President Hamid Karzai said that a few hundred Taleban fighters have reconciled with the government and suggested militant leader Mullah Omar should âget in touchâ if he wanted to talk peace. In the context of escalating violence, including suicide attacks, the remarks by Karzai in an interview Sunday with The Associated Press were seen as a softening of the governmentâs previous policy of not negotiating with top leaders of the hard-line militia. Despite the spike in bloodshed, the US-backed leader said the Talebanâs resistance was fading although he expected suicide attacks to continue in Afghanistan âfor a long time.â Karzai said a booming drug trade presented a greater threat to Afghanistan than terrorism and endangered its future.
Karzai, 48, who won a five-year term as the war-battered nationâs first democratically elected leader in 2004, invited all Afghans, âTaleban or non-Taleban,â to help rebuild the country, and said that includes Omar. âIf he wants to come, he should get in touch with us,â the president said, indicating he was open to the possibility of talks with the reclusive militia leader despite his most-wanted status. âBut I donât think he will come. He has so much on his hands against Afghanistan. We donât even know as to where he is hiding,â Karzai said. âHe has to first give us an account as to what heâs done.â
Karzai, who appeared upbeat during the interview at his heavily guarded palace in the snowy capital, Kabul, said hundreds of Taleban members who are ânot associated with terrorismâ already have participated in a government reconciliation program. He said the hunt for Omar and bin Laden, who are believed hiding in rugged mountains on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, would continue. âI am sure we will find them one day.â
The president said terrorism has been ârelegated to little more than a nuisanceâ when compared with the scourge of drugs facing the country. Afghanistan is the worldâs biggest producer of illegal narcotics, yielding enough opium to make about 450 tons of heroin last year - sparking warnings the country is fast becoming a ânarco-state.â The problem has criminalized the economy, tainted the countryâs image, hindered the development of strong government institutions and undermined young peopleâs lives, Karzai said. He claimed criminal gangs, including some from Europe, threaten to kill farmers if they donât cultivate poppies. âWe have reports of the mafia, from the rest of the world, coming and actively encouraging drugs in Afghanistan,â Karzai said. âThey are not only from Russia, they are in Europe, they are in Afghanistan, they are in the neighbors of Afghanistan, they are everywhere.â He said some senior Afghan officials were involved in the illegal trade, but he rejected criticism that he has not been tough enough in dealing with them. âWe have not been given any evidence so far against anyone,â Karzai said.
Separately, Karzai said NATO-led troops taking over security in southern Afghanistan must not use aggressive tactics, including air strikes or searches of peopleâs homes, without government permission. NATO is expanding its operations from the countryâs relatively stable north and west into the volatile south, where Taleban-led militants are active - a move that will allow the United States to reduce its troop presence in the region. âWe do not want bombing of our villages. We do not want searches of our homes,â Karzai said. âWe donât want our civilians harassed anymore.â
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/09/2006 03:13 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
Afghan President Hamid Karzai says the drug trade is a greater threat to his country than terrorism. Mr Karzai says the heroin trade has criminalised Afghanistan's economy, tainted the country's image and hindered the development of strong government institutions. He has even gone as far as suggesting that it endangers Afghanistan's very existence as a nation state.
He says foreign criminal gangs are heavily involved in the cultivation of opium poppies from which the heroin is made. "We have reports of the mafia from the rest of the world, probably from the Western countries as well, coming and actively encouraging drugs in Afghanistan, forcing people to grow poppies in Afghanistan," he said. "We have to fight it on all fronts. Afghanistan has simply no option there but to do it."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
And most importantly, Karzai doesn't gets his cut.
The US military has dropped charges against an army officer implicated in the deaths of two detainees in Afghanistan, saying there was not enough evidence to proceed with a court martial. "They could not substantiate the charges that he had failed in his duties to a degree where it would warrant a court martial," Jean Offutt, a public affairs officer at Fort Bliss in Texas, told AFP.
She says Captain Christopher Beiring has received a letter of reprimand that faults him for a lack of leadership. The letter can be appealed. Captain Beiring had been charged with abuse of prisoners and making false statements after two prisoners his military police company was guarding at a detention centre in Bagram died in 2002.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
US drops charges over Afghan jail deaths
good, now give him his reputation and career back. a$$holes
Pointing to his computer screen, Maj. Gen. Timothy Ghormley sounds more like a Peace Corps volunteer showing off holiday photos than the shaven-headed US Marine entrusted with defeating Al Qaeda in East Africa.
"That's what it's about right there," he says, stabbing his eyeglasses at the pictures of African children celebrating as water gushes from a new well. "Look at those kids. They're gonna remember this. In 25 years they'll say, 'I remember the West - they were good.'"
In 2002, more than 1,500 US troops were sent to this former French colony in East Africa to hunt followers of Al Qaeda throughout the region. Now, under General Ghormley, their mission has evolved to preempt the broader growth of Islamic militancy among the area's largely Muslim population.
"We are trying to dry up the recruiting pool for Al Qaeda by showing people the way ahead. We are doing this one village, one person at a time," says Ghormley, commander of the joint task force based in Djibouti. "We're waging peace just as hard as we can."
Previously East Africa has hosted an array of Islamic militant groups. In 1998, Al Qaeda bombed the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing more than 220 people. The group has also tried to shoot down an Israeli airliner in Mombasa, Kenya, and sink oil tankers and US navy vessels in the Red Sea.
Now many analysts worry that trouble is again brewing as rising poverty combines with the anti-Western ideologies of hard-line Islamic missionaries in a region already dogged by porous borders, plentiful weapons, and poor governance.
"There aren't actually that many groups or individuals involved," says Matt Bryden, director of the Horn of Africa project for International Crisis Watch. "But there's a danger that if these groups are not contained it is just a matter of time before they strike at Western targets in Somalia or start reaching out to the region again."
"Some of them did have links with Al Qaeda but for the most part there doesn't seem to be an active Al Qaeda or even an Al Qaeda franchise," says Mr. Bryden. "But the US has discovered that there are actually much fewer targets than they expected."
Unable to find or strike at any visible Al Qaeda members, US forces based in Camp Lemonier - Djibouti's former French Foreign Legion base - have instead begun to work to tackle the factors that might contribute to the growth of extremism in the future.
Ghormley's men have so far built more than 30 schools and 25 clinics, as well as new wells and bridges. They are focusing particularly on the mainly Muslim areas close to the porous Somali border where poverty and dissatisfaction with pro-Western central governments might make many receptive to extremist teachings.
"Ungoverned spaces are vulnerable. The forces of law and order don't exist there," says Lt. Col. Richard Baillon, of Britain's Parachute Regiment. A small contingent of British troops are working with US forces in a coalition effort. "The people in these areas aren't getting government support."
Planners in Camp Lemonier say that their long-term strategy is to gradually move deeper into these poor and ungoverned areas.
"We're not likely to go where we're not wanted or where there's open hostility," says Baillon, tapping a wall-map like a schoolmaster. "But it's about pushing the boundaries of where we are wanted."
The Coalition's planners hope that by tackling localized dissatisfaction now, they can create long-term goodwill toward the US in the region. "A lot of times when we first show up there's a mixed reaction," says Sgt. Richard Crandall of the 96th Civil Affairs Battalion. "One place we went to they considered the US to be warmongers. But we built a school and when we left they said they considered us friends."
The military is taking time to adapt to its new humanitarian mission too - and this means that there have been some mistakes made along the way.
For example, the task force's military budget only covers the cost of constructing and renovating school buildings. Before the schools can open, soldiers have to pester nongovernmental organizations, charities, and friends back home for donated textbooks. In other cases there has been poor communication between the US and local people. Some villages, thinking that the Americans could only build schools, requested a new school when they needed wells and bridges instead. The mistake was realized too late.
Meanwhile, the US increasingly depends on local governments to use their cultural and linguistic knowledge to track and tackle Islamic extremists.
"The information sharing is not ideal; not up to the point that we would like," admits Nabeel Khoury, deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Sanaa, Yemen.
And although there are handfuls of up-armored Humvees parked alongside rusting French artillery pieces throughout Camp Lemonier, the US increasingly seeks to delegate its military operations.
"We're doing military-to-military training with five countries in the region," says Col. Doug Carroll, director of operations for the Horn of Africa task force. The US has trained Yemeni special forces in counter-terrorism while officers from Mauritius and the Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean have been taught how to train their own soldiers once they return home.
"In Ethiopia we've taught border security, we've taught basic counter-terrorism, what they call advanced map reading and also defensive operations," says Carroll, who denies that the training will upset the region's delicate balance of power. "We're not teaching them anything that would be applicable to the Ethiopian-Eritrean border war," he says of the training of Ethiopian border guards, while also denying that US-trained troops have been used to crush recent uprisings in Yemen. I'm not sure what Ethiopia has to do with Yemen, though if the US helped Saleh to put down al-Houthi I'd consider that a good day's work myself.
