April 28, 2006: Mullah Akhtar Mohammed Osmani, a close aide to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, has been cited by Afghan President Karzai as one of the four most dangerous Taliban leaders still in the country. He is apparently in command of Taliban forces in Kandahar (Qandahâr) province. The province, which has 880,000 people, is a rugged area in the southern part of Afghanistan, against the Pakistani border. The Taliban has remained relatively stronger in Kandahar than in many other areas as a result of infiltration across the mountains from Pakistan, and tribal connections among the largely Pushtun inhabitants.
Kandahar has been the site of a rather large proportion of the approximately three dozen suicide attack in Afghanistan so far this year. Comparatively speaking, most suicide attacks in Kandahar seem to have been more effective than those in other parts of the country. This relatively high degree of effectiveness is attributed to Akhtar's focus on training his personnel. His focus on training is not limited to suicide attackers, as Taliban operations in Kandahar in general are better organized and more effective. The roadside bomb that killed several Canadian troops on April 22nd occurred in the northern part of the province, and violent incidents in the area are generally more frequent.
The increased Taliban activity in southern provinces like Kandahar has been met by more numerous army and police activity. For example, when Taliban raided a road construction company recently, and destroyed vehicles and equipment, police and troops quickly responded and caught several of the raiders. More numerous and aggressive police and army patrols result in almost daily arrests of suspected Taliban. The increased Taliban activity is caused largely by more money being given to Taliban leaders. Some of the cash is from the Middle East, but some is from drug gangs, looking to some additional security. This is very similar to Colombia and Burma, two countries where rebel groups created a symbiotic relationship with drug producers and smugglers. The rebel guns are hired by the drug money to keep the government away from rebel and drug gang activity.
The heart of the Taliban strength is not in Afghanistan, but across the border in Pakistan. Groups of up to several hundred Taliban cross the border, carry out raids and terrorism (to frighten tribesmen into supporting the Taliban) before being spotted by American or Afghan forces. Then the Taliban scatter and head for the border. Increasingly, however, there are Pakistani forces waiting at the border to kill or arrest the Taliban. In these cases, the Taliban will ditch their weapons in one of the many caves, and try to pass as a few tribesmen traveling across the border. The 6,000 NATO troops moving into southern Afghanistan are going to have to deal with this sort of thing.
Because of Taliban initiative and sometimes vigorous activity, NATO peacekeeping forces moving into southern Afghanistan, are finding that the best defense is a good offence. Thus, additional British troops being sent to Afghanistan, resulting in a 3,300 troop British force, have been told to act, not react, to Taliban activity. That will be aggressive patrolling and attacks on any Taliban forces discovered.
The Afghan Air Force has flown its first combat support missions, using its Russian Mi-17 helicopters. Next month, Afghan and American helicopters will be used in the first Afghan-Pakistani training exercise along the border. The two nations will practice coordinating the movement of troops by ground, and air, to deal with raiders found along the border. Last year, a similar exercise was held with U.S. and Pakistani troops.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/28/2006 09:34 ||
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#2
NS-so did I! Of course, the MSM doesn't recognize that there's a border war between the US and mexican criminals. Even if one or two of their members were killed, they'd still ignore it.
Most of us who served in Vietnam understood that one of the major problems of fighting that war was the NVA's use of Cambodia and Laos as refuges from war with the US and ARVN forces. It seems the Pashtuns want to try the same thing in Afghanistan. It cannot be allowed to happen. If necessary, we need to reduce the Tribal Agencies to unpopulated death zones, and tell Perv to shove it up the stovepipe when he whines.
We are at war with tribal barbarians. We're going to have to show them that we can be even more barbaric than they are in order to get their attention. A half-dozen arclight strikes along the border would do wonders.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/28/2006 14:20 Comments ||
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#3
That is essentially our problem, OP. we aren't more barbaric than they are. We are essentially Good Samaritans. It's how were were raised and how we percieve ourselves as a Nation. It just doesn't work in a war for survival. You here all the time that we can't lower ourselves to their level but I'm certain that in order to survive we have to go even lower than them. Look at the wars in the Old Testament. NOBODY took any quarter, not the futue Israelites and not their enemies. EVERYONE was killed even the women and children. We say now that they were barbaric and we are civilized but when dealing with barbarians one has to become even more barbaric to survive. I'm not sure we can do that as a Nation and still survive as that same Nation.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/28/2006 19:41 Comments ||
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Sudan's government is stepping up a military offensive in the Darfur region in a bid to win territory before an April 30 deadline to conclude peace talks with rebels, a U.S.-based human rights group said. Attacks this week on rebel-held areas in southern Darfur, using Antonov aircraft and helicopter gun ships, have displaced thousands of civilians, Human Rights Watch said today in an e- mailed statement. It urged the United Nations to accelerate efforts to send UN peacekeepers to the western Sudanese region.
``Khartoum's new attacks on civilians show the Security Council needs to move quickly on a UN protection force for Darfur,'' Peter Takirambudde, Human Rights Watch's Africa director, said in the statement.
Sudan is blocking UN efforts to send a peacekeeping force, saying it won't consider accepting UN troops until it reaches a peace agreement with rebels at talks under way in Abuja, the Nigerian capital. The African Union's chief mediator, Salim Ahmed Salim, yesterday submitted a draft peace deal and urged government and rebel negotiators to sign it by April 30.
The three-year-old Darfur conflict has killed tens of thousands of civilians and forced more than 2 million from their homes, the UN says. The UN calls Darfur the worst humanitarian crisis in the world and the U.S. government has accused the Sudanese government of committing genocide in the region.
``This is decision time; no more procrastination,'' Salim told government and rebel negotiators yesterday, according to an e-mailed statement. ``Every journey has a destination, for the Abuja peace talks, the end is at hand.''
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
What the hell is Human Rights Watch doing in the Darfur? They should be down at Gitmo making sure that the hummus is the right temperature as not to offend the muslims.
#2
HRW is out of it's league here. This is real abuse. Watch him scurry back to something easy in the West when he has to report it as muzzie on muzzie violence. Because HRW main office knows that that's OK. It's only the satanic west that abuses human rights.
Hollywood star George Clooney implored the US government to work harder to end what he called "the first genocide of the 21st century" in Sudan's troubled Darfur region. "What we cannot do is turn our head and look away and hope that this will somehow disappear, because if we do, they will. They will disappear. And an entire generation of people will be gone," Clooney said at a press conference. "Then only history will be left to judge us," said the actor, who returned earlier this week from a tour of the Darfur region in southern Sudan and Chad.
The George W. Bush administration has taken a tough line on the Darfur crisis, calling the violence there "genocide," while the US Senate and House have both passed legislation that would slap sanctions on Sudanese officials deemed responsible.
But Clooney said a louder public outcry would encourage governments around the world to do even more, and urged broad participation at rallies to be held Sunday in San Francisco and Washington. "The president wants to put a stop to it, the Congress want to put a stop it. What they need now is the American people and the world's populations to help them, to tell them that it matters that much to them. It is the first genocide of the 21st century," he said.
I worry when a mental giant like George Clooney says things that I agree with. It makes me worry I'm turning into a dipshit.
Pretty Boy's inclination is, of course, to get lots of Brainiacs like himself out in the streets with signs saying "Stop the Killing," and maybe some giant puppets. This does little but play to the participants' collective ego. If he wants to make a real difference, maybe he should think about raising money to buy the Darfur people groceries and maybe even arms and ammunition to use against their oppressors.
My own inclination is to let Rice, Bolton, and the rest handle it as best they can. I don't want to see American troops in Sudan, though I wouldn't mind seeing American aircraft, preferably B52s, in Sudan's skies. We've been watching the diplo moves unfold, and we know, even if Clooney doesn't, that it's been one of the administration's top priorities, even as Kofi and Company and the Arab League have been running interference against us.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
You go, George.
After all, you have all that experience.... from your movies.
Even a moonbat stopped clock can occasionally fall over the right position is right twice a day.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/28/2006 0:09 Comments ||
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#2
I'll be at the DC march; my synagogue is sending a contingent. Of course, if it turns into a “US out of Iraq, US into Darfur” event, I won't stay for the whole thing. Look for Congergation Beth Emeth.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
04/28/2006 0:46 Comments ||
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#3
George you and your Hollyweird pals can hire a group like Executive Outcomes and quit waiting on the UN, Europe,China and teh Russians. They plan to let the genocide go forward.
Posted by: SPoD ||
04/28/2006 1:50 Comments ||
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#4
If a leftist thinks its the right thing to do, you just know it isn't.
We have leveridge now, let's use it.
We intervene in Darfur in exchange for EU's military help in taking down the Mullahs.
#5
What Fred said, plus if Clooney was serious about intervention in Darfur he should be lobbying the UN, Russia and China because they are blocking effective action, and then when that doesn't work, advocating the US and its 'allies' bypass the UN and intervene directly.
Until he does (channeling .com) this is just his personal wankfest.
