May 9, 2006: The U.S. has never classified the Afghan Taliban as terrorists. And, in fact, the Taliban were never a purely terrorist organization. While the Taliban used coercion to force Afghans to adhere to Taliban approved lifestyles, that sort of thing is no different than the pressure many governments employ to elicit compliance with laws and regulations. The U.S. government made no secret of this (the Taliban have never been found on any of the official terrorist lists), but has not made a big deal out of it either.
The Taliban escape the terrorist tag because they took power in Afghanistan the old fashioned way, by driving around with lots of guns and scaring off all the other armed thugs. While the Taliban has supported terrorist groups (particularly al Qaeda), it never carried out a lot of what you could call terrorist activity. That, however, has changed in the past few years. Since the Taliban were forced out of power in late 2001, they have been waging a low level war against the Afghan government, using tactics that are, basically, terrorism. The Taliban are also international, but only in the sense that the Pushtun tribes that support (and comprise) the Taliban live on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border.
It is believed that the United States has kept the Taliban off the terrorist list because many pro-Taliban Pushtuns have been open to switching sides. The Pushtuns are the largest minority (about 40 percent of the population) in Afghanistan, and the Taliban are almost entirely made of Islamic conservative Pushtuns. By not tagging the Taliban as terrorists, it has been easier for the Pushtuns who dominate the government, to convince many Taliban to switch sides.
No one has been pressuring the U.S. government to put the Taliban on the terrorist list, mainly because they are a local problem. If the Taliban decide to go international, which they have shown no sign of doing, then they would probably find themselves on the list. Currently, however, the Taliban are receiving money from foreign sources (apparently wealthy Islamic conservatives in the Persian Gulf.) That has not encouraged any Taliban to carry their fight to anywhere by their traditional tribal territories in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/09/2006 10:55 ||
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#1
The Talban may not be International Terrorists, but they damn sure are local terrorists.
#2
"...that sort of thing is no different than the pressure many governments employ to elicit compliance with laws and regulations."
Let me get this straight. The Taliban's use of "coercion" is on equal footing to enforcment of laws by "many governments". They use "tactics" that are "basically terrorism" but that's just really a "low level war". And the Taliban are in multiple countries and are receiving money from foreign sources but really shouldn't be considered an international organization. Whatta crock O' shit!
An alleged Al Qaeda videotape aired Monday on Arab television purported to show roadside bomb attacks by the terror group and its Taliban allies against U.S. and Afghan forces in the violent border region of Afghanistan.
The video showed a militant preparing a mine for a bomb attack. Sitting next to him on a bench was a boy who appeared to be about 4 or 5 years old, holding a pistol with ammunition belts draped over his shoulders and his face covered by a headscarf wrapped around his head. The boy sat and watched as the man, also masked, wrapped a mine in transparent tape.
The anchorwoman of Al-Jazeera, which aired the less than two-minute video, said it purported to show bomb attacks against two U.S. military vehicles and one Afghan military vehicle that took place last month in Afghanistan's Konar province, on the eastern border with Pakistan.
The authenticity of the video's content could not be independently confirmed. The footage appeared to be a propaganda video. Al Qaeda and other Islamic militant groups often post such videos on the Web to show off their attacks, rally supporters and tout their strength. The tape bore the logo of Al-Sahab productions, Al Qaeda's video-producing arm.
The tape showed what appeared to be three separate attacks: In each one, a military jeep or truck is seen driving down a mountain road, then is hit by an explosion that flips the vehicle over. The footage also showed a helicopter landing, and Al-Jazeera said the tape purported that the aircraft was evacuating casualties. No injured personnel can be seen in any of the footage.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/09/2006 04:01 ||
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The United States has circulated a draft resolution urging UN peacekeepers in Sudan to back their African Union counterparts in Darfur, ahead of a ministerial session of the Security Council on the issue. The US text was circulated on Monday as George Bush, the US president, announced that Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State, would address the Security Council on Tuesday to seek a rapid deployment of peacekeepers in Sudan. The move followed last week's peace agreement in Abuja, Nigeria, between Khartoum and the major Darfur rebel faction.
The US text would call on Khartoum to co-operate fully and allow a UN assessment team to travel to the vast, western Sudanese region to prepare the ground for the deployment of a UN force to eventually take over peacekeeping from the African Union. John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, said the aim of the draft was "to accelerate the planning and assistance both for the transition to a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur, as well as to strengthen the hand of the African Union force that's deployed there".
The Abuja accord was signed by the Sudanese government and the main faction of the Sudanese Liberation Movement, led by Minna Minnawi, last Friday. But another rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), and a smaller faction of the divided SLM, led by Abd al-Wahid al-Nur, refused to sign it.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2006 00:00 ||
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US President George W Bush has urged Sudan to allow UN peacekeepers into Darfur, and says he is shipping emergency food to the country. Mr Bush has called Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who he has previously accused of aiding genocide in Darfur, to press him to allow UN and NATO troops to take over from an African peacekeeping mission in double the numbers.
Which has precisely what to do with the accusation of genocide?
After mixed messages from his government on the mission, President Bashir told President Bush he would consider the request seriously. But he has not committed to permitting up to 14,000 troops to enter the area.
A military force of even minimal competence is the last thing he wants.
Mr Bush's move comes after the Government and rebels reached a US-brokered peace accord.
The government and some of the rebels, not all of them.
It also follows huge rallies this month in the US, urging pressure on Sudan to end the violence.
I'm sure that as soon as Bush saw George Clooney was on the case he hopped right on it...
The Bush administration originally requested $A390 million in humanitarian assistance for Darfur in its budget. Then it added $A292 million in a supplemental bill, which is snarled in Congress as senators try to add spending to it that Mr Bush considers unnecessary. Mr Bush has urged lawmakers to give the bill swift passage to provide relief for Darfur, where three years of fighting have killed tens of thousands of people and forced 2 million from their homes.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm sure this is the remains of all that aid and assistance the Katrina people refused! Albeit FEMA getting ready to slam the door anyway!
#2
1. what does it have to do with genocide - the way to stop more genocide is to put the UN troops on the gound, Fred. What does the food aid have to do with it? well it would be silly to go to a lot of trouble to stop these people being murdered, and then let them starve before they can return to their villages.
2.Bashir's already caved. With an agreement signed it will be even harder for the Chinese to veto anything. No Bashir didnt want it, but he faced reality.
3. Some of the rebels. Enough so we can go to the UNSC and say, here, the deals done, now cough up the troops. It doesnt really matter if the Judean Peoples Liberation Front is still holding out for more jobs.
4.Clooney? No. But the entire coalition, maybe. Recall the coalition to save Darfur included evangelicals, part of Bush's base. It wasnt all peacenik-lefties. Or even mainly peacenik lefties. (the DC rally resembled a Jewish youth group convention, leavened by blacks, a few lefties, a very few white evangelicals, and some Falun Gong folks)
The Kingdom is vying today for one of the 47 seats of the newly formed United Nations Human Rights Council. Sixty-five countries have announced their candidacies for a place on the council. The election is being held by the UN General Assembly in New York.
The Saudi government launched its official bid to win a seat on the new council in a letter addressed to the Secretary-General Kofi Annan on April 23. “Saudi Arabia has a confirmed commitment with the defense, protection and promotion of human rights. This commitment has been manifested in its performance as a member of the Commission on Human Rights. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia pursues the policy of active cooperation with international organizations in the field of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” said the letter.
The UN is replacing its old Geneva-based Human Rights Commission with a new council. So far, 65 countries have announced their candidacies for the 47 seats. In a bid to keep the worst offenders off the new council, the UN announced that any new member would have to get an absolute majority of the General Assembly members, that is 96 countries, voting for it, and that a pledge to uphold human rights would have to be put forward by each contender. In addition, each country elected to the council would voluntarily open itself up to regular inspections by UN officials and would submit itself to a regular review of its human rights record. Violators will be subject to being voted off the council.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Saudi Arabia does, in fact, have a good record on human rights. The problem is how you define "human". Many of us would define "human" as "any member of the human race". I think that in the Kingdom, they define "human" as "a Sunni male who has not pissed off the royal family or the clergy".
#2
I would laugh but these f*ckers are serious. Beheadings, flogging of children, lopping off arms, legs, genitalia, etc., detention without trial for years, torture of the grossest kind imaginable, mutilation of women; these are regular events in this wonderful bastion of decency. It would take VOLUMES to document the human rights atrocities committed by our "friends" in just the last 5 years alone.
All of this means of course, that they will most likely get a seat.
ISNBy Simon Saradzhyan in Moscow for ISN Security Watch (09/05/06)
Over the past few years, at least four Russian soldiers serving in a military unit guarding a weapons-grade plutonium facility in Siberia have killed themselves, and a fifth was only narrowly prevented from committing a ritual suicide. The situation underscores the insufficient screening of recruits charged with securing nuclear facilities and the possibilities for nuclear sabotage by terrorists or disgruntled insiders may pose to Russia.
Anatoly Borgoyakov on 14 April became the fourth serviceman of Unit No 3377, which guards the Zheleznogorosk Mining and Chemical Combine in Krasnoyarsky Krai, to commit suicide in less than three years. Private Borgoyakov hanged himself in the unit's barracks, where servicemen patrol the outside security perimeter around the combine, according to Russia's Vremya Novostei daily. The combine operates a spent nuclear fuel storage facility and a reactor designed to produce weapons-grade plutonium, according to the web site of Norwegian-based ecological watchdog - Bellona.
Borgoyakov's body was found by fellow servicemen. The local branch of the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office was investigating his death as a suicide as of late April, and there were no signs of foul play or that he had been driven to kill himself by other servicemen, as it has been often the case in a Russian army plagued by violent hazing. Servicemen of this Interior Troops unit testified that Borgoyakov was withdrawn and taciturn in what perhaps was the result of the fact that his mother died of alcohol poisoning, his father was an alcoholic, and two of his brothers were serving prison terms, according to Vremya Novostei daily newspaper on 19 April. His psychological condition was so unstable that the unit's psychiatrist recommended that Borgoyakov be suspended from arms altogether, according to the daily in an article headlined: "Nuclear Facility Is Guarded by 'Psychos'."