But although the lack of recent Al Qaeda attacks in the region points to the mission's success so far, there remains a clear blind spot at the heart of the US deployment.
"It's a bit of a paradox," says Bryden. "The threat that the US perceives in the region comes from Somalia, but that is the only place where they can't operate."
Senior officers in Djibouti refuse to even discuss Somalia, although one officer privately admitted having contact with high-level members of the government of Somaliland - a breakaway republic in the north of the war-torn country that recently arrested one Al Qaeda team linked to extremist groups in Mogadishu.
"The US has had to develop a much more nuanced approach and it shows that they are dealing with the problem," says Bryden. "They've had to discover the difference between terrorism and a domestic insurgency."
As the US gradually increases its understanding of the region there is no sign of the mission winding down. Instead, as more British troops also prepare to deploy to the region, the operation seems to have become entirely open-ended.
"It's important that we share what we have to allow all nations to advance," says General Ghormley. "We didn't earn being born in America - the Good Lord put us there and with that came responsibility."
Standing in his office, Ghormley, surrounded by maps where arrow-straight borders drawn by European colonialists cut across mountains, deserts, and complex ethnic groups, provides more than an echo of a Victorian soldier-missionary.
"You can win a heart and mind today and lose it tomorrow," Ghormley continues. "We see no spread of radical ideology. We see a lot of people who would like it to spread."
But with Camp Lemonier boasting less than 1 percent of the troops currently deployed in Iraq and responsible for an area five times larger, Ghormley is aware that there is a limit to what the US can achieve in the region.
"I could use more money, more people, but I've got the resources I need to carry on," he says, taking a last look at the pictures on his computer screen. "They're good people and it breaks your heart that you can't do more for them."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/09/2006 03:04 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Standing in his office, Ghormley, surrounded by maps where arrow-straight borders drawn by European colonialists cut across mountains, deserts, and complex ethnic groups, provides more than an echo of a Victorian soldier-missionary.
Denial is also a river in Africa. It (Victorian solution) worked for a time before, it can work again.
#2
"I could use more money, more people, but I've got the resources I need to carry on," he says, taking a last look at the pictures on his computer screen. "They're good people and it breaks your heart that you can't do more for them."
In 1946, such men would go be a good candidate for state office or run for Congress upon retirement, and usually on the Democratic ticket. Now since that party has gone over the cliff in its hatred of the military and what it is doing, the bulk of those men and women won't even think a second of participating in their community aligned with such blackhearts. Now if there were an active 'Teddy Roosevelt' wing in the Rep's, their communities and country could still have such people available to follow these ideas and beliefs.
#3
Nowadays that is pure neo-con motivation: another facet of waging war is actively and effectively waging peace. The Democrats, unfortunately, are only interested in creating the realization that everyone is a member of some group victimized by the white, male oppressor. Idealistic youngsters who used to be drawn to the Democrats are end up voting Republican, and thinking of themselves as Conservatives, simply because they see so clearly the hatefulness and hypocrisy of those who call themselves Liberal Democrats.
#4
And, to actually answer Slugum Unolulet7181's point (sorry!), I strongly suspect returning troops will do the same. There is no room for them and their ideals in the military-hating Democratic Party, whereas they can join their parents and grandparents in the Republican Party.
#5
Aside from the easy slamming of our demwitted party, what these guys are quietly doing in Africa is outstanding. Removing sanctuary from our enemies is best done early and with food and brick. It worked on Basilan, PI, and will work on the upcomming mission on Jolo, PI. Even though they worried about funding, leveraging NGO's and local government and other doners is the best way to build the community and defeat AQ's ability to access an area. The Marines get it better than most who just want to llay waste to an area.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/09/2006 17:46 Comments ||
Top||
Speaking at a mosque on the plain of Mount Arafat, Sheik Abdul-Aziz al-Sheik, the kingdomâs grand mufti, said Muslims were facing critical challenges, among them accusations of terrorism and human rights abuses and calls for revisions in their school textbooks, many of which make nonbelievers, especially Jews. [SIC]
âOh, Muslim nation, there is a war against of our creed, against our culture under the pretext of fighting terrorism. We should stand firm and united in protecting our religion,â he said. âIslamâs enemies want to empty our religion from its contents and its meaning,â said al-Sheik, the Saudi kingdomâs top religious authority. âBut the soldiers of God will be victorious.â I copied this 'as is' from the news report... I don't know what is going on at the end of that first paragraph. Something about the Jews being out to get everybody. As an apostate infidel crusader, I feel very left out.
#1
Cool beans, call all your followers to arms. Give us yet just one more reason to make sure all of you die, and not just the fanatics. Muslims have very little time to figure out that these radical imams will be the death of them all.
Exhibiting a fascination with death while antagonizing the most well-armed nations on earth is about as stupid as stupid can get. The time is drawing nearer when all their dreams will come true as they not-so-gently attain the afterlife they're so d@mned obsessed with.
You don't understand. Muslims have the right to subjugate kaffirs. It's in the book. He's pissed because nowhere in the book does it say anything about them hitting back.
Air crew on the only British airline that flies to Saudi Arabia have been told not to wear crucifixes or St Christopher medals on flights there so as not to offend the country's Muslims. Stewardesses at BMI have also been told to cover themselves in the long abaya robes...one unnamed BMI employee told a Sunday newspaper: "It's outrageous that we must respect their beliefs but they're not prepared to respect ours. BMI are asking too much of their staff on this one. "My gran gave me a crucifix shortly before she died and I wear it at all times..." [The airline's spokesman said, ] "There are certain sensitivities in operating in a country like Saudi Arabia,"
#7
British Midland is a UK scheduled airline. The carrier is a member of the Star Alliance group of airlines. Members of this alliance include Air Canada and United (North America), Air New Zealand (Australasia), All Nippon Airways (Far East), Singapore Airlines and Thai (South East Asia), Mexicana and Varig (Central and South America), Lauda Air, Lufthansa, SAS and Austrian. Note some BD flight numbers may be operated by other Star Alliance members. Check with your agent to see who you're actually flying with.
Heathrow is the airline's major hub (Domestic and European flights). Transatlantic services are currently only operated from Manchester.
BMI is a second-tier airline, which has been fighting for years to achieve first-tier status like British Air and Virgin Airlines. They took over the Riyadh flights when British Air gave them up, and a few years began direct flights to Mumbai (Bombay). Lufthansa owns a piece of them, fwiw.
#8
BMI is the only British carrier currently operating flights to Saudi.
Pity there is only one. There should be plenty, plenty carriers operating flights to Saudi: USS Eisenhower, USS Nimitz, USS John Fitzgerald Kennedy and many, many more
"Flights 93, 11, and 77, now departing San Diego and Norfolk, destination a bit west of the soon-to-be Republic of Eastern Arabia. Sortie arrival time, classified. Temperature at our destination is hot and bothered. Please fasten your jump seats and secure all personal items."
North Korea is demanding billions of dollars in compensation for alleged atrocities against its prisoners of war and spies formerly held in South Korea, a demand which has sparked outrage among politicians in Seoul. There was no official response from the government to the unprecedented demand. But the main opposition party Sunday highlighted the North's own rights record, which often comes in for strong international criticism.
The formal damages complaint was filed to the South's human rights commission through a border office Friday, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said. The complaint insisted Seoul compensate former North Korean long-term prisoners for their time in "nightmarish prisons" run by former authoritarian governments in the South. "The physical damage, except mental damage done to them, stands at one billion US dollars even according to a preliminary estimate made by specialists of the DPRK (North Korea) in line with international practice," the agency said on Saturday. "It would come to several billions of US dollars ... if the damage done to all those unconverted long-term prisoners killed in prisons is put together."
But the North Korean demand backfired across the border. The ruling Uri Party, which usually takes a conciliatory line with North Korea, denounced the complaint as "totally against common sense". The main opposition Grand National Party called it "ridiculous". "They should first raise voices for improving human rights conditions in North Korea when they like to talk about human rights," the opposition party said in a statement. A senior unification ministry official told AFP on condition of anonymity that "the North Korean complaint is not worth being given any serious consideration."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The Norks must be gettin jealous about how Iran has been getting to punk out the EU so much so they are goin to try to punk out the Snorks for some MORE money and tribute. Of course I fully expect the "outrage" to go away quickly and then follow in short order with more appeasment with no strings attached food aid and oil supplies all the while.
#6
Wonder what Madeline Halfbright thinks about this development? Surely her infinite wisdom vis-Ã -vis North Korea would be valuable in solving this latest political trauma. Personally, I would write a very angry letter to Kimmy and attach it to a JDAM dropped on the party HQ during a big gathering. Would send a clear message and offer a basis for further negotiations with whomever was left over. But then I am not a politician.
#7
The NORKS have a wonderful sense of humor. My next door neighboor was one of their 7,245 guests during that conflict, 2,806 of whom died in captivity.
I guess NORK is pissed off because their surviving POWs -- over 80,000 at one time -- are longing for the good old days when they were behind barbed wire, with 3 squares a day and all the protections of the International Red Cross.