#6
Going into Darfur can be agood thing provided that we stop to be politically correct and play to the hilt the racist aspect of the crimes. WOT will be a lot easier if Muslim world is divided and non-Arabs consider salafism as a tool of Arab domination and a pretext to plunder non-Arabs be them Muslims or not. It is the first steo for them rejectoing Islam.
#8
personally i think fuck Sudan - reason being if the 'UN' thought it was so bad to remove Saddam and illegal then it sure as hell is here too! Nope you cant have it both ways. Hell iraq was the worst thing to happen to this world for 1000 years according to some of these fckwits out there like clooney so why the double standards?? No dont go near Sudan let the 'UN' and kofi try and solve it on thier own - let them have thier own little war - Infact fck it Veto any action what so ever on Sudan so nothing can happen, after all thats what they wanted with Iraq which was 100 times worse. Might teach the fck nozzles a lesson too lol.
#11
The reason the Chinese are blocking even the 'dreaded' UN Resolutions is cause of their 'oil' contracts. Just tell [this] George - No Blood for Oil!
#14
NOW you can see, brazenly and in the open WHY it is that the Hollyweird lefties get so angry with the US.
They really want to believe the US is all-powerful like the teacher at school, or the world police.
Much as they rant about hating the 'empire' and that the bully-boy US is bossing the rest of the world around, what they really mean is that they WISH the US would boss the world around MORE and in ways they'd like.
They don't want the US to act like a nation-state, using war as a tactic to further it's own security and that of it's allies.
They want the US to interfere all over the world for just causes.
They want 100% selfless foreign policy and for the US to be what they wish the UN could be. The world police.
But they are stupid because the US IS a nation, not a world police force. Funds and manpower are not unlimited. And who said you even SHOULD interfere in every injustice, even if it is genocide?
The US's number 1 priority is the safety and welfare of Americans.
Number 2 priority is the safety and welfare of Allies with whom they share defence treaties and who have promised to defend each other.
And a distant third is justice or humanitarian aims.
And that's the way it should be!!
In actual fact, the US has absolutely NO business wasting any money or arms on Sudan, despite the tragedies there, unless there is some benefit to the US or her allies in doing so.
Otherwise it is a waste of US taxpayer's money, and of US blood.
Clooney can go begging to the UN I'm sure Kofi would like to entertain his concerns.
Or perhaps he'd like to put together his own global army of justice seekers and they can run about the globe righting wrongs.
But do it on your own dime, as Judge Judy says.
It's like kids being angry at their parents for being human, and at the same time wishing they were superhuman.
#15
Nice to see the left finally saying something about this. What a pity it's about five years later than the rest of us.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/28/2006 13:20 Comments ||
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"I worry when a mental giant like George Clooney says things that I agree with. It makes me worry I'm turning into a dipshit. "
LOL! Yeah Fred, what i and people like me have been going through with wingnuts these last 5 years. There are some liberals who say, if wingnuts are for it, it must be wrong. Fortunately Hitchens has skewered that kind of thinking. Same applies here.
I too will be there on Sunday.
And I think its naive in the extreme to think that anything will happen, at the UN, in the admin, or anywhere else on this subject without steady public pressure.
You may be willing to let Rice, Bolton, etc handle it as best they can. I dont see evidence they wouldnt sell out Darfur in a heartbeat without public pressure. Your level of faith in certain officials is inspiring, but I think misplaced. The admin has been quite willing to deal with Sudan (which i dont hold against them) and have focused on genocide because of outside pressure (including, I'll be quick to add, from the evangelical community)
as for raising money, the Save Darfur coalition has been doing that - my daughter chose Darfur for the donation that her Bat Mitzvah class made in her honor. But money wont help if the Sudan govt doesnt let aid go through. And arming the none too efficient rebels probably isnt the most cost effective approach either.
Im sure we WILL be talking about Russia and China at the rally.
The notion that we should let innocent Darfuris be murdered to spite the UN is beneath contempt. Would you have let the gas chambers run to spite the League of Nations?
#17
Stamp your pretty feet, George. And they will all just stop.
Twigging yet that the problem in Darfur is the same Arab islamofascism that you protest against fighting elsewhere? Can you get your damn Hollywood heads around the fact that it's the same mob?
You can't be suggesting that we just ignore the demand by Sudan for infidels to stay out of their country - no UN forces here - and move in? To stop atrocities? Like Iraq? You must be very confused.
Clueing in to the fact that they'll anyone who isn't as "pious" or "pure" as them - muslims, christians, jooooos, hindus - anyone?
Stamp your pretty feet again and see if that doesn't knock some bigger picture into view for you.
Now for the others: WOT is primarily an ideological battle and here it is an occasion to score against islamisma and panarabism. If we pLay on tgeh resentment of Blacks (instead of going low profile in the ideology field like in Irak) we can deny the whole subsaharian Africa and part of the Bronx to wahabism.
#19
This a patent PR gesture for a "hunk" in repair. After such looney "blockbusters" as Syriana and Good Night, and Good Luck, George is on the offensive.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/28/2006 17:45 Comments ||
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#20
Eric, thanks for going, especially if it blows Arab minds: Jews for Muslims??? WTF?????
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2006 18:33 Comments ||
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The chairman of the Union of Islamic Courts in Mogadishu, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, has accused operatives from the United States, Israel and Ethiopia of interfering with the internal affairs of Somalia. Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday, he said that the enemies of Somalia have been funding local warlords in a covert anti-terrorism fight. Ahmeds remarks followed the deaths of two people who were killed after militias loyal to the countrys Islamic courts fought soldiers aligned to a local warlord for control of a school on Wednesday. The clashes occurred after radical Islamic militias seized the school in preparation for war against an alliance of warlords that holds power in Mogadishu. The alliance includes Commerce Minister Muse Sudi Yalahow, whose militia had seized control of the school building.
Many analysts believe that the radical Islamic clerics who control most of the countrys Islamic courts are trying to assert themselves as a military and political force in the country. Seeking to curb the clerics growing power, some warlords and businessmen formed an armed coalition, the Alliance for Restoration of Peace and Counterterrorism (ARPC). The militias that seized the area were the neighborhood militias who are determined to establish security. The courts are ready to stand with anyone who tries to work to improve the security in the city, he said.
Talking about a recent secret meeting between some members of the ARPC and foreign officers in Jowhar, 90 kilometers north of Mogadishu, Sheikh Ahmed accused the warlords of receiving covert financial backing from foreign operatives supporting the alliance against the militias aligned with the Islamic courts. The warlords meet with high-ranking officers from Somalias enemies, like the United States, Israel and Ethiopia. They receive money from those officers. The funds are aimed to carry on renewed fighting in the capital city, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Gosh, we'll keep that in mind - should we ever start caring what Somalia thinks.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday vowed to win the war against terrorism. Egypts security and the safety of its people is a red line no one can cross, Mubarak said in a televised speech. We will surround it, pull it out by the roots and dry up its sources. We will respond with the power of the law to any attempts to cause chaos, and Egypt will remain secure for all Egyptians.
Mubarak called on religious figures to spread a message of forgiveness, one that denounces extremism and violence.
Apparently referring to recent violence between Egypts Muslim majority and Christian minority, Mubarak also lambasted the forces of extremism and fanaticism, saying they were trying to tear at the united fabric of the Egyptian society.
Mubaraks speech comes days after the recent terrorist bombings in Sinai. Late Monday evening, the south Sinai resort town of Dahab was the scene of a coordinated triple bombing that left at least 18 people dead and over 70 injured. Early Wednesday morning, peacekeepers and Egyptian security officials in north Sinai were attacked on two separate occasions by bombers, but the only casualties were the assailants themselves.
Interior Minister Habib El-Adly has drawn parallels between the recent attacks and the ones that took place in July 2005 in Sharm El-Sheikh. The information we have indicates that (the perpetrators) are Sinai Bedouin, and the latest operations are linked to the previous attacks, El-Adly told state television.
Investigators are running DNA tests on three bodies recovered from the Dahab scene to determine whether they were suicide bombers, or whether the blasts were caused by rigged explosives, security officials said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2006 00:00 ||
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The largest-ever inspection team consisting of more than 10,000 agents has been dispatched to Shineuiju and other nearby North Korean towns near the China border to crack down on such illicit behavior as drug trafficking, anti-regime activities, leakage of public documents to outsiders and use of unauthorized mobile phones, according to sources here who receive live reports from North Korea...
...Defectors: N. Korean diplomats have to support themselves; counterfeit bills sent by diplomatic pouch...
...Pyongyang asks Switzerland to 'investigate' U.S. charges Kim has $4 billion account...
...N. Korean refugees must pay ethnic Korean brokers in China for safe passage to new homelands...
...North Korea publishes attack on Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review... Stories by paid subscription.
#2
Iff recent photos are any measure, Kimmie's boyz in the NK Armed Forces are looking thinner, stragglery, raggier, andor unhappier than last. Larger and larger groups of NorKor civilians are trying to enter China - a handful have been caught right here on Guam. HAVE TO FEEL SORRY FOR THEM.