The daily quoted the unit's deputy commander, Sergei Ponamoryov, as estimating that 65 of his guards' "psychological health raises concerns". At least, three other servicemen in the same unit have committed suicide in the past three years, though different local news agencies disagree on the figure.
In 2004, one of the unit's soldiers killed himself and a second attempted to kill himself, according to an 18 April report from Interfax news agency. The latter had belonged to a totalitarian sect before conscription and was planning a ritual suicide, but commanders learned of his plans and sent him to a psychiatric clinic, according to Vremya Novostei.
In the fall of 2005, two other servicemen in the same unit committed suicide three days apart. One of them hanged himself on a belt on the premises of the unit, while the second hanged himself in an apartment building outside the unit's territory, according to Interfax. However, according to a November 2005 report by RIA-Novosti news agency, as many as five servicemen in the same unit killed themselves last year alone. The news agency cited local legislator Yuri Shvytkin as the source of that figure. Last year also saw one guard from the unit shoot dead one of his fellow soldiers and wound another.
According to Vremya Novostei, "tens of servicemen" die in this unit every year due to a variety of reasons, including accidental shooting. The daily said that reports from "numerous inspections" of the unit showed that the servicemen worked and lived in harsh conditions in the far-flung province and speculated that those conditions, rather than hazing, had led to the series of suicides.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve ||
05/09/2006 09:03 ||
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The Chinese government wants Albania to return five Chinese Muslims, saying they are terrorists, not political refugees. The United States recently released the five men from its prison at Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba. They arrived in Albania last week seeking asylum. There are fears the men, who are from the Uighur ethnic minority group, could face torture and execution if returned to China.
The freed men are among at least a dozen Chinese Uighurs detained by U.S. security forces in the aftermath of the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.
U.S. authorities did not send them back to China because of fears they would face persecution. However, Washington did not grant them asylum. Several other countries also declined to offer them shelter. Eventually, predominantly Muslim Albania agreed to take them.
That decision has upset China, which says the men were part of a separatist group fighting to create an independent Uighur homeland in Xinjiang province. On Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao repeated Beijing's demand that the five be returned to China.
"The East Turkistan terrorist force is part of international terrorism and has close relations to al Qaida and the Taleban," said Liu. "This act by the U.S. and Albania strongly violates international law and relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions. We express our strong dissatisfaction and opposition to it."
However, political scientist Barry Sautman at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology thinks China will do little more than issue a request for extradition and then drop the issue. He says if the men were returned to China it would place the country's judiciary under unwanted international scrutiny.
AROUND 30 houses have been evacuated after a suspicious explosive device was found at a home in Brisbane's north.
The device, said to be large and weighing about 25kg, was found at a house in Windrest Avenue, Aspley during a police search at 6.45pm (AEST) yesterday, police said.
Neighbours in surrounding streets have been evacuated while specialist police investigate the scene.
A 40-year-old man has been charged with one count of fraud in relation to the incident.
A police spokeswoman could not elaborate on the nature of the device, nor how the charge related to the matter.
The man is expected to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court this morning.
THE European Union should create a special reaction corps to deal with disasters such as the Asian tsunami of 2004, when its crisis-management abilities were found lacking, an official report urged today.
The report also called on the bloc to provide better help to its citizens caught up in such disasters, such as pooling national consular services vital to identifying and repatriating victims.
"I hope it won't take another disaster or tsunami to get this implemented. It all depends on the political will," said former French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, who was commissioned by the EU to produce the report.
Mr Barnier said the corps should be drawn from existing crisis management personnel made available by member states. He did not say how large it should be, but in the past has spoken of a corps totalling 5000 experts, including firefighters, technicians and medics.
The timetable set out by Mr Barnier proposed the launch of the corps by 2010, slower than sought by some EU officials. EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said last year it would be good to have the unit set up by next year.
Within weeks of the December 26, 2004 tsunami, which claimed over 200,000 lives, the EU and its member states pumped billions of euros of aid into the region, not counting donations from private citizens and debt-easing pacts with affected countries.
But while a US aircraft carrier in the region rushed in to start distributing aid, the EU was seen as slow to offer help on the ground in the critical days after the wave.
EU officials acknowledged problems in coordinating national offers of aid, while some EU countries did not have the consular presence necessary to help their own citizens.
Mr Barnier's report also suggested the bloc create mobile teams of consular experts to be flown in to help in crises and joint EU funding to pay for the evacuation of victims.
The proposal is the latest effort by the EU to plough ahead with integration despite the uncertain future of the EU constitution, rejected by French and Dutch voters last year.
That charter included a clause obliging EU states to come to each others' aid in natural disasters and would have created the new post of EU foreign minister intended to make member states work more closely together internationally.
#1
...Yeah, no doubt they'll just fund the hell right outta that. Should be no problem getting the heavy sealift and airlift they need, right? Lotsa places in the EU still make that stuff.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/09/2006 17:59 Comments ||
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#2
Well, Mike, that is why the EU has USA on speed dial for 911 calls.
#4
"Mr Barnier's report also suggested the bloc create mobile teams of consular experts to be flown in to help in crises"
Experts in condom distribution, multiculturalism, sensitivity training, and training new legions of indigenous bureaucrats to fill out applications for EU aid.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/09/2006 19:32 Comments ||
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#6
EU 'needs disaster-reaction corps'
maybe your cops would qualify if if you quit tying them up ...oh...overseas??? Whoop!
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/09/2006 19:44 Comments ||
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#7
He did not say how large it should be, but in the past has spoken of a corps totalling 5000 experts, including firefighters, technicians and medics.
Sounds to me like crew of a USN aircraft carrier. They have firefighters, technicians, medics (including doctors). They also have the ability to make several thousand gallons of fresh water a day. And the helicopters to deliver it.
#8
Ummm, I was on three different ships, none nearly as large as any aircraft carrier, and we had the capability of making several thousand gallons of fresh water per hour, not per day
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/09/2006 21:17 Comments ||
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I thought the EU was a disaster reaction corps. I just thought they weren't very good at it...
A German reader informs us that it is not just the Catholic Church that has its quislings selling out to the Muslims. On Palm Sunday (9 April) a Protestant church in Bochum/Germany celebrated MuhammadÂ’s birthday. The church invited the local Turkish community and the Turkish Consul, Munis Dirik, to attend the service. A Turkish music band played sufi music during the service, in which Protestants and Muslims joined together in honour of Muhammad.
In his sermon, Fred Sobiech, the protestant vicar, tried to link the figures of Muhammad and Jesus, saying: “Today we remember the birth and life of Muhammad and the beginning of the week of the passion of Christ, leading to Good Friday, the day Jesus of Nazareth was crucified.”
Coming soon our special celebration of that monument of human justice, Josef Stalin followed by that other wonderful humanitarian Pol Pot.
#1
This may have been a LOT harder for the Turkish Sufis to attend. Remember that they have to put their lives on the line to have anything to do with Christians. Being Sufis, the Turkish Islamists in Germany are probably in apopletic rage at them for this.
Do not be surprised if some of them get killed over this.
#2
Hey Fred, why not include a few of these quick facts about good ole Mohammad while you're at it?
ON WOMEN
Women are deficient in mind and religion.
Yep, quite a guy.......
Mohammed asked some women, "Isn't the witness of a woman equal to half that of a man?" The women said, "yes," He said, "This is because of the deficiency of the woman's mind. " Vol. 3:826
Mohammed to women: "I have not seen any one more deficient in intelligence and religion than you." Vol. 2:541
The majority of people in hell are women.
Mohammed said, "I was shown the Hell-fire and that the majority of its dwellers are women. " Vol. 1:28, 301; Vol. 2:161; Vol. 7:124
Women are a bad omen.
Mohammed said, " Bad omen is in the woman, the house and the horse." Vol. 7:30
Women are harmful to men.
Mohammed said, "After me I have not left any affliction more harmful to men than women." Vol. 7:33
Women may not wear wigs.
Mohammed said, " Don't wear false hair for Allah sends His curse upon such ladies who lengthen their hair artificially." Vol. 7:133
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ON SEX AND MARRIAGE
Mohammed's sexual strength is equal to 30 men.
Anas said, "The prophet used to visit all his wives in an hour round, during the day and night and they were eleven in number." I asked Anas, "Had the prophet the strength for it?" Anas replied, "We used to say that the prophet was given the strength of thirty (men). " Vol. 1:268
Mohammed married a 9 year old girl.
"Narrated Aisha that the prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old."Vol. 7:64
Allah hurries to please Mohammed's sexual desires.
When the Quranic verse that allows Mohammed to postpone the turn of any wife was revealed, and when Mohammed said that Allah allowed him to marry his adopted son's wife, Aisha (one of his wives) told him, "O Allah's Apostle I do not see but that your Lord hurries in pleasing you. " Vol. 7:48
When a woman is divorced irrevocably, she can not return to her husband until she marries (including having sexual intercourse) with another man.
"Narrated Aisha: The wife of Rifaa Al-Qurazi came to Allah's Apostle and said, 'O Allah's Apostle, Rifaa divorced me irrevocably. After him I married Abdur-Rahman bin Az-Zubair Al-Qurazi who proved to be impotent.' Allah's Apostle said to her, 'Perhaps you want to return to Rifaa? Nay (You cannot return to Rifaa) until you and Abdur-Rahman (the impotent man) engage in sexual intercourse!" Vol. 7:186
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ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Islam is to be imposed by force.
Mohammed said, "I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah, and whoever says, " None has the right to be worshipped but Allah , his life and property will be saved by me." (otherwise it will not). Vol. 4:196
Apostasy is punishable by death.
Mohammed said, "Whoever changes his Islamic religion, kill him." Vol. 9:57
A Muslim must not be killed if he kills a non-Muslim.
Mohammed said, " No Muslim should be killed for killing a Kafir" (infidel). Vol. 9:50
Ethnic cleansing is practiced.
Mohammed said to the Jews, "You should know that the earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle (Mohammed) and I want to expel you from this land (The Arabian Peninsula), so, if anyone owns property, he is permitted to sell it." Vol. 4:392
Mohammed's last words at his deathbed were: "Turn the pagans (non-Muslims) out of the Arabian Peninsula." Vol. 5:716
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ON ETERNAL SECURITY
No assurance of Salvation.
