Saudi Arabia will not make any contacts or relations with Israel until the Jewish state signs a comprehensive peace deal with Arabs, Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal has said. "If there is total peace and every Arab country signs the peace treaty that was proposed (by Crown Prince Abdullah) and accepted by the Beirut conference in 2002," he replied when The Washington Post asked him about the conditions to establish some kind of relations with Israel. He said the Arab proposal called for total peace and total withdrawal to the 1967 borders. "We are pleased to see British Prime Minister Tony Blair urging a continuation of the peace process and a return to the road map," he said about the March 1-2 peace conference in London.
Prince Saud praised the Palestinian president's peace credentials. "Mahmoud Abbas has absolutely the right credentials for a peace negotiator but what is really discouraging is on the other side we have somebody who has done everything to stop any peace movement from achieving its goals," the Saudi minister said. "I hope he (Sharon) proves me wrong and most people wrong because most people really do not see how it is possible for somebody who has lived for so long with a certain held view that the only way there is a good Palestinian is a dead Palestinian... can have turned his skin to the extent that he becomes a peacemaker. "But miracles do happen and I hope there is a miracle in this instance," the prince told the television.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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The House of Saud will be gone before Sharon leaves office.
Posted by: john ||
02/28/2005 13:09 Comments ||
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Marking the 14th anniversary of Kuwait's Liberation, Kuwait's head of mission here Ambassador Dharar Razzooqi hoped Saturday that Iraq would be liberated from leftovers of the "monstrous, dictatorial former regime" which consumed the country over the past three decades. Talking to the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) in Geneva, Razzooqi added that he hopes that in overcoming the past practices of the former regime, Iraq would consolidate human rights, peaceful coexistence with its neighbours and the international community as a whole. He added that all what is sincerely hoped for Iraq is to achieve stability, development and welfare.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2005 9:39:14 PM ||
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Doha: Muslim scholars are calling for new TV channels and newspapers in the West to counteract the anti-Islam slant.
Going to bring the propaganda war to us, are they?
I thought they already had on the Sundance cable channel.
Clerics and intellectuals from across the Muslim world who gathered in Doha said "the aggression of the United States and Zionists" towards Islamic countries and their religion must be challenged through strategic media policies. "We must challenge aggressors practically and technically, we must reply to the media with the media. We must open TV channels, newspapers and magazines in the heart of the West to talk about Islam and present it in the correct way. "Scholarly gatherings are not enough," said Lebanese mufti Mohammad Ali Al Guzu. He was addressing participants at the first Global Anti-Aggression Campaign organised by the Arab Centre for Studies and Research. The event is designed to map out a strategy to counterbalance the influence of the Western media on the Islamic world as well as how to present Islam as a religion of peace.
Al-Jizzles and al-Arabiya seem to be the counterbalance. As for presenting Islam as a religion of peace, you could start by not killing and maiming people.
While speeches were dominated with such words as enemy, colonialism and aggression, scholars struggled to keep the conference on track in its objectivity.
Does that sentence make any sense? Bueller?
Participants called for the Islamic nation to unite and create a global strategy to face their "occupation", while also identifying aggressors with the United States and Israel. Abbas Al Madani, Algerian Liberation Front leader, said the Islamic nation and its people were targeted by aggressors.
"Everywhere I look there's aggressors! I got four of 'em under my bed right now!"
He said the Islamic world was facing deterioration and underdevelopment while being deprived of its freedom, sovereignty and right to exist.
Deterioration and underdevelopment is the natural state of the Islamic world. That's because it's Islamic. Oil money is the factor that temporarily alleviates the condition. If the oil goes, there goes the development, maybe not immediately, because of all the money that's invested in other things now, but on a long-term slide. The solution is to kick out the holy men, not to let them run things.
He accused Islamic scholars of failing to raise this issue. Taisier Al Tamimi, chief mufti of Palestine, said the aggression against Islam was being ignored by the world. He accused intellectuals worldwide of remaining silent. Al Tamimi said the media and Friday sermons should be used to influence the masses about the extent of "Western and Zionist aggression in the Muslim world". Campaigns to fight the aggression must be conducted on different fronts, such as education. "There are attempts to change our curriculums, to cancel our history and religion. Islam does not need to be defended, but scholars have to learn how to convey to the West a positive message of our religion," he said.
... without actually doing anything positive, of course.
Al Guzu said the fight against aggression must be conducted on the information and media level. He said "the massive brainstorming conducted in the West by Christian movements and Zionists through the media" must be challenged by the Islamic nation with the same instruments. Ali Sadr Al Din Al Baianuni, the Syrian Muslim Brother's representative, said threats to Arab countries were caused by the presence of dictatorial regimes in the Arab world.
This article starring:
ABAS AL MADANI
Algerian Liberation Front
ALI SADR AL DIN AL BAIANUNI
Syrian Muslim Brotherhood
MOHAMAD ALI AL GUZU
Learned Elders of Islam
TAISIER AL TAMIMI
Learned Elders of Islam
Algerian Liberation Front
Syrian Muslim Brother
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2005 10:30:19 PM ||
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It's hard to imagine that they need another venue for seething and tea but, of course, they're absolutely right: getting their "intellectuals" together to "objectively" agree to the pre-decided conclusion that the US and Israel are "aggressors" will be a media blockbuster.
#2
far be it from me to underestimate the benefit of repeating the lie to bag new recruits - but there comes a point - when for the majority - it has the impact of a finger wagging old hag.
give 'em enough rope - as they say.
you're in a hole? Here's a shovel
#4
I've been acquainted with some quite peaceful Muslims and do not believe Saddam, Al Q, and Al Z and their ilk make all Muslims bad any more than David Koresh (remember him?) made all Christians bad (I'm a Methodist, myself). That said, there did seem to be a grain of truth in the last sentance, yes?
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/28/2005 10:31 Comments ||
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Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, will seek today to salvage the Government's new anti-terrorism laws by increasing the role of judges in issuing control orders detaining terrorist suspects under house arrest.
While a YouGov poll for The Telegraph shows that a majority of the public backs the plan to restrict the movement of suspected terrorists who cannot be brought to trial, MPs and peers said the legislation would not get through Parliament without further judicial safeguards.
Ministers will be heartened by the survey, which shows that voters largely share Tony Blair's view that protecting the public against an atrocity like those of September 11 or Madrid should take priority over civil liberties.
...
Posted by: ed ||
02/28/2005 12:02:01 AM ||
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If Blair had the balls and party support to withdraw the UK from the various one-size-fits-all transnational asylum and human rights treaties he and his predecessors have signed up to, we wouldn't have to worry about the compromise that is expensive and ludicrous house arrest as an alternative to plain old locking up and deportation.
China has dropped initial doubts and now agrees with the United States that North Korea has a uranium-based nuclear programme, a Japanese newspaper reported Sunday. The dispute over North Korea's nuclear weapons development erupted in 2002, when US officials accused Pyongyang of running a secret uranium-enrichment programme in violation of a previous agreement. China had long questioned the US accusation, saying Washington had not shown conclusive evidence that a uranium programme exists.
But Beijing in recent months has edged toward the US position, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said Sunday in a report from Washington, citing anonymous sources from the US government and six-nation nuclear talks involving Pyongyang. Since last June it has conveyed to Washington through both official and unofficial diplomatic channels that it was "aware of the uranium enrichment programme," the Asahi said. Most recently, the newspaper quoted Chinese officials as saying, "we share your belief that a uranium-enrichment programme exists" to Michael Green, the US National Security Council's senior director for Asian affairs, when he visited Beijing last month. Beijing, the North's main ally and a major source of aid for the impoverished nation, has played a large role in the six-nation nuclear talks, but has been wary of openly criticizing Pyongyang. Its apparent shift in position could signal that it will begin exerting its influence more strongly on the North's hardline regime, the Japanese newspaper said. Since 2003, Beijing has hosted three rounds of nuclear talks which also involved North Korea, the United States, Japan, South Korea and Russia, with little progress.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
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That's nice. So what are they going to actually do about it? Nb to China: desired timing on this doing thing is a good deal closer to now than to sometime, 'k?
This is from the FFI series on Apostates from Islam
...I am from Egypt but now I am living in Australia... .
I dedicated my whole life to advocating Islam and spreading a "new vision" for interpreting the Koran. As a girl I used to find it quite challenging to understand why I should inherit only a half of male's share and why I am considered to be less intelligent than my brother, who was a lazy fellow and didn't study at all....
A few months ago I found myself in a trap. Muslims hated me with all their hearts, calling me a heretic for trying to reinterpret the Koran and the western people thought I was oppressed...
I am no longer a Muslim. The only downside is that I am jobless now. Teaching Islam was my occupation....
Posted by: mhw ||
02/28/2005 11:13:58 AM ||
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The only downside is that I am jobless now. Teaching Islam was my occupation....
Reinvent yourself. Assuming that you aren't a living fossil yet, then there's still plenty of time. Many others have done it, you can too.
#2
The only downside is that I am jobless now. Teaching Islam was my occupation...
Dear teacher: forward your resume to the University of Colorado. I have a hunch there'll be an opening in the Ethnic Studies Department in the near future.
Shortly before nine o'clock one Monday evening earlier this month, Hatin SÌrÌcÌ left her five-year-old son asleep in their small apartment in the Tempelhof district of Berlin and made her way to a bus stop in the main Oberlandgarten Strasse.
Minutes later, a volley of pistol shots rang out but no one came to help Mrs SÌrÌcÌ, 23, who was of Turkish origin. A bus driver discovered her body, with multiple wounds to the head and chest, about 40 minutes later and called the police.
Last week, Mrs SÌrÌcÌ's three brothers, aged 18 to 25, who were arrested six days after the attack, were formally charged with the murder. They have pleaded not guilty and were remanded in custody.