AN Australian man allegedly tortured by British troops in Iraq is to sue the British army in the High Court in London this year. Nouri Alwan, 48, is seeking damages against the Ministry of Defence over the actions of the Royal Regiment of Wales in Iraq in 2003. Alwan was held for three days in late 2003 after being caught up in a sweep by British forces of suspected Saddam loyalists in Umm Qasr before the Australian government arranged his release.
Alwan, who has a former wife and five children in Adelaide, has reportedly claimed that he suffered a broken rib, with a medical examination at a British detention centre in Basra confirming injuries to his abdomen and rib area. Alwan also said he was racially abused and forced to stand all night, half-naked, in an interrogation block.
Alwan was born and raised in Iraq but fled to Australia in 1999, claiming persecution from the Saddam regime which he opposed. He was later granted Australian citizenship and became an active member of Adelaide's Iraqi community.
He worked in the petrochemical industry and returned to Iraq in 2003 to work for the marine and oil company Intertek, inspecting oil cargoes leaving Iraq.
AUSTRALIA'S most wanted terror suspect, Saleh Jamal, has pledged loyalty to Osama bin Laden and threatened to "chop up" John Howard as Lebanese authorities prepare to deport him as early as May 8. Jamal's firebrand comments come before his imminent rearrest by Australian police, who will use one of six arrest warrants prepared during his two years in a Beirut prison for firearms trafficking and entering Lebanon on a false passport.
The part-time butcher fled Sydney in March 2004 while on trial for five counts of attempted murder during the 1998 shoot-up of the Lakemba police station in the city's southwest. He has since been the subject of intense interest by counter-terrorism police.
Jamal was captured in Lebanon after ASIO intercepted a phone call he made to his wife. The spy agency believed the call suggested he planned to become a suicide bomber. Lebanese authorities have told The Australian they will deport Jamal as soon as his two-year sentence expires on May 8, eliminating the need for Australia and Lebanon to sign an extradition treaty.
From his Beirut prison, Jamal told The Australian he would fight every step to deport him, insisting he never again wanted to set foot in Australia and describing the Prime Minister as an "evil man". "I feel sorry for the Australian people," Jamal said.
"I love Osama bin Laden, I love (al-Qa'ida's leader in Iraq) Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, I love al-Qa'ida. I will never go against their word. "If the Australian people want me, Saleh Jamal, then they're going to cop the consequences. I don't want to go back to Australia. I don't want to see Australia."
Jamal threatened to kill Mr Howard. "If I was given the opportunity I'd chop him up too, without any doubt, or remorse, because he's a very evil man," Jamal said. "If he was just to listen to people, he'd be a better person. He was the one who wrecked Australia. "His people don't want war against terrorism, against Muslims. He's the Prime Minister of Australia, not the puppet of George Bush.
"There are 50 people in Australia who want to die (for an Islamic cause). The Australian Government should think really, really hard. "Death means nothing to these people. I wouldn't want to be in a country where sheik Osama bin Laden, may God protect him, wages war against them. "Do you know how easy it is to get 100 blokes, to talk to them for 10 minutes to do that, to get them to meet their lord? They'll destroy anything. Look at each person killing 10 people, that's 1000 people."
NSW police are attempting to mount a terrorism case against Jamal, who is closely linked to six of the men charged last November in Sydney with terrorism offences as a result of the nation's largest ever counter-terror probe, Operation Pendennis. Jamal is accused of being central to the fledgling days of the investigation, when NSW police and Australian Federal Police monitored him using a small boat on Sydney Harbour to allegedly examine the Shell oil refinery, Harbour Bridge and Walsh Bay before New Year's Eve celebrations in 2003.
He is also facing arrest warrants for his alleged role in the Lakemba shooting, using a bogus passport to leave Australia and two other attempted murder cases. But Jamal insists he has no case to answer in Australia, after his two co-accused in the Lakemba shooting were found not guilty during a Supreme Court trial last year.
Posted by: ed ||
04/28/2006 08:01 ||
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PARIS -- French President Jacques Chirac called Friday for the creation of a World Bank fund to pay the salaries of Palestinian officials, his office said after he met with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
France will raise the issue during talks May 9 with the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia _ the four key international players behind the stalled "road map" peace plan, Chirac spokesman Jerome Bonnafont said.
France and other European Union nations earlier this month cut off direct aid to the Palestinian government after Hamas' election victory. The European Union is the largest donor to the Palestinians, with aid totaling more than $600 million a year. International sanctions have left the Hamas-led government unable to pay salaries to 165,000 Palestinian government employees.
France believes aid "must be maintained for humanitarian reasons, as well as for political reasons," Chirac said before going into the talks with Abbas. "And it will push for this continuance (of aid) within the international community and notably within the European Union."
Political reasons -- that's our Jacques! And he's not even subtle about it.
Chirac said humanitarian aid must be maintained and enlarged "particularly through the agencies of the United Nations," his spokesman said. He said aid must channel through institutions independent of the Palestinian government. The French leader also suggested that more aid could be placed under the authority of Abbas, a moderate only when compared to Hamas, his spokesman said.
Chirac begged asked Hamas to respect the demands of the international community: to renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist.
#7
Oh my Gosh, I am getting a migraine reading this!!
Chirac is a moron and the French are morons for electing that dim wit.
Does anyone have any Extra Strength Tylenol?
Swedens biggest association of Muslims demands the right for Swedish Muslims to practice Sharia. Special laws for marriage and divorce, and public schools teaching Arabic and religion to Muslim children in homogenous groups. These are two of the requests in a letter sent to all the political parties of Parliament yesterday by the Muslim association.
The Muslism association represents approximately 70,000 Muslims. The letter, signed by the chairman, states that freedom of religion is not properly practiced in Sweden. Swedish common law stands above religious law. The Muslim association wants to change this. They want Islamic law, Sharia, to be allowed for Muslims in Sweden, especially when it comes to family laws.
Swedens Minister of Equal Opportunities, Jens Ohrback, is not impressed. In a comment to news bureau TT, he says that no minority will have special treatment, and that all Swedish citizens should be equal to the law. The Swedish Muslim Council, including nine of Swedens Islamic organisation does not support the demands.
#4
The recaton was a little stronger than indicated by this Sewden Radio (Scandinavian NPR?) article. The Local, whatever that is, has the following (efl)
Sweden's largest Muslim organisation has demanded that Sweden introduce separate laws for Muslims, according to Swedish television.
The letter provoked an instant, and damning, response from integration and equality minister Jens Orback.
"We will not have separate laws in Sweden. In Sweden, we are all equal before the law. In Sweden, we have fought for a long time to achieve gender-neutral laws, and to propose that certain groups should not be treated like others is completely unacceptable."
"We have freedom of speech, we have the right to opinions and we have the right to make proposals - but if a law is going to be changed, it must be the same for everyone."
#7
Hey, they want special laws for muslims, I say give 'em some. How about a sort of reversed version of dhimmitude, where thay can feel free to shut up or be beheaded on the spot?
#8
Common, chairman, you aren't just gonna sit back and take that crap from some blond-haired, gay-lovin, wife swappin' infidel, are you? Push back, and hard.
#9
This is what Swedenistan, Germanistan, Francistan, and all the other states in Europistan have to look forward to. Sympathy? Nope, none here. Stupid asses for lettin 'em in their countries.
#12
Personally, I'm in favour of Sharia for Muslims.
If they steal, cut off their right hand.
And if they commit adultery stone them to death.
Now, whats wrong with that?
#17
If you do not like Swedish law, then you have chosen your country badly. So waddle off to a country that does operate under the sharia law you hold so dear - the shining example of the bestest laws. Pack up and go find a country who's laws match your needs.
#18
I keep thinking that it won't be too long before someone in Europe says "Enough" and starts massive deportations. The first time that happens there will be a flood of followers. The non-elite Euros have had it up to the gills with the Muzzies
Posted by: mac ||
04/28/2006 19:21 Comments ||
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Arrests in Europe, of people believed to have ties to terrorist organizations, average a couple of dozen a week, with occasional peaks at upwards of 60 or so. Convictions average one or two a week. Many of those who are not convicted can be detained for long periods without charge due to surprisingly stiff national security regulations in many countries. All this is only occasionally reported in the media (whether "new' or "old"), and has very rarely elicited comment from official U.S. government spokesmen, except on those occasions when a suspected terrorist actually is released. Far more suspected terrorists are left stuck in the European legal system, which is still imprisonment, with, or without, a trial and conviction.
The Europeans aren't finding and locking up all these people as a favor to the United States. Many of these terrorism suspects are beyond suspicion, having been caught with plans, or a burning desire, for terrorist acts against European targets. While the European media likes to play the war on terror as an American cowboy fantasy, European police and intelligence agencies know better. They interrogate the suspects, and even if you don't speak Arabic, it is clear they are dealing with people who mean to harm non-Moslem Europeans. It's all kept pretty quiet, but not a secret. The politicians don't want to enrage the 20 million Moslems in their midst. But they do want to lock up the thousands who want to be Islamic terrorists.