Mohammed said. "By Allah, though I am the apostle of Allah, yet I do not know what Allah will do to me." Vol. 5:266
God punishes a deceased if his relatives weep.
Mohammed said, "The deceased is punished because of the weeping of his relatives." Vol. 2:375
When you speak badly about a deceased, the deceased will go to hell.
Mohammed said, "You praised this, so Paradise has been affirmed to him, and you spoke badly of this, so hell has been affirmed to him. You people are Allah's witnesses on earth." Vol. 2:448
Urine on your clothes will bring punishment from God.
Mohammed said, "The deceased person is being tortured in the grave not for a great thing to avoid, it is for being soiled with his urine. " Vol. 2:460
Holy war (Jihad) is a guarantee of heaven.
Mohammed said, "The person who participates in (Holy battles) in Allah's cause and nothing compels him to do so except belief in Allah and His Apostle, will be recompensed by Allah either with a reward, or booty (if he survives) or will be admitted to paradise (if he is killed). " Vol. 1:35
ON MEDICINE
Drinking camel's urine will make you healthy.
"The prophet ordered them to follow his camels, and drink their milk and urine , so they followed the camels and drank their milk and urine till their bodies became healthy." Vol. 7:590
Fever is from the heat of hell.
Mohammed said, " Fever is from the heat of hell, so put it out (cool it) with water." Vol. 7:619
A fly in your drink is a cure.
Mohammed said, "If a housefly falls in the drink of anyone of you, he should dip it (in the drink), for one of its wings has a disease and the other has the cure for the disease. " Vol. 4:537
How the baby's looks are determined.
Mohammed said, "As for the child, if the man's discharge precedes the woman's discharge, the child attracts the similarity of the man, and if the woman's discharge precedes the man's, then the child attracts the similarity of the woman." Vol. 5:275
ON MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS
If you eat garlic don't come to the place of worship.
Mohammed said, "Whosoever ate from this plant (i.e. garlic) should not enter the mosque." Vol. 1:812
Effect of the evil eye.
Mohammed said, "The effect of an evil eye is a fact. " Vol. 7:636
Which shoe you should put on first.
Mohammed said, "If you want to put on your shoes, put on the right shoe first, and if you want them off, take the left one first." Vol. 7:747
Breathing in your drink is bad.
Mohammed said, "Don't breath into your drinking utensil." Vol. 1:156
God frightens his devotees with eclipses.
Mohammed said, "The sun and the moon are two signs amongst the signs of Allah and they do not eclipse because of the death of someone but Allah frightens His devotees with them. " Vol. 2:158
Satan urinates in people's ears, when they don't wake up for prayer.
Narrated Abdullah: the prophet was told that a person had kept on sleeping till morning and had not got up for the prayer. The prophet said, "Satan urinated in his ears." Vol. 2:245
Yawning is from Satan.
The prophet said, "Yawning is from Satan and if anyone of you yawns, he should check his yawning as much as possible, for if anyone of yuo (during the act of yawning) should say: "Ha", Satan will laugh at him." Vol. 2:158
Stars are missiles which God uses to hit the devils.
The creation of stars is for three purposes, i.e., as decoration of the sky, as missiles to hit the devils, and as signs to guide travelers. Vol. 2:158
#10
Mohammed said, "You praised this, so Paradise has been affirmed to him, and you spoke badly of this, so hell has been affirmed to him. You people are Allah's witnesses on earth." Vol. 2:448
Well that does it, absolutely NO Muslim is going to Heaven.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/09/2006 21:22 Comments ||
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Gen. Michael V. Hayden isn't the first active-duty military officer tapped to lead the CIA -- he is in fact the fifth -- but many intelligence experts and officers have bemoaned the idea of a general leading the agency at a time when the Pentagon is expanding its ability to engage in global spying and man-hunting, traditional realms of the CIA.
Despite such qualms, intelligence specialists say Hayden's appointment may turn out to be a clever move by intelligence czar John D. Negroponte to help him assert authority over Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and his burgeoning intelligence bureaucracy. Negroponte, who by law oversees all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, has expressed frustration that he has not made more progress in managing the agencies under the Defense Department's jurisdiction.
Negroponte was mindful of the issue yesterday as Hayden was officially nominated. "To those who raise a question about the fact that Mike Hayden wears the uniform," Negroponte said in announcing his nomination, "I think they can also be assured that Mike Hayden is a very, very independent-minded person, blunt-spoken. . . . I don't think [he] will have any difficulty whatsoever staking out positions that are independent."
The intelligence overhaul that installed Negroponte as the first director of national intelligence also assigned the CIA the role of managing all "human intelligence" -- or spying -- including the collection done by the Defense Department, which many experts believe is trying to break out on its own in this arena.
"The concern about Hayden is not really about Hayden, it's about Rumsfeld and Cheney," said one former senior intelligence officer, referring to Vice President Cheney's strained relationship with the CIA and allegations that he used Pentagon-gathered information on Iraq's weapons because it comported with his personal view on Iraq.
"Hayden seems to be one of those guys who will, without hesitation, stand up to anyone with whom he disagrees," said Mackubin T. Owens, professor of national security studies at the Naval War College. "He's out of Rumsfeld's reach."
The CIA establishment views the encroachment of the Pentagon into such sensitive areas as covert operations and human intelligence as a misguided effort that does not recognize the inherent difficulties in understanding, much less penetrating, terrorist networks.
"If the military's calling the shots, you're not going to get the focus on Manchester, England [where the London bombers came from], or the Montreal axis," a reference to the crossroads for a group of al-Qaeda figures, the former intelligence official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the upcoming debate on Hayden's nomination.
But the military's frustration with the CIA -- including not having enough terrorist targets identified for attack in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere -- is at least in part behind Rumsfeld's expansion of military intelligence capabilities. Rumsfeld has moved hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of troops into clandestine intelligence collection and analysis. With little public discussion and a wall of secrecy, the military is poised to launch its own intelligence-gathering and man-hunting operations independent of the CIA or other authorities.
"When you're not getting what you want, the bureaucratic response is to create your own [bureaucracy], not because you want different answers, but because you want answers," said Owens.
Managed by Army Lt. Gen. Lee Blalack , a legendary special operations officer who now holds the title of deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence and warfighting support, the Pentagon is demanding that the CIA share its most sensitive databases, that small teams of undercover soldiers be allowed to secretly collect information in friendly countries, and that clandestine teams of military man-hunters be allowed to sneak into countries with which the United States is not at war to kill or capture terrorism suspects.
But Hayden, an Air Force four-star general, has already taken steps and positions aimed at enhancing the CIA's leadership in human intelligence.
Although he comes from the world of high-tech signals intelligence, Hayden was an early proponent of scaling back the CIA's responsibilities so it could concentrate on human intelligence. As Negroponte's deputy, he helped reshape the CIA's directorate of operations into the National Clandestine Service, an effort that many CIA officers applauded.
Hayden's expected appointment of Stephen R. Kappes for a leadership role was seen as another indication that Negroponte and Hayden believe that experienced spies are the key to strengthening the CIA's ability to track down terrorists and go after other difficult targets. Kappes headed the CIA's operations branch until he resigned in a dispute with then-Director Porter J. Goss's chief of staff.
Former and current intelligence officers say Goss never had a strategic plan for improving spying on terrorist networks. Kappes, on the other hand, had slowly begun to put his ideas, gained through 23 years of experience around the world, into action. Part of that plan called for deepening ties with foreign intelligence services.
As director of the National Security Agency, Hayden sought to enhance relations with foreign intelligence services.
The CIA, with the help of its foreign partners, has been responsible for capturing or killing nearly all the key al-Qaeda figures since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/09/2006 04:19 ||
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cursory glance at the CIA and the Military brouhaha. [please fact check as I just thru this together]
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
7 Oct. 1950-9 Feb. 1953 - General Walter Bedell Smith, USA
26 Feb. 1953-29 Nov. 1961 - Allen W. Dulles
29 Nov. 1961-28 Apr. 1965 - John A. McCone
28 Apr. 1965-30 Jun. 1966 - Vice Admiral William F. Raborn, Jr., USN (Ret.)
10 May 1995-15 Dec. 1996 - John M. Deutch [Clinton's Piece of shit born in Belgium]
11 Jul. 1997-11 Jul. 2004 - George J. Tenet
24 Sep. 2004-21 Apr. 2005 [position disestablished, no more DCI] - Porter J. Goss
All served in the Military or were in the Military when appointed to the CIA, with the exception of Dulles, Schlesinger, Colby, Webster, Woolsey, Tennet, Gates, and......
#3
Remember - Motherly Leftism-Socialism, Governmentism-Bureaucratism, Totalitarianism, and Communism, etc. is the Failed/Angry Lefts solution to the MSM/Leftpert-verified local, national, societal, and geopolitical probs wrought by defective dishonest unreliable Tweeny misguided Motherless Parent-less Male Brute delinquent, etal. GOP-Right/Conservative
FASCIST SOCIALISM. Dubya, the GOP, and mistaken = wilfum imperialist America, AND ONLY THESE, must get the blame for America fighting for empire = error-filled Rightist-led Socialist Amerika losing its empire. The cowardly chicken-little = smart/John Wayne, "Damn the Torpedoes", always blameless, always PC and hyper-PC RINO CINO Failed Left > its not Communism or LeftSocialism, but "ANTI-FASCISM"!?
By picking Air Force Gen. Michael V. Hayden as the next CIA director, President Bush faces another brawl over his controversial program to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists — including people on American soil — without court approval.
But far from fearing such a fight, the White House walked right into it by nominating the program's leading defender to head the spy agency.
Administration allies said Monday that by reviving debate over the spy program, which Hayden oversaw when he led the National Security Agency, his nomination would provide a welcome opportunity to reopen a tried-and-true election-year playbook in which Republicans attempt to portray Democrats as weak on national security.
"We welcome that debate," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), one of the White House's closest Capitol Hill allies, in a statement released Monday. "If the president's opponents hope to argue that we're doing too much to prevent terrorism, that the intelligence agencies are fighting too hard against terrorists around the world, then we look forward to taking that debate to the American people."