#11
Like good CLintonians and dialectic policrats and poligarchs just because North Korea was the one that iniated war during Korean War 1 doesn't mean they have to pay anyone anyting - NK > "WE'RE COMMIES, D*** YOU, WE COMMIES RECEIVE TRIBUTE, WE DO NOT PAY OUT OR GIVE OUT ANYTHING TO ANYONE"!?
Swedish girls Malin and Amanda were on their way to a party on New Year's Eve when they were assaulted, raped and beaten half to death by four Somali immigrants. Sweden's largest newspaper has presented the perpetrators as "two men from Sweden, one from Finland and one from Somalia", a testimony as to how bad the informal censorship is in stories related to immigration in Sweden. Similar incidents are reported with shocking frequency, to the point where some observers fear that law and order is completely breaking down in the country. The number of rape charges in Sweden has tripled in just above twenty years. Rape cases involving children under the age of 15 are six - 6 - times as common today as they were a generation ago. Most other kinds of violent crime have rapidly increased, too. Instability is spreading to most urban and suburban areas.
According to a new study from the Crime Prevention Council, Brå, it is four times more likely that a known rapist is born abroad, compared to persons born in Sweden. Resident aliens from Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia dominate the group of rape suspects. According to these statistics, almost half of all perpetrators are immigrants. In Norway and Denmark, we know that non-Western immigrants, which frequently means Muslims, are grossly overrepresented on rape statistics. In Oslo, Norway, immigrants were involved in two out of three rape charges in 2001. The numbers in Denmark were the same, and even higher in the city of Copenhagen with three out of four rape charges. Sweden has a larger immigrant, including Muslim, population than any other country in northern Europe. The numbers there are likely to be at least as bad as with its Scandinavian neighbors. The actual number is thus probably even higher than what the authorities are reporting now, as it doesn't include second generation immigrants. Lawyer Ann Christine Hjelm, who has investigated violent crimes in Svea high court, found that 85 per cent of the convicted rapists were born on foreign soil or by foreign parents.
A group of Swedish teenage girls has designed a belt that requires two hands to remove and which they hope will deter would-be rapists. "It's like a reverse chastity belt," one of the creators, 19-year-old Nadja Björk, told AFP, meaning that the wearer is in control, instead of being controlled. Björk and one of her partners now plan to start a business to mass produce the belts and are currently in negotiations with potential partners. "But I'm not doing this for the money," she said. "I'm really passionate about stopping rape. I think it's terrible."
We in America also think rape is terrible, but we have a different solution.
In an online readers' poll from the newspaper Aftonbladet, 82% of the women expressed fear to go outside after dark. There are reports of rapes happening in broad daylight. 30 guests in a Swedish public bath watched as 17 girl was raped recently, and nobody did anything. The girl was first approached by 16-year-old boy. He and his friends followed her as she walked away to the grotto, and inside the grotto he got her blocked in the corner, ripped off her bikini and raped her, while his friend held her firm.
There are even reports of Swedish girls being attacked and cut with knives on the dance floor. A 21-year-old man who came to Sweden a couple of years ago admits that he has a low opinion of Swedish females âor âwhoresâ as he calls them. He is now prosecuted, suspecteded of cutting eight girls in several pubs. He is also charged with raping a girl at a private party, and with sexually harassing another girl in the apartment. Several witnesses claim that the 21 year old has said that he hates Swedish women. Read the rest at the source link.
#1
When is this type of offense going to spawn some retaliatory action? This goes to the most visceral level of human existence. If Sweden isn't willing to protect its females against these criminals, their country is truly lost and there is no more to be said on the subject.
Posted by: mac ||
01/09/2006 0:29 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I have a fear that the police would instantly punish those who tried to stop the rapes.
It looks as a few "Vanishings" of rapists is in order if the police will not take care of the problem.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2006 1:57 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Every couple of months my local paper has a story of some Abdullah or Khalid being arrested for kidnapping and raping some local street girl. Usually groups of those pigs drag the girl into a van, and share the booty. Why not? Islamic sunna says they have to emulate the flea bag "prophet" who dreamed up their murder cult.
#4
CaziFarkus, I think it's time for the men in your community to take the safety of the local women more seriously. Think in terms of hanging out on the streets with a small group of your mates, just keeping an eye on things. And openly writing down the plate numbers of those vans, perhaps getting out your digital camera to take snaps of their occupants. Because Ahmed and Mohammed don't really differentiate between professional and amateur, they're just targetting the vulnerable. And I suppose the police couldn't object to a sudden fad for old-fashioned thorn walking sticks?
#9
One must wonder how long it will take the Scandinavian countries to finally just stop importing criminals. If a large proportion of the rapists are from "Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia", STOP ALLOWING ANY IMMIGRATION OF YOUNG MALES FROM THOSE COUNTRIES.
#10
Not just the young men (yoots). The young women have young boys who grow up to be yoots. No Muzzies, period. It's not like the Scandinavians every had muzzie colonies.
#11
a claw hammer will do fine in removing the tools of teh perpetrator. Do it for each one and in front of their neighbors. No need to involve the police.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2006 17:02 Comments ||
Top||
#12
When I spent time in Sweden in the 70's, the girls there had fathers, brothers, cousins, and uncles all of whom would have taken serious umbrage at anyone laying hands on their kin. Sex was OK, but rape would get you seriously dead.
#13
So why isn't it happening now?
Change in morals?
Cowardace?
The old folks who fought in WW2 all die out?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2006 19:41 Comments ||
Top||
#14
Same thing in france Redneck Jim,
20 muslim roughnecks hold 600 passengers on a train gripped in fear of their lives. While they plunder and rape and abuse the entire train, the staff lock themselves safely away in the engine compartment, too petrified by fear to even call the police.
#15
That's the difference between taking charge of your life and being a ward of the state. Americans are raised to roll up their sleeves, take charge, pull up their own bootstraps, etc. Europeans expect their government or the European Union to take care of them.
The French approach gets them Muslims burning 400 cars per night -- can you imagine that here in the U.S.? How many dead Muslims would be laying on the streets next to the cars the next morning? How many days would that continue?
#17
Trailing Wife's recomm are valid, but with all the conflicts occurring around the peripheries of the West/World-vital oil and trade routes between the Americas, the Malaccas, Persian Gulf and Red Sea for me the Spetzies are waging war in places and regions that were also invaluable and strategic to the Cold War USSR, Spetznatz commandoes-sappers, and the Commie Bloc in general. Better tell NATO and the USMC to start reviewing their Northern Area Warfare oper and tactical methodisms.
#20
The internationl standard punishment for rape should be hanging. Get DNA proof and hang them. Aiding someone to rape someone same as rape, hanging. Rape will dissappear over night.
Snip, duplicate. C'mon folks, this is the fourth or fifth one of these that's come through.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
01/09/2006 12:51 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The NCO's that make American forces what they are say it for what it is!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/09/2006 13:36 Comments ||
Top||
#2
It was a bad day for Murtha and Moran. General Louis C. Wagner also rose to speak and left Moran fumbling for words. When Moran said he also supported the troops the General walked out on him.
Transcript from the Mudville Gazette via Michelle Malkin. You can find the video on Michelle's page. Scroll down to: VIDEO: ANOTHER VET TELLS OFF MURTHA/MORAN January 07, 2006 11:05 AM
Hello Mr Moran I'm General Wagner. I'm here tonight, I decided to come at 7:30. And I'll tell you the reason I came at 7:30 is because I want an answer to a letter, to a friend of ours. She wrote this letter to Mr. Murtha, where she pointed out to him that he was causing the insurgents to bring more activity against the soldiers in Iraq, just as the traitors did during the Vietnam war. I was fighting in 1972 with the Vietnamese when people were cavorting with the North Vietnamese.
Her son was killed today.
I got the message at 7:30 tonight, and I'll tell you, I wasn't going to waste my time coming here because I knew the trash that was going to be put out. But I'm really mad. Because what is being put out is being used to incite the insurgents to continue this war, just as it incited General Giap to consider the Vietnam war.
He hasn't answered her letter, Mr Moran, but I want to read a paragraph to you. I think its a little instructive:
"I have faith in our military leaders and believe that they are making the necessary steps to train the Iraqi forces and provide for our eventual withdrawal. I also have faith in our executive branch, that they are taking the necessary steps to help the new Iraqi government to get a democratic style government in place and to give them at least a chance of success. Although mistakes were made in the execution of the war and its aftermath, the goal itself is worthy, and in spite of all the negativity that we are constantly bombarded with I believe that there have been some remarkable successes.
"Although my son would surely" - and this, incidentally, this is the one that was killed today - "would surely prefer to stay home with his wife and four young children" - from 10 to 2, I'm adding that - "he is both a soldier and a scholar, he understands that we are in a vital long term struggle against a dangerous ideology, and he is willing to make the necessary sacrifices to defeat it. It is a difficult struggle and will require patience and fortitude both on and off the battlefield. If we lose our will at home, it makes the task for our soldiers all the more difficult. I believe your comments were irresponsible and are contributing to the loss of national will. If they were made to obtain political advantages I would find that abhorrent and unworthy of a former Marine."