Posted by: ed ||
04/28/2006 07:04 ||
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#1
"The politicians don't want to enrage the 20 million Moslems in their midst. But they do want to lock up the thousands who want to be Islamic terrorists."
To me this is a clear example of how Multi-Culti logic is based on a false premise. If Im to accept that the majority of Moslems are peaceful and abhor violence, then I have one question. Why would they be enraged if the minority that violently exploit their religion for their twisted ideology are arrested and locked up? Perhaps my non-progressive pea-brain simply doesnt grasp the nuance of such enlightened thinking.
#2
Depot Guy, perhaps I can explain using an old quote. "Diplomacy is when you say 'good doggy, good doggy' while you reach for a rock." Or the gun, or political backbone
The Army on Friday charged the former head of the interrogation center at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq with cruelty and maltreatment, dereliction of duty and other criminal offenses for his alleged involvement in the abuse of detainees at the notorious prison in 2003.
Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, was charged with seven offenses. He is the highest-ranking officer at Abu Ghraib to face criminal charges.
A preliminary hearing will be held when Jordan's defense counsel is ready but no date has been set, according to an announcement of the charges by the Military District of Washington.
Muslims in Los Angeles and elsewhere are being urged to join millions of Latino protesters in the streets May 1 to demonstrate in favor of leniency toward illegal aliens currently living in the United States unlawfully.
"In solidarity with immigration activists around the country, the Muslim Public Affairs Council as well as the Council on American-Islamic Relations - Los Angeles, the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, the L.A. Latino Muslim Association, the Muslim American Society - Los Angeles, and the Muslim Students Association - West are calling on American Muslims to participate in a day of action on May 1, 2006," says a statement from the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
"Islam's message is one of social justice, economic fairness, and fair treatment in the workplace. The Quran urges the proper treatment and respect of workers."
Choosing May 1, the day Communists worldwide celebrate the worker, activists have vowed to "close" major American cities as millions of Latinos, both legal and illegal, mark what some organizers are calling "a day without an immigrant" and others refer to as the "Great American Boycott." They are urging supporters not to go to work, school or spend money on that day.
"It is to show the amount of work, the purchasing power, the contributions that illegal and undocumented workers make on a daily basis," Chris Banks, a volunteer for ANSWER, or Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, told the Desert Dispatch in California.
"RealIy, it is no different from the transit strike that took place in New York last December, and they shut the city down and it was to show the value of their work the labor that they do," he said. "The labor they (illegal aliens) do for our collective well being is enormous."
The Muslim organization pushing participation is urging the faithful in Southern California to attend a march near downtown Los Angeles at 4 p.m. Monday.
"American Muslim organizations are calling for a comprehensive immigration reform that includes provisions for a pathway to lawful permanent residence for the undocumented currently in the United States, a temporary worker program that matches willing workers with willing employers, and a reduction in the current backlogs in family-based immigration to the United States," said the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
Failing to agree on an immigration reform bill earlier this month, members of Congress and President Bush continue to push various measures meant to deal with the flow of illegals into the country and those already here.
Jorge Rodriguez is a union official who helped organize earlier pro-illegals rallies.
"We want full amnesty, full legalization for anybody who is here (illegally)," Rodriguez told Reuters. "That is the message that is going to be played out across the country on May 1."
As WorldNetDaily reported, large protests held by pro-illegal-alien activists early this month actually had a negative effect on the demonstrators' cause, a poll found.
#3
Will the undocumented muslims get to wear their splodeybelts in the parade? Should liven things up. Better keep the music down tho', muzzies don't like music.
#4
This is a quality report when the first sentence runs to redundancy: "...toward illegal aliens currently living in the United States unlawfully."
As opposed to simply "illegals living here."
But then, if they had it right, there would be one less thing to make fun of.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - Jury deliberations in the Zacarias Moussaoui sentencing trial were suspended Thursday after a juror called in sick.
Must have been the turkey lasanga.
Deliberations were to resume on Friday after the juror reported Thursday afternoon that he was feeling better, a court spokesman said.
Four aspirins, a pot of coffee, hair o' the dog ...
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema called lawyers for the defense and prosecution into court for a brief hearing Thursday morning to discuss logistics in light of the juror's illness. After the hearing concluded and the judge and jurors had left the courtroom, Moussaoui jokingly took credit for the illness as he was led away: ``Moussaoui biological warfare,'' he said.
Rat bastard.
The jury must decide whether the Sept. 11 conspirator should be executed or sentenced to life in prison. If jurors cannot reach a unanimous decision, Brinkema automatically will sentence him to life.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/28/2006 00:00 ||
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NEW YORK - A day after a developer and landowners resolved their disputes, bulldozers rumbled into a giant pit on Thursday to begin construction of the glittering Freedom Tower skyscraper meant to symbolize New Yorks resilience to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Rebuilding at the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan began 4 1/2 years after the Twin Towers were destroyed by suicide hijackers who flew passenger planes into them. The 1,776-foot (540-metre) tower will be among the tallest in the world.
We are not going to just build low in the face of a war against terror, New York Gov. George Pataki said. We are going to soar to new heights and reclaim New Yorks skyline.
The site will include three other high rises plus a residential tower that will surround a memorial, museum and cultural center dedicated to what relatives of the Sept. 11 victims consider a sacred site. Construction is scheduled to be finished by 2011 or 2012.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/28/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
And the critics were bitchin' about how long it took the Iraqis to settle in a government.
· General says US air strikes infringe sovereignty
· President denies running military dictatorship
Declan Walsh and Simon Tisdall in Rawalpindi
Friday April 28, 2006
The Guardian
General Pervez Musharraf, facing a surge of anti-American sentiment, yesterday warned that covert US air strikes against al-Qaida inside Pakistan were an infringement of national sovereignty.
Admitting that his popularity was waning, the Pakistani president insisted he was "not a poodle" of George Bush and rejected accusations he was running a military dictatorship.
Speaking to the Guardian at Army House in Rawalpindi weeks after a tense visit by the US president that brought a torrent of domestic criticism, Gen Musharraf insisted he was his own man.
"When you are talking about fighting terrorism or extremism, I'm not doing that for the US or Britain. I'm doing it for Pakistan," he said. "It's not a question of being a poodle. I'm nobody's poodle. I have enough strength of my own to lead."
If necessary he had "teeth" to bite back, he added. "Yes sir, I personally do. A lot of teeth. Sometimes the teeth do not have to be shown. Pragmatism is required in international relations."
Gen Musharraf pledged to hold free and fair elections next year as urged by Mr Bush during his visit to Islamabad last month. Opposition parties fear the poll, which government officials claim will be the most open since Gen Musharraf seized power in 1999, will be rigged.
"It is ironic that I'm sitting in uniform talking of democracy ... but to bring democracy into Pakistan I thought I needed it," he said.
An American Predator drone fired Hellfire missiles at a house in Bajaur tribal agency in January, killing 18 people but missing their target, al-Qaida's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The attack near the Afghan border caused public uproar and brought renewed accusations that Gen Musharraf was a US puppet.
Local journalist Hayatullah Khan, who photographed missile fragments linking the strikes to the US, disappeared four days later and is still missing. A western diplomat said he was probably being held by Pakistani intelligence and may have been mistreated.
The strike underlined tensions in the anti-terror alliance between Pakistan and the US, which has also been strained by Washington's nuclear deal with India, its insistence on democratic reforms, and alleged American meddling in the sprawling south-western province of Baluchistan. "The strike was an infringement of our sovereignty and I condemned it," said Gen Musharraf.
Pakistan also faces criticism from the US and Afghanistan for not doing enough to flush extremists from its tribal areas. Mr Bush said he had come to Islamabad "to determine whether or not the president is as committed as he has been in the past to bringing these terrorists to justice".
Gen Musharraf insisted yesterday there was no question of Pakistan submitting to American scrutiny and said claims that his government acted at Washington's bidding were nonsense. "There is no need of any checks - that is the reality," he said.
Gen Musharraf, who faces revolts in Baluchistan and along the Afghan border, admitted to feeling embattled. He added that there was a growing problem of "Talibanisation" in Waziristan, a troubled tribal area where several hundred al-Qaida suspects have been killed.
The battle against al-Qaida was almost won in Waziristan, he said. "Because of our successes in the cities where we got 600-700 of them, and then in the mountains where we occupied their sanctuaries, thankfully they are on the run."
But a new form of local fundamentalism was taking its place in Waziristan, which is ruled directly from Islamabad under colonial-era laws. "Extremism in a Talibanised form is what people are now going for. Mullah Omar and the Taliban have influence in Waziristan and it's spilling over into our settled areas."
This week militants occupied a market in the regional capital, Miran Shah, for several hours, burning newspapers and threatening local people. Two taxi drivers accused of collaborating with coalition forces in nearby Afghanistan were found beheaded. More than 150 pro-government elders and officials have been killed in the past year.