Police are investigating whether Mrs SÌrÌcÌ was the victim of a so-called "honour killing" after she made the decision to leave the cousin with whom she had been forced into an arranged marriage eight years earlier.
The police said that Mrs SÌrÌcÌ had frequently complained of being threatened by her brothers.
If they are found guilty, Mrs SÌrÌcÌ's murder will be the sixth "honour killing" within Berlin's 200,000-strong Muslim community in four months. Shocking as that is, the reactions of some Turkish immigrant children at a school whose main gates are yards from the scene of the shooting has caused even graver concern.
Asked by teachers what they thought of the murder, several 13-year-old pupils are said to have implied that they thought Mrs SÌrÌcÌ had "earned" her death. "Well, she lived like a German, didn't she?" remarked one. Mrs SÌrÌcÌ got married in Turkey at the age of 15 but returned with her son to her birthplace, Berlin, more than five years ago.
She broke with her family, refused to wear the Muslim headscarf and lived with her child in a hostel.
She had recently completed training as an electrical engineer and friends said that she simply "wanted to live her own life".
The murder has shocked politicians, police and community leaders, and prompted criticism that successive German governments have ignored ritual injustices within immigrant communities for decades. "How many more women have to die before this society wakes up?" asked Necla Kelek, the author of a controversial book on arranged marriages.
In an open letter last week, the headmaster of the school publicly denounced the attitude of his pupils. Other head teachers in Berlin, however, said that they were not surprised by the children's reaction.
"This type of thinking is latent in their minds," said the head of another predominantly Turkish immigrant school in the district, who asked not to be identified. Their remarks, he said, reminded him of the spontaneous "victory dances" which immigrant pupils at his school had staged after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
The five Muslim women killed in recent months were murdered by their husbands or partners because they had "insulted" the family honour by wanting to end the relationship.
One woman was strangled; another drowned in a bath. In another case, a 21-year-old Turkish woman who was forcibly married to her cousin was stabbed to death on the street by her husband in front of their three-year-old daughter. Police records show that 45 "honour killings" have been committed within Germany's two million-plus Muslim community in the past eight years. Now that at least five have occurred in just four months in Berlin alone, the German authorities and local Turkish leaders are desperately trying to find out why.
Karl Mollenhauer, a Berlin police psychologist, blamed Islamic religious leaders for failing to address the problem. Last week, he also suggested that the German authorities were at fault for failing to intervene in case they were branded racist.
"We have silently allowed a parallel society to develop because of fears that we would sow hatred by talking openly about its injustices. The women have paid the price for this," he said. Serap Cileli, a German-born Turkish woman who finds homes for women threatened by "honour murders", said: "If I criticise the Islamic community over these problems, I find that the Germans criticise me for being anti-foreigner. At the same time, many Turks say I am fouling my own nest.
"I am sad to say that we have a Turkish problem in Germany. Official claims that the majority of Turks are well integrated here are pure eyewash."
Posted by: ed ||
02/28/2005 12:05:31 AM ||
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Many, many more is the probably the sad answer.
Why does Germany need immigrants if there is ~10% unemployment?
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
02/28/2005 9:09 Comments ||
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Any bets on who funds those schools where the kids say she deserved it?
#3
The German government. They are public schools in heavily Turkish neighborhoods.
In an open letter last week, the headmaster of the school publicly denounced the attitude of his pupils. Other head teachers in Berlin, however, said that they were not surprised by the childrenâs reaction.
"This type of thinking is latent in their minds," said the head of another predominantly Turkish immigrant school in the district, who asked not to be identified. Their remarks, he said, reminded him of the spontaneous "victory dances" which immigrant pupils at his school had staged after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Posted by: ed ||
02/28/2005 9:48 Comments ||
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Why does Germany need immigrants if there is ~10% unemployment?
I'd suspect they'd claim that the jobs the immigrants take are those that Germans won't do. That should sound rather familiar.
#5
In the case of Germany, though, it is true, BaR. If I recall the statistics correctly, some 70% of Germans go on to post-secondary education, most of those remain in school until their 30s, and then refuse all jobs outside their training.
#8
Question for the Germans out there. A portion of your paychecks are tithed to the church unless you fill out the paperwork and (a) end the tithe (b) Change the religion the money goes to.
Is there any way for the Turks to realign their tithe to fund mosques or would that require a natinional organization to the mosques?
70% of Germans go on to post-secondary education, most of those remain in school until their 30s, and then refuse all jobs outside their training
No problem. Just don't pay them for not working. Problem solved.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/28/2005 14:32 Comments ||
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The murder has shocked politicians, police and community leaders, and prompted criticism that successive German governments have ignored ritual injustices within immigrant communities for decades.
For consistency sake, those women should simply have applied the principles that our allies in Germany and France are always chastising the US for not applying:
They should have had a dialog with the stabbers and shooters. Don't those stupid victims know that dialog is sophisticated and efficient? I've heard it's all the rage in European diplomatic circles these days...
#11
rj -- when we lived in Germany ('91-'95)the only Churches that received State funding and tithes were Catholic, Lutheran and Jewish. All other denominations were on their own, including the Muslims.
Barbara -- I agree completely. But then, we're American, and are funny about things like that.
Paris and Warsaw must move on from splits over the war in Iraq and learn to work together in the expanded European Union, focusing on their common interests, French President Jacques Chirac said in an interview on Monday.
But Poland must also avoid policies that might hurt ties with Russia, as good relations with Moscow were vital, the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper quoted him as saying ahead of Monday's summit with Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski.
"If it happens that our positions are not always the same, and that happens between countries with a strong identity, we should be constantly looking to cooperate in a climate of full and complete confidence," he told the paper.
The two leaders will meet in the northern French town of Arras.
Chirac has in the past criticized Poland and other east European states for siding with the United States over the war in Iraq, saying they "missed a good opportunity to shut up." The two countries have also clashed over voting rights in the newly expanded EU. ...
Posted by: .com ||
02/28/2005 2:18:31 AM ||
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But Poland must also avoid policies that might hurt ties with Russia, as good relations with Moscow were vital
That's a big slap in the face for Poland, and I hope this serves as a wake up call for Poles, that in case of trouble, they shouldn't expect much help from western Eurostan. After 50 years of "good relations" with Moscow, that is the last thing that Poland needs right now. Yet the majority of people are still rabidly anti-American.
Posted by: Rafael ||
02/28/2005 12:42 Comments ||
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#3
Rafael, I thought they were pro-American? What happened?
#6
Paris and Warsaw must move on from splits over the war in Iraq and learn to work together in the expanded European Union, focusing on their common interests, French President Jacques Chirac said in an interview on Monday.
Why not just tell them to "shut up" like the last time, Jacques???
#7
Rafael, I thought they were pro-American? What happened?
From personal observation, it's roughly a 50-50 split, with the side that is anti-American falling into two groups:
After 15 years of capitalism, some folks are seeing that, hell, they had it better under communism. Since capitalism is equated with things American, this group of people will not look favorably on American interests.
The second group is of course anti-Jewish: everything wrong with Poland right now is because of the Jews (mainly in government). And of course anyone who is anti-Jew is automatically anti-American.
There are other reasons, such as the visa issue, lost contracts in Iraq, etc. that get a lot of air-play on TV and the papers.
The current government is pro-American, for reasons relating to the fall of communism and the movement away from Moscow. Whether this will be the case after the next elections remains to be seen. If enough Poles realize that the EU isn't the panacea they were promised, then the next government could still be mildly pro-American. It's a long shot however. Maybe Jacques could help out by telling them to shut up again, or this comment today that they should still cozy up to Moscow, after all those years under the Muscovite thumb.
Posted by: Rafael ||
02/28/2005 21:09 Comments ||
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#8
Someone used an apt description of Poland's situation a while ago, which I think is still valid: Poland is like a row boat in the middle of the Atlantic, rowing towards America. Good idea? You decide.
Posted by: Rafael ||
02/28/2005 21:15 Comments ||
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#9
I'd send the Coast Guard - Poland will be an ally
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2005 21:30 Comments ||
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#1
...I think this article tells us more about the guy who wrote it than its subject. RTWT.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/28/2005 7:19 Comments ||
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#2
It was like reading the Enquirer.
Very Close Condi Whispers In Bush's Ear!
Powell Admits Bush II Impulsive Jesus Freak!
Cheney - King Of The Neocons!
Kissenger: Rumsfeld - World's Most Ruthless!
Bush/Condi/Rumsfeld The Threesome Love Triangle That Rules The World! Are They Splitting Up?
That said, despite the author's angst and need for Prozac, it was an interesting article. But then I find all gossip interesting. I actually thought the conclusion (sans the angst) wasn't half bad.. so I'll post..
Further, the chemistry of the group and the personalities of the individuals within it play a far greater role in determining its true function [*snicker* author speaking to himself here]than does any preconceived aspect of its structure. Indeed, the structure of the actual committee (which is the ad hoc group the president relies on rather than the formal NSC itself) is based on a constantly changing series of transactions between the president and its members in which he offers or withdraws access, trust, influence, and power. Statutes and history are far less important than these transactions, which continuously remake this powerful entity.
Philosophies are, of course, of central consequence to this process, in that they shape affinities and the collective character of the group. Tugs of war over ideology are a central tradition of the NSC, and todayâs struggle shares much with those of the past, particularly those that have divided the Republican Party throughout the modern era. President Dwight D. Eisenhower was torn between anti-Communist hardliners who urged him to act forcefully (and unilaterally, if necessary) to âroll backâ the Soviets and more moderate voices who urged a âblock-and-tackleâ approach that relied on international alliances and institutions to help contain communism and promote American values. Goldwater and later Reagan championed conservative views in which âextremism in defense of liberty [was] no viceâ and that attacked the realpolitik advocated by the likes of Kissinger and Scowcroft.