Sir, I'm mad. Because that is happening every day when I read the newspapers. I visit Walter Reed, and talk to the young soldiers with their legs blown off. I know you do too.
I can't find one in a dozen that don't believe that they are fighting for a noble cause and are fighting to go back. And I think it's a disgrace when members of our congress, just as they did in 1975 when they sold out the South Vietnamese, are selling out our soldiers today in Iraq.
Thank you sir. (no applause)
Then the almost speechless Moran tries to respond.
But..., um... I.. I do respect your point of view, I know it is widely shared. Uhh... and, um..., and I respect your service in the military.
Uhhh.. I do support the troops, and I do believe that the best way for me to support the troops is to make sure that when they do go to war its a war that needs to be fought. Uh... I... (applause) I... In response to the first two... I don't want the applause, because its going to be interpreted that I'm appealing to the audience. But the, uh... with regard to having faith in the troops I do have faith in our troops, and... uh... but with regard to having faith in uhh... the government that sent them, I don't, and the reason I don't is because they deliberately... is because the reasons that we were giving... given to go to war in Iraq were not accurate, uhhh, and, um, uh, and uh we have now found that Saddam didn't have weapons of mass destruction, there wasn't reliable evidence that he did. He was not a threat to the United States despite any number of attempts in any number of speeches to uhhh... tie Saddam Hussein to the attacks of 9/11 he had nothing to do with it. So our going into Iraq was not in response to any attack, or even real threat to the United States, and it seems to me it uhh... it failed on that and any number of other reasons for being a war that was of necessity.
#3
You missed the point where the good General stomped out of the room in disgust as Moran said 'I support the troops'...
You have to understand that when Moran or Murtha or Kennedy or Kerry say 'I support the troops' they are not talking about U.S. troops. To them 'the troops' or 'our [their] troops' are Al-Quada, Iran, and Taliban troops (or any troops who might kill more american soldiers (so that they can claw their way over the dead bodies to get into power again).
If you start making that little translation it all makes perfect sense.
#4
"I support our troops" is a polite noise that's supposed to deflect criticism because the speaker doesn't support what the troops are actually doing. Often it comes out as something stoopid like "The best way to support our troops is to bring them home!"
It worked for a little while because in 1969 the same people weren't saying it -- they were "asking questions" about the war, one of which was "how many babies did you kill?" (My response: "No more than I could eat.")
To nitwits like Moran -- and the twits who continue reelecting him, regardless of what he says -- it will always be 1969. Only now there are people who will call them on it.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006 16:12 Comments ||
Top||
#5
When Moran said he also supported the troops the General walked out on him.
Bush reaches beyond inner circle on Iraq policy
Fri Jan 6, 2006 3:00 AM GMT
By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush reached beyond his tight circle of trusted aides on Thursday to solicit views on Iraq of former secretaries of state and defence, including some who have publicly criticised his policy.
The meeting, part of the president's effort to defend his policies on Iraq and the war on terrorism as he tries to recover from low opinion poll ratings, took place as insurgent violence surged anew this week in Iraq.
"Not everybody around this table agreed with my decision to go into Iraq and I fully understand that," Bush said, adding that he had listened to their concerns and suggestions. "We take to heart the advice."
The former officials who served in administrations dating back to President John Kennedy, met with Bush, current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
They were briefed by Gen. George Casey, the U.S. commander in Iraq, and Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador to Iraq.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a Clinton administration official who has criticised Bush's Iraq policy, said later she had voiced her concerns during the meeting.
Appearing on CNN, Albright said she told Bush that "we had a long way to go" to succeed in Iraq. She said she suggested creating a "contact group" of regional powers to help and to make clear that the United States did not intend to have permanent bases there.
"I took advantage of the time to say that I was very worried about the position of the United States internationally," Albright added, listing Iran, North Korea and the situation in the Middle East among her chief concerns.
Bush has been emphasising progress in Iraq after the December elections to an American public that has shown increasing discontent with the war in which more than 2,100 U.S. troops and thousands of Iraqis have died.
Critics have called for a quick withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, but Bush has repeatedly said that he will not set a timetable and U.S. forces would not pull out until Iraqi forces can take over security.
"The main thrust of our success will be when the Iraqis are able to take the fight to the enemy that wants to stop their democracy, and we're making darn good progress along those lines," Bush said.
HAIG: BUSH 'ABSOLUTELY CORRECT'
Alexander Haig, secretary of state for President Ronald Reagan, said Bush was right to say withdrawing troops from Iraq would be determined by conditions on the ground.
"I think the president has taken the absolutely correct position, contrary to a number of Washington politicians," Haig said.
Bush has to address the troop-withdrawal question because many Americans want to know when U.S. forces will pull out, but it can give information to the enemy, Eagleburger said. "Every time we talk about withdrawal you can see the ears of Osama (bin Laden) and his friends perking up," he said.
Among those attending were Colin Powell, Bush's first secretary of state whose tenure was often marked by friction with the White House and the Pentagon on a range of foreign policy issues.
Since leaving the post, Powell has avoided publicly criticising the president, but several of his aides have lashed out at Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld.
Also at the meeting were William Perry, defence secretary in the administration of President Bill Clinton who was an adviser to Bush's 2004 election opponent, Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.
Other who attended from Republican and Democratic administration included former secretaries of state James Baker and George Shultz.
Former secretaries of defence included William Cohen, Frank Carlucci, James Schlesinger, Harold Brown, Melvin Laird and Robert McNamara.
McNamara, 89, served under Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Although he was a key architect of early U.S. policy in Vietnam, he eventually became disillusioned with the war there.
#2
McNamara, 89, served under Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Although he was a key architect of early U.S. policy in Vietnam, he eventually became disillusioned with the war there.
"100,000 more men is all we need I tell you, only 100,000, thats roughly 5 divisions, 100,000, we'll have them all cleaned out in no time, China and Russia will never invade."
#3
I'll say again, I don't think this meeting had anything to do with Iraq. Iraq is a done deal.
However, Iran will require every bit of brain power and insider information that can be obtained from anywhere. By reaching back, quite literally, through 40 years of information and experience, Bush is demonstrating once again his near obsessive infatuation with strategic planning.
#4
I agree with anonymouse. There just isn't enough to discuss regarding Iraq at this point. Yet Iran is a hairy nut to deal with and I imagine Bush was hoping for any kind of insight they might not have thought of before as well as guarantees of silence.
This has ocurred before and was covered here. Islamic or not, this is low-level terror and it's criminal; if this is islamic (but I may be a bigot in presuming that), then it could be compared to the low-level guerilla targeting the infrastructures of the perceived ennemy in many countries where there are significant muslim minorities (cf. big rocks being put on roadrails or thrown from road passovers onto cars, trains or bus being regularly stoned,.. in France, or ocurrance of gratuitous firebombs attacks on transportation systems in northern Europe, as reported in one entry by Fjordman).LOS ANGELES - There's growing concern about lasers being aimed at commercial jetliners, lasers that could blind the pilot. Officials are saying very little. However, there were apparently two incidents last night.
Pilots will tell you the two most vulnerable times during a flight is takeoff and landing because they're flying so slow and flying very low to the ground. Somebody took advantage of that last night and aimed two laser beams or several laser beaming -- beams at planes flying into lax.
One pilot says any distraction in the cockpit can be dangerous, but laser beams have several potential hazards that can put the crew and passengers at serious risk.
"The main problem is that the pilot's losing his eyesight for a few second seconds, which is very important scanning the instruments, sanction other air traffic and complying with the air traffic controller's instructions in order to maintain the safety of the flight," said pilot Andy Bagyuj.
The FBI confirms two different pilots landing at LAX Wednesday night encountered laser light aimed right at their plane. The pilots said they saw three bright green flashes aimed at an American Airlines jet 19 miles out from LAX and a United 757, 7 miles outside of the Santa Monica Airport.
This isn't the first time someone has aimed lasers at a plane. Last January a laser beam was pointed at a jet line out of Burbank and in December of 2004 it happened four times in six days.
The lasers did not hurt the pilots and the planes did land safely. However, the FBI is now investigating to confirm whether or not those beams were lasers and more importantly where they came from.
#6
Green Helium-Neon lasers (543 nm) are cheap. He-Ne lasers also come in red, yellow and orange. More likely, the shit was using a green diode pumped laser (532nm) pointer (<5mW). You can buy one for less than $100, and one in the 100mW class for less than a $1000.
Posted by: ed ||
01/09/2006 17:52 Comments ||
Top||
#7
US pilots were lazed back in the 90's in the Balkans. The cockpit glows from the light refracting form the thick glass, red, green, and yellow/green was reported. It can cause perminant damage to the retina and temp blindness. This has to be something stronger than a penlight to really get ones attention. It has to be industrial or military grade to light up a cockpit like I'm hearing.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/09/2006 17:56 Comments ||
Top||
#8
ahem ... it doesn't take that much... 100mw to 2 watts will do a real number... esp if aimed with a scope.