Gen Musharraf defended his tactic of using military force instead of negotiation to quell the violence and said some collateral damage was inevitable when militants' hideouts were attacked.
"We take extreme care to be 100% sure of the target from all sources of intelligence ... There is minimum collateral damage. If someone happens to be very close to [the target], that somebody is an abetter and they suffer the loss. Sometimes, indeed, women and children have been killed but they have been right next to the place. It's not that the strike was inaccurate but they happen to be there, so therefore they are all supporters and abetters of terrorism - and therefore they have to suffer. It's bad luck," he said.
Gen Musharraf also played down unrest in the resource-rich province of Baluchistan, where nationalist militants are blowing up gas pipelines and trains and attacking army positions. He described the rebels as "mercenaries" and their attacks as "pin pricks", and said the disturbances were confined to one-twentieth of the province's area.
"So what revolt are you talking about? People talk about an East Pakistan situation," he said, referring to the secession of Bangladesh in 1971. "I understand strategy. These people are pygmies."
Criticism of his military-driven strategy came from "people who sit in drawing rooms and talk", he said, but added that a political solution was also being sought.
Gen Musharraf has survived two assassination attempts but elections scheduled for next year are expected to pose the greatest threat yet to his grip on power. Overt and behind-the-scenes US and British pressure for a free poll has become another friction point in the west's relationship with Islamabad.
The leaders of the two main opposition parties, Benazir Bhutto of the Pakistan Peoples party and Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League, are in exile and face arrest if they return home. Meeting in London this week they launched a fresh political alliance and called for western support.
Gen Musharraf said his mission was to democratise Pakistan. "My popularity has gone down ... but at this moment my country needs me. I've put a strong constitutional democratic system in place. That will throw up a successor. I'm a strong believer in democracy."
Posted by: john ||
04/28/2006 16:08 ||
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#1
Yes, it's so much better to be a leader when one is living than dead.
#3
Hey, Pres. Perv, I feel for your delicate position, I really do. The problem is: you have too high a percentage of nutcases, especially religious nuts to make this democracy thing happen.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/28/2006 18:49 Comments ||
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#4
Pakistan's Peacock Prez Pooh-Poohs Poodles, Pygmies, and Pin Pricks -- details at 11:00.
A recent convert from Christianity to Islam, Bashir Masi knew nothing of his new faith. He could not describe a single tenet of Islam, nor remember the Qalma, the Muslim declaration of faith, nor name his own children, who have adopted Muslim names. He, his wife Amna and their six children, converted to Islam 15 days ago. "We are happy now we are Muslim," said Mr Masi, 45. "It is a great religion."
The Masis's conversion is typical of the vulnerability of Christians in Pakistan, many of whom live under the threat of persecution, death and who have suffered waves of violence directed against them and their churches.
In February about 400 people attacked and burnt a church in the southern city of Sukkur after accusations that a local Christian had burned pages from the Koran. After a similar allegation last November a Muslim mob wielding axes and sticks set fire to three churches, a dozen houses, three schools, a dispensary, a convent and two parsonages. The attacks were the worst on Pakistan's Christian community since 2002, when Muslim fanatics led an assault on a church with grenades on Christmas Day. Three young girls were killed in that attack, at Chianwala, 40 miles north of Lahore.
The Masis were "invited" to convert by the local Muslim town mayor, Nazim Sahib as they call him, who doubles as the owner of the basic compound they had shared with their extended family. Since converting, the family, which comes from Pakistan's underclass of sweepers, has moved to a better house, been given a better sweeping job and been ostracised by other members of the 30-strong Christian community, including their family.
Their village is part of a sprawling suburb of Mingora in Swat in northern Pakistan, an area where an intolerant and doctrinaire interpretation of Islam is increasingly popular. They moved there over three years ago from Sialkot in the Punjab in search of work.
Some 90 per cent of the 15 million Christians in Pakistan trace their ancestry to the "untouchable" Hindu Chuhra caste from Sialkot, where mass conversions began during the 19th century under British rule. Mr Masi's ancestors probably converted to Christianity to improve their lot; now he is banking on another change of faith in the hope of transforming his family's fortunes.
However, Group Capt Cecil Chaudhry, Pakistan's self-appointed defender of the faith, contended that such conversions were not as innocent as depicted. "It is more through fear that conversions have taken place. Our community is poor but it is not easy to break their faith," he said. "After all the recent attacks the community is living in fear."
Group Capt Chaudhry, twice decorated from Pakistan's wars against India, knows something of anti-Christian discrimination personally. He was passed over for promotion by the Islamist-favouring dictator General Zia-ul-Huq. He now heads several organisations championing Christian rights and lobbies the government of President Pervez Musharraf to change legislation that is prejudiced against Christians.
He has reacted strongly against the leadership since the president buckled under pressure from Islamists and gave up plans to change the way in which a controversial blasphemy law was implemented to discriminate against Christians. "Musharraf has still some way to go - he talks but says nothing of substance," he said. Group Capt Chaudhry has also battled, with partial success, to do away with an electoral system that separates Muslim and Christian voters and candidates that means that Christians are never properly represented in a constituency.
In Afghanistan earlier this year, a man faced the death penalty for converting to Christianity from Islam before international pressure led to him being freed. In Pakistan, conversion is technically legal but those who do convert are dubbed "apostates" and often killed. Christian officials describe a large community of "secret Christians" made up of some government officials and prominent people who have converted to Christianity.
Posted by: ed ||
04/28/2006 08:41 ||
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#1
Christianity will survive. It went underground the first time it was outlawed in Rome, it will do the same here and will long outlive the currant batch of tyrants.
#3
These are regions formerly under the control of the Mongol hordes, which became Islamic in one day becuz of TAXI-GATE, i.e. Christian priests from Byzantium missed the Khan's deadline by one day.
India has rejected a Pakistani proposal that heavy weapons should be removed from the disputed Kashmir region. After three days of talks, Delhi said that it would maintain its sovereign right to decide how to deploy troops on its own territory.
"Besides, it's the artillery that keeps you guys in line."
The two parties did, however, agree not to set up new posts along the demilitarised zone dividing Kashmir. The talks are part of efforts to improve relations between the two countries.
Posted by: john ||
04/28/2006 00:00 ||
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KATHMANDU - Nepals King Gyanendra formally named a new prime minister on Thursday as Maoist rebels began a three-month ceasefire that brought hope of an end to decades of unrest in the Himalayan kingdom. The king appointed 84-year-old Girija Prasad Koirala after he was picked earlier in the week by the seven-party opposition alliance as the man they wanted to hold the reins of power when parliament reconvenes on Friday.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/28/2006 00:00 ||
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Nepals Maoist rebels declared a three-month ceasefire from Thursday and political parties forming a new government promised to work with them, dramatically raising hopes of an end to the decade-old conflict.
Just earlier this week, the impoverished kingdom was paralysed by sweeping anti-monarchy protests by hundreds of thousands of people and there was no end in sight from years of Maoist insurgency in which more than 13,000 have been killed.
King Gyanendra caved in to the pro-democracy movement on Monday, reconvening the countrys dissolved parliament.
Mainstream political parties were invited to form the government and they promised to hold elections for a special assembly to write a new constitution, reflecting Maoist demands. The rebels, after initially announcing a blockade of Kathmandu and district capitals, called off the move. The declaration of a unilateral ceasefire was the icing on the cake.
This is people power, said Gagan Thapa, a youth leader of the Nepali Congress, the largest political party. The people are putting pressure on the Maoists to leave violent means and on the political parties not to repeat their past mistakes. The people who came on the streets were neither Maoists nor members of any political parties. They are just common people who have faith in democratic values.
The Maoists, while announcing the three-month ceasefire, reiterated their demand that the parliaments first session on Friday make plans for a constituent assembly.
The Maoist demand for an unconditional constituent assembly is generally interpreted to mean it should have the power to strip the king of his title and establish a republic. But an assembly on those terms is not something the king would be happy with, and could use the Supreme Court, dominated by royal appointees, to block it.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2006 00:00 ||
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Pakistan must help prevent the spread of the resurgent Taliban militia in Afghanistan and within its own borders, the United Nations special representative to Afghanistan said on Thursday. The two countries must also cooperate instead of constantly accusing each other publicly of failing to act against the Islamic fighters, Tom Koenigs told reporters in Kabul. "The government of Pakistan is aware they have to prevent a Talibanisation of Afghanistan and Pakistan," he said. "Blaming the neighbour doesn't help, cooperation does." He hoped for a better future for Afghanistan "maybe not in the short term but in the medium term".
Pakistan had better prevent the spread of the Talibs for its own survival. Afghanistan's accusations that Pakland fails to act come in the wake of a long series of inactions, half-measures, and duplicitous denials. Should the Wazir Talibs be put down, it would go a long way toward pacifying Afghanistan, since many if not most of the Afghan Talibs are Paks. Mr. UN special representative's remarks can be dismissed as nothing but methane emanations, since he either doesn't know what he's talking about or he's too diplomatic to say what he means. Either way, he's useless.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2006 00:00 ||
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A new class of grand mafiosi sucking billions of pounds out of Iraq's vital oil sector is crippling efforts to rebuild the nation, according to an official report published in Baghdad.