Underlying these battles was a debate over the nature of U.S. leadership, and whether Washington weakens that leadership by seeking agreement and cooperation with the international community that the United States helped construct. The question is whether the next four years will see a continued ebb and flow between these opposing viewpoints or whether we really have entered a new era in which the nature of the threats we face warrants the approaches that the transformationalists propose. Will the war on terrorism be supplanted by other economic or political issues that dictate new priorities? Will their policies start to bear fruit? As these answers are revealed, so too will be the answer as to whether the rifts within the Republican foreign-policy establishment represent momentary tremors or transformative tectonic shifts within the party that now controls the committee in charge of running the world.
So many questions. So much paranoia. But some damn good gossip.
#3
Oh and one last point - the author seems so deeply astounded and confused that Bush II isn't a puppet on a string of his daddy's advisors. He works hard to see that as something sinister, but some of us might just consider that to mean that, you know, times change and Bush II has adapted. But hey...maybe that's just me.
A federal judge ordered the Bush administration Monday to either charge terrorism suspect Jose Padilla with a crime or release him after more than 2 1/2 years in custody.
U.S. District Judge Henry Floyd in Spartanburg, S.C., said the government can not hold Padilla indefinitely as an "enemy combatant," a designation President Bush gave him in 2002. The government contends Padilla was planning an attack with a "dirty bomb" radiological device.
"The court finds that the president has no power, neither express nor implied, neither constitutional nor statutory, to hold petitioner as an enemy combatant," Floyd wrote in a 23-page opinion that was a stern rebuke to the government. Floyd, appointed by Bush in 2003, gave the administration 45 days to take action.
"We think that this is a wonderful decision," said Padilla's attorney, Andy Patel, as Padilla waited on another line. "It is one of those moments that all Americans should be proud of."
Justice Department (news - web sites) spokesman John Nowacki said the government will appeal the decision.
Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, called Floyd's order a significant blow to the administration. "It's a genuine limitation on the president's belief that he can do what he wants in the war on terror," said Ratner, whose group represents scores of detainees at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The administration has said Padilla, a former Chicago gang member, sought to blow up hotels and apartment buildings in the United States in addition to planning an attack with a "dirty bomb" radiological device.
Padilla was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in 2002 after returning from Pakistan. The federal government has said he received weapons and explosives training from members of al-Qaida.
Deputy Attorney General James Comey last year used a news conference to detail claims against Padilla. Comey asserted that if Padilla had been handled by the usual criminal justice system, he could have stayed silent and "would likely have ended up a free man."
During court arguments last month, his attorneys challenged the government to prove its case or release Padilla.
"If everything you say about Jose Padilla is true, prove it," said Denyse Williams, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites) in South Carolina, which has filed a brief in support of Padilla's attorneys. "Everybody says the war on terror could last a lifetime. If they can do it to him, they can do it to others."
David Salmons from the U.S. Solicitor General's Office countered at the time that the president has the right to detain any enemy combatant while the United States is fighting al-Qaida. But he added there's no risk that the president may round up citizens and detain them.
Padilla, a Brooklyn-born convert to Islam, is one of only two U.S. citizens designated as enemy combatants. The second, Louisiana native Yaser Hamdi, was released in October after the Justice Department said he no longer posed a threat to the United States and no longer had any intelligence value. Hamdi, who was captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan (news - web sites) in 2001, gave up his American citizenship and returned to his family in Saudi Arabia as a condition of his release.
Federal courts previously ordered Padilla's release unless the government was prepared to charge him with a crime. But the Supreme Court sidestepped the case in June when it ruled that Padilla should have pursued his appeal in federal court in South Carolina because he is being held at a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C., rather than in New York. Padilla's lawyers then refiled the case in South Carolina.
#2
The "White House" isn't holding anyone it's the Justice Department and the U.S. Military. Lets be accurate. I doubt this POS is going to walk any time soon.
#3
The first time a terrorist attack is successful, post 9/11, on US homeland, we're gonna have a googled list of targets for "discussion", starting with Denyse and her ACLU friends, the judge, CAIR, et al...
Santa's not the only one making lists
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2005 22:35 Comments ||
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SINGAPORE - Armed escorts from the Singapore Navy will guard selected merchant ships and cruise liners plying the city-state's busy waters as part of efforts to prevent terrorism, the defence ministry said on Monday. The Accompanying Sea Security Teams (ASSeT) scheme will be launched sometime in March, a ministry spokesperson said.
The Straits Times newspaper reported Monday that up to eight navy personnel capable of running a commercial vessel in an emergency will board selected ships which might be threatened because of their cargo. The team will include a seaman, an engineering specialist and a radiooperator. They will don bullet-proof vests and carry weapons like carbines and pistols but have no powers of arrest, which will rest with the Police Coast Guard. "We don't call them sea marshals, which is more aggressive," Colonel Chng Teow Hiang, commander of the navy's coastal command, told the daily.
"This is a team giving you added security while transiting, not going on board to search and turn tables," he said.
Wonder if they'll have the power to hang pirates on a yardarm.
The report noted that about 1,000 vessels transit the Singapore Strait daily, ranging from massive tankers and container ships to ferries and barter trading boats linking Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
According to a study published by Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, the global maritime industry is vulnerable to a major terrorist attack. Singapore is one of the world's busiest port cities. Terrorists could use ships to transport operatives, equipment or weapons, raise money through legal or illicit trade, and attack larger vessels like the USS Cole, which was hit in Yemen's Aden harbor in October 2000, it said. Oil and chemical tankers could be rigged as floating bombs, the report said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Use some of that Air Force to provide regular and thorough air patrols over the shipping lanes. Give all ships instructions to come up on Guard when in trouble. Then use those air assets to ace the bandits. Make yourselves a rep for action. Don't let the Indos and Malays play their impotent airspace sovereignty games - they're not doing the job that needs doing.
SYRIA agreed today to hand back to Jordan a huge tract of land along their border, heralding a new era in ties with Amman after disagreements over the Middle East peace process and US policy in Iraq.
Syrian Prime Minister Naji al Otari said the deal reconfirmed an internationally recognised border drawn in 1931.
"This demarcation of borders is a step forward to the cooperation we started several years back," Mr Otari said.
Under the accord, agreed after several top-level security meetings over the last six months, Syria will remove fences and posts on land it had gained in decades of creeping incursions into Jordan.
Syria and Jordan, both neighbours of Iraq, have long been at odds over the aims of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the Middle East peace process.
Jordan, a key US ally which covertly supported the invasion, has in recent months joined Washington in piling pressure on Damascus to be more supportive of the postwar political process in Iraq.
Syria opposed the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and Washington has accused it of failing to stop infiltration and weapons-smuggling into Iraq. Syria denies the accusations.
Today's agreement was the first attempt to settle the issue since talks between Jordan's late King Hussein and late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad stalled after the 1991 Gulf War.
"We have now signed the accord, and I believe ending this issue will rebuild trust and cooperation," Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan said after signing the accord with his Jordanian counterpart, Samir Habashneh.
Syria's incursions over the years stretched as far as 3km in some places along the 375km border, mostly at the eastern fringe near the Iraqi frontier.
"There is a stretch of land estimated at 125sq km that has been returned back to Jordan. There is no negative repercussions in this deal," Mr Habashneh said. "Both sides regained their historic rights.
Jordan said it hoped a security deal also signed today would seal the Syrian-Jordanian border amid concerns Syrian militants were assisting Jordanian radicals in alleged plots to attack Jordanian and US targets in the kingdom.
"We are talking about regional security issues and our neighbour Syria will now work with us to prevent terrorism and organised crime," Mr Habashneh said.
ROME - Damascus is "essential to the peace process" in the Middle East and Iraq as well as in the fight against terrorism, Syrian President Bashar al Assad said in an interview published here Monday, rejecting Washington's "rhetoric" against his country.
"We are essential to the peace process, for Iraq. You will see, maybe one day the Americans will knock on our door," Assad told the Italian daily La Repubblica.
"Knock, kick in, blow down....."
"Europe knows that our first interest is stability, and it knows that we know how to fight terrorism," Assad said.
Again rejecting accusations that Damascus had a hand in the killing two weeks ago of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, he said: "If we really killed Hariri, that would be political suicide for us. Beyond ethical and human principles, the question is, who benefits from the crime? Certainly not Syria."
Assad told La Repubblica that Washington's rhetoric against Damascus is reminiscent of the saber-rattling that preceded the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
He noticed, did he?
"The language of the White House leads one to predict a campaign like that that preceded the conflict against Saddam," he said. "Will we be the next target of Israel and the White House? All of this has been written for a long time. Iraq was the first phase, then it will be Iran's and Syria's turn. But it's not a given that things will go that way."
True, it looks like you've moved into first place
The Syrian leader said he had offered to help the United States in the fight against terrorism, adding: "Sooner or later it will realize that we are the key to the solution."
Truer words were never spoken....
Washington accuses Syria of backing terrorist groups operating in Iraq and Israel and of destabilizing Lebanon by its military presence there. Assad said Syria would withdraw its troops, which are in Lebanon under a bilateral accord, "when there is stable peace there."
Keeping troops in Lebanon "is not in the interests" of Damascus, he said. "It has a high price not just in economic terms but also political. But what is in play is very important: Lebanon's stability and that of our borders. "Technically, we can withdraw our troops before the end of the year. Strategically, that can take place only if we obtain serious guarantees - in other words, peace," he said.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/28/2005 12:47:10 PM ||
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Assad's doubletalk does not work any more. There have been a steady procession of US officials to Damascus, including a US president, I believe, since the Clinton administration.
Now is the time to act, Assad. You can withdraw your troops before the end of the year. I know you can do it! Otherwise, the screws will keep tightening, gahhrohnteed.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/28/2005 13:17 Comments ||
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#2
It's a small country and "home" is right next door. What's keeping them from leaving this week? Have to dig up those Saddam-era WMDs?
