redneck retards)
#5
I think he should be taken to the highest Buildding we can find and thrown off.
Let him scream all the way down.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/20/2009 13:07 Comments ||
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#6
What 1st Ammendment rights? He is not a US citizen, he was born in England. Fly him half way to Paris and throw him out, its what he wanted when he tried to blow a hole in the plane...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
09/20/2009 13:41 Comments ||
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#7
That gives me a better idea, Fly him halfway and throw him out, but give him a parachute so he'll drown slowly.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/20/2009 13:51 Comments ||
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#8
So when is he diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer and is flown home to a hero's welcome?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/20/2009 16:54 Comments ||
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#9
I'm not a lawyer, and I don't play one (shudder), but I've read enough law to stay on the right side of trouble. Basically, our Constitution is a contract. The government will guarantee our rights, protect and defend us from foreign powers, and establish an infrastructure that will allow us to meet our basic needs: physical, educational, social, religious, and mental. In return, we will respect the government and obey its laws. A person who tries to blow up an airplane full of people has rejected that contract, whether it applied to him originally or not. Since he's rejected that contract, he is no longer protected by its provisions. Anything that happens to him is the result of his behavior, and our rights and privileges as law-abiding citizens don't apply to him. The rest of the crap foisted upon us by people like ACORN and the ACLU is just bullsh$$ to try to expand the rights of law-abiding citizens to those that reject the rule of law. The people pushing this garbage should receive the same treatment as those that try to undermine our basic government/citizen contract. Hanging's too good for them. We need to find something nastier, slower, and far more painful.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/20/2009 17:02 Comments ||
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#10
"it will drive him mad"
That's not a drive, that's a two-inch putt.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/20/2009 17:58 Comments ||
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#11
Can we at least throw our shoes at him?
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/20/2009 18:25 Comments ||
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#12
Who among us will die when another terrorist attack occurs? I am always amazed how so many Americans just seem to think that a terrorist attack, though unfortunate, will happen to someone else.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Saturday lashed out at critics of a new missile defense plan for Europe and insisted it was not a concession to Russia, as some charge. Gates, a Republican who served in senior positions under former President George H.W. Bush and his son, former President George W. Bush, wrote in an opinion article for the New York Times that the criticism of the plan is misguided.
"I believe this is a very pragmatic proposal. I have found since taking this post that when it comes to missile defense, some hold a view bordering on theology that regards any change of plans or any cancellation of a program as abandonment or even breaking faith," Gates said.
The objective of the missile plan is to counter the threat of missile attack from Iran, not Russia.
The Bush plan was intended to intercept long-range Iranian missiles, but Iran has yet to develop long-range missiles and U.S. intelligence recently determined that Tehran is unlikely to have such missiles until between 2015 and 2020.
And US intel has never been wrong before.
As a result, Gates changed the plan to counter the possibility of short- and medium-range missiles.
Moscow had protested the Bush plan because it would be based in the Czech Republic and Poland. Leaders in the Czech Republic and Poland had found comfort in the Bush plan because they saw it as some protection against nearby Russia.
Moscow hated it precisely because the missile plan helped to incorporate the Poles and Czechs into the West.
Under Obama's new plan, the United States would initially deploy ships with missile interceptors and in a second phase would field land-based defense systems.
There's nothing wrong with ship-based interception, provided we can put the ships in the right place. That's likely the Black Sea which means the Turks theoretically have a veto, and the Turks are subject to Russian pressure as well. Over the longer term a 'second phase' to field a land-based system runs into the same problem as the current plan -- where do you put it?
Since the plan was announced, Gates has been taking fire from Republicans as well as many military analysts. Democrats and arms control experts have welcomed the plan.
Because the latter hates missile defense.
Senate John McCain, ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the new plan "misguided" and said it was a concession to Russia and an abrogation of an agreement between the United States, the Czech Republic and Poland.
Gates, however, said it was "a better way forward" and argued that Europe will still have missile defense under it. He said it was a distortion to call the new plan "some sort of concession to Russia."
Except that it was -- simply because the Russians campaigned so publicly for the cancellation of the project. If this is something Gates and Bambi wanted to do anyway, at the very least it became a chip with which to extract something of value from the Russians. That's how it's done, and Bambi whiffed.