Still, there were signs Monday that the White House might have miscalculated. Rather than Democrats leading the charge against Hayden, some of the most vocal opposition came from Republicans — including steadfast White House backers such as House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), who will lead Hayden's confirmation hearings, so far has declined to endorse him.
Those unexpected developments further underscored Monday how difficult Bush is finding it to govern with approval ratings that have dropped to the low 30s. And they muddied the message being promoted by White House strategist Karl Rove, who recently predicted that the terrorist wiretapping program would help portray Democrats as operating with a "pre-9/11 mind-set."
The political calculations over Hayden's nomination reflected the uneasy terrain facing Republicans just six months before voters decide whether to keep the GOP in control of Congress. White House strategists are angling to exploit the party's traditional strength on national security, but some Republicans are wary of being tied too closely to a president whose approval ratings seem to drop by the day.
A new Gallup survey for CNN and USA Today, released Monday, showed Bush's approval at an all-time low of 31% — with the president winning approval from barely a majority of conservatives.
The NSA program emerged as a hot political issue in December, when the New York Times revealed its existence.
Democrats and civil libertarians have attacked the program under which the NSA, without court warrants, monitors phone conversations and e-mail traffic of suspected terrorists communicating with people inside the United States. Critics charged that the administration could use the program to illegally spy on U.S. citizens.
The program also has drawn fire from some Republicans, including Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who said the Hayden nomination might renew the chance to investigate whether the NSA program violates constitutional privacy protections.
But Republican strategists on Monday said the White House's decision to nominate Hayden, despite a certain fight over the program, reflected administration thinking that the fall elections will be won in part by motivating the traditional conservative base, using the same focus on national security that succeeded in 2002 and 2004.
Their formula, they said, included tagging Democrats as soft on terrorism and seizing on statements by liberals such as Sen. Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.), who proposed censuring Bush over the NSA program. A mass e-mail sent in March by the Republican National Committee slamming Feingold received the highest response rate of any RNC message since the nomination of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
David Winston, a GOP pollster who works with congressional Republicans, said Hayden's presence in the spotlight will emphasize the fact that the NSA program was targeting suspected members of Al Qaeda, undercutting Democratic opposition to the program.
"The thought there was that getting him up in front of people, constantly reiterating that this was targeting calls to and from Al Qaeda, was a good debate" that would benefit Republicans, Winston said.
But some analysts said Monday that such a strategy comes with risks, particularly at a time when the public is increasingly disapproving of GOP leadership.
Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, pointed to his organization's recent surveys showing that the public was evenly divided on the NSA program, suggesting that while the program might not hurt the GOP, it wouldn't necessarily help, either.
Ralph G. Neas, president of the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way, said that the voting public was no longer prepared to give Bush the benefit of the doubt on national security. "There's no question they got a lot of mileage in 2002 and 2004 out of scaring the bejeebers out of people, but this time the public is too aware about what Rove and the president are trying to do," Neas said.
Still, some Democrats quietly worried Monday that their party might help the GOP by making an issue of the spy program. The censure call by Feingold and the refusal over the weekend by House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) to rule out an impeachment vote against Bush risked galvanizing a conservative base that at the moment appears decidedly unenthusiastic. Pelosi probably would be speaker if Democrats took control of the House.
Even so, Monday's events underscored tensions among Republicans.
The White House faced complaints from GOP lawmakers that they were not properly consulted on the Hayden nomination, raising questions about whether a recent staff shake-up at the White House was having any effect on warming chilly relations with lawmakers. A spokesman for Hastert, for example, said the speaker was "informed" but not consulted.
Such complaints seem to be increasingly common at a time when many Republicans are more inclined to appear independent from their president rather than march in lock step.
Asked Monday if he was surprised that so many Republicans were challenging the administration's CIA choice, Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), facing a tough reelection of his own, said: "These days? No."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/09/2006 03:56 ||
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A federal magistrate judge yesterday recommended rejecting a petition by the sole remaining enemy combatant being held on U.S. soil, finding that Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri had not offered persuasive evidence rebutting the government's allegations against him.
Marri, a Qatari national, has been held in a military brig in South Carolina since being accused in June 2003 of being an al-Qaeda "sleeper" agent sent to the United States to mount attacks after the Sept. 11, 2001, jetliner hijackings. Marri has filed a petition in federal court alleging that he is being held unlawfully and deprived of rights of due process.
But in a sharply worded 16-page report, Magistrate Judge Robert C. Carr of the U.S. District Court of South Carolina upbraided Marri for declining to address detailed allegations contained in a declassified government report outlining his alleged links to al-Qaeda.And here comes da judge!
"The petitioner's refusal . . . is either a sophomoric approach to a serious issue, or worse, an attempt to subvert the judicial process and flout due process," Carr wrote. "The petitioner has squandered his opportunity to be heard by purposely not participating in a meaningful way."
Although Carr's recommendation is not binding -- a higher-ranking judge will issue a final ruling -- it counts as a significant victory for the government, which had opposed releasing details of the allegations against Marri.
Marri, an immigrant who enrolled at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., remains the last person in the United States designated an enemy combatant. A second combatant, Yaser Esam Hamdi, has been deported to Saudi Arabia, while a third, U.S. citizen Jose Padilla, has had his case transferred to a criminal court.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - Convicted Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui says he lied on the witness stand about being involved in the terrorist plot and wants to withdraw his guilty plea and go to trial.
"Ummm... That didn't go the way I expected it to. Can we do it over again?"
The judge turned him down.
"Piss off, Zack. You had yer trial!"
Good. Turn him down with prejudice.
Moussaoui said he was ``extremely surprised'' that he was sentenced to life in prison instead of execution and now believes he can get a fair trial from an American jury.
Surprise wasn't quite the reaction most of us had.
In a motion filed Monday, Moussaoui said he testified on March 27 that he was supposed to hijack a fifth plane on Sept. 11, 2001, and fly it into the White House ``even though I knew that was a complete fabrication.''
"I mean, I'm an Arab. We're not very good with the truth. But I'm telling the truth now. Really I am."
A federal court jury spared the 37-year-old Frenchman the death penalty last Wednesday. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema gave him six life sentences, to run as two consecutive life terms, in the federal slammer supermax prison at Florence, Colo. As she handed down the sentence, Brinkema told Moussaoui that he could appeal the life term but that she doubted he would win. ``I believe it would be an act of futility,'' she said. The judge also pointed out that, although he could appeal the sentence, he had lost his right to appeal his conviction when he pled guilty in April 2005. ``You waived that right,'' she said.
Heh.
"I can't unwaive it?"
On Monday, Brinkema said his request to set aside his guilty plea and go back to trial on the facts of the case was ``too late'' under federal rules and must be rejected.
Double-heh.
Explaining his latest reversal, Moussaoui said in an affidavit:
``I had thought I would be sentenced to death based on the emotions and anger toward me for the deaths on Sept. 11. But after reviewing the jury verdict and reading how the jurors set aside their emotions and disgust for me and focused on the law and the evidence ... I now see that it is possible that I can receive a fair trial even with Americans as jurors.''
You also see how you can try to twist our system to stay in the limelight.
Moussaoui's court-appointed lawyers told the court that they filed the motion even though a federal rule ``prohibits a defendant from withdrawing a guilty plea after imposition of sentence.'' They did so anyway, they said, because of their ``problematic relationship with Moussaoui'' and the fact that new lawyers have yet to be appointed to replace them.
"Don't blame us!"
The motion said Moussaoui told his lawyers Friday that he wanted to withdraw his guilty plea because when he entered it his ``understanding of the American legal system was completely flawed.'' In an attached three-page affidavit, Moussaoui cited his new opinion of American jurors and wrote that he now believes he has a fair chance ``to prove that I did not have any knowledge of and was not a member of the plot to hijack planes and crash them into buildings on Sept. 11, 2001.''
"Honest! Y'gotta believe me!"
``I wish to withdraw my guilty plea and ask the court for a new trial to prove my innocence of the Sept. 11 plot,'' Moussaoui wrote. ``I have never met (lead 9/11 hijacker) Mohammed Atta and, while I may have seen a few of the other hijackers ... (in Afghanistan), I never knew them or anything about their operation.''
"And that guilty plea and allocution, never mind that."
Explaining his twists and turns, Moussaoui said, ``Solitary confinement made me hostile toward everyone, and I began taking extreme positions to fight the system.''
Boy are you going to be lonely in Colorado.
Moussaoui said that, coupled with his inability to get a Muslim lawyer, led him to distrust his lawyers when they told him he could be convicted of being an al-Qaida member but acquitted of involvement in 9/11. Moussaoui wrote that he pleaded guilty because he mistakenly thought the Supreme Court would immediately review his objection to being denied the opportunity to call captured enemy combatant witnesses to buttress his claim of not being involved in the 9/11 plot.
Listen to your lawyer next time, mook.
Assuming he gets the opportunity for a next time, of course.
An appeals court agreed with the government that national security would be at risk if captured operatives like 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed testified or were even questioned by Moussaoui's lawyers. Instead, statements taken from their interrogations were read to the jury.
"Zack Who?... Oh, yeah! The goof! I remember him! Kinda."
Moussaoui shocked the courtroom at his sentencing trial when he recanted his four-year-old claim of having nothing to do with 9/11.
"I dunnit an' I'm glad! Well, actually, I didn't do it, but I wanted to do it, and I'da dunnit if they hadn't caught me!"
When he pleaded guilty in 2005, he had explained that he was to hijack a 747 jetliner and fly it into the White House at some later date if the United States refused to release a radical Egyptian sheik who is serving a life term for terrorist acts in New York. But when he testified, Moussaoui claimed that the 747 was to be a fifth plane hijacked on Sept. 11 and that Richard Reid, now imprisoned for a December 2001 shoe bombing attempt aboard a trans-Atlantic flight, was to be on his hijacking team.
They were putting all the goofs together, I take it?
After Moussaoui's testimony, his lawyers made clear in court that they thought he was lying to achieve martyrdom through execution. Prosecutors even stipulated that the government doubted Moussaoui's claim that Reid was part of his team. And the judge told lawyers, out of the jury's hearing, that she doubted his testimony about how much he knew about the 9/11 plot.