Posted by: Tom ||
02/28/2005 13:26 Comments ||
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#3
"Assad predicts US onslaught on Syria" - Fred, we need a crystal ball graphic to emphasize the tremendous demonstration of ESP we're seeing here! :)
#4
In other news, Assad has agreed preemptively to have himself pulled out of a small hole in the ground and checked for head lice.
Posted by: Matt ||
02/28/2005 13:51 Comments ||
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#5
Looks like he's been on this morning's Dictator Self Preservation Society's conference call with Fidel, Hugo and Kimmie and they filled him in on the plan...
#7
Actually, he is right. The US started Democracy in Afganistan and Iraq has spread to Lebanon. The Syrian troops will be taking the seeds of it back to Syria as information. No matter how repressive a government, the news will leak out to the people that they don't have to take Ass-wipe's crap anymore and can stage their own protests and revolts. All we gotta do is sit back and let the democracy spread like wildfire. Maybe add a couple of logs to the fire here and there.... ;)
KUWAIT CITY, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- A Kuwaiti journalist says he has evidence incriminating Lebanese and Syrian intelligence in the slaying of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Ahmed Jarallah, editor in chief of Kuwaiti daily newspaper As-Siyassa, was quoted Monday in the Saudi newspaper al-Yom as saying that he has "special evidence and information" as to the roles played by Syrian intelligence chief Asaf Shawkat, Syrian state security head Bahjat Sleiman and Lebanese general security chief Jamil Sayyed in planning Hariri's Feb. 14 assassination in a Beirut bombing.
"The evidence and information I have will be submitted to the court to constitute defense material for me," Jarallah said. Sayyed has filed a lawsuit against Jarallah with the Kuwaiti judiciary on charges of circulating lies about him and tarnishing his reputation.
Jarallah better hire some reliable car starters.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/28/2005 10:29:10 AM ||
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reliable remote car starters.... and food tasters...and a different route to work every day...and...
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2005 11:44 Comments ||
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Chouf MP Walid Jumblatt called for dialogue with Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah Sunday, saying the head of the resistance party was the only person deserving of dialogue.
Now he's getting down to the real internal Lebanese nitty-gritty...
Jumblatt, who said he was against the disarmament of Hizbullah, asked: "Will Abu Hadi [Nasrallah] join us in the path for democratic and free national independence? Let there be a dialogue and I think he [Nasrallah] alone deserves dialogue."
"We don't want to deal with the pipsqueaks and second-stringers..."
Speaking Sunday to visiting delegations from throughout the country, Jumblatt urged opposition demonstrators to be disciplined Monday, to raise Lebanese flags and sing the Lebanese anthem. "This way, with peaceful, democratic and civilized struggle, we will overcome hatred and be victorious," he said. "Their [the loyalists] only weapon is hatred while ours is peacefulness."
Uhhh... Wally? They've also got those explosives. And the automatic weapons...
Loyalists had been planning to stage a pro-Syrian demonstration in Beirut to counterbalance a massive opposition sit-in around Parliament that will demand the Prime Minister's resignation, but it was called off late Sunday. As to Monday's parliamentary vote of confidence, Jumblatt said he knew that the authorities would support confidence in the government despite the lack of the people's confidence, adding that the struggle for freedom is a long one requiring patience. Jumblatt said the Arab world was heading faster and faster toward freedom, giving the examples of the free elections in Iraq, Palestine, municipal elections in Saudi Arabia and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's initiative to review and amend the election law, paving the way for the possibility of multi-candidate polls in September.
You're welcome.
"The Arab world is gradually changing," he said, "Why do they want to suppress our will?"
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2005 10:14:21 PM ||
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Why do they want to suppress our will?"
why don't you ask the reporters at the BBC and NYT. They seem to not only understand, but support the answer to that mystery.
#3
Don't get to close to him when you "dialogue", Wally. Got a feeling there's a Hellfire with "Nasrallah" painted on the side of it around there someplace. It could make a mess of that nice suit you're wearing there...
Thousands of demonstrators shouting "Syria Out!" rallied in downtown Beirut late on Sunday after opposition movements vowed to defy a ban on public demonstrations. Youngsters carrying the Lebanese flag were converging on Martyrs' Square, where the opposition has called for a peaceful sit-in on Monday in defiance of the ban, which comes into force at 0300 GMT. "We are going to hand out blankets, we are staying here," one of the demonstrators said by loudspeaker.
Orange revolution is here...
The colors are Red and White this time.
Hundreds of heavily armed troops were deploying with jeeps and trucks at all the main crossroads leading to the square. And hundreds of protesters stopped from getting to the square blocked nearby crossings, some of them shouting "we don't want any other army than the Lebanese army!" Interior Minister Sulaiman Franjieh earlier on Sunday outlawed all public demonstrations, on the eve of rival mass rallies called by the opposition and pro-government parties sympathetic to Syria.
... or it might be Tienanmen...
The minister said the ban came "due to the current circumstances, in the supreme national interest and with a view to the requirements of protecting civil peace. All security forces are asked to take all necessary measures to protect security and order, and to ban demonstrations and gatherings on Monday." Opposition sit-ins have been held nightly for the 12 days since the assassination of five-time prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri. Leaders of the opposition maintained their call for Monday's sit-in after the government announced the ban. "Tomorrow residents of Beirut and those coming to it from across Lebanon will hold a sit-in in Martyrs' Square," they said in a statement. Leading opposition figure Elias Att Allah said: "The ban does not concern us, we are only holding a peaceful sit-in which will be maintained. Let them arrest us."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Fingers crossed....
I actually remember when Beirut was the "Paris of the East" (meant as a compliment). Get rid of the islamist/terrorist/baathist bastards and they could be again.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/28/2005 0:13 Comments ||
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#3
No Tiennamen; I think that's more than even the Syrians could stomach. The Lebanese government fell, instead.
Posted by: Brian H ||
02/28/2005 20:04 Comments ||
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#4
careful - Hezbollah is well-armed, loyal to Iran, not Lebanon, and willing to do their dirty work. They know the Lebanese nationalists will be coming for them next. I'd keep an eye on any movements from the south and Bekaa...
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2005 20:16 Comments ||
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DUBAI — Syrian intelligence sent death threats to Al Arabiya television after it aired an interview with UN chief Kofi Annan in which he urged Syria to withdraw from Lebanon by April, a source at the station said yesterday. "There were death threats against Arabiya's staff in Beirut by the Syrians," the source said, referring to Syrian intelligence. Syrian officials were not immediately available to comment.
Is a comment really necessary?
The Dubai-based Arabic station said the threats accompanied criticism of the channel in the Syrian state-run daily Tishreen, which it described as lies aimed at smearing its image. "Al Arabiya expresses its extreme concern over Tishreen newspaper's method in accusing the television of treachery," the station said in a statement. Al Arabiya said it had aired the interview with Annan in full and without interpretation or exaggeration. In it, UN Secretary-General Annan urged Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon by April, when he is due to present a report on the situation to the Security Council.
In a front-page article on Saturday, Tishreen accused Al Arabiya of ignoring later remarks by a UN spokesman who stressed Annan had not been setting a deadline. "This incident along with many other incidents raise dozens of questions about the mission of this station and the bodies that run and finance it," Tishreen said about the majority Saudi-owned station, which is seen by Arab radicals as pro-Western.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Am I the only one around here who thinks Boy Assad looks one hell of a lot like Al Bundy?!?
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
02/28/2005 2:11 Comments ||
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A senior U.S. State Department official said Lebanon's government is insulting its people by warning of a return to "civil war" violence during anti-Syria and government demonstrations. U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern affairs, David Satterfield who arrived in Beirut at the weekend, said: "Rhetoric that threatens violence and instability as a consequence of Lebanon achieving its own sovereignty or independence ought to be unacceptable. They are insulting to the people of Lebanon."
Since the assassination of former Premier Hariri, a number of government officials, most notably Prime Minster Omar Karami, have warned that anti government and Syrian demonstrations and today's general strike run the risk of reigniting the kind of violence that enveloped Lebanon during the civil war. Satterfield also defended Washington from government criticism that it was interfering in Lebanese and Syrian internal affairs. He said: "It is not an intervention or an interference for the world to talk of the need for Lebanese to live in freedom."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
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A member of the Majlis Presiding Board, Hamid Reza Hajbabaei, said on Saturday that French reporters should be expelled from Iran in response to France's decision to ban the Iranian satellite television network Sahar-1 from broadcasting in that country.
That would be al-Manar, better known as Hezbollah TV.
The decision by the French government to cut transmissions of Sahar-1 to France shows just how the country is really committed to freedom of speech, Hajbabaei told Iran's Mehr News Agency. The MP added that countries like France which claim to be the champions of freedom and democracy and accuse Iran of not observing democracy prevent broadcasts of an Iranian TV station that seeks to demonstrate the realities. He went on to say that the parliamentarians are extremely sensitive about issues like this and have been pursuing the case from several days ago. The Majlis is busy making a decision against France's recent move, Hajbabaei said, adding that everyone should know that the Iranian nation will never remain reticent toward those who try to prevent them from achieving what is their obvious right.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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By relying on the most up-to-date technology, Iran has laid the foundations for a power that enables it to defend itself rapidly and forcefully, even in the most difficult situations, Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani was qouted as saying by Iran's Mehr News Agency on Saturday. "Production based on needs and the most up-to-date technology is an indication of a very clever and dynamic move to develop the country's defense industry," Shamkhani told a gathering of managers of the Aerospace Industry Organization. The U.S. president's acknowledgment that Iran is not Iraq is a strong indication that the culture of Ashura is ingrained in the minds of the Iranian people and that the U.S. cannot attack this country, the defense minister observed.