"Russia's attitude and possible reaction played no part in my recommendation to the president on this issue. Of course, considering Russia's past hostility toward American missile defense in Europe, if Russia's leaders embrace this plan, then that will be an unexpected -- and welcome -- change of policy on their part," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/20/2009 00:00 ||
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Retroactive payback for Russia allowing the US to supply Afghanistan operations through its territory?
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/20/2009 0:35 Comments ||
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#3
Even some of Bambi's harshest critics on this subject think the system was little more than a defense-industry boondoggle. The real disgrace was in what was unquestionably a public throwing of tens of millions of Eastern Europeans to the wolves - or more accurately, to the Russian bear. There was no way the splashy September 17 announcement could have made it past the State Department's protocol desk without someone passing along the significance of that date in Poland's history - it HAD to have been deliberately selected. What do you suppose The One has in mind to commemorate this anniversary?
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
09/20/2009 3:17 Comments ||
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#4
Mark me down as one who is glad the Eastern Europeans have gotten the message that the US cannot be relied upon. If Britain and France would not defend those countries far away about which they knew little, how much more hollow would our promise have proven in a similar event? Now we should make sure the Germans, French and British understand they are on their own and it is time for them to grow up or convert.
#5
In future, it has to be made clear to our allies that American foreign policy runs hot (Republican), and cold (Democrat), so they must plan accordingly.
By this I mean they should maximize their relations with the US during a Republican presidency, while always being aware that the clock is ticking. Likewise, to assume not just abandonment, but animosity, during Democrat administrations.
During Republican years, get long term commitments written in concrete, with the majority of the agreement ballooned up-front. Make sure your politicians and press mute their criticism during the Republican years, and take care of your internal debate quickly and quietly.
Conversely, when mistreated in the slightest by Democrats is when you need to turn on the spigot, and complain loud and long. If there is a US community of people descended from your nation, rile them up as well. The Democrats are weaklings, and will usually fold under sharp criticism.
Be under no illusions. During Democrat years you are no longer "under the umbrella", and may be attacked or assailed by your enemies without and within, and there will only be hand wringing and deploring in Washington. So you are mostly on your own. Plan accordingly.
#6
OBlahBlahblah can't understand that the more people you slap across the face, the moe people who hate him.
And sooner or later he's going to slap somebody who'll respond with a right cross instead of saying "Excuse me for being in the way of your hand".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/20/2009 12:59 Comments ||
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#7
Why is it that I feel like new life is being breathed into communism? They seemed to be dead or on the run when Reagan was President.
New York Daily News:
Zazi, whose trip from Denver to New York last weekend set off a series of police raids in Queens, filed for bankruptcy in March, court records show. Between 2005 and 2008, he opened credit card accounts with Bank of America, Chase, Capital One, Discover and Citibank and ran up a debt of more than $50,000. When he filed for bankruptcy, Zazi said he hadn't worked in two months.
Clearly not a sterling character.
When the probe began this week, five Colorado men cited as members of the cell were under a round-the-clock watch. By Thursday, police sources said, that number had risen to as many as 12. A half-dozen were reportedly in New York, where Zazi arrived for a visit last week. Sources said he returned to Colorado after slipping an FBI tail.
That last doesn't look quite as clever as it did a few days ago.
The Homeland Security Department beefed up security in the nation's airports as a result of the Colorado-based probe, a senior official disclosed. "Even a casual observer will notice a more visible presence of uniformed officers this week in the airports," the Homeland Security Department official told the Daily News.
ABC News blotter:
Zazi has been under investigation for almost a year, according to law enforcement and intelligence officials. The CIA reportedly first learned of his alleged al Qaeda ties when Zazi visited Pakistan and officials said they later learned of "deeply troubling" conversations that were picked up on government intercepts.
Authorities told ABCNews.com that Zazi's computer contained bomb-making directions and an explosives recipe that would have produced homemade bombs of the same size and type used in the terror attacks on the London subways in July 2005.
And
A computer belonging to Zazi showed he had researched baseball and football stadiums and sites used in the recent Fashion Week event in New York City, law enforcement officials tell ABCNews.com.
The officials said text messages sent by Zazi suggest the plot was nearing the attack phase. One message said the "wedding cake is ready," which authorities say may have been code to indicate the attack was ready. Al Qaeda operatives have frequently used references to weddings to disguise planned terror attacks.