To see what I mean... take a laser and a light bulb or other globe. Turn off the lights.
Hit the globe with the laser beam.
Watch the whole globe glow and imagine you are inside.
Now... the globe matches best with a bubble type copter... but any curved glass will do.
BTW... not all UFO's are... some might just be lasers...
#9
We used small hand helds to laze targets from our aircraft. The light is a red line when looked at under goggles, but too weak to illuminate a cockpit. Ya, I know, we we not supposed to laze each other. Then we aquired some high powered ones. They were a different story. They would light up a cockpit with the glow 3dc is talking about and reach target a mile away. But at 3,000 to 5,000 feet it would have to take more than a simple pen or CD laser. Being a lowly aviator I can only assume it would have to have some level of sophistication meaning this is either a serious prankster or terrorist harassing/targeting. So how tough would it be to home build something strong enough to reach a mile out.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/09/2006 22:19 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Could it be for rangefinding purposes, you know, to find out where to fire your black market Blowpipe or SA-14?
Not sure how many of you have seen or heard about this and if itâs a repeat I apologize. Sgt Seavey who recently returned from a deployment gave Moran and Murtha an earful. The response from Moran/moron is a classic of not wanting to hear the truth or anything off their talking points. Seems the Town Hall meeting didnât get scripted like the wanted. This was too good to not share with my Rantburg family.
Nothing like a major bitch-slap at a staged BS event to wake up a few of the bobble-heads. Too bad it will only get coverage in half of the blogosphere.
Mebbe Sgt Seavey will have a go at NaziFartus, and let him know he doesn' think the Doom & Gloom he's peddling is quite accurate. I'll wager, like 90% of the other troops, he'd have a bit to say about that BDS condition, too.
They, the troops, get it. They get it in spades. I look forward, eagerly, to the time these people begin doing more than just voting overwhelmingly for Bush and those who are trying to change the world for the better - I look forward to the day I can vote for them, too.
Posted by: Grans Unaiger4040 ||
01/09/2006 12:27 Comments ||
Top||
#4
"Many of those at yesterday's forum were Iraq veterans who support Murtha and detailed their frustration with botched missions and shared flak jackets."
The Washington Post
So, i guess Sgt.Seavey and his supporters would say that these Iraq veterans, in support of Con. Murtha are liars, or maybe they just dont "get it"?
#6
Further comments from Iraqi War veterans against the Bush administration policy on Iraq at the Murtha/Moran Town Hall Meeting:
January 06, 2006
Murtha reaffirms opposition to war
By Laura M. Colarusso
Times staff writer
"Murtha was not the only former service member at the town hall meeting to speak out against the Bush administration. A handful of former soldiers who fought in Iraq also protested Americaâs current policy there.
John Bruhns, a former sergeant with the 1st Armored Division, said the White House has not been honest about the lead-up to the war and what has happened in Iraq since the invasion.
âEverything the Bush administration has told us about [this invasion] is absolutely incorrect,â said Bruhns, who has not been able to find a job since he left the military in March 2005 with an honorable discharge.
He implored Murtha âto keep doing what youâre doing.â
In an interview after the forum, Bruhns said Bush and his advisors must be held accountable for âwhat they did to our countryâ and because they âeither misled us or made an inept decision to lead us to war.â
Like Bruhns, Garett Reppenhagen, a former specialist with the 1st Infantry Division, wants answers for why America invaded Iraq.
âThe truth of the matter is, a lot of us feel betrayed and feel there should be an investigation of the administration,â said Reppenhagen, who left the Army in May. He was a sniper in Iraq from February 2004 to February 2005.
âIt didnât seem like we were really bringing democracyâ to Iraq, he said. âWe were really at a loss [as to] what we were doing there.â
He said anyone who looks at the numbers of ongoing attacks by insurgents and the resulting casualties among both U.S. and Iraqi personnel âcan tell ⦠things arenât getting better.â
I suppose these Iraq military veterans didnt "get it" either?
#7
"Many of those at yesterday's forum were Iraq veterans who support Murtha and detailed their frustration with botched missions and shared flak jackets."
Cassini, having the honored of serving my country for some twenty years I can assure of two thing: 1) You can ALWAYS find someone bitching about soemthing and 2) There NEVER is enough of everything. Given that I doubt the shared flak jacket story because it is an issued item for everyone. I was stationed in California (far away from any action) and I had my deployment bag with my flak vest, web gear, and helmet. Some flak vest are newer or more comfortable and they may have shared them for that reason, but I doubt that any soldier, Sailor, Airman, or Marine was deployed to Iraq with one each flak vest, helmet, and web gear.
#8
Assholeini,
Frustration is normal in combat ops. SNAFU is the military term. In a perfect world, us vets want:
*Forcefields that block all harm, but do not impede movement.
*Clear and consice objectives
*Vehicles that can withstand a nuke hit and are still fast and agile
*Perfect intel about the enemy
*Everyone to love us
*Teleporters so we can spend time with loved ones
However, this is not a perfect world and combat is the complete lack of order.
There is never enough material to go around.
Body armor is too heavy and not protective enough.
Objectives are never very clear, other than "Kill the enemy, but don't level Iraq doing it. Oh and try to find the enemy hidden in the civilian population, but don't piss them off. Oh and make sure a convoy that may or may not be in your area isn't ambushed."
Vehicles are never ready for your operation straight from the factory. Heavy modding is a must.
The enemy never lets you know what you they are doing.
Most people are indifferant to us and dipshits back home like Murtha hate us and stab us in the back.
We are away from people who truely mean a lot to us and care for us.
In short, despite all the crap that is thrown at us, we fullfill the mission despite turdburglers like Murth and you. Please fuck off and die.
Granted, what you say may be true, but I dont think these soldiers are lying. Furthermore the way this article was posted, it would seem that they believe that Sgt. Seavey speaks for all the military over in Iraq. From what I am reading there most assuredly are dissenting opinions within the military over President Bush's Iraq policy.
YOU dont "get it". There are soldiers over in Iraq fighting because they were ORDERED to do it.
NOT because they support the Bush administration blindly as your Sgt. Seavey. That's the point.
#11
Ass-ini, YOU don't get it. We are volunteers. We signed up for the shit. We know what we are in for and are re-upping in record numbers. Are we ordered to Iraq, yes. Just like we were ordered into Kosovo, Saudi, and any other shithole that whatever administration is in power wants us to go to. We do not blindly follow anyone. We support Bush, since we agree with him on Iraq. If we didn't, we would still go there and do our damnedest to get it done and grumble about it. Soldiers grumble all the time, even in the best of deployments. I have severe issues with some of how the occupation was waged. But the State Department had their dick beaters in that one.
Almost all soldiers do not have a "Blind" support for an administration. We do what we signed up for. We do our job. We do not hold blindly to the "official" line the government spews, unlike you with your (D)talkingpoints that you parrot.
"Arrr. Bush's fault! Quagmire!"
#12
I don't think they are "lying" either, I just think you are getting half a story. If I had a chance to wear the newer kevlar flak vest on a patrol thatn the bulky Vietnam era flak vest I would swa with a buddy who wasn't going out. Does that mean there is a shortage or just guys swapping newer gear for older ones? BTW I think they both worked the same one just fits better and is less bulky (looks sexy too!). But hey don't take my word for it, join up and see which fits you better.
Density of the brain is your specialty I see.
Reread the comments in post#6. Then read the original post. The article Cyber Sarge is posting gives the impression that Sgt. Seavey speaks for everyone in the military and that they are all pro-Bush on Iraq. Word Up-They are not.
Obviously, you are a fucking moron. No one is claiming that the Sgt. is speaking for everyone, while you think that Murtha is. Pot kills brain cells, and you have lost most of yours, I see. You think that the soldiers are all poor piss ants that march lock step to the orders of Bush and get bent when someone steps out of line. We get bent when someone makes untrue comments about us and our experiances to score political points and put our lives at risk, which is what Murtha is doing. There is a time and a place to have a drawn out argument over strategy. It is not in front of the media cameras while being a media whore. It emboldens the enemy and causes more people to die.
Please stop wasting our oxygen and do something useful. Like push up daisys.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
01/09/2006 15:50 Comments ||
Top||
#16
M. Murry.
Thanks for evenMore Ass-inine comments.
Murtha is doing nothing of what you are saying ,which reveals that you are dense. youre just repeating the same bs every republican is saying because Murtha blew the cover over off of Bush's wagon exposing it for anyone with common sense who isnt brainwashed to see.
what is it with this "our" (as in "our time") stuff? are you speaking for yourself or for your group?are you all part of a brainless robotic rnc "collective" or do any of you have the capacity to speak independently? I feel like I'm speaking to "The Borg"..lmao
#18
What does lmao mean?