"At least as far as we know."
The enemies are developing their military might in different ways, he said, noting, "We should also not think that there any limitations to increasing our defense might." He also stated that missile technology is the most important part of Iran's military deterrent.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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"...and that the U.S. cannot attack this country, the defense minister observed."
You know, given their reaction to whatever the hell happened last week when they thought they were getting whacked, I'd love to sneak up behind this clown with a ground burst simulator...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/28/2005 0:54 Comments ||
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#2
âProduction based on needs and the most up-to-date technology is an indication of a very clever and dynamic move to develop the countryâs defense industry...â
Verrrrryy clever and dynamic move. Yessuh! You're on to something, Emily. Someone in Iran has been taking correspondence courses on KCNA literary propaganda techniques.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/28/2005 10:15 Comments ||
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#3
"By relying on the most up-to-date technology..."
That would be a human wave attack ordered by cellphone.
Posted by: Matt ||
02/28/2005 10:35 Comments ||
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#4
They can order up an airforce online & cheap too!
You see, in this "Catalog for the Iranian Air Force" there are many choices to increase the air power. No more troublesome extra expense caused by shooting down of ones own craft that strays too close to a Nuclear Power Plant U-235 and plutonium production Facility. And if they are in a hurry they need only search on-line. For example, they can look at do-it-yourself pages on the web for design suggestions!
As Parliament convenes Monday to discuss former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination and most likely renews its confidence in the government, eyes are turned to Hizbullah, which has become the center of political polarization between the opposition and loyalists. For the first time since its participation in Parliament in 1992, Hizbullah is expected to vote for the government, this time for purely "Syrian" reasons that have nothing to do with the Cabinet itself.
Both Syria and Lebanon are owned by Iran, two separate arrows in the same quiver. Of course they're going to vote the interests of their masters.
The party, which over a decade has either abstained or voted against the successive governments, will make a different choice Monday, amid a political battle whose real slogan is not the continuation of Prime Minister Omar Karami's government, but the persistence of Syria's hegemony over the country. In such a battle, none of Syria's allies can afford any faux pas, which could be extremely costly for those who still bet on Damascus' influence here.
I think it's too early in the process for them to be sure the Syrians are going to lose the fight. Only when it's inescapable will they join the opposition, and then it'll be to offer their "good offices" to make any divestment as advantageous as possible.
One of the reasons why the party never vested its trust in successive Cabinets formed since 1992 - including the current one upon its formation last November - is possibly related to the fact that it was never part of the government. But in previous cases, Hizbullah could afford demarking itself from the rest of the loyalist camp, knowing they clearly had the upper hand in Parliament, and that there were no chances they could be defeated. This time, however, the situation is different. With an important number of former loyalists joining the opposition's ranks, the margin of the loyalists' supremacy has been significantly trimmed: Subsequently, the votes of Hizbullah's 12 MPs will constitute a determinant factor in such a tight political battle. The suspense over Hizbullah's stand has persisted until the last moment, fueled by a variety of factors, including the fact that Hizbullah avoided taking a clear stand on Karami's government.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Former President Amin Gemayel rejected attempts aimed at transforming the Lebanese-Syrian conflict over sovereignty, independence and complete withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon into a non-existent internal one between the Lebanese themselves. Gemayel's comments came during a news conference in his Sin-al-Fil residence Saturday where he called upon all Lebanese - and especially the youth - to join what he described as the peaceful, democratic and political revolution. "We refuse to transform our dispute with Syria ... into a Lebanese-Lebanese one that no longer exists. Lebanese people have lately proved their strong will and ability to coexist peacefully and freely," he added. "The assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri represented a meeting point between Muslims and Christians on independence," said Gemayel.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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From our own Dan Darling's former boss, Michael Ledeen, in the National Review. Severely edited for the stuff we didn't know.
Bit by bit, we are getting a fuller picture of our enemies on the ground in the Middle East, and the fanciful legend of a bunch of religiously inspired fanatics is eroding.
The (televised) confessions have shown that some criminals have strong connections with the Syrian authorities from where they get instructions and support. The interesting part of the show was the interrogation with Khalidah Jasim the sister of Khalid Zakiyah who's one of the most wanted criminals in Mosul who got arrested a while ago in Tikrit. She stated that she was in her 2nd year in college studying psychiatry and that she was a member of a Palestinian military organization that was led by George Habash.
Khalidah Jasim had succeeded her brother at the head of a terror gang, which is the first clue that we are not dealing with an Islamist organization (anyone who thinks that bin Laden or Zarqawi would tolerate a lady in charge had better go back and repeat Terrorism 101). And she says that, quite explicitly, when she tells us that the organization was led by Habash, a Greek Orthodox Palestinian who created the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the infamous PFLP. The PFLP is a Marxist-Leninist organization, not a jihadist band.
So some of the Mosul terrorists are Marxists, not Sunnis, not Baathists, and, at least at the leadership level, not even Iraqis. They are foreign, Christian Marxist killers. And for those who like to keep track of such things, notice that Habash was a medical doctor, and that Khalidah Jasim was studying psychiatry (as Walter Laqueur noted many years ago, medical doctors are oddly prevalent at the highest levels of terrorist groups).
Iraq the Model continues:
She confessed that she has taken her brother's place in leading the terror group and she's specialized in preparing TNT used in roadside bombs. She also didn't deny one of the group members statements that she offered to sleep with him twice in order to persuade him to plant land mines and perform attacks against Iraqi and American troops.
So much for the religious fanaticism of the terrorists. This is a sex-for-murder deal: You do some killing, I give you my body. For these thugs, there is no need to wait for the 72 nubile babes in paradise; Khalidah is available in the here and now. And you don't have to martyr yourself either; just plant some land mines and send your enemies to their graves.
Iraq the Model doesn't spell it out, but the Syrian connection is obvious to anyone who follows the terror network. Habash lived (and may still live) in Damascus, where he received respectful treatment from the Assad family.
All of which brings us back to the basic sermon: We are engaged in a regional war against a terror network that cannot be reduced to a simple, ethnic or religious, element. The network is bound together by a common hatred of us and our friends and allies, not by a single religious fanaticism, and the terrorists come in all shapes and descriptions. Their effectiveness is largely due to support from the terror masters in foreign countries, and we cannot win the battle of Iraq without destroying the terror masters in Tehran, Damascus, and Riyadh.
Lots of positive economic news. Just keep scrolling down. And donât forget to check the right sidebar for links to Chrenkoffâs other Good News posts -- from Afghanistan, the Islamic world, and Chrenkoffâs Euro news round-up. Enjoy!
#3
The tragedy of this good news is that the MSM has not reported it. The good news of the good news is that others are, and the MSM is in decline.
The bottom line is that Iraq, despite terrorists attempts to derail the self-governing process, is moving forward. There are serious issues ahead, but there is some optimism.
Now we can at least dream optimistically. Syria is on the defensive. Hopefully, momentum will build and the thugocracy will start to crumble. Then Syria ceases to become a base and staging area for Hizb'Allah, which is fast becoming the main enemy of the Paleo/Israeli peace process. Whistful thinking becomes dreams, dreams become possibilities, possibilities become achievable goals. Who knows? The whole thing could blow up into the biggest pile of sh*t ever seen, but now there are possibilities, wonderful possibilities for people in the ME. This thing could grow like compound interest!
[/optomistic rant]
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/28/2005 23:12 Comments ||
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Student Arrested For Terroristic Threatening Says Incident A Misunderstanding
A George Rogers Clark High School junior arrested Tuesday for making terrorist threats told LEX 18 News Thursday that the "writings" that got him arrested are being taken out of context.
Winchester police say William Poole, 18, was taken into custody Tuesday morning. Investigators say they discovered materials at Poole's home that outline possible acts of violence aimed at students, teachers, and police.
Poole told LEX 18 that the whole incident is a big misunderstanding. He claims that what his grandparents found in his journal and turned into police was a short story he wrote for English class.
"My story is based on fiction," said Poole, who faces a second-degree felony terrorist threatening charge. "It's a fake story. I made it up. I've been working on one of my short stories, (and) the short story they found was about zombies. Yes, it did say a high school. It was about a high school over ran by zombies." NEA teachers? Redneck cops? Mr. Poole is also a bit fuzzy on the tense thing ("over ran by zombies"), but his heart is in the right place.
Even so, police say the nature of the story makes it a felony. "Anytime you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function it's a felony in the state of Kentucky," said Winchester Police detective Steven Caudill. My newest story involves a terrorist attack on an academic research facility. Good thing it's not in Kentucky.
Poole disputes that he was threatening anyone.
"It didn't mention nobody who lives in Clark County, didn't mention (George Rogers Clark High School), didn't mention no principal or cops, nothing," Hmmmm, sounds like maybe, FICTION, to me.said Poole. "Half the people at high school know me. They know I'm not that stupid, that crazy." Yes, but how stupid and how crazy are the yokel authorities?
On Thursday, a judge raised Poole's bond from one to five thousand dollars after prosecutors requested it, citing the seriousness of the charge.
Poole is being held at the Clark County Detention Center.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy ||
02/28/2005 6:52:34 AM ||
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MY BRAIN IS GOING TO EXPLODE!!!! How stupid can people be??? The first on my list are his moron grandparents BECAUSE THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONES TO TURN HIM OVER TO THE POLICE!!!!!!
Clark County is not far from where I live.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
02/28/2005 6:56 Comments ||
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#2
Well he might get some help from a lawyer that knows about the First Amendment. They might be kind of rare down in Kentucky. When he gets out he may be tried for homicide when he kills his stupid grand parents!
#3
Jame Retief: They don't have many terrorist threats in Kenutcky, so I guess they over-reacted on this. No need to have a "meltdown". If it had been the FBI arresting him, then you could have a "meltdown".