Zazi's computer was copied, or "mirrored," by FBI agents last weekend without Zazi's knowledge. His lawyer said the agents probably made the copy after towing away Zazi's car on an purported parking violation. The computer was in the car, and Zazi told his lawyer he discovered it had been tampered with when he retrieved the car at a police lot.
Authorities who have been briefed on elements of the alleged plot said it was a "varsity level" plan similar in scope to the 2005 attacks on London's subways and busses. A recipe for homemade explosives found on Zazi's computer would have produced a bomb of the same size and type used in London, authorities said. The suicide bombers in London used backpacks and plastic containers to carry the explosive mixtures. Raids in New York led to the discovery of 14 new backpacks.
CBS News:
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Friday that the FBI was "working this case around the clock" in New York, Denver and other parts of the country but that there was no imminent threat.
The New York Daily News reported Saturday that investigators spent several hours this week at a U-Haul in Queens, examining an apparent attempt by some men under scrutiny to rent a large truck. A manager at the rental lot, Robert Larson, told the newspaper the men went away empty-handed because they didn't have a valid credit card.
The paper reported that U-Haul workers identified one of the people involved as Naiz Khan, an Afghan immigrant in Queens who knew Zazi and has been questioned by the FBI in connection with the case. Khan told the AP and other reporters in a brief interview at his Queens apartment building Saturday that agents had asked him about renting a U-Haul truck but he knew nothing about it. He called reports that he was involved "totally wrong."
"I've never been to that U-Haul," he said.
While in Queens, officials said Zazi inquired about hydrogen peroxide, which terrorists use to make bombs. "It talks about peroxide and it talks about the burns, the possibility of someone being burnt," NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said. "But I think it covers more subjects than just that."
More from the New York Daily News:
The New York end of the expanding federal probe centered on seven Afghan men who tried to rent the biggest truck at a Queens U-Haul on Sept. 9, sources told the Daily News. The size of the vehicle involved - a 26-foot-long truck - suggested the conspirators wanted to pack it with explosives, sources said.
The truck rental bid failed when none of the men could produce a valid credit card. All refused to surrender the identification needed to pay cash, the manager of the Flushing U-Haul said. A team of FBI agents spent 10 hours Thursday combing through the Queens truck rental business. "We all feel very lucky right now," U-Haul manager Robert Larson told The News.
At least three Afghan men - including Ahmad Afzali, a Queens imam identified by a U-Haul employee as one of the would-be renters - were questioned in New York by FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, sources said.
Why is ICE involved?
U-Haul workers also identified Naiz Kahn, who has said he gave Zazi a place to stay during his visit to New York last week. "None of them looked suspicious," Larson said. "They looked like laborers. Not clean-cut guys, but your average Joes."
An employee at Afzali's funeral home in Queens said the FBI swooped down on the business Thursday. "I don't know what's happening," the man said. "The office was turned upside down." Afzali, in a phone call with The News, insisted he was never at the U-Haul and had nothing to do with any terror plot. He described his sitdown with the FBI as a cordial conversation.
#1
I'm guessing ICE may be involved if they are not all legal immigrants. Something I heard reported that made me think the FBI in Denver was on the ball was apparently Zazi purchased some muriatic acid, used for cleaning cement but also for explosives, and the receipt from Home Depot automatically gets kicked out and the authorities notified. As for beefed up security at commercial airports, he rented a van and drove cross-country. He could just as easily, and economically, hopped on Amtrak.
The Colorado man under FBI investigation into an alleged New York subway terror plot has admitted he has ties to Al Qaeda and is in negotiations to plead guilty to a terror charge, a source at the Department of Justice told FOX News.
The source said 24-year-old Najibullah Zazi, who until now had protested that he had no connection to Al Qaeda, changed his story Friday. Zazi reportedly told officials that he had received explosives training and may plead guilty as part of a deal to cooperate with the government.
Former President Pervez Musharraf has said that nuclear assets of Pakistan are in safe hands and there is no danger of militants taking over them.
Musharraf, currently on a lecture tour of the United States, stated this while addressing students at Trinity University in San Antenio in Texas. In his lecture, Musharraf also advocated far-reaching solutions to the issue of terrorism, including settling the Kashmir and Israel-Palestine problems. He said that India as well as Pakistan and Afghanistan faced extremist troubles.