And the jury still couldn't give him the needle.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/09/2006 00:00 ||
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So many Salad Stations, NOT enuff croutons, Moussey [theme from DRAGNET follows]. As for your lawyer, whose going to handle the Curly Fries at Hardees now??? Oh what a wicked web indeed - OTOH, she always did have a great rack.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) will remain the intelligence community's center of excellence under General Michael V. Hayden, his immediate boss, Director of Intelligence John Negroponte, said on Monday, and the agency will continue to be the most important repository for intelligence analysis "on virtually every imaginable topic, including our highest priority areas, such as Iran, North Korea and weapons of mass destruction." Asked about the recent letter sent by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to President George W. Bush through the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, Negroponte said that "given the fact that the issue of Iran is before the United Nations at this time, certainly one of the hypotheses you would have to examine is whether and in what way the timing of the dispatch of that letter is connected with trying in some manner to influence the debate before the Security Council.
" Addressing those who have expressed concern that the CIA, a civilian intelligence agency, will be led by a military man, Negroponte, during a special White House briefing, said Hayden "is a very, very independent-minded person, blunt-spoken, and who I do not think will have any difficulty whatsoever staking out positions that are independent and responsive to the needs of our civilian intelligence community." Hayden was among those who recommended that the National Security Agency (NSA)come under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which was not the conventional view within the Pentagon, for example, Negroponte said. The most important intelligence priority for Bush is information on al Qaeda and international terrorism, Negroponte said, and the President "wants us to press ahead in the field of tracking down and disabling and harming the international terrorist movement, and I think that is the number one priority. I think the second is to continue to move forward in strengthening the human intelligence and analytical intelligence capabilities of the CIA." Hayden will bring to the CIA his 30 years of experience in intelligence at home and abroad, and he is widely acknowledged for his command of all aspects of the discipline, Negroponte said.
"His expertise is by no means limited to technical aspects of intelligence, " Negroponte said of his deputy. Hayden "has been at the forefront of integrating all aspects of intelligence: technical collection, human intelligence operations and analysis." Over the past year, Hayden was instrumental in creating the National Clandestine Service, which he will lead as CIA director, creation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Security Branch and "countless other initiatives," Negroponte said.
"Equally important, having been director of the National Security Agency for six years, he knows how to manage and transform large organizations," Negroponte said of Hayden. "As the director of the NSA, he won the respect and admiration of those whom he led as well as congressional leaders. I am confident that he will bring the same visionary leadership and management ability to the CIA." Hayden is also a reformer who understands "the imperative that we create a truly integrated intelligence community," Negroponte said. "Over the past year, he has dedicated himself to implementing the vision of the Intelligence Reform Act, and I know that he will do the same at the CIA, and that he will as a consequence improve intelligence for all intelligence customers, whether they are policy-makers, the Congress, military leaders, diplomats or law enforcement officials."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2006 00:00 ||
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#2
According to Chinese mil blogs, China wants to speed up the VARYAG refit towards completion in 2008, whereupon VARYAG may be based on Hainan Island along wid other PLAN ASW-capable units near Vietnam. The PLAAF has also allegedly been shifting fighter-bomber strike units close to Hainan and Vietnam. Hainan is not that far away from Taiwan, or the Philippines, or other states in SE Asia. Many bloggers believe that China will use the VARYAG either as a training carrier only, or else a dual-use training-operational carrier model for follow-on heavy strike CV designs. It is also believed that China's PLAN intends to hone and improve its ASW abilities in regional or littoral defense of its own subs, espec the "boomer" or FBM types, vv anti-USN,
nuclearized, "immediate escalation" strategies.
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The founder of one of the most feared militant groups fighting in Kashmir accused the United States on Tuesday of pandering to India and being anti-Islam by branding the charity he now runs as a terrorist organisation.
"All this is being done at the behest of India," Hafiz Mohammad Saeed told Reuters in his first interview since the U.S. State Department outlawed the Jamaat-ud-Dawa charity and one of its affiliates earlier this month. "This decision is part of the anti-Islam attitude of America. Our only sin is that we are Muslims," said Saeed, a firebrand orator who once taught Islamic studies at an engineering university in Lahore.
The United States and India have seen ties warm over the past four years and Saeed said the U.S. ban was a goodwill gesture to India. New Delhi accuses Pakistan of arming militants fighting its rule over nearly half of Kashmir.
He insisted he had severed his links with Lashkar-e-Taiba, the jihadi militant group he set up in 1989 to fight Indian rule in Kashmir.
Pakistan banned Lashkar-e-Taiba in 2002 after the United Nations put it on a list of groups associated with al Qaeda. Anticipating the ban, Saeed resigned from Lashkar, one of the groups blamed for an attack on India's parliament in December 2001, and became head of Jamaat. The United States says Jamaat-ud-Dawa is just a front. Action would have been taken far sooner, according to Western sources, but establishing a legally watertight paper-trail between Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Lashkar-e-Taiba was painstaking work.
Listing Jamaat-ud-Dawa means freezing its assets in the United States -- effectively a symbolic but necessary first step. Even if it had any money in the United States, the charity, which is believed to raise most of its cash from the Gulf and mosques in Pakistan's central Punjab province, could easily have shifted its funds before the United States was ready to act.
"Jamaat-ud-Dawa is not involved in any terrorist activity inside or outside the United States," Saeed said, speaking by telephone from the eastern city of Lahore. "We don't have any direct quarrel or confrontation with America, but we want the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to be stopped," Saeed said. He said his charity only gave moral support to those fighting foreign occupation in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kashmir.
Pakistan has said it won't ban the charity until the United Nations also proscribes Jamaat-ud-Dawa, even though Saeed's group is already on a Pakistani watchlist. Washington clearly wants Pakistan to act faster against an organisation it says provides money and recruits for Lashkar. The charity runs schools, hospitals, mosques as well as religious seminaries across Pakistan, and it boasts tens of thousands of followers even though it has no official register. Jamaat-ud-Dawa, according to the State Department, also has links with religious militant organisations in Southeast Asia and Chechnya.
At home, Jamaat-ud-Dawa has been in the forefront in providing relief after an earthquake struck northern Pakistan on Oct. 8, killing more than 73,000 people and rendering three million homeless. In the quake-ravaged city of Muzaffarabad up to 2,000 people demonstrated on Tuesday against the U.S. ban on the charity.
Chants of "Down with America" and "Down with Bush" echoed down the main road through the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, where hundreds of U.S. army engineers and medical personnel were based between October and April to help the relief efforts.
"The Americans have gone, but we are still here serving the victims," said Ghulamullah Azad, spokesman for the charity in Kashmir, referring to the many thousands of people still heavily dependent on aid after the quake. There have already been similar demonstrations in Balakot and Bagh, two other towns badly damaged in the disaster. "Those who saved our lives are not terrorists," said Ajmal Shah, a villager from Kashmir's Jhelum valley.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/09/2006 13:24 ||
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No Hafiz, you dumb f*ck. Your only sin is not that you're muslim. Lets review:
The LT has conducted a number of operations against Indian troops and civilian targets in Jammu and Kashmir since 1993. The LT claimed responsibility for numerous attacks in 2001, including an attack in January on Srinagar airport that killed five Indians along with six militants; an attack on a police station in Srinagar that killed at least eight officers and wounded several others; and an attack in April against Indian border-security forces that left at least four dead. The Indian Government publicly implicated the LT—along with JEM—for the attack on 13 December 2001 on the Indian Parliament building. The LT is also suspected of involvement in the attack on 14 May 2002 on an Indian Army base in Kaluchak that left 36 dead. Senior al-Qaida lieutenant Abu Zubaydah was captured at an LT safehouse in Faisalabad in March 2002, suggesting some members are facilitating the movement of al-Qaida members in Pakistan.
#5
But, but, what about all that earthquake aid buying goodwill among Pakistanis? Or the 8% economic growth rate (from negative) solely based on post-9/11 aid?
Posted by: ed ||
05/09/2006 15:28 Comments ||
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Funny, I don't recall Christian Studies at my engineering school in California. Could be why Paklands such a hotbed of ignorant nutjobs. Islamic studies = Engineering in the 7th century
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/09/2006 16:35 Comments ||
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#7
a firebrand orator who once taught Islamic studies at an engineering university in Lahore.
I think I see the problem.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/09/2006 17:29 Comments ||
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#8
This must be Islamic engineering.
During the rule of General Zia, there was Islamic Physics.
PhDs wrote academic papers on "The angle of God", "Energy Extraction from Jinn" etc.
Posted by: john ||
05/09/2006 18:38 Comments ||
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#9
"Energy Extraction from Jinn"
Disney made a movie about that, Monsters, Inc.
If you saw the movie, they ultimately discovered that laughter was a far better source of energy than fear.
May 9, 2006: On April 29th, Pakistan ran another test of it's Hatf VI ballistic missile. This missile is a major advance over the Hatf V, which is actually the North Korean Nodong 1 missile, which was also sold to Iran, where it is called the Shihab 3. The Nodong 1 is basically a scaled up Russian SCUD missile, which, in turn was based on the first military ballistic missile, the German World War II V-2. Iran is believed to have paid $20 million for each of the North Korean Nodong 1s, while Pakistan is believed to have paid less (because of side deals relating to other weapons technology). The Hatf VI, on the other hand, uses solid fuel rockets. There are more difficult to manufacture, but are easier to use and more reliable. North Korea has mastered solid fuel rocket technology, and is apparently selling it to it's usual customers, Iran and Pakistan. While manufacturing requires exacting manufacturing procedures, solid fuel rocket motors are easier to handle, and have a shelf life of 10-15 years, if you make them right.
With the successful test of the Hatf VI, Pakistan now has all range classes covered by solid fuel missiles. The 1.5 ton Hatf I, which appeared in 1989, has a range of 80 kilometers and a half ton warhead. Also showing up in 1989, the 2.5 ton Hatf II has a range of 180 kilometers, and also carries a half ton warhead. The four ton Hatf III, which was first tested earlier this year, appears to be based on the Chinese DF-11. China has long been selling military technology to Pakistan. This missile has a range of some 300 kilometers and also carries a half ton warhead. The 6.3 ton Hatf IV also appears to be a Chinese design (the DF-9), has a range of 700 kilometers, uses solid fuel and has a .7 ton warhead. Pakistan began producing the Hatf IV in the late 1990s, although it was not tested until 1999.