The findings of the Oil Ministry's independent inspector-general painted a sordid picture of massive abuses pervading every corner of the industry, from the well-head to the petrol pump. It said that since Saddam Hussein's overthrow in 2003, the spread of smuggling had turned Iraq from a major exporter of petrol products into an importer.
"These problems have led to the loss of billions of dollars, both in direct actual losses and in lost opportunities," the report concludes. "This is robbing Iraq of historic opportunities for revival and reconstruction and of basic necessities for a ruined nation and heavily-burdened people." It calls for "radical and urgent action" to stop the abuses and punish those involved, including new legislation and penalties to make oil smuggling a crime of "grand economic sabotage".
Walid Khadduri, economics editor of the pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper, estimates that smuggling and other rackets in Iraq are costing the country more than £10 billion a year in direct losses and missed opportunities. "There is no accountability, no punishment, and it goes all the way to the top - the smuggling gangs are in cahoots with local authorities and politicians because they need protection," he said. "There was corruption under Saddam but nowhere near this."
The ministry report says smuggling has created a "new class of grand mafiosi" and a corrosive environment of corruption that is affecting everybody in the oil business and destroying public faith in politicians. The report documents abuses ranging from direct theft from oil consignments and pipelines, to frauds involving false documentation for imported petrol. Even roadside supplies of black-market petrol sold locally were worth an estimated £500 million a year to the illegal profiteers, the report says.
It estimates that 10 to 20 per cent of the refined products Iraq is now obliged to import from neighbouring Turkey, Syria and Jordan are being smuggled back to their countries of origin after receiving Iraqi government subsidies to bring the price down for local consumption. This could be netting crooks up to £500 million a year. Part of the problem is that product prices in those countries are significantly higher than Iraqi levels, which are government-subsidised to the tune of nearly £4 billion a year to keep them within reach of the distressed Iraqi consumer.
Posted by: ed ||
04/28/2006 08:33 ||
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#1
"A new class of grand mafiosi sucking billions of pounds out of Iraq's vital oil sector is crippling efforts to rebuild the nation, according to an official report published in Baghdad.
The findings of the Oil Ministry's independent inspector-general painted a sordid picture of massive abuses pervading every corner of the industry, from the well-head to the petrol pump. It said that since Saddam Hussein's overthrow in 2003, the spread of smuggling had turned Iraq from a major exporter of petrol products into an importer."
Must be implementing the program suggested by their Mexican advisors.
#2
"There was corruption under Saddam but nowhere near this."
Mitigating corruption is part and parcel in maintaining security. When the comptroller general of the GAO recently testified before the US House Government Reform subcommittee, he said significant corruption was a critical obstacle in both reconstruction and stabilization. Obviously, honest appointments to Iraqs ministries of interior can only occur after a government is formed but, IMO, there was a colossal failure to adequately plan and execute for this interim period. And those responsible for this grave blunder should be held accountable.
An attempt by Muslim clerics to close a YMCA branch office in the West Bank has exposed growing tensions between the Holy Land's dwindling Christian community and the new Palestinian government led by Hamas. Firebombs were recently thrown into the office of the YMCA in Qalqilya, a Hamas stronghold, forcing the group to move to new premises.
Islamic leaders have written to the local council demanding that the YMCA branch office close. Their letter concludes: "The presence of this office will lead to negative consequences.''
While the religious leaders were not members of Hamas, the failure of the local Hamas-run council to protect the YMCA is concerning local Christians. Hashem al Masri, the deputy mayor and a Hamas member, admitted that the YMCA's name alone was a "challenge to the city''. "I know it is not civilized to attack it, but it is a challenge to the feeling of our people,'' he said.
The YMCA has offices across the West Bank giving work for 140 Palestinians, of whom 84 are Muslim. In Qalgilya, it provides wheelchairs and prosthetics for children. This year's budget is £50,000 and if the office closes the money will be spent elsewhere.
For decades, Christians have felt squeezed and persecuted and have seen their numbers dwindle from about 10 per cent of the population to less than two per cent in Israel and the Palestinian territories. They have been overtaken by Jewish migrants and large Muslim families and have moved on to friendly countries in the West.
The election of the Hamas government adds further pressure on the community. So sensitive is the issue that YMCA leadership in the West Bank declined to speak to The Daily Telegraph.
Instead, Norris Lineweaver, the director-general of the YMCA in West Jerusalem, explained that the problem arose simply because the word Christian appears in the group's name. "It is true that we have a long and proud Christian heritage but it is strictly against our policy to proselytise,'' he said. "The problems arise because of an unfortunate misunderstanding about our role. We are there simply to help the local councils, whether they are Muslim or Christian, with any youth development programmes they might have.''
Marouf Zahran, the town's former mayor who was ousted by Hamas last year, blamed the new council for not doing enough to protect the office. "The council and other organisations did nothing to stop incitement against the YMCA."
A local YMCA worker said Muslims and Christians should work together. "We belong to two different religions but we are Palestinian nationalists,'' he said. "We live together - Muslims and Christians.''
Posted by: ed ||
04/28/2006 08:50 ||
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#3
Palestinian Christians should have sought refugee status and emigrated years ago. Christians are not safe in Muslim countries. Whether or not there are peaceful muslims, the radical Islamists run basically unchecked and will, if they feel it to be in their interests, kill Christians. These people need to realize that "tolerance" of such activity is a temporary weakness of the post-1918 West. If they push hard enough, they may force the West back to its basic nature and find themselves on the wrong end of extermination.
#6
another reason not another penny should go to the Paleos. F*&K EM
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2006 11:43 Comments ||
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#7
"I know it is not civilized to attack it, but it is a challenge to the feeling of our people,'' he said.
Frank acknowlegment that that Pals are not civilized. Glad you can see this too, al Masri. What's nauseating is your excuse that "hurt feelings" dismisses any need for civility; that a passing wind that disturbs the "feelings" of any muslim is a ticket to barbarism. The very word "christian" froths the Pals to their natural violent insanity.
Such behavour is indicative of incurable psychosis and al Masri indicates that civil behaviour will never be possible for Pals because of it.
Arabs are terrified of them and won't let a Pal anywhere near them. They know - they built them.
There is no hope for peace with this lunatics. They must be eliminated - along with the other loons who have been brainwashed beyond recovery to civil - Al Q et al. All of them.
BEIRUT - The leader of Hezbollah acknowledged giving militant Palestinian factions financial and political support, but denied arming them, in an interview published on Thursday.
Sheik Hassan Nasrallah did not name the groups in an extensive interview with the Lebanese daily As-Safir, but Hezbollah is known to have close ties to Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
"They have fighters and expertise. They can produce a missile by logging on to the Internet," Nasrallah said.
"What they need is financial, political and media support. And we do not deny that we help them on those fronts," he added.
It was the first time that the Hezbollah leader, a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, publicly acknowledged funding Palestinian militant groups - an accusation made by Israeli officials.
Nasrallah said his group used to channel weapons to Palestinian militants but stopped in December 2001 after Jordanian authorities arrested three Hezbollah members carrying Katyusha rockets from Syria bound for the West Bank.
"After the Jordan incident and arrest of a number of our brothers, the Palestinians told us, 'This is costing you politically and is a burden for the fighters. Send us the money and we will take care of it ourselves,'" Nasrallah said, adding that the Palestinian militants got their weapons from "the mafia and Israeli officers."
Nasrallah has repeatedly called on various Palestinian factions to step up their armed uprising against Israel as the only way to liberate their country from Israeli occupation. But he has denied past Israeli accusations that Iran-backed Hezbollah was directing suicide bombings and other attacks on Israelis, or that it was a key sponsor of Palestinian violence.
His latest remarks take on added significance with the emergence last month of a Hamas-led Palestinian government. The United States and the European Union cut off funds to the Palestinian Authority because of Hamas' refusal to renounce violence and recognize Israel.
Nasrallah said Hamas should not have to recognize Israel. "The people gave [Hamas] their confidence based on their commitment not to recognize Israel," he said.
Hamas and Hezbollah are both on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist organizations, but are regarded in much of the Arab world as legitimate resistance movements against Israel. Hezbollah fought the Israeli occupation of south Lebanon until troops withdrew in May 2000, but still launches occasional attacks on Israeli forces in a disputed area where the borders of Lebanon, Syria and Israel meet.
#1
There can be no Palestine without an Israel. There can certainly be an Israel without a Palestine. It is, in fact, becoming quickly more preferable to all.
No Israel - no Palestine.
No halt in violence - no Palestine.
Break agreements - no Palestine.
Very close to declaring war - Palestine eliminated. Forever this time.
NABLUS, West Bank -- Buying on credit. Selling gold dowries. Forgoing tobacco and other small pleasures. With their salaries weeks overdue and savings depleted, Palestinian families are finding creative ways to survive the Hamas-led government's deepening financial crisis. Even banks and utilities are helping out by allowing customers to overdraw accounts or pay bills late.