Posted by: Charles ||
02/28/2005 7:05 Comments ||
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#4
I called the Clark County Detention Center this morning (about 5 minutes ago) to see if I could pay the kid's bail. Fortunately, someone has already bailed him.
#5
Any actual terrorists in that benighted part of the world must be laughing their asses off. It's not impossible that there are some, the weird zombie-realm of Kucinichistan is just across the Ohio River.
#7
AC, Kucinichistan is the north end of Ohio, along Lake Erie up by Cleveland. Across from Kentucky is where Jerry Springer hails from, the part of the state that re-elected Bush. Lexington, KY is bluegrass horse country, where the Derby is held. And no, the local police don't have enough to do -- it's the other end of the state where the oxycontin pushers make their money.
But I'm glad the boy isn't languishing in jail while he waits for the case to be dismissed on the grounds of stupidity. I imagine he's never been his grandparents' favorite.
#8
I imagine he's never been his grandparents' favorite.
Probably worried about those weird stories he's always writing.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/28/2005 8:22 Comments ||
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#9
A very learned Literature instructor once responded to my interest in Robert Heinlein by telling me that I would out-grow science fiction. That was in 1959 and it hasn't happened yet.
... Lexington, KY is bluegrass horse country, where the Derby is held...
So sorry but the Derby is held in Louisville KY, 70 or so miles away. FWIW Lexington= coal money and Louisville= whiskey money
Posted by: Dorf ||
02/28/2005 9:03 Comments ||
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#11
mmmmmm..... whiskey
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2005 9:51 Comments ||
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#12
It was about a high school over ran by zombies.
"Anytime you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function itâs a felony in the state of Kentucky," said Winchester Police detective Steven Caudill.
#13
"It didnât mention nobody who lives in Clark County, didnât mention (George Rogers Clark High School), didnât mention no principal or cops, nothing," said Poole.
Don't they teach English at George Rogers HS?
This kid needs all the practice he can get.
#14
Whoops! Thanks for correcting my mistake, Dorf. :-) Both cities begin with L, and I visited them both on the same day many years ago, so I managed to thoroughly confuse myself. At any rate, Lexington is at the moneyed end of the state, not the 'hollers' end.
It strikes me that the reporter may have "livened up" the language a bit. It certainly wouldn't have hurt the story to clean up bad grammar on the kid's part, so leaving it "rustic" seems to me to be a purposeful insult.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/28/2005 12:07 Comments ||
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#16
Don't they teach English at George Rogers HS?
It strikes me that the reporter may have "livened up" the language a bit. It certainly wouldn't have hurt the story to clean up bad grammar on the kid's part, so leaving it "rustic" seems to me to be a purposeful insult.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/28/2005 12:08 Comments ||
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#17
"judge raised Pooleâs bond from one to five thousand dollars after prosecutors requested it, citing the seriousness of the charge."
This is INSANE! The seriousness of the charge? Bail is about the risk of flight, the risk of the individual carrying out furhter crimes, and the risk to the community.
Raising the bail because some yahoo prosecuter says "its serious" is just a lame attempt of the prosecution to jail the kid and pressure him to make a deal.
There is NO JUSTICE in this sort of thing and the prosecuter should be ashamed of such gross misconduct and abridgemnet of freedoms when they are only tryign to cover their asses for a horrid mistake in prosecuting this kid to begin with.
I hope the kid gets to sue the prosecution and city/cunty and recover ALL the legal expenses this is going to cost him, plus a tidy sum for defamation.
Posted by: Matt ||
02/28/2005 14:02 Comments ||
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#19
I am hoping this is a Democrat persecutor Prosecutor. If I find out he is a Republican he needs to be tossed out of the party. Your tax money at work. Same goes for teh sheriff and the judge in this case. Screw um. They don't need to be in elective office.
#22
"judge raised Pooleâs bond from one to five thousand dollars after prosecutors requested it, citing the seriousness of the charge."
This is INSANE! The seriousness of the charge? Bail is about the risk of flight, the risk of the individual carrying out furhter crimes, and the risk to the community.
Raising the bail because some yahoo prosecuter says "its serious" is just a lame attempt of the prosecution to jail the kid and pressure him to make a deal.
There is NO JUSTICE in this sort of thing and the prosecuter should be ashamed of such gross misconduct and abridgemnet of freedoms when they are only tryign to cover their asses for a horrid mistake in prosecuting this kid to begin with.
I hope the kid gets to sue the prosecution and city/cunty and recover ALL the legal expenses this is going to cost him, plus a tidy sum for defamation.
#24
"judge raised Pooleâs bond from one to five thousand dollars after prosecutors requested it, citing the seriousness of the charge."
This is INSANE! The seriousness of the charge? Bail is about the risk of flight, the risk of the individual carrying out furhter crimes, and the risk to the community.
Raising the bail because some yahoo prosecuter says "its serious" is just a lame attempt of the prosecution to jail the kid and pressure him to make a deal.
There is NO JUSTICE in this sort of thing and the prosecuter should be ashamed of such gross misconduct and abridgemnet of freedoms when they are only tryign to cover their asses for a horrid mistake in prosecuting this kid to begin with.
I hope the kid gets to sue the prosecution and city/cunty and recover ALL the legal expenses this is going to cost him, plus a tidy sum for defamation.
In a quiet corner of the English countryside, forensic experts have been helping Iraqis lay to rest the legacy of Saddam Hussein. Thirty-four Iraqi scientists and students have spent two weeks digging up 60 plastic skeletons to develop their forensic exhumation skills, in a mock mass grave training exercise, described as the first of its kind in the world. The site, near East Burton, Dorset, contained two mass graves resembling those found in Iraq. The expertise is needed for humanitarian work but may also uncover evidence required to bring Saddam to justice.
Wearing white paper overalls, the Iraqi men and women aged from their early 20s to their mid 70s, came from the fields of archaeology, anthropology, medicine, pathology, radiography and the police. None could be identified because of the risk to their lives from pro-Saddam insurgents. Among them was a husband and wife team of doctors who said they had volunteered because they wanted to help relatives of those who had died. "You cannot imagine what it is like for a mother sitting with her son having a meal at home. Someone takes him away and she never sees him again," said the husband.
"As soon as a grave is found people want to know if their son or daughter is dead. They rush in with a shovel and spoil everything." Such action made it difficult to identify bodies or gather evidence. Another member of the team said: "Our first aim is humanitarian. We would like to identify remains so relatives can be buried in a humane and suitable way." The Iraqi team worked in a marquee covering trenches 50ft long, 11ft wide and 8ft deep. Each trench contained 30 skeletons of adults, children and infants, in varying degrees of simulated decomposition. Some of the skeletons were blindfolded, and had ligatures on their wrists. Some were clothed and accompanied by everyday items such as wallets, ID cards, personal jewellery, and toys.
The Foreign Office is spending £1 million on the training. It asked the Inforce Foundation, a charity based in Bournemouth, which helps to investigate war crimes and genocide, to conduct the exercise. There are between 180 and 260 suspected mass graves in Iraq.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
02/28/2005 5:15:25 AM ||
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I'm thinking Pay-Per-View, Super ShowTrial - The Saddam Smackdown, Carla del Ponte on play-by-play to put us to sleep, Don King for wildly incongruous rationales for defense and prosecution tactics, Court TV color commentary, clearing mid 7 figures minimum... The residuals for a series translated to Arabic would rake in 3-4 times that much. This puppy has legs.
Saddam Hussein will be forced to sit in a Hannibal Lecter-style cage during his trial.
Top-secret photos of the Baghdad courtroom being built in readiness for the deposed Iraqi dictator's impending day of judgment are in The Sun today. The centrepiece will be the reinforced metal cage, similar to the one used to house cannibal Lecter — played by Sir Anthony Hopkins in 1991 movie Silence of the Lambs.
Specially vetted Iraqi workers are currently putting the finishing touches to the courtroom under the watchful eyes of US troops and British private security personnel.
It is being built inside one of the disgraced tyrant's palaces deep inside the Iraqi capital's Green Zone. A source told The Sun: "The security at the court is going to be immense. Saddam will be housed in an underground cell and will travel to and from the courtroom cage using an elevator. When he's in his cell he will be under 24-hour surveillance by security staff who will watch him from behind a toughened glass shield. The Americans and incoming Iraqi coalition government can't afford any slip-ups. By the time it's over, the courtroom will be the safest place in Iraq."
The source added: The palace where Saddam will face trial is amazing. It must be at least twice the size of Wembley stadium.
Most of the palace itself is in ruins but parts of it have been re-built to hold the trial. One huge room has been converted for Saddam's trial. It is split-level with a huge white metal cage situated in the middle. That is where Saddam will be held while the trial is taking place next year. Underneath is a series of secure elevators that will take him from his cell in the morning and back at night.
Millions of pounds have been spent ensuring security is tight as possible. American special forces have been instrumental in the building. Although most of the constructors are Iraqi civilians, the Americans are overseeing the work.
The courtroom itself looks fairly normal. There are huge benches for the Press although there doesn't seem to be any sort of public gallery as yet. It is due to be finished within the next two or three months. When the trial finally starts the area will be almost impossible to attack.
Brutal despot Saddam, 67, is set to face charges of war crimes and genocide.
The courtroom is one of two currently being built in the former Presidential palace, one of which will be used when Saddam's cronies go on trial in a few months.
One of the first to face justice will be Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as Chemical Ali. He is said to be the man responsible for a chemical attack on the Kurdish city of Halabjah which claimed the lives of 5,000 men, women and children.
Another to be tried in the spring will be Barzan al-Tikriti, Saddam's half-brother, who was once deputy head of the regime's secret police. He is accused of issuing an order to raze a Shi'ite village north of Baghdad and of multiple killings following a failed assassination attempt against Saddam in 1982.
The televised trials will begin with at least two of the top 12 government members held in US military custody.