The sixteen ton Hatf V is the only remaining liquid fuel missile. First tested in 1998, it has a range of some 2,000 kilometers and carries a .7 ton warhead. However, this missile will probably be quickly replaced by the recently tested Hatf VI. This missile was first publicly displayed in 2000, but has apparently undergone more years of development. The Hatf VI had a successful test last year, and has a maximum range (with the proper guidance system) of 2,500 kilometers.
The major problem with all Pakistani missiles is the electronics. Some of this is the control systems, but mostly it is the guidance system. You don't need a high degree of accuracy if you are using nuclear warheads. But it is believed that Pakistan has not yet mastered the intricacies of nuclear warheads for ballistic missiles. This is one of the more difficult engineering chores when building an ICBM system, and the last one new nuclear powers master.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/09/2006 10:53 ||
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The latest news from North Waziristan is that Osama bin Laden has distributed a leaflet there accusing General Pervez Musharraf of being a “slave of the Americans” and exhorting his ouster. The American news channel Fox News, talking to Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir on Monday, learnt that an American member of Al Qaeda was seen distributing a leaflet in Arabic and Urdu in Miranshah and Mir Ali asking Muslims to “defeat the United States and the Pakistani troops” battling the pro-Taliban insurgents. There were apparently two kinds of leaflets found in the area, one from Al Qaeda and one from the local pro-Taliban jihadi groups.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/09/2006 04:22 ||
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There was apparently no mention of the Massage Parlor adverts accompanying each leaflet.
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Five nations seen by rights groups as among the worldÂ’s worst abusers were elected along with 39 other countries to the United NationsÂ’ new Human Rights Council in a first round of voting on Tuesday.
Russia, China, Cuba, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, identified by New York-based Human Rights Watch as unworthy of membership on the new U.N. body, were among those winning seats. ...
Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth said it was inevitable some rights foes would win seats but “the important step is that we have made real progress” over the discredited Human Rights Commission, shut down in March.
“It doesn’t guarantee that the council will be a success, but it is a step in the right direction,” Roth said. I pretty much take for granted that anything the UN does will not be a success, but it is a step in the right direction. A step towards getting the freaken UN out of the US!
#3
Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth said it was inevitable some rights foes would win seats but “the important step is that we have made real progress” over the discredited Human Rights Commission, shut down in March.
Progress? Well, yes. You've convinced me of the need to shut down this corrupt party of global welfare freaks and slime.
May 9, 2006: The documents recovered in the wake of the liberation of Iraq didn't just prove connections to terrorist groups. They are also showing how Saddam Hussein was looking for weapons of mass destruction. These documents, widely ignored by the mainstream media, tend to back up the reasons for taking out Saddam's regime in the first place. Some of these documents are being translated by a blogger who goes by alias jveritas.
Prior to the document release by the U.S. government, two documents were provided to Cybercast News Service in 2004. These documents showed efforts to acquire mustard gas and anthrax. These contracts were apparently issued in 1999 and 2000, after Operation Desert Fox.
The first such document is CMPC-2004-004404 (can be viewed via Google), which concerns aluminum tubing. The media focused on the Iraq Study Group's claim that the tubing was used for an 81-millimeter rocket. However, this document points out that the purchase of 50,000 tubes was a matter of concern to Saddam Hussein and the Deputy Prime Minister. This is an unusual level of interest for conventional rockets.
The next document in this regard is CMPC-2004-000167, which discusses a simulation reactor. What is critical about this document is that it shows what Saddam was doing when the inspectors were away. It also shows that when they returned, the regime ceased work – and tried to hide what it was up to.
A third document, ISGZ-2004-007589, discusses concealment efforts for various programs. This undated document shows that Saddam's regime had no intention of complying with the UN resolutions. It also shows that the intelligence that was acquired could have been off – because of ongoing deception operations by Saddam's regime.
Finally, there is document CMPC-2003-016083, which discusses the development of nerve gas detectors. This was one of the things Saddam was prohibited from having – not to leave Iraq defenseless, but to deter Iraq from using chemical weapons in an offensive capability. Nerve gas detectors can tell whether or not a gas attack is blowing back on the troops who launched it, and by adding this level of uncertainty to any attack, it was thought Saddam would be less likely to develop and use chemical weapons.
One thing is clear from these documents: Saddam Hussein was clearly attempting to acquire weapons of mass destruction. With the collapse of the UN sanctions and the corruption of the oil-for-food program, it was only a matter of time before Saddam acquired these weapons.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/09/2006 10:26 ||
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American troops have complained that a new armoured body suit designed to be worn in Iraq makes them look "goofy".
Picture at link, "goofy" doesn't describe it by half
The water-cooled "alien spacesuits" are being handed out to turret gunners in their notoriously vulnerable Humvee vehicles.
The protective suit, based on those worn by bomb disposal officers, was intended to cut spiralling casualties for one of the most dangerous jobs in modern warfare. But some troops have complained that the armour and headgear is inelegant. Others say the water-cooling system, designed for the soaring temperatures of an Iraqi summer, regularly breaks down.
Nonetheless, the suits being tested in combat by US military police units in northern Iraq have produced good results. Capt Larry Bergeron told the military newspaper Stars and Stripes that the armour was credited with saving the lives of three men sprayed with shrapnel from roadside bombs. "One soldier's visor stopped a piece of shrapnel that hit dead centre," he said. "If he had not had that suit on, the effects could have been catastrophic."
Gunners on Humvees have high casualty rates. While newly-installed armour protects those inside, the gunner stands with the upper half of his body exposed, making him far more vulnerable to roadside bombs and gunfire. Others have been crushed as vehicles overturn. But Specialist Michael Floyd, 19, said: "I am not a big fan of this thing. It is really hot and hard to move around in. I do feel safer, but only in an explosion. I would not feel safer in a rollover or in small-arms fire." Critics say the heavy suits also restrict movement during combat.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/09/2006 09:51 ||
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#1
Goofy isn't a word I would use. Dangerous maybe. For explosions, ya it might work, but any other time where the only differance between the living and the dead is moving quickly, the suit is a deathtrap. I would rather see a good, remote controlled turret on top with a 3D headset so the soldier has the view as standing outside.
#2
You can't possibly fight in combat in that getup. I would really like to see some of the idiots complaining about body armor attempt to walk a mile in that gear.
#6
Why does the image of over armored French knights slogging through muddy farmland being hammered [literally] by nimble English Yeomen come to mind?
Like the image of those vulnerable English Yeomen being impaled by Joan of Arc's Knights in teh hollow road battle: an English troop who was marching in a hollow road was alughtered to a man when the knights came unexpectedly along the road and the steep roadsides prevented the English to disperse. After the release of Orleans this combat was decisive in consolidating Joan of Arc's aura.
#14
I remember reading a Michael Yon piece where he was talking about the body armor he wore when going out with a patrol (the "reptilian" kind, not the "robot" kind). He talked about how the soldiers ribbed him over how he looked and how long it took him to get ready. Apparently, they preferred to be less encumbered, especially when running around the alleys of Mosul.
#15
Body armor is great, if you are standing guard and have a bunker/foxhole to defend. If you are attacking and sprinting, ducking, rolling, throwing, aiming ... it sucks. Big Monkey balls. Not only does it tire you out faster, but it has a nasty tendency to hang on stuff when you are trying to get the hell out of the way of other stuff.
Long story short (to late! - ed.) when we were out patrolling, we left it behind. When we were guarding, we wore it.
#19
....Like the image of those vulnerable English Yeomen being impaled by Joan of Arc's Knights....
72" of finely tillered Yew well used and commanded invaded and controlled the destiny of france for 100 years. One small skirmish does not a war win. History is not well written or even understood in the schools of France.
#20
In the late 1990's the Army, DARPA and USDOD was supposed to had begun work on an ultra-light armored flex-isuit, allegedly powerful enough to deflect or protect a LandWarrior [except head]from any combat round, rifle or machine gun, save the .50 cal-size or higher, and while keeping the human body cool. For me, we're likely just looking at an early design deployed only to garner or verify real-time combat suitability for more advanced follow-on designs.
BAGHDAD - Leaders of IraqÂ’s various parliamentary blocs were set to meet President Jalal Talabani on Monday to finalise the countryÂ’s first full-term post-Saddam Hussein cabinet, a Shiite MP said.
Bassem Sharif of the dominant Shiite United Iraqi Alliance said all the leaders were meeting at TalabaniÂ’s house to decide on the new cabinet. He said the leaders of the Shiite alliance were also meeting separately to choose its candidate to head the crucial interior ministry.
Another political source close to the negotiations said Shiite leaders were considering independent Shiite MP Qassem Daoud to head the ministry or retain the incumbent Bayan Jabr Solagh. Sunni Arab politicians have strongly criticised Solagh and accused his ministryÂ’s Shiite-led forces of operating death squads that indulged in extra-judicial killings of Sunni Arabs.
Following his nomination as prime minister designate, Nuri al-Maliki has said he would form the new cabinet by May 10 and was also considering an independent candidate to head the interior ministry. The source also said that former parliament speaker Hajem al-Hasseni, a Sunni, was being considered to head the defence ministry.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/09/2006 00:00 ||
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Britains new Defence Secretary Des Browne Monday defended UK troops who fired live ammunition and baton rounds during disturbances in the Iraqi city of Basra in which five Iraqis, reportedly including a child, were killed.
So what's to explains?
The disorder followed the crash last Saturday of a British military helicopter in the city, in which five British personnel are believed to have lost their lives, including the first British servicewoman to die in action in Iraq. In a statement to the House of Commons, Browne said he did not believe that last Saturday's events showed that southern Iraq was rising up against the British presence in the country. He resisted calls for the immediate withdrawal of troops, insisting that Britain would remain in Iraq as long as the Iraqi government wants it to.
The calls for immediate withdrawal of troops is, of course, to be expected. They'll come from Brit parliamentarians who think they're in Madrid.
The fighting which followed the helicopter crash was an "isolated incident" involving no more than 200-300 people, and the "vast majority" of Basra's residents want to work with British troops to improve security in the region, he said.
Why not kill the 200-300 people? Then everything will be hunky dory?