Is it a killer comeback?
Can I use it?
lmao. How was that?
Posted by: Saint Alphonso ||
01/09/2006 16:47 Comments ||
Top||
#19
I do not belong to the Republican party. I speak from my experiance as a combat vet and am using the "US" as 99% of vets have the same opinions as the ones I stated. BTW, what "Talking points" have I used? I agree with Bush on taking out Saddam, but I think he is a spineless wimp when standing up to the state department and others in Washington. Is that a "Talking Point"? Give me actual proof from experiance to back up what you say is correct from Murtha. Have you been in the desert? Have you served with the line units? Are they broken and low moral? No. If they were, the major fact would be that the military wouldn't have the 110% retention rate they do now. Soldiers that have spent 2 years in Iraq are re-upping to do it again. And this in a booming economy that they would make a hell of a lot more money in the civilian world. You call me brainwashed and refuse to argue facts. You just post what you see in liberal publications. I know it is hard work doing that from your mother's basement, but try to move your fat, pastey ass off the chair and get out into the world. Sunlight might do you good. Or melt you into the quivering puddle of goo. Either way, the world is better off.
#20
Cassini, while I donât like to feed trolls this much I feel you need to look at what your are saying. Nobody (including myself) has said this one soldier speaks for EVERY soldier. He does appear to speak for A unit that JUST came back from Iraq and IS (supposedly) Represented by Congressman Moran. The fact that Congressman DID NOT get his anti-Bush stories from his own constituents led me to believe he is NO LONGER representative of his district. While Sgt Seavey may not represent all members of the Armed Forces, the same is definitely true of those who (for some unknown reason) lack body armor in a combat zone. The vast majority seems to be well supplied and highly motivated. If that werenât the case re-enlistment numbers would not be above 90%. Like I said earlier you can ALWAYS find someone to bitch and I have done some of that myself. Also, I encourage to visit your local Armed Forces recruiter, enlist, investigate the matter from the inside, and prove us all wrong by finding a vast anti-Bush climate among the Armed Forces.
Personally, I dont who the hell you are. This is the internet, You can say or be anybody you want to be. I think you are a phony misrepresenting yourself to be someone you are not.
On Murtha, you're doing nothing but repeating rnc talking points..they and you are pissed that he exposed Bush's phony Iraq war to be exactly what it is:
A tremendous waste of time, money and u.s. military lives.
If Al Qaeda decides to unleash a domestic attack on the U.S. tommorow or in the near future, tell me how in the hell is anything going on in Iraq going to stop it. You and people that think like you dont use common sense.
I have refrained from calling you names because I am trying to remain civil with you.
I did a internet search after this town hall meeting and repubs/con networks are trumpeting
Sgt. Seavey's comments as if he was "the story"
at the meeting.
What I have done is to post written comments to show that he absolutely wasnt and that there are
those within the military that definitely disagree with him and President Bush on Iraq.
If you cant understand that then there isnt really much more i can say.
#23
Hey I just figured it out! Ok gang if you were part of a combat unit deploying to Iraq and they didnât give you body armor what would you think? I am guessing that maybe they wanted to get rid of a few of the malcontents through attrition? I am just spit balling here so let me know what you all think. Like if Cassini joined up and bitched, bitched, bitched, and bitched every day about it being Bushes War, Oil, Haliburton, Cheney, Gitmo, and Rove. Now you find yourself going to Iraq with this malcontent and you are in charge of passing out body armor to the troops, sorry Pvt Cassini youâll just have to keep your head down until the next shipment comes. Now it all makes sense!
#24
The way I see it M Murray has one hand on a rifle and the other on his keyboard to protect the rights of Assini who can have both hands down his pants while his mom types.
#25
How is it a waste? For the first time in history, a democratic Iraq is taking shape. Hell, even if it only buys 10 years worth of stability in the region, it is worth it. We are fighting to make people free. To allow themselves to decide their OWN fate. So, according to your logic, the Civil War that America fought was a waste since it freed the slaves.
Iraq is an experiment, and it could very well head south in a hurry. But if it succeeds, we will have an Islamic nation with freedom of speech, religion and tolerance. The same things which brought Japan such prosperity. (Yes I know Japan is still slightly Xenophobic, but they are improving and are a hell of a lot better than 60 years ago). The Middle East could actually contribute to the world ideas and economic growth instead of trying to tear down everything that the rest of the world has made. This is why we are there. This is why people like my brothers and sisters are sacrificing their lives, bodies and time away from families. It is something that you will obviously never understand or appreciate in your hate filled, prejudice soul. We are fighting for the prospect of a good future. It is too bad you and the rest of your ilk are stuck in the rancid past.
As I said before, do us a favor and go push up some daisies. You are not contributing anything good to the world, just sucking up resources like a parasite.
PHOENIX - M. Zuhdi Jasser still gets worked up when he recalls what some Muslim Americans said after the Sept. 11 attacks. "Their criticism of America was just unbelievable," said Jasser, an internist who describes himself as a pious Muslim. Jasser saw it differently. He grew up in Wisconsin, where his parents settled after escaping Syria's dictatorship. He was raised an observant Muslim, and he prays five times daily. He served 11 years in the U.S. Navy. He has a Bush-Cheney bumper sticker on his black Corvette convertible. "I cannot sit idly silent," said Jasser, 37. "I have an obligation to do what I can to create a world where my children can grow up, and there's no conflict in their hearts between being American and being Muslim."
Two years ago, Jasser and a few like-minded Muslims in Arizona founded the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. This Phoenix organization was one of the first created by Muslims to promote a tolerant form of Islam compatible with a secular, democratic nation. The leaders of the new organizations say the established national Islamic groups promote a political strain of Islam that creates sympathy for the extremists - a charge the national groups deny. "Until we as Muslims admit we have some illness in our religion that needs to be cured, we won't go anywhere," said Ali Homsi, a civil engineer who joined the Phoenix organization's board.
Daniel Pipes, executive director of Philadelphia's Middle East Forum and a foe of radical Islam, says the new voices are shifting the debate within the faith. "I see the emergence of these new groups as vital to present an alternative view to Muslims," said Pipes, who last year helped create a think tank opposed to militant Islamists, the Center for Islamic Pluralism, in Washington.
The struggle in Phoenix is typical of the worldwide battle among Muslims over their faith. In the Middle East, the battle is waged on television, where several miniseries are presenting radical Islam for the first time in an unflattering light. In Britain, still stunned by the July suicide bombings in London's transit system, the battle plays out over the "moderate" credentials of the nation's most prominent Islamic organization, the Muslim Council of Britain, whose knighted leader endorsed the 1989 fatwa, or edict, against Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses."
"There is a civil war going on within Islam," Jasser said. The leaders of the new organizations acknowledge that their ranks are small. When Jasser's group put together a Muslim antiterrorism march, about 400 people showed up. The majority were non-Muslims. But the new groups have gained some legitimacy. Their calls on Muslims to alienate terrorists have resonated particularly with non-Muslims. Jasser was invited to write a column for the Arizona Republic in Phoenix.
"Zuhdi seems to be that moderate Muslim voice that people have been waiting to hear," said Phil Boas, the Republic's assistant editorial-page editor.
The reformists are also getting the ear of Washington's leaders. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last spring named Kamal Nawash, president of the Washington-based Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism, to a delegation that attended an international conference in Spain on intolerance. "We grew very quickly and were recognized by the administration," said Nawash, a lawyer.
In the United States, critics have long complained that Islamists have propagated their point of view through advocacy groups and mosques that relied upon financing and radical literature from Saudi Arabia and Iran.
"In the '90s, we witnessed the takeover of power in America by elements of the Wahhabi trend, though they don't claim that publicly," said Walid Phares, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington. "They isolated dissenters to the margins."
The national Muslim organizations deny that they are under the sway of extremists. Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which calls itself the main defender of Muslim Americans, said the council would invariably clash with the government over civil liberties. He said dissent should not be confused with support for terrorism. "It's the nature of civil rights work to challenge authority," he said.
Nevertheless, Muslims are under great pressure to take sides with other Muslims. "For a believing Muslim, asking what if anything went wrong with the Islamic faith is an uncomfortable question," Islamic scholar Khaled Abou El Fadl writes in his book, "The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam From the Extremists." "A Muslim cannot help but feel that he or she is somehow playing into the hands of Islam's enemies." Indeed, Hooper said criticism from Muslims such as Jasser was "providing others with an opportunity to advance an agenda that is hostile to the American Muslim community."
Marwan Ahmad, publisher of the Muslim Voice newspaper in Phoenix, said Jasser was putting his allegiance to the dominant culture ahead of his faith. Last month, his newspaper printed a cartoon depicting Jasser as the Arizona Republic's attack dog, mauling other Muslims. "Jasser is saying what they want to hear, and they publish it," he said. "I can tell you from history in this country, with African Americans and Japanese, that there are always small groups that want to associate with the dominant group and stand against their own," Ahmad said. "Eventually, the people who stand for their own will win, and the small group doesn't have any respect in the end."