But Saddam is not expected to be tried until well into 2006.
The hearings will be conducted before an Iraqi tribunal — and investigating judges are close to completing dossiers summarising the evidence. Prosecutors are expected to demand the death penalty for those found guilty of the most serious charges. Saddam is not expected to go on trial until the cases against his top associates are completed.
The former dictator, currently held in solitary confinement in Baghdad, has reportedly been meeting with lawyers appointed by his family. He is said to have ten Iraqi lawyers and as many as 25 foreign lawyers ready to represent him. Prosecutors expect Saddam to argue that his actions were covered by his immunity as head of state. Beast Saddam. Works for me. All this stageshow shit just to put a megamurderer to death, sigh, it merely serves to assuage the moral sensitivities of those who put pretense and image ahead of reality and fact. But hey, at least he didn't make it to Europe! There they'd slap his wrist and put him on TV alive.
Posted by: .com ||
02/28/2005 3:23:33 AM ||
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His tongue should be cut out and fed to him before the trial. This will insure his slience in the court room.
Talks between the Palestinian leadership and the main factions, which were due to have been held in Cairo this week, have been cancelled after the weekend suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, officials said Sunday. "There are many reasons, but one of them is the operation in Tel Aviv," Jibril Rajoub, a member of the national security council, said. "There has been a problem with Israel refusing to allow many delegations to travel to Egypt to take part in the dialogue. We need time to arrive at an agreement and reach a shared vision for a new program," he added.
Deputy Prime Minister Nabil Shaath confirmed that the meeting, scheduled to begin next Saturday, had been scrapped after the bombing claimed by Islamic Jihad. "The operation in Tel Aviv has made problems for us," he said. Rajoub had travelled to Cairo on Friday to prepare for the talks which had been expected to include leaders of groups such as Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine as well as Islamic Jihad.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who declared a cease-fire earlier this month, is trying to persuade all the factions to call a permanent end to their campaigns of anti-Israeli attacks. Abbas was severely embarrassed by Friday's night bombing, especially as all the factions are meant to be observing an informal "quiet period." Shaath also said that, like Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei, he had decided after the attack that he would not be able to attend a conference in London this week aimed at preparing the Palestinians for statehood.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would not tolerate attacks such as last Friday's suicide bombing in Israel and reaffirmed his commitment to finding peace. In an interview with Britain's Independent newspaper published on Monday, Abbas blamed an unnamed party for sabotaging peace efforts. "We believe peace is possible now and we are ready to negotiate with Israel to reach a true and lasting peace," Abbas said ahead of a meeting in London on Tuesday to discuss Palestinian reforms. "As for the suicide bombing last Friday, such actions will not be tolerated by us as they are against the Palestinian interests."
The last phrase is a true statement, but he really doesn't believe it.
He confirmed Israel had shared information with the Palestinian Authority in the hunt for the organisers of the Tel Aviv nightclub attack, which killed four Israelis and wounded dozens more. The Palestinian Authority has arrested three suspects. A senior Palestinian security source said over the weekend that initial investigations implicated Hizbollah. The Lebanese guerrilla group has also denied any role. Abbas has only referred to a "third party" he believes is opposed to his peacemaking with Israel. "There may be other parties who want to destabilise the situation," Abbas told the Independent.
When you start shooting the other parties yourselves we'll believe you're not 'tolerating' them anymore. And no, fingering them for the Israelis doesn't count.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
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I think the in-line commentary sez it all, lol!
Yea I believe it when they start making some grieving widows, orphans and mothers. Talk is cheap thats why Israel doesn't do a lot of it. Actions are much more concrete. So Abu Mazen when will we see some action?
Posted by: Charles ||
02/28/2005 7:11 Comments ||
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Abbas has only referred to a âthird partyâ he believes is opposed to his peacemaking with Israel. âThere may be other parties who want to destabilise the situation,â
the third party he's referring to is Syria, which he obviously lacks the wherewhithal to do anything about. Note the attack was claimed by Islamic Jihad officials in DAMASCUS and disowned by IJ in Gaza. Israel will, naturally, attempt to press (at least in public) Abbas to crackdown on IJ Gaza, while keeping the main focus on Syria. Right now Dhalan is still consolidating power on the ground, including some of the stuff weve seen and commented on already - taking local power from Moussa Arafat, etc. IM sure Dahlan wants to finish that before taking on IJ. And Im sure the Israelis now that, in intimate detail. Ergo most pressure on Abbas will be for public consumption only - real target for Israel is IJ -Damascus, and Syria generally.
This should also be seen in context of Syria apparent handing over of Iraqi insurgent leaders, and of growing protests in Beirut. NOT clear how much coordination between US, Israel, Iraqi govt, and Lebanese opposition, or agreement on goals. Syria will try to selectively make concessions, split the coalition against it. Also there may be splits within the Syrian govt - some may lash out (supporting a bombing in Tel Aviv) to make a peaceful resolution more difficult.
Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq dismissed on Sunday reports that top aides of its leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had been arrested, saying U.S.-led forces were trying to boost low morale, according to an Internet statement. "And who knows which aide was arrested and what lies they made up. This is a hopeless attempt on their part to raise morale," said the statement by Al Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in Iraq, posted on Islamist Websites. "We give our brothers the good news that our leaders are absolutely fine, thank God, and leading the ranks of the faithful in battle," it said. Iraq's government said on Friday it had captured Abu Qutaybah, a key lieutenant of Zarqawi -- the Jordanian militant who is Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq and has been behind some of the country's worst attacks.
This article starring:
ABU MUSAB AL ZARQAWI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
ABU QUTAIBAH
al-Qaeda in Iraq
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
And I mock al cuckooqaeda.
So I guess we're even.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/28/2005 0:15 Comments ||
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Too much time on their hands, and they can't find any babies or women to kill.
Iraqis wanting to contact Najaf's chief of police could be forgiven for not knowing who to call — a new man has been appointed to the job, but the old one refuses to go. A bitter feud over who is in charge of security in the sacred Shiite city highlights the challenges facing the national government, which is struggling to keep its security forces alive, let alone from squabbling with one another.
Najaf, relatively peaceful since US forces and Shiite militiamen reached a deal to end fighting there in August, has been billed as a success story. But the men who are meant to be imposing law and order are busy bickering in a country where police cannot afford to let their guard down. Police chief Ghalib Al-Jazairy insists he is still boss even after Baghdad's Interior Ministry appointed Brig. Abdel Shaheed Abdel Razzak to take over the post. To add to the confusion, Jazairy's rage is vented not at Razzak, but at Abdel Aal Al-Koufi, who he believes has been put in charge of overall security in Najaf by his rival, Najaf Governor Adnan Al-Zurfi. "Koufi took control of police stations and he detained four of my relatives who are senior police officers and he released the murderers suspected of killing my two sons," said Jazairy. "He was following the orders of the Najaf governor. He is not a policeman and he has no rank. He is just a supporter of the governor," he told Reuters.
Jazairy's sons, also police officers, were dragged off a bus and shot while protecting pilgrims traveling from Najaf to Kerbala during the Shiite Ashura ritual about 10 days ago. But the US-backed governor has accused Jazairy of stirring up problems. "Jazairy is trying to cause trouble and disobeying a decision of the ministry," said Zurfi.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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BAGHDAD: The capture of a half-brother of Saddam Hussein, ranked number 36 in list of most wanted officials issued by US authorities, leaves 10 people still at large from the original list of 55. Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, who worked as a presidential advisor to Saddam was listed as the six of diamonds on the US pack of cards. Those still at large are as follows, with their placing on the list and their "card".
* 6: Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri -- Saddam's former right-hand man. He has a bounty of 10 million dollars on his head. King of clubs.
* 7: Hani al-Latif Tilfah -- Special Security Organisation director. King of hearts.
A Pashtun nationalist party has formally proposed to the government to create two more provinces in the country by dividing Punjab and Balochistan provinces, officials said yesterday. The Pashtunkhawa Milli Awami Party (PMAP), which enjoys a large following among the Pashtuns living in Balochistan, made these proposals to Waseem Sajjad, leader of the House in Senate and chairman of the sub-committee on constitutional affairs, they said.
The PMAP, which is also a member of the committee on Balochistan, proposed the creation of Pashtunkhawa, Afghania, Balochistan, Sindh, Siraikistan and Punjab provinces. The PMAP has long been campaigning for more political rights for the Pashtuns living in Balochistan and demanding that the province be divided on ethnic lines. But Baloch nationalist parties bitterly oppose any such proposal. The PMAP leader Mahmood Khan Achakzai has proposed that the central government should only deal with defence, foreign affairs, finance and communications departments and give the rest to the provinces. The party has also demanded an end to the role of military and intelligence agencies in politics. The proposals were made to the committee, which will prepare its report on Balochistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
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ISLAMABAD — The Muttahida Majlise Amal (MMA) has criticised President Musharraf's statement that Pakistan would stay neutral if the United States attacked Iran.
Senior MMA leader Senator Prof Khurshid Ahmad said the people of Pakistan would consider US aggression against Iran as attack against Pakistan. "The president should tell the United States that Pakistan would review its relations with it in case of an attack on Iran, " Prof Khurshid said in a statement here.
"Khatami, we will defend you with their blood!"
President Musharraf was cited by a British TV channel as saying in an interview that he hoped President Bush would not attack Iran. He said Pakistan would stay neutral, if the US did so.
Prof Khurshid also expressed disappointment over what he termed as Gen Musharraf's lukewarm attitude on the proposed sale of US Patriot missile defence system to India. He said it was surprising that only a day earlier the Foreign Office spokesman had denounced the proposed sale. "While the nation is concerned about the role of the US in influencing the defence power equation in the subcontinent in India's favour, the very person who should have been most worried is not bothered about these threats," Prof Khurshid said adding that President Musharraf is instead lost in his so called pipe-dream of optimism.