But the Defence Secretary revealed that elements of the crowd were armed with blast bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars and said it was "entirely right" that British troops took action to defend themselves.
Not only "entirely right," but a damned good reason to have wiped the lot of them out. I sometimes think we've become entirely too civilized. In fact, I often think so.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Although the crew trajically died from this melee, it could have developed into a sort of "Blackhawk Down" incident, and we all know how the US politicians handled that affair pitifully!! I can only hope that British Commanders were ready to go the distance in retrieving their troops, keeping that stiff upper lip! However I do recall never hearing of a British 'No Man Left Behind' resolve declared by their military!
#2
Doubtful, for good or ill, that anyone was shot by British troops - more likely the rounds came from members of the Mahdi Army indulging in a frivolous display of gun-sex.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
05/09/2006 3:33 Comments ||
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"I sometimes think we've become entirely too civilized. In fact, I often think so."
Watch it with that kind of talk buddy, or I'll tell Fred. I'm thinkin' Sink Trap. :)
#5
Nothing about war is civilized. War is the opposite of civility. However, it can be just. Our emasculated, politically-correct military (a direct result of our emasculated, politically correct leaders) is not allowed to strike decisively. That is not just, and will only result in the prolonging of the conflict, and the deaths of thousands more Iraqi children.
#6
60% of Iraq is Shiite arabs. Probably about one third of them are at least sympathetic to the Mahdi army. We DONT want that entire section of the population to rise against the govt. If we DO go to war with Mr Sadr, we will certainly try to avoid provoking the entire section of the population that is sympathetic. Killing an entire crowd, in which it was not possible to distinguish who had done what, while it might have satisfied some yearnings, would have been a strategic mistake.
The Brits, in their high imperialist era, where very sensitive to divide and rule. They knew exactly how much force they had available on the ground, and were very careful to modulate their political position to the force available. Thats why the kept muslim emirs in power in Northern Nigeria, for example. Ruled through an arab dynasty in Jordan and Iraq. Etc, etc. Fired colonial officials who too harsh on the locals. When force must be economized, youve got to be careful.
Now the American way of war, is to go in with overwhelming force. Including overwhelming boots on the ground - from US Grant to Omar Bradley.
Current SecDef wants a lean mean fighting machine. Very good, but that means when youre trying to keep order in a country of 24 million with 150,000 coalition troops, and when about half of the local friendly forces are probably NOT going to look kindly on the killing of 200 shiites in Basra, youve got to put your Jacksonian instincts aside.
#7
The British have a dangerous philosophy in dealing with Arabs. While they vigorously criticize the US for being indifferent to Arab culture, insisting on things such as freedom and democracy "that are not the Arab way"; they equate these traditional Arab ways as being the same, of equal value, to western values.
Unlike the raw racism of the American left, which despises and patronizes such people as inherently inferior, the British make the mistake of empathizing too much with what is wrong in Arab culture. Instead of fighting al Sadr as an enemy of democracy, they try to see "his point of view", as just one of many "points of view" in the Arab way.
In fact, the American "cowboy" approach is the right one. The vast majority of Iraqis prefer western values, such as democracy and freedom; they understand them, they comprehend them, they truly want to embrace them. Only the reactionary minority prefer dictatorship or theocracy.
Maintaining a romantic view of things may be an enjoyable pastime, but not when other people's lives and futures hang in the balance.
The days of T.E. Lawrence are done. Even the "noble Bedouin sheiks" are for the most part willing to cede their tribal authority for the greater good of their people and their nation. Even they grasp that freedom and democracy are the only sane future for their country.
#8
"Instead of fighting al Sadr as an enemy of democracy, they try to see "his point of view", as just one of many "points of view" in the Arab way."
Afaict, they are fighting Sadr in Basra at least as much as the US is doing so in Baghdad. This isnt about political strategy with regards to Sadr, so much as its about the rules of engagement in an incident. Fred is picking up on some frustration that some of the military has with ROE that still focus on hearts and minds. Shelby Steele and others on the right have been expressing this a lot recently.
AFAICT however this criticism misses the reality of counter insurgency warfare, and the larger political situation in Iraq and the region.
#9
Our bad men might have to be bad and discombobulate Sadre, it's dependant on the decisions made by the local commanders(with consultation) on the ground.
Posted by: Tony Blair ||
05/09/2006 20:09 Comments ||
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A group claiming to have links to the al-Qaida terror network declared in a leaflet distributed Tuesday in the Palestinian areas that it would launch attacks against Israel and the United States. Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian officials have expressed concern in recent months that al-Qaida was infiltrating the Palestinian areas. Israel last month indicted two West Bank Palestinians on charges of belonging to the group.
"We managed thank to God to establish the Al Quds Islamic Army group, which is affiliated with al-Qaida against the occupier," read the leaflet from the previously unknown group, which was faxed to Palestinian journalists. "From this land we declare... that we will target every enemy of Islam and Muslims and that with our fists, we will strike all Crusaders and Americans and Zionists."
"To the last, I will grapple with thee. From hell's heart, I stab at thee. For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee."
It was not immediately possible to determine the origin of the fax, or verify either the authenticity of the leaflet, which was not distributed in the streets, or the group's claims to have links to al-Qaida.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/09/2006 15:12 ||
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#1
More of my tax dollars to Pals, please. More to the people to demand cash from those they want to kill.
Makes all the sense in the world to keep funding insanity and not stick to demanding civility and responsibility before paying for more, endless slaughter.
The donor-starved Palestinian Authority may cease to function if government employees continue to go without salaries for much longer, the World Bank warned in a new report released yesterday. Civil servants will simply down tools and discipline in the ranks of the security services could well collapse if pay checks, which have not arrived for the last two months, are not forthcoming, the Washington-based body said.
Will anyone notice?
The European Union and United States have both frozen aid payments to the Palestinian Authority since the Islamist movement Hamas took power over its refusal to renounce the use of violence or accept Israel's right to exist. Israel has also stopped handing over customs duties it used to collect on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, worth around $60 million a month.
Although Muslim countries have pledged tens of millions in a bid to plug the gap, the funds have yet to be transferred with banks wary of falling foul of international laws that prohibit the financing of terrorist organizations. A previous report by the World Bank last month had warned that the Palestinian economy would experience a dramatic decline with incomes decreasing by 30 percent and unemployment doubling by the end of the year. But even those dire projections "now appear too rosy," the new survey said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
who will feed the ducks?
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/09/2006 1:03 Comments ||
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Granted I'm not a big Rendell fan, but I think the headline is a little dire.
#7
These people are sweating for nothing: The Euros WILL come through, for it cannot be that a bunch of incompetent anti-semitic facists will let their fellows go down the drain...
It may sound like science fiction, but the prospect that suicide bombers and hijackers could be made redundant by flying robots is a real one, according to experts. The technology for remote-controlled light aircraft is now highly advanced, widely available -- and, experts say, virtually unstoppable.
Models with a wingspan of five metres (16 feet), capable of carrying up to 50 kilograms (110 pounds), remain undetectable by radar. And thanks to satellite positioning systems, they can now be programmed to hit targets some distance away with just a few metres (yards) short of pinpoint accuracy. Security services the world over have been considering the problem for several years, but no one has yet come up with a solution.
"We are observing an increasing threat from such things as remote-controlled aircraft used as small flying bombs against soft targets," the head of the Canadian secret services, Michel Gauthier, said at a conference in Calgary recently. According to Gauthier, "ultra-light aircraft, powered hang gliders or powered paragliders have also been purchased by terrorist groups to circumvent ground-based countermeasures."
On May 1 the US website Defensetech published an article by military technology specialist David Hambling, entitled "Terrorists' unmanned air force". "While billions have been spent on ballistic missile defense, little attention has been given to the more imminent threat posed by unmanned air vehicles in the hands of terrorists or rogue states," writes Hambling.
Armed militant groups have already tried to use unmanned aircraft, according to a number of studies by institutions including the Center for Nonproliferation studies in Monterey, California, and the Center for Arms Control, Energy and Environmental Studies in Moscow.
In August 2002, for example, the Colombian military reported finding nine small remote-controlled planes at a base it had taken from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). On April 11, 2005 the Lebanese Shiite militia group, Hezbollah, flew a pilotless drone over Israeli territory, on what it called a "surveillance" mission. The Israeli military confirmed this and responded by flying warplanes over southern Lebanon.
Remote-control planes are not hard to get hold of, according to Jean-Christian Delessert, who runs a specialist model airplane shop near Geneva. "Putting together a large-scale model is not difficult -- all you need is a few materials and a decent electronics technician," says Delessert. In his view, "if terrorists get hold of that, it will be impossible to do anything about it. We did some tests with a friend who works at a military radar base: they never detected us... if the radar picks anything up, it thinks it is a flock of birds and automatically wipes it."
Japanese company Yamaha, meanwhile, has produced 95-kilogram (209-pound) robot helicopter that is 3.6 metres (11.8 feet) long and has a 256 cc engine. It flies close to the ground at about 20 kilometres per hour (12 miles per hour), nothing but an incredible stroke of luck could stop it if it suddenly appeared in the sky above the White House -- and it is already on the market.
Bruce Simpson, an engineer from New Zealand, managed to produce an even more dangerous contraption in his own garage: a mini-cruise missile. He made it out of readily available materials at a cost of less than 5,000 dollars (4,000 euros). According to Simpson's website , the New Zealand authorities forced him to shut down the project -- though only once he had already finished making the missile -- under pressure from the United States.
Eugene Miasnikov of the Center for Arms Control, Energy and Environmental Studies in Moscow said these kinds of threats must be taken more seriously. "To many people UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) may seem too exotic, demanding substantial efforts and cost compared with the methods terrorists frequently use," he said. "But science and technology is developing so fast that we often fail to recognise how much the world has changed."
Posted by: Steve ||
05/09/2006 09:41 ||
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#3
Its one thing to have a vehicle, but quite another to pilot it. The vast majority of the technology has been around since I was four, when my dad took the hobby up. He tried to teach me to fly them, but my bum eyes kept me from being any good at it.
Still, whatever you grab off the shelf, or build custom, will have limited carrying capacity and distance: I think one could carry a hand-grenade. I can also think of how to coordinate a bomb run on the White House.