Experts warn that a dire economic crisis is looming.
''This month, no one paid me,'' said Kifayeh al-Ashkar, 40, who cleans houses for government workers in Nablus. ''The government can't pay the salaries of its workers, and the workers can't pay me.'' She said she now feeds her four children plain rice, and has been forced to beg for handouts of milk.
The financial crunch follows the January legislative election victory of Hamas, an Islamic militant group sworn to Israel's destruction. After the new government was sworn in last month, the Palestinian economy, already battered by five years of fighting with Israel, took a turn for the worse.
Western donors who accuse Hamas of supporting terrorism cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, and Israel suspended monthly payments of tax money it collects for the Palestinians. Without these funds the government is broke and unable to pay its 165,000 salaried workers. No one got paid April 1, and the next pay day is less than a week away.
''Life has changed drastically. I don't know how to manage,'' said Elham Yassin, 48, a teacher. Yassin, a mother of seven, earns $500 a month, while her husband, also a teacher, makes about $550. She said the family got a loan from her sister and is subsisting on bread, yogurt and other staples. ''I don't know where things are going. We don't have any savings. I'm afraid for the future of my family,'' she said.
The Palestinian Authority is the largest employer in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the loss of these salaries has rippled out. ''This money has played the role of a lifeline to the economy,'' said Samir Abdullah, a Palestinian economist. With so many people living on credit, he said, ''We will see people on the streets very soon.'' He also predicted increased hostility toward the West, public unrest and even renewed fighting with Israel if the situation continues much longer.
In an area where unemployment hovers around 25 percent, people with government jobs typically support extended families, and many private businesses rely on customers who work for the government.
Hamas officials have refused to cave in to Western pressure to renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist. Instead, it has turned to Arab and Muslim countries for help. It has raised about $70 million, enough to cover about half of the salary payments, but has been unable to transfer the money to the Palestinian areas. It claims local banks are afraid to handle the money, fearing U.S. financial sanctions.
Hamas officials say the Palestinians would rather face starvation than give up their principles. ''All of the Palestinians are standing together,'' said government spokesman Ghazi Hamad. ''The government has repeatedly affirmed that we are not going to compromise.''
But the people are growing weary. Sami Abu Atta, 33, a driver for the Public Works Ministry in Gaza, said he has quit his pack-a-day smoking habit to save money. ''I don't know what to do. Even if I want to start working as a thief, there is no one to rob,'' he said.
#9
"It has raised about $70 million, enough to cover about half of the salary payments, but has been unable to transfer the money to the Palestinian areas. It claims local banks are afraid to give them an appropriate cut first handle the money, fearing U.S. financial sanctions."
#11
You would think a 48 year old schoolteacher would know Cause-->>Effect by now. Guess not -- too busy teaching kids the proper way to wear a bombbelt.
#12
Hamas officials say the Palestinians would rather face starvation than give up their principles. ''All of the Palestinians are standing together,'' said government spokesman Ghazi Hamad. ''The government has repeatedly affirmed that we are not going to compromise.''
#14
the goal is not hunger and disease, which would ultimately hurt us. The goal is to make it so Pal security forces and Hamas operatives can live as well off handouts as by taking orders from Hamas. At which point Hamas either falls, or cries uncle.
#15
Shortsighted Lh, maybe? Pals have always lived off of handouts. That they continue with Hamas in power, only makes Hamas stronger. Hamas rules, everybody eats.
Finding money outside the handouts - work for it, create a country that is civilized, is what they need to do. Finding this impossible under Hamas is what would bring them down. Starve til Hamas falls at the will of the Pals.
#16
LH - for all your knowledge of Israel (stipulated), I find you very shortsighted on the Paleo side. They need to focus inward to find out why they suck so bad. The Israelis aren't always to blame, are they, death cult?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2006 16:44 Comments ||
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#17
Sympathy meter pegged HARD at zero. They must have mistaken me for someone who gives a damn.
Posted by: mac ||
04/28/2006 19:18 Comments ||
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#18
Different folks have different goals, LH. For example, me, I'd like Palestinians to admit that they're not a nation, and move the f*ck out of my neighborhood. Or just die off. Ain't picky.
#19
Hamas officials say the Palestinians would rather face starvation than give up their principles.
This just in ... People who have starved to death are no longer capable of upholding principles. Not that living Palestinians have much in the way of principles in the first place, mind you. But, then again, dead Palestinians are a whole lot less trouble for the neighborhood. So, stick to your principles, ya stupid f*cks, prosperity starvation is just around the corner.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas yesterday called on the European Union to continue channeling financial aid to the Palestinian people, even if it meant bypassing the Hamas-led government. The EU is a big donor to the Palestinian people, Abbas told reporters during a short visit in the Finnish capital before traveling on to France. The Palestinian people are in bad need of their help and they should continue to help in a way that satisfies them, Abbas said. Without funds I do not think we can survive, he added.
"With funds we'll be able to continue doing what we've been doing."
The Palestinian Authority has been battling with a financial crisis since Hamas took power in government in March, prompting international boycotts and a suspension of EU and United States funding.
If you decide you want a terrorist organization as your government, you really should be prepared to take the consequences.
Direct aid was halted in response to the refusal by Hamas, which runs the key Palestinian ministries, to reject violence, recognize the state of Israel and honor past peace deals.
Even thugs like Yasser profess their deep and abiding love for peace and brotherhood and all that stuff. This invariably results in a willing suspension of disbelief by the Euros, followed by a fair sized flow of cash.
The EU, the largest donor with some 500 million euros ($622 million) per year, has promised however to continue its humanitarian aid. The bloc has been looking for ways to channel its aid earmarked for Palestinians through Abbas office.
I'd send it someplace where it'd be better spent, like Cambodia or Botswana.
Finnish President Tarja Halonen said at the Helsinki briefing that the EU had to balance its commitment to democracy with the fight against terrorism. The EU of course respects democracy, but we also respect the rules that we have committed to, to be against terrorism, she said. Finland takes over the rotating EU presidency in July. Abbas was to fly on to Paris, ending a tour which also took him to Norway and Turkey.
Making the rounds, hat in hand. I wonder how much of a brick he's carrying with him for... ummm... gratuities? Zahhar lost almost a half million in Kuwait.
On Wednesday in Oslo, Abbas had called for direct negotiations to be held immediately between Israelis and Palestinians at a proposed international conference on resolving the Middle East conflict.
Yasser always used to call for peace talks when things weren't going his way, too...
Israel responded coolly to the idea, saying the Hamas-led government stood in the way of any talks.
If they're the government, and they want to kill the Israelis, what rational reason is there for "peace" talks?
Abbas said an international conference should be summoned immediately, in which direct negotiations take place, on the basis of international UN resolutions and signed agreements. I believe that to resolve the conflict, both sides should not be left alone with this imbalance of occupier and occupied.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
If you don't feed us, we cannot solve the Jewish Problem for you.
#2
Let this be a lesson about welfare. After MANY billions of dollars, the Paleos haven't gained much in their economy. Sure they have money to buy weapons, but not to build a factory to employ people. It is far easier to keep the people dependant than to make them independant.
#6
I believe that to resolve the conflict, both sides should not be left alone with this imbalance of occupier and occupied.
You are on your own, mate. Three simple changes to the Pals platform and talks are back.
Keep saying it over and over and over again. Same thing demanded of any country. Renounce violence. Recognize that Israel is a country. Don't break agreements. Such simple, basic stuff.
Until you can do the minimum required, not a penny, not a sheckle, not a dime.
#7
I don't recall billions in aid to the Joooos in retaking Israel and the kibbutzes from the desert. How about a hot steaming cup of "shutthefuckup and helpyour damnedself"?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2006 18:52 Comments ||
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The Hamas-led Palestinian government is weighing softening its stance toward Israel to ease isolation but not without concessions from the Jewish state and the international community, Hamas officials said yesterday. They said ideas such as a 2002 Arab peace initiative, UN resolutions on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the Palestine Liberation Organizations national agenda all of which include recognition of Israel were on the table. One expert on Hamas said any softening would not involve a shift in ideology, but be a way to try to get Western aid restored to the Palestinian Authority and heal a growing rift with President Mahmoud Abbas over government powers.
What's the Arabic phrase for "lip service"?
Deputy Prime Minister Naser Al-Shaer, an influential leader of the group and who is close to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, told Reuters that several ideas were being considered and would be discussed over the coming days.
No decision has been taken yet, Shaer said. It is very clear the world wants a certain political price or certain position from this government. What is this position, to what extent can this position be reached?
Added Nayef Al-Rajoub, minister of religious affairs: We are studying and considering all kinds of proposals, including the Arab peace initiative... but that doesnt mean we have accepted anything yet.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Perhaps the North Koreans can instruct Hamas in juche and recipes for grass and bark.
#2
Translation:
"Ok, how much will you pay us to tell you the lies that you want to hear?"