Because Perv knows that if the Paks provoke the Indians, bad things will happen.
He said President Musharraf should have warned the US that Pakistan would be forced to review its relations with it after identifying these decisions as clear threats to its security. The MMA leader said the president was more concerned about his personal security and other political adventures.
Like most people in Pak-land.
He was neglecting these direct threats to Pakistan's security due to India-US-Israel collusion, he observed. "It seems that while America would not care for our vital interests, Gen Musharraf has become so committed to the US that he is now ready to even condone dire threats to national security. This also reflects the US design in the region," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
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A World Bank related study has said enrolment in Pakistani madrassahs, or Islamic schools, that critics believe are terrorist training grounds and widely popular, is exaggerated. The working paper published and sponsored this month by the World Bank criticises local and foreign media for inflating the threat posed by Islamic schools and their educating potential 'jihadists'. Madrassahs are often accused of cultivating religious radicalism and inciting militancy. Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally of the United States in its war on terror, has come under intense pressure to clamp down on these schools.
Pakistani officials have always maintained that very few madrassahs are involved in activities that promote militancy, but Musharraf urged his nation on Saturday to curb misuse of the schools. The study also expressed concern at the US 9/11 Commission report into the attacks on New york and Washington in 2001, which said 'millions of families' send their children to religious schools in Pakistan. "Striking, yet unsubstantiated claims such as 'millions of families ... send their children to religious schools' are of particular concern given the emphasis on identifying and curbing potential sources of extremism," it said. The report dispelled general perceptions that enrolment was on the rise saying: "We find no evidence of a dramatic increase in madrassah enrolment in recent years."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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In Waziristan alone, there are at least 1500 schools. Who funds the schools? The Saudis. Check out their old tyme Religion and see if modern critical thought and science is in the curriculum. Memorizing the Koran will really equip these young minds for the challenges of the modern world.
But since the World Bank sez that this threat is exaggerated, then the Madarassas are OK, I guess. Heh heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/28/2005 0:26 Comments ||
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The World Bank? Lol!
An Al Jizz article about a "World Bank related study" - WTF does that mean? Then reading the article we see:
The research, conducted by Jishu Das of the World Bank, Asim Ijaz Khawaja and Tristan Zajonc of Harvard University and Tahir Andrabil of Pomona College, said "madrassahs account for less than 1 percent of all enrolment in the country".
Oh yeah, I'm sold. And that <1% is insignificant -- that's why PakiWakiLand is actually NormalLand - it's everyone else that's overrun with insane factional Islamozoid killers. Good call, Al Jizz.
#3
far be it from me to underestimate the benefit of repeating the lie to bag new recruits - but there comes a point - when for the majority - it has the impact of a finger wagging old hag.
give 'em enough rope - as they say.
you're in a hole? Here's a shovel.
#5
The memorize the Koran in Arabic. They aren't tecahed Arabic before that. Memorizing something you don't understand is ten times harder => an enormous amount of time who should be put to better use is spent learning the damned thing
#6
Yes, of course the madrassah threat is exaggerated. That's why that nice young madrassah valedictorian from Virginia is on trial for plotting to assassinate President Bush. Not to mention all those other nice young madrassah graduates who found such good jobs working for Al Quaeda, Inc. and affiliates.
#7
there's so many employment opportunities for Madrassah graduates in disaffected Islamic immigrant communities with high unemployment, welfare bennies, and low social integration with the kufr's. Somebody has to direct the infection
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2005 21:56 Comments ||
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Again? They keep saying they're gonna do this, and somehow it always remains "one of these days."
What's the registration for, the school hot lunch program?
The government has decided to bring in legislation to register seminaries in order to regulate their activities throughout the country, sources told Daily Times on Sunday. They said the proposed law would be introduced soon. President Pervez Musharraf promulgated the Madrasa Registration and Regulation Ordinance in 2002, but it lapsed after three months. Sources said that under the present laws — the Society Act and Social Welfare Act — only the provincial governments are authorised to register seminaries. The ministry has proposed assigning only one ministry to seminaries. Presently three ministries, Interior, Education and Religious Affairs ministries, deal with matters related to seminaries, sources said. Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Ejaz-ul-Haq told Daily Times that he would take up the issue with the National Security Council today
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, the chief of the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), said on Sunday that the Baloch people were struggling for their rights as the Palestinians were but the government, following in the footsteps of Israel, called them terrorists. Talking to reporters at the house of Qazi Abdul Qadeer Khamosh, the vice president of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD), on the phone from Dera Bugti, Mr Bugti said that Balochis were not terrorists but the government was victimising them with state terrorism. "They are demanding jobs and the regime is giving them cantonments," Bugti added.
He said that Pakistan was set up as an Islamic republic but the rulers had turned into it into an un-Islamic and undemocratic state for their petty interests. He said that the Centre had been plundering Balochistan's resources for the last 56 years and it was kept backward. He alleged that successive governments had denied people their rights and trampled the provinces' autonomy and that was why East Pakistan was separated but the governments had not learnt a lesson from it. He said that Pakistan was facing a 1971-like situation at the hands of the present regime.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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...Lookin' at the pic and wodnering what he got that first place ribbon for - best apple pie?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/28/2005 0:49 Comments ||
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Actually, everything that Bugti said is spot on as far as I can tell. Read V.S. Naipaul's Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions Among the Converted Peoples if you want to learn more about the screwing of the Baloch by the central government of Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
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I've got to say this: There is a woman with balls. When she is standing up to angry people with loaded guns, you know she has some courage; unlike the feminists (ech!) in our country who seem to be outraged and hurt truthful arguments against their positions.
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.
Saudi Arabia will not make any contacts or relations with Israel until the Jewish state signs a comprehensive peace deal with Arabs, Foreign Minister Prince 
Doha: Muslim scholars are calling for new TV channels and newspapers in the West to counteract the anti-Islam slant.
China has dropped initial doubts and now agrees with the United States that North Korea has a uranium-based nuclear programme, a Japanese newspaper reported Sunday. The dispute over North Korea's nuclear weapons development erupted in 2002, when US officials accused Pyongyang of running a secret uranium-enrichment programme in violation of a previous agreement. China had long questioned the US accusation, saying Washington had not shown conclusive evidence that a uranium programme exists. 
Chouf MP 
Thousands of demonstrators shouting "Syria Out!" rallied in downtown Beirut late on Sunday after opposition movements vowed to defy a ban on public demonstrations. Youngsters carrying the Lebanese flag were converging on Martyrs' Square, where the opposition has called for a peaceful sit-in on Monday in defiance of the ban, which comes into force at 0300 GMT. "We are going to hand out blankets, we are staying here," one of the demonstrators said by loudspeaker. 
DUBAI — Syrian intelligence sent death threats to Al Arabiya television after it aired an interview with UN chief Kofi Annan in which he urged Syria to withdraw from Lebanon by April, a source at the station said yesterday. "There were death threats against Arabiya's staff in Beirut by the Syrians," the source said, referring to Syrian intelligence. Syrian officials were not immediately available to comment.
A senior U.S. State Department official said Lebanon's government is insulting its people by warning of a return to "civil war" violence during anti-Syria and government demonstrations. U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern affairs, 
By relying on the most up-to-date technology, Iran has laid the foundations for a power that enables it to defend itself rapidly and forcefully, even in the most difficult situations, Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani was qouted as saying by Iran's Mehr News Agency on Saturday. "Production based on needs and the most up-to-date technology is an indication of a very clever and dynamic move to develop the country's defense industry," Shamkhani told a gathering of managers of the Aerospace Industry Organization. The U.S. president's acknowledgment that Iran is not Iraq is a strong indication that the culture of Ashura is ingrained in the minds of the Iranian people and that the U.S. cannot attack this country, the defense minister observed.
As Parliament convenes Monday to discuss former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination and most likely renews its confidence in the government, eyes are turned to Hizbullah, which has become the center of political polarization between the opposition and loyalists. For the first time since its participation in Parliament in 1992, Hizbullah is expected to vote for the government, this time for purely "Syrian" reasons that have nothing to do with the Cabinet itself. 
Talks between the Palestinian leadership and the main factions, which were due to have been held in Cairo this week, have been cancelled after the weekend suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, officials said Sunday. "There are many reasons, but one of them is the operation in Tel Aviv," 
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would not tolerate attacks such as last Friday's suicide bombing in Israel and reaffirmed his commitment to finding peace. In an interview with Britain's Independent newspaper published on Monday, Abbas blamed an unnamed party for sabotaging peace efforts. "We believe peace is possible now and we are ready to negotiate with Israel to reach a true and lasting peace," Abbas said ahead of a meeting in London on Tuesday to discuss Palestinian reforms. "As for the suicide bombing last Friday, such actions will not be tolerated by us as they are against the Palestinian interests."
Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq dismissed on Sunday reports that top aides of its leader 
Iraqis wanting to contact Najaf's chief of police could be forgiven for not knowing who to call — a new man has been appointed to the job, but the old one refuses to go. A bitter feud over who is in charge of security in the sacred Shiite city highlights the challenges facing the national government, which is struggling to keep its security forces alive, let alone from squabbling with one another.
A Pashtun nationalist party has formally proposed to the government to create two more provinces in the country by dividing Punjab and Balochistan provinces, officials said yesterday. The 
A World Bank related study has said enrolment in Pakistani madrassahs, or Islamic schools, that critics believe are terrorist training grounds and widely popular, is exaggerated. The working paper published and sponsored this month by the World Bank criticises local and foreign media for inflating the threat posed by Islamic schools and their educating potential 'jihadists'. Madrassahs are often accused of cultivating religious radicalism and inciting militancy. Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally of the United States in its war on terror, has come under intense pressure to clamp down on these schools.
Nawab 