"We need to inject more forces. And may I say we have to defeat it (terrorism), whatever it costs," he told a near-capacity crowd at Trinity's Laurie Auditorium.
"So therefore, may I suggest to this august gathering, we have to accept casualties, ladies and gentlemen," he was quoted as saying by The News daily.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/20/2009 00:00 ||
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Hey Perv, Pakiwakiland and safe hands are mutally exclusive concepts.
A security official has claimed that majority of the militants killed in the US drone attacks in the tribal region during the past one year were Uzbeks, but the ISPR still says drone attacks have done more harm than good to Pakistan.
The official told The News on Thursday: "During the past one year, majority of the militants killed in missile strikes by US unmanned aerial vehicles were Uzbek nationals, who are often referred to as foreign militants in the media."
He was talking to The News via telephone from the troubled tribal region.
"This is the reason that no protest against their killing has been witnessed in the area wherever they are killed," the official opined, requesting anonymity.
According to the official, it is also because of the nationality of the killed militants that security forces seldom faced any retaliatory attack. He said the local population has no sympathy with the Uzbek nationals as compared to the local militants, whose death in drone attacks not only triggers protests locally but also security forces face retaliatory attacks by militants.
When approached by The News for comments, the Inter Services Public Relations director-general did not elaborate and only said: "Drone attacks harm more than they help."
According to the data compiled by the Pakistani authorities, 60 US drone strikes inside Pakistan between January 14, 2006 and April 8 this year killed 701 persons, including 14 wanted al-Qaeda militants.
Of these attacks, only 10 were able to hit their actual targets as besides 14 wanted persons, 687 innocent Pakistani civilians were killed, showing the success ratio of not more than 6 per cent. Two strikes in 2006 had killed 98 civilians while three attacks in 2007 had slain 66 Pakistanis.
Interestingly, only 10 out of 50 drone attacks between January 29, 2008 and April 8 this year hit their targets and killed 14 wanted al-Qaeda operatives.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"Drone attacks harm more than they help." I'm sure that's true in part. It depends which side you are on.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/20/2009 6:46 Comments ||
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#2
I read a while back where the Pakistani government has been rather adamant about not allowing modern forensics or dna evidence to be used re: the remains of people killed by drone attacks.
#3
most of the drone-gift recipients don't have modern DNA
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/20/2009 14:09 Comments ||
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#4
Well these guys chose the wrong place to take their "jihad vacation tour package" Suggest they leave for Uzbekistan on the fastest camel caravan out of Pakistan, it will help clear up the SWAT.
#5
You know, they could be lying about most of them being Uzbeks. Y'all can treat anonymous Pakistani security officials as if they're telling the truth, I think Ima be more skeptical-like.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] The district administration on Saturday extended the detention of the chief of banned Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) Maulana Sufi Mohammad for another 30 days.
"As the detention of Maulana Sufi Mohammad was going to expire during the Eidul Fitr holidays, we have extended his detention for another 30 days," Peshawar District Coordination Officer (DCO) Sahibzada Mohammad Anis told The News.
Maulana Sufi Mohammad was arrested, along with his three sons, Rizwanullah, Ziaullah and Hayatullah, from their rented house in Sethi Town on July 22.
After detaining Sufi Mohammad from Peshawar, a case was registered against him under different sections at Saidu Sharif Police Station. At least 16 cases against the TNSM chief are also lodged at Dir and Swat Police Stations, which the government had promised to withdraw but are yet to be withdrawn formally.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Three children have been diagnosed with polio in Swat, pushing the total number of polio cases in the country to 10. According to sources of Heath Department, polio has been detected in three children belonging to Qambar and Darosh Khela areas of Swat. Polio campaign could be undertaken in Swat due to the volatile law and order situation in the valley.
Darwin always wins.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The Minister for Minorities Affairs promised on Thursday to work to amend blasphemy laws and said he was ready to die fighting.
Shahbaz Bhatti visited Washington at the invitation of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which awarded him a first-of-a-kind medallion for championing the rights of minorities in Pakistan.
'The stand of the Pakistani government is to review, revisit and amend blasphemy laws so it will not remain a tool in the hands of extremists,' Mr Bhatti told commissioners from the bipartisan US government agency. 'They are using this law to victimise minorities as well as Muslims of Pakistan. This law is creating disharmony and intolerance in our society.'