Jasser bristles at the suggestion that he is pandering. "So is their point that I'm contriving this, that I'm lying about my religious beliefs?" he said. "These are beliefs I've held since I was a youth."
Jasser acknowledges that he is living an American dream inaccessible to many more recent Muslim immigrants, who are more likely to be impoverished and resentful. Jasser's parents had the skills to flourish in the United States; his mother is a pharmacist, and his father is a cardiologist. The Navy put him through medical school, and his last assignment was to provide medical care to members of Congress and U.S. Supreme Court justices. His Navy uniform still hangs on his office door, beneath a lab coat. "I have more freedom to practice my faith here in America than anywhere else in the world," he said. "I didn't bring with me baggage from the Middle East."
Growing up in the United States, Jasser became a "Jeffersonian Muslim," a believer in a clear separation of religion and state. His belief in secularism - that the mosque should devote less time to politics and more to spiritual discussions about relationships with God - causes perhaps the greatest disagreement with the established Muslim groups.
"These individuals want to convert Muslims in general to secularism," said Ahmad, the Muslim Voice publisher. "Islam is not a secular society. They want us to separate religion from daily life and politics. They want to take everything but religion out of the mosque. That's not something Muslims stand for."
Jasser said he did not want Muslims to separate religion from their daily lives. He said his faith governed everything he did - his treatment of patients, his respect for people of other faiths, his diet, his prayer schedule. But he does not believe his is a faith that can be imposed upon others. "I believe in the end, God is going to judge me by what I did when faced with this challenge," he said. "Did I stand up and try to preserve that harmony between Islam and America? Or did I actually go asleep and let the radicals ... speak for my faith?"
Posted by: Steve ||
01/09/2006 07:49 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"In the '90s, we witnessed the takeover of power in America by elements of the Wahhabi trend,
#3
My opinion has been for some time that progressive muslims would do more to change Islam by leaving it then by challenging the mainstream and that by leaving islam publically and noisily they might, maybe, do something good for their faith and for the millions of muslims who are abused by that faith.
#4
Indeed, Hooper said criticism from Muslims such as Jasser was "providing others with an opportunity to advance an agenda that is hostile to the American Muslim community."
Really?
Nice to know where Hooper and the rest of his fellow extremists stand on the subject of radical Islam.
#6
mhw: Reform in Islam is deceptive. As with everything else, the vast majority of people in any group are comfortable with moderation. But they can be swayed one way or another by a small group of extremists or moderates.
Just the existence of these moderates, their ability to survive and function without being supressed or killed, opens the door to huge numbers of other Moslems to just "not do", and not worry about "not doing". This cuts the legs from underneath the extremists.
That is why extremists of all stripes hate the moderates of their group even more than the official hated enemy. Moderates marginalize extremists.
#7
Check out a book called End of Faith. In it, author Harris suggests that moderates actually aid and abet religious radicals. If Islam could reform from within, that would be something to see, but I'll file that in with time travel. Maybe someday...
NEW DELHI â Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf accused India of arming and financing rebels in the Pakistani province of Balochistan, charges that could push back a peace process between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
"How's the other shoe feel, Perv?"
"It's tight!"
Pakistanâs army launched a crackdown against Balochistan militants after a Dec. 14 rocket attack while Musharraf was visiting the region. Baloch nationalists say 200 people have since been killed, but Pakistan has not commented on casualties. Though India and Pakistan are involved in a two-year peace process that has seen economic, sporting, cultural and transport links improve, tensions remain over Kashmir, their main dispute.
When asked whether India was backing armed Baloch rebels, Musharraf told TV channel CNN-IBN in an interview aired yesterday: âThere are lot of indications, yes indeed.â There is a âlot of financial support, support in kind being given to those who are anti-government, anti-me and to those feudal people who are anti-national,â the Pakistani leader said.
So much for the cricket match.
There's the key that he's lying. If the Indo's really were causing trouble in Baluchistan, it would be one tiny step short of war, and Perv would be positively North Korean in his spittle.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I sure the hell hope that India is giving the Pakis some quid pro quo, given the Kashmir subversion run by the terrorist entity.
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Shi'ite clerics are recruiting young Iraqis to go to neighboring Iran for political indoctrination and militia training, said the uncle of one young man who recently returned from a one-month session.
Upon the return of the young man -- whose name has been withheld from this article to protect his family -- he was recruited into the armed wing of the pro-Iranian Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) political party, the uncle said.
The claim is consistent with remarks by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, who has repeatedly warned about Iranian meddling in Iraq's affairs.
............
But, Muhammad said, "They took them to a camp and gave them a briefing on what is happening in Iraq, and what Iran is trying to do: Support the Shi'ites and help them retain power. ...
"They trained them for militia purposes -- to go out on patrol, to get people out of their houses, execute them and leave them on the street," he said, adding that his nephew had boasted about his training to the family when he returned in early December. "He was brainwashed; he was very proud when he was talking to us. He told us all the details in order to try and make us afraid. He had an AK-47. He didn't say who arranged his passport, but he is getting his orders from one of the imams in the Badr office," Muhammad said.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that he would hold parliamentary elections on Jan. 25 as scheduled after he received U.S. assurances that Arab residents of east Jerusalem will be allowed to vote in the city.
Abbas' announcement alleviated some fears that he was planning to call off the vote under pressure from members of his Fatah party concerned that the popular Hamas militant group would embarrass Fatah at the polls.
Abbas said Monday that the ongoing chaos in Gaza - much of it caused by Fatah-affliated militants - is aimed at scuttling the elections, and he told his security forces to protect that "democratic day even with force." However, Abbas' interior minister, Nasser Yousef, warned that he will not be able to secure polling stations from gunmen trying to disrupt the election.
But what are the chances of that happening?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2006 22:41 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Fatah gunmen on Saturday threatened to shut the offices of the pan-Arab Al-Arabiyah satellite TV station in the West Bank and Gaza Strip after accusing it of "defaming" Palestinian female suicide bombers and their families.
Leaflets distributed by Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, demanded that the Dubai-based station apologize to the families in particular and the Palestinians in general within 24 hours or else its offices would be closed.
"At a time when the Muslims and Islam are facing a political, intellectual, economic and social offensive by all the forces of evil in the world, Al-Arabiya has aired a scandalous and despicable film that is completely biased in favor of the executioner at the expense of the victims of occupation," the leaflets charged.
"This film depicts female suicide bombers as a group of women suffering from psychological problems and who are under pressure from males. It claims that in order to rid themselves of these problems, these women are prepared to kill themselves. They also claimed that these women were ill- behaved." The group hailed female suicide bombers for their role in "defending the people and the land," saying they had brought honor to Islam and Muslims worldwide.
The Aksa Martyrs Brigades strongly condemned the documentary and demanded an investigation to find out who had financed it and who was behind it. "If Al-Arabiya does not apologize within 24 hours, we will have to close down their offices in the West Bank and Gaza Strip," the group warned.
The controversial film tells the story of female suicide bombers in Iraq, Russia, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories.
One of the women interviewed for the film is Nawal El Saadawi, a leading Egyptian feminist, sociologist, medical doctor and militant writer on Arab women's problems.
Since she began to write over 25 years ago, El Saadawi's books have all focused on Arab women, their sexuality and legal status. From the start, her writings were considered controversial and dangerous for the society, and were banned in Egypt.
In 1977, she published her most famous work, The Hidden Face of Eve, which covered a host of topics relative to Arab women such as aggression against female children and female genital mutilation, prostitution, sexual relationships, marriage and divorce and Islamic fundamentalism.
Journalists working for Al-Arabiya expressed deep concern over the threats made by the Aksa Martyrs Brigades. "We were not involved in the film," one of them told The Jerusalem Post. "The film was produced by a foreign company and purchased by Al-Arabiya."
Saif Eddin Shaheen, a correspondent in the Gaza Strip for Al- Arabiya, was attacked in 2004 by Fatah gunmen for reporting on the power struggle in Fatah.
Five masked gunmen attacked Shaheen as he was driving to his Gaza City office. During the attack, which lasted about 10 minutes, he was beaten and his assailants fired shots in the air. One of his attackers, who identified himself as a Fatah member, said he would "teach him a lesson in journalism."
Four months earlier, on September 13, 2003 a group of armed men ransacked the offices of the same television station in Ramallah. The Palestinian Authority publicly condemned the incidents and announced the opening of an investigation, but no one was arrested.
#1
Once upon a time Fatah was the armed wing of the PLO. But I s'pose they've all grown too old now to hold their weapons firmly, and have degenerated to talking about the good old days while the young whippersnappers of the A.A.Martyr Brigades do their job for them.
#2
Has Al-A TV hired hard-nosed ex-IDF guards for their station? A couple of well-placed LMG teams would sure cut down on the "gunnie factor", I think.