Posted by: Adrian Veidt ||
04/28/2006 5:10 Comments ||
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#3
the world must hold out for the Oslo terms. Why should Hamas get off any lighter than the PLO did? That means explicit recognition of Israel, including a promise to revise any group charter that denies Israels right to exist, and a renunciation of terror, and a pledge to take actions to stop terror by other groups.
NOw after that Hamas will of course fail to be effective in stopping terror by other groups, will delay in changing its charter, etc. All the things the PLO did. But thats the de minimus requirement for ANY relaxation of sanctions.
Good it sounds like theyre starting to cave, but thats not enough.
#4
One word: DISARM! As long as 7 year old boys (who are taugt that Israelis kidnap and eat palestinian children) are allowed to brandish AK-47's in the streets, it doesn't matter what "proposals" are considered. Get the weapons out of the terrorists hands!
#5
"the world must hold out for the Oslo terms...That means explicit recognition of Israel, including a promise to revise any group charter that denies Israels right to exist..."
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/28/2006 17:58 Comments ||
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#8
Oslo is dead as the proverbial Dodo (Yes, I know the Dodo existed).
Whilst Oslo was labelled a 'two state solution', it was no such thing. It was a 1.5 state solution with Paleostan an economic extension to Israel. Hundreds of terrorist attacks later that aint ever going to happen.
People pretend that Oslo is still viable because they know the only alternative is to just forget about the Paleos and let them sort out their own problems (aka let them go ahead and kill each other until the survivors decide there is a better way).
#7
#6 - Why so strange? One million sq. mile offshore Navy test range sounds like just the spot for a little exercise. The article also sites dozens of earlier lesser incidents - sounds like their fine tuning strength of the thing - eh #1?
#8
I was here when it hit - totally EQ-like. Totally Military in origin, despite the lies. I just wish they'd use this shit above Pakistan or Tehran..
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2006 18:37 Comments ||
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#9
That spot is in the general vicinity of Warning Area 291, a huge swath of ocean used for military training exercises. The Navy operates a live-fire range on San Clemente Island, which is within Warning Area 291 and sits about 65 miles from Mission Bay.
The researchers also have charted dozens of similar, if less dramatic, incidents that seem to have originated in the same general area of the ocean. They aren't sure what caused any of them.
Somebody testing mini-nukes?
Dozens of similar incidents definitely points to military activity/tests despite what the local CO might say.
#11
I just wish they'd use this shit above Pakistan or Tehran... by Frank G
Who says they wouldn't?
But my bet would be a motha of electric discharge--not the standard issue thunderbolt but rather a discharge behaving like a standing wave.
Would be nice to have the data for all the occurences (times and approximate triangulation of the area of origin--the "general area of the ocean" is too vague) then probably more sense may be made of it.
Religious and community leaders in the restive South are to be invited to help classify and cross-check thousands of names - 2,000 in Narathiwat alone - on the "blacklists" used by authorities to crackdown on militants.
Army chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin said yesterday the Defence Council has established guidelines for the Southern Border Provinces Peace-building Command (SBPPC), which oversees security matters in the deep South, to use the blacklist to tackle insurgents.
"The names of suspects should be brought into consideration for a panel to double check. Officials cannot arrest somebody just because they see their names on the lists," Sonthi said.
The army chief expressed his concern over the so-called blacklist used by authorities to catch suspected militants in the predominantly Muslim region. He said the way individuals came to be listed was questionable and personal grudges might be the underlying motive.
Reports about the lists surfaced almost two years ago with each security agency, including the military, provincial officials and police - all thought to have prepared their own versions. People on the lists were said to be targets of manhunts or summary executions by rogue officials.
A religious leader in Yala told The Nation the list affected the lives of local residents, as they feared somebody might tell officials to put their names on the list due to personal conflicts. Many of them had bribed officials to check if their names were on the list and then had them removed, he said on condition of anonymity.
Narathiwat Governor Pracha Therat, who holds approximately 2,000 suspected names, admitted some officials' informants might have entered the names of their enemies. "It's possible local politicians might have used their influence to manipulate the blacklist to get rid of their opponents," he said.
"It's better if we had more people to help screen and check before putting any names on the list," he said.
Yala Governor Bounyasith Suwannarat, however, defended the accuracy of the lists saying concerned officials, including the military and police, compared notes and double-checked before compiling them.
"It is not easy to make the lists. We have to check through concerned parties before putting somebody on," he said.
People on the list are divided into four categories, comprising suspects with arrest warrants, militant leaders, cell members and militant sympathisers, Bounyasith said.
People in the respective groups receive different treatment from authorities, he said. The first group would be arrested, while the last group would be sent to re-education camps.
A TAMIL woman suicide bomber who blew herself up in a bid to kill Sri Lanka's top general was pregnant and used her condition to get inside army headquarters in Colombo for a maternity check and to help conceal the explosives, an investigator says.
The bomber has been identified as a 21-year-old Tamil woman who is believed to have been a member of the rebels' Black Tigers suicide squad.
She blew herself up in a bid to kill Sri Lanka's army commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka inside the heavily fortified military headquarters in Colombo.
The general who was injured was in a car when the blast happened that killed 11 people and injured 26.
The attempt has lead to a number of retaliatory attacks by the government on Tamil rebels.
#3
I'm sure Planned Parenthood will blame the Bush regime's unrelenting war on women and Roe v. Wade as the cause for this poor woman having to go to such measures to abort a fetus that was surely the result of incest or rape, which is nearly always the case because sex is how the phallocracy maintains its misogynistic power structure that not only crushes the life out of women, but also the environment and minorities.
#4
The enemies of all that live, in deed and truth.
How sick do you have to be to blow up a pregnant woman?
Kill all the terrorists, and no concessions. Just like what (I wish!) we are doing to the Jihadis.
Posted by: N guard ||
04/28/2006 13:37 Comments ||
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#5
Strange, all earlier reports of this suicide bomber had her disguised as pregnant to hide the bomb. Not one report indicated she was pregnant. I suspect this item was either altered intentionally or the reporter simply didn't read the earlier releases all the way through.
Syria was back in the international firing line yesterday, facing a new UN resolution over Lebanon and a US asset freeze against suspects in the murder of ex-Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri. Analysts said the latest US action was meant to punish Damascus for its policies toward Lebanon despite its military pullout last year and for hosting some top members of Hamas, which now runs the Palestinian government. US President George W. Bush on Tuesday ordered an asset freeze against any suspect found to be involved in Hariris assassination in February 2005, in which several top Syrian and Lebanese officials have been implicated by a UN probe.
France also said it was preparing a new UN Security Council resolution to urge Syria to answer Lebanese calls for better ties, which have deteriorated markedly since Hariris killing and elections which brought an anti-Syrian majority to power.
The developments came just as Lebanon marked the first anniversary of the April 26, 2005 pullout of Syrian troops from its soil, ending a near three-decade military presence.
This measure shows that Syria is increasingly under pressure from the United States, Nadim Shehadeh, researcher at British think-tank Chatham House, said of the Bush sanctions.
It was also meant to ease concerns of some Lebanese whose utmost fear is to see the United States drop Lebanon from its priorities despite a visit by Prime Minister Fuad Siniora to the White House this month.
Also, with no potential successes in Iraq or Palestine, maybe Bush thinks that Lebanon is the only potential place for some kind of success, said Shehadeh.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Oh, no, stop it I tell you, stop it! We can't take another day of these vicious comfy pillows!
#4
"To be clear, Air America will not go silent on the New York City airwaves. We do not, however, comment on hypothetical speculation," the spokesman said, according to Mediaweek.
#5
When the Donks get into power, perhaps they can pass a law requiring stations to broadcast Air America. Then they can pass another law requiring people to listen. It's for their own good, after all.
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.
Hollywood star 
PARIS -- French President Jacques Chirac called Friday for the creation of a World Bank fund to pay the salaries of Palestinian officials, his office said after he met with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
NEW YORK - A day after a developer and landowners resolved their disputes, bulldozers rumbled into a giant pit on Thursday to begin construction of the glittering Freedom Tower skyscraper meant to symbolize New Yorks resilience to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Pakistan must help prevent the spread of the resurgent Taliban militia in Afghanistan and within its own borders, the United Nations special representative to Afghanistan said on Thursday. The two countries must also cooperate instead of constantly accusing each other publicly of failing to act against the Islamic fighters, Tom Koenigs told reporters in Kabul. "The government of Pakistan is aware they have to prevent a Talibanisation of Afghanistan and Pakistan," he said. "Blaming the neighbour doesn't help, cooperation does." He hoped for a better future for Afghanistan "maybe not in the short term but in the medium term". 
NABLUS, West Bank -- Buying on credit. Selling gold dowries. Forgoing tobacco and other small pleasures. With their salaries weeks overdue and savings depleted, Palestinian families are finding creative ways to survive the Hamas-led government's deepening financial crisis. Even banks and utilities are helping out by allowing customers to overdraw accounts or pay bills late.