Mr Bhatti said he had received threats for his work. 'I personally stand for religious freedom, even if I will pay the price of my life,' he said. 'I live for this principle and I want to die for this principle.'
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
He's a moron if he thinks he'll win, I think it's far more likely he'll get his death wish granted.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/20/2009 13:58 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Pakistan says detained militant commanders have confessed to the involvement of foreign secret services in Taliban-linked violence in the country's northwestern tribal belt.
A report by a Pakistani investigation team has claimed 23 Tehrik-e-Taliban commanders have admitted to receiving financial aid, weapons and special training from Indian and Afghan secret agencies, the Dawn reported on Saturday.
Among the commanders confessing are Sim Khan, Mahmood Khan and Maulvi Umer who were captured by security forces during 'Operation Rah-e-Rast' in the lawless Swat valley.
The report further disclosed that some militants underwent terrorist training in Afghanistan.
It also accused India's secret departments, including its Foreign Intelligence Agency (RAW), of being in contact with those militants in Afghanistan's Jalalabad, Kandahar and Mazar Sharif.
Meetings between Tehrik-e-Taliban militants and their foreign collaborators were reportedly arranged during feasts where the terrorists were provided with weapons and money earned through narcotics trade, according to the report.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statement that the Holocaust was "a myth" is "totally unacceptable," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement Saturday, echoing world powers, which united to slam Ahmadinejad's comments. "Such statements, wherever they come from, contradict the truth and are totally unacceptable," ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said in the statement.
" Attempts to rewrite history, especially as the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II is being marked this year, are an offence to the memory of all victims and all those who fought fascism "
Russia ministry statement
"Attempts to rewrite history, especially as the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II is being marked this year, are an offence to the memory of all victims and all those who fought fascism," he added.
Nesterenko said Ahmadinejad's comment "does not contribute to creating an international atmosphere that would foster a fruitful dialogue on issues concerning Iran." Iran and six powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- are to meet again on Oct. 1 on Iran's nuclear program amid fears that Tehran is planning to build an atomic bomb, which the Islamic Republic denies.
Ahmadinejad made the statement as he addressed the annual Quds Day rally in Tehran on Friday, reiterating earlier comments that had sparked outrage around the world.
Ahmadinejad's comments
" If as you claim the Holocaust is true, why can a study not be allowed? "
Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The United States, Britain, France and Germany all issued statements slamming his latest outburst dismissing the killing of some six million Jews of occupied Europe by the Nazis during World War II. "The very existence of this regime is an insult to the dignity of the people," the hardline Ahmadinejad said of Iran's arch-foe Israel.
"They (the Western powers) launched the myth of the Holocaust. They lied, they put on a show and then they support the Jews. If as you claim the Holocaust is true, why can a study not be allowed?" he said to chants of "Death to Israel" from the crowd gathered for the annual display of solidarity with the Palestinians.
"The pretext for establishing the Zionist regime is a lie... a lie which relies on an unreliable claim, a mythical claim, and the occupation of Palestine has nothing to do with the Holocaust," he added. "This claim is corrupt and the pretext is corrupt. This (the Israeli) regime's days are numbered and it is on its way to collapse. This regime is dying."
Washington condemned Ahmadinejad's comments as ignorant and hateful.
World powers slam Ahmadinejad
" The coincidence of today's comments with the start of Jewish New Year only adds to the insult "
David Miliband -- British Foreign Secretary
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband branded the comments "abhorrent as well as ignorant," and said they were "not worthy of the leader of Iran."
"The coincidence of today's comments with the start of Jewish New Year only adds to the insult," he added. French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero called the remarks "unacceptable and shocking. We resolutely condemn them." In Berlin German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said they shamed Iran.
Similar comments by Ahmadinejad shortly after his first election as president in 2005 also sparked an international outcry.
Nobody fusses, really, when the same Iranian President Ahmadinejad announces that Israel will be wiped off the map. But many weep bitter tears for Jews long dead. We should all be grateful, I suppose, that President Ahmadinejad holds no brief for the Gypsies, as they'd not even get so much as crocodile tears from the world.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
- Somebody has got to tell President Pajamas - Get a new speach writer - this sh^ts is getting old buddy - and the camel dung beatles are working on your head -
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.
Former President Pervez Musharraf has said that nuclear assets of Pakistan are in safe hands and there is no danger of militants taking over them.