#4
I agree with mojo. The way to get around thugs is to hire worse thugs. Not directly, but indirectly, let it be known that anyone who bothers you will be just thrashed later. Unexpected time, unexpected place, with no warning and no appeal.
It's especially good if your thugs have a trademark, such as cutting off a toe of the left foot. Again, nothing with meaning, but to send a message.
While recuperating, the bad thugs will compare notes and figure out who not to mess with in the future--and who to let their friends know not to mess with.
#6
If messages such as this weren't so important to kickstart even the least degree of introspection amongst Islamist Arabs, it would merely be hilarious to see this sort of rife internal dissension. Instead, the usual strident alarm is sounded regarding just what sort of blinkering we can look forward to in a world run according to sharia law.
A scan of Ariel Sharon's brain showed improvement Sunday, and doctors will start bringing the Israeli prime minister out of his medically induced coma on Monday, a hospital official said. Hadassah Hospital director Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef said Sharon remained in critical condition, but his vital signs, including the pressure inside his skull, were normal. "His condition is still serious but stable, and there is improvement in the CT picture of the brain," he told reporters outside the hospital. Bringing Sharon out of the coma is an important step toward assessing the extent of brain damage he suffered from a massive stroke Wednesday. Doctors initially planned to halt the coma-inducing sedatives Sunday but decided to wait another day after performing the new scan.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
Israeli police are to authorise Palestinians to campaign under certain conditions in annexed east Jerusalem for this month's parliamentary elections, a police spokesman says. "On orders from the political echelon, police have authorised Palestinian candidates to campaign under conditions," Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben Rubi told AFP. He did not elaborate on the conditions, adding only that a meeting was expected to take place on Monday to discuss the matter with representatives of various lists participating in the election.
Last Tuesday, Israeli police stopped two leading candidates from canvassing in the occupied Arab quarter of the city on the first day of campaigning for the landmark election, scheduled for January 25. Israel is yet to announce a formal decision on whether to allow Arabs to vote in east Jerusalem, as was eventually allowed in a Palestinian presidential election last January and the previous legislative poll in 1996.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
Bad idea. Now is the time for the government to show firm resolve in maintaining the positions Sharon staked out. Besides, it shows Abu Abbas, et al that if they fuss enough, they can get what they want.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2006 15:43 Comments ||
Top||
#4
This is another good will effort that will result in a kick in the teeth. The entire world is starting to realize what the Paleos are. If this ends up another nail in the coffin, good.
The small Falcon executive jet came down near Oroumieh, 900 km north of Tehran, according to an announcement from Iranâs state news agency.
DEBKAfileâs Tehran sources note the high importance of the dead commander who was appointed only three months ago. Their first premise is that the crash was engineered by opposition factions to president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad within the regime in an effort to stem the increasing encroachments of state institutions by his backers, the fire-eating Revolutionary Guards.
CAIRO - Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad flew to Egypt and Saudi Arabia on Sunday for talks on Lebanon, a day after diplomats said Assad had rejected a UN request to interview him about a former Lebanese prime ministerâs murder.
Wonder if Pencilneck spent any time asking for asylum, and how to move large quantities of gold from Syria?
Egyptâs official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Assad discussed developments in Syria and Lebanon at the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, but gave no further details.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal announced the Saudi-Syrian summit during a surprise visit to Damascus earlier. â(The king) affirmed the kingdomâs desire for stronger relations between Syria and Lebanon in all fields, so that the interests of both countries and security of the region are protected,â said a statement on the Saudi state news agency SPA, after a meeting and banquet in Jeddah. It gave no more details.
Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, said in November it had brokered a deal between Damascus and the United Nations to allow the questioning of five Syrian officials in Vienna. Adel Al-Harbi, political editor at the leading Saudi daily Al-Riyadh, said Saudi Arabia wanted to find a way for Assad to meet the UN team without harming Syriaâs sovereignty.
Just offer him asylum in southern Egypt and be done with it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
So what kind of plane is Assad flying these days and who does the maintenance and security? *BWHAHAHAHAH*
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/09/2006 10:33 Comments ||
Top||
Syrian President Bashar Assad flew into Jeddah yesterday and held unscheduled talks with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. The two leaders discussed recent developments in the area and bilateral relations, the Saudi Press Agency said. King Abdullah and President Bashar also discussed the situation in occupied Palestine. They renewed their call for Israel to withdraw from all occupied Palestinian land and to grant Palestinians an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. The leaders also called for an immediate Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights and the Shebaa Farm in Lebanon, as stipulated under an Arab peace initiative approved in Beirut in 2002. They also called for the return of peace in Iraq and maintaining its unity.
King Abdullah stressed on the importance of strengthening Syrian-Lebanese relations to protect the interest of both countries and maintain the security of the region.
That's the official news release. We can guess that Pencilneck was trying to line up some sort of Soddy backing to keep his nether regions out of a sling. The tit he was trying to trade for the tat would be fanning the flames of anti-Zionism, which must be old hat even to the Sods by now. I don't think he has much of anything else to offer, unless he wants to sell Syria outright to the Sods, which'd cheese off the Iranians. But maybe so, since even a genius like Bashir can see the Iranians swarming toward the precipice.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
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.
President Hamid Karzai said that a few hundred Taleban fighters have reconciled with the government and suggested militant leader Mullah Omar should âget in touchâ if he wanted to talk peace. In the context of escalating violence, including suicide attacks, the remarks by Karzai in an interview Sunday with The Associated Press were seen as a softening of the governmentâs previous policy of not negotiating with top leaders of the hard-line militia. Despite the spike in bloodshed, the US-backed leader said the Talebanâs resistance was fading although he expected suicide attacks to continue in Afghanistan âfor a long time.â Karzai said a booming drug trade presented a greater threat to Afghanistan than terrorism and endangered its future.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai says the drug trade is a greater threat to his country than terrorism. Mr Karzai says the heroin trade has criminalised Afghanistan's economy, tainted the country's image and hindered the development of strong government institutions. He has even gone as far as suggesting that it endangers Afghanistan's very existence as a nation state. 
Speaking at a mosque on the plain of Mount Arafat, 
North Korea is demanding billions of dollars in compensation for alleged atrocities against its prisoners of war and spies formerly held in South Korea, a demand which has sparked outrage among politicians in Seoul. There was no official response from the government to the unprecedented demand. But the main opposition party Sunday highlighted the North's own rights record, which often comes in for strong international criticism.
Swedish girls Malin and Amanda were on their way to a party on New Year's Eve when they were assaulted, raped and beaten half to death by four Somali immigrants. Sweden's largest newspaper has presented the perpetrators as "two men from Sweden, one from Finland and one from Somalia", a testimony as to how bad the informal censorship is in stories related to immigration in Sweden. Similar incidents are reported with shocking frequency, to the point where some observers fear that law and order is completely breaking down in the country. The number of rape charges in Sweden has tripled in just above twenty years. Rape cases involving children under the age of 15 are six - 6 - times as common today as they were a generation ago. Most other kinds of violent crime have rapidly increased, too. Instability is spreading to most urban and suburban areas.
Seems the Town Hall meeting didnât get scripted like the wanted. This was too good to not share with my Rantburg family.
NEW DELHI â Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf accused India of arming and financing rebels in the Pakistani province of Balochistan, charges that could push back a peace process between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that he would hold parliamentary elections on Jan. 25 as scheduled after he received U.S. assurances that Arab residents of east Jerusalem will be allowed to vote in the city.
Fatah gunmen on Saturday threatened to shut the offices of the pan-Arab Al-Arabiyah satellite TV station in the West Bank and Gaza Strip after accusing it of "defaming" Palestinian female suicide bombers and their families. 
A scan of Ariel Sharon's brain showed improvement Sunday, and doctors will start bringing the Israeli prime minister out of his medically induced coma on Monday, a hospital official said. Hadassah Hospital director Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef said Sharon remained in critical condition, but his vital signs, including the pressure inside his skull, were normal. "His condition is still serious but stable, and there is improvement in the CT picture of the brain," he told reporters outside the hospital. Bringing Sharon out of the coma is an important step toward assessing the extent of brain damage he suffered from a massive stroke Wednesday. Doctors initially planned to halt the coma-inducing sedatives Sunday but decided to wait another day after performing the new scan.
CAIRO - Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad flew to Egypt and Saudi Arabia on Sunday for talks on Lebanon, a day after diplomats said Assad had rejected a UN request to interview him about a former Lebanese prime ministerâs murder.
Syrian President Bashar Assad flew into Jeddah yesterday and held unscheduled talks with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. The two leaders discussed recent developments in the area and bilateral relations, the Saudi Press Agency said. King Abdullah and President Bashar also discussed the situation in occupied Palestine. They renewed their call for Israel to withdraw from all occupied Palestinian land and to grant Palestinians an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. The leaders also called for an immediate Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights and the Shebaa Farm in Lebanon, as stipulated under an Arab peace initiative approved in Beirut in 2002. They also called for the return of peace in Iraq and maintaining its unity.