Obviously the physical damage would be minimal, and only by bad luck would someone actually get hurt or killed. The value is strictly symbolic, and given the typical Muslim hype machine, the Ummah could be convinced that it was the equivalent of a WW-II style bombing raid on Dresden or Coventry...
Understand that, while the physical damage would be minimal, it would be outweighed by the psychological effect multiplied by the typical Muslim hype-machine.
#6
For this to work the robot aircraft would have to be very numeous and small. How many and how small? Only Hatfil........fsdafas./a;gaaaaaaaaaaf
Hatfield: You were gonna say thousands and tiny wern't 'ya?
6: Yes, I wan going to say thousands, of tiny flying robots what's wrong with tha.....ahhhh! Let go of my leg!
We tell Saudi Arabia and so on that they put a leash on thier wahabbist and salafist, or for every strike on us there is an equal one on them, except ours will be precisely aimed at their mosques.
#9
Looks like the boyz over at the Net's military modeling and rocket blogs, etc. have to register their YAMATO + BISMARCK + USS TENNESSEE models wid the FBI, Secret Service, ATF, TSA and CIA-DIA-NSA. DON'T FERGIT THOSE TRAITOROUS FIFTH COLUMNIST TYKES OVER THE LOCAL DAY CARE/PRE-SCHOOL WID THEIR KITES + TONKAS + HOTWHEELS + WOODEN TRUCKS + DOLLIES - I TELL YA THEY'RE BUILDING BOMBS IN DEM DAR EASY-BAKE OVENS AND KICKBALLS!
Cotabato City, 9 May (AKI) - The noose is tightening around the two Al-Qaeda franchised Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants who allegedly helped assemble the bombs that killed 202 people on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, high ranking Filipino security officials confirmed to Adnkronos International (Aki). Marine Brig. Gen. Ben Dolorfino, Philippine Army's Southern Command deputy commander, confirmed that the army is hot on the trail of Omar Patek and Dulmatin, two top Indonesians terrorists who have been hiding in the southern Philippines island of Mindanao for the last few years.
"Our manhunts continue and although there are no major developments, the military has a general idea regarding their location," Dolorfino told AKI, declining to divulge the terrorist's presumed whereabouts so as not to preempt the Army operation. Dolorfino nonetheless confirmed that the anti-terror stance taken by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has probably forced the two Indonesians to abandon their Central Mindanao sanctuary and move south, towards the Zamboanga Peninsula and the islands of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
The MILF, the Philippines main Islamic rebel group, has time and time again refuted the accusation that it is sheltering terrorists in the forests within its controlled territory or that it has any links with terrorists organizations such as Jemaah Islamiyah, Al-Qaeda or the Abu Sayyaf.
"Nope, nope, don't know them, never sen them before."
The MILF, who has been fighting for an independent state in Mindanao since 1977, is currently holding peace-talks with Manila's central government. "The two have gone outside the MILF areas. I don't think they have ongoing training with new recruits because they are always on the run. The only way to ensure their safety is to split into smaller groups," the military official said.
The possibility of Dulmatin and Patek training new recruits was also suggested by Colonel Akmad Mamalinta, regional police commander in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). "I have been receiving persistent reports about their activities there. We believe they are training new recruits in the mountains of Munai. We have intensified our security to prevent possible attacks," Mamalinta told AKI. Mount Munai is located in the Mindanao's province of Lanao del Sur, some 820 kilometres southeast of Manila.
The United States embassy spokesperson in Manila, Matthew Lussenhop also confirmed the presence of the two JI militants in Mindanao. "I do not know where they are but we believe that they are in Southern Philippines. They are both wanted and rewards are offered within the justice program that we have with the Philippine government," Lussenhop told AKI by phone. The US State Department has offered 10 million dollars for the capture of electronics expert Dulmatin and one million dollars for Patek.
On February this year, Gijs de Vries a visiting official from the European Union told lawmakers at the House of Representatives in Manila that the presence of JI in the Mindanao region will be "extremely damaging" not only to the Philippines but also to its standing in the international community. "It's very important that JI is denied its opportunities for training, which they currently still enjoy," he said as quoted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah - which literally translated from Arabic means 'Islamic community' - is blamed for several deadly attacks in Southeast Asia, including the bombings on Indonesia's Bali Island in 2002 that killed 202 people. JI fights to reunite most of Southeast Asia into an Islamic state.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/09/2006 08:35 ||
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The trials begin in Bali today of four men accused of being part of a conspiracy behind three suicide attacks on restaurants last October. Twenty-six people, including four Australians, died in the blasts. Muhamad Cholily, Abdul Aziz, Dwi Widiyarto and Anif Solchanudin will face court in Denpasar accused of renting safe houses and assisting bomb-makers. All four have been linked to the South-East Asian terrorist network Jemaah Islamiah. The men say they were recruited and trained by JI leaders, Noordin Mohammed Top and Dr Husin Azahari. Top remains at large on the island of Java where Indonesian police, with the assistance of Australian Federal Police, have arrested many of his associates in recent weeks.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2006 00:00 ||
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Sri LankaÂ’s Tamil Tigers have vowed to raid government territory to kill former comrades they say are attacking their fighters with the help of the military, warning peace talks are off until those renegade attacks stop. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are locked in a low intensity conflict with the military that threatens to rupture a 2002 truce and rekindle a two-decade civil war. They want the government to disarm a breakaway faction led by a former rebel commander called Karuna.
“The government’s refusal to rein in armed groups as pledged at (talks in) Geneva has been the primary cause of intensified violence and the stalemate in the peace talks,” London-based chief rebel negotiator Anton Balasingham on Sunday. “Since the government has out rightly denied the very existence of Karuna group in government controlled areas and refused to disarm them, the LTTE has no choice other than to take the responsibility on itself and neutralise Karuna’s armed men.”
Karuna, widely viewed as shadowy rebel supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran’s top commander before he split with the mainstream Tigers in 2004, has formed a political movement and wants to eventually supplant the Tigers. He refuses to disarm. “The unbridled violence unleashed against the Tamil civilians by Tamil paramilitaries and the state’s armed forces has now become the critical issue overshadowing the peace process,” Balasingham said. The government denies the military is helping Karuna, but many diplomats are increasingly sceptical.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2006 00:00 ||
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Posted by: DanNY ||
05/09/2006 07:07 ||
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#1
Fakhravar seems very brave. He also seems realistic, wanting to get rid of the 'rotten' regime at minimal cost to the citizens of Iran and, while he is against war, properly blaming the Iranian government policies for increasing its likliehood. Many of these dissident groups seem less practical, at least in these types of interviews.
The article estimates that he has 3000 followers. That's probably an exaggeration if you define followers as being as willing as he is to stand up to the government. Hopefully he hooks up with the Shah's boy and Hossein Khomenei (ayatollah's grandson who is critical of the current crop of Mullahs and wants a government more like what is being established in Iraq) so they can start approaching critical mass.
Pallavi has stated that he is in contact with military units in Iran that are willing to assist with regime change. Internally generated regime change is possible, and only if, this is true. Otherwise, it appears that the police state is very effective in supressing dissent.
Interesting that Richard Perle is involved. Despite his villification, he has a track record of support for dissidents in unfree states and for having access to American power. That Fakhravar sought him out shows a degree of seriousness, IMHO.
Iran's president declared in a letter to President Bush that liberalism and democracy had failed, and criticized the United States over a host of issues ranging from the invasion of Iraq to its support for Israel.
The letter from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the first formal communication between leaders of the two nations in 27 years. It made only an oblique reference to Iran's intentions concerning its disputed nuclear program, asking why "any technological and scientific achievement reached in the Middle East region is translated into and portrayed as a threat to the Zionist regime."
Otherwise, the letter lambasted Bush for his handling of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, accused the media of spreading lies about the Iraq war, and said that people around the world are moving closer to faith in God.
"Liberalism and western style democracy have not been able to help realize the ideals of humanity," said the letter, obtained by The Associated Press. "Today these two concepts have failed. Those with insight can already hear the sounds of the shattering and fall of the ideology and thoughts of the Liberal democratic systems."
Even though the letter hardly touched on nuclear issues, officials said it appeared timed with a push by the United States and its European allies for a U.N. Security Council vote to restrain Tehran's nuclear ambitions. Both China and Russia are opposed to leveling sanctions against Iran and the letter could provide them support.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dismissed the letter Monday and said it failed to resolve the dispute over the Iranian nuclear program _ the focus of intense Security Council debate this week.
"This letter is not the place that one would find an opening to engage on the nuclear issue or anything of the sort," Rice said in an interview with The Associated Press. "It isn't addressing the issues that we're dealing with in a concrete way."
In the letter, Ahmadinejad instead criticizes the United States for the invasion of Iraq and its support of Israel. It says that people around the world have lost faith in international institutions and questions whether the Bush administration has covered up some evidence surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks.
Ahmadinejad also suggests that Bush should look inward, saying there was an increasing hatred worldwide of the United States, and that history shows how "repressive and cruel governments do not survive."
"How much longer will the blood of the innocent men, women and children be spilled on the streets, and people's houses destroyed over their heads? Are you pleased with the current condition of the world? Do you think present policies can continue?"
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/09/2006 03:55 ||
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#1
"Liberalism and western style democracy have not been able to help realize the ideals of humanity," said the letter, obtained by The Associated Press. "Today these two concepts have failed. Those with insight can already hear the sounds of the shattering and fall of the ideology and thoughts of the Liberal democratic systems."
Keep digging, Mahmoud.
This should be put on flyers and distributed in London and Paris, in Frankfurt and Turin, in San Fran and Boston, in Tokyo and Sidney, in Delhi and Toronto.
Very interesting mix of Western lefty talking points into his worldview.
A case can be made for us to take him up on his stated desire for engagement, send an ambassador to Iran and then -- instead of waltzing with the dictator a la Albright in Pyongyang -- speak directly to the Iranian people addressing point by point the flaws in Amadinejad's reasoning as a starting point in proclaiming US support for reformers.
I am not advocating this necessarily, but a dramatic appeal to the Iranian people is at least feasible because they do have good access to non-state-controlled media there.
At the end of the day, I remain pessimistic that enough of the Iranians will be willing to risk their lives overthrowing a regime where the police and prisons are the only effective government functions and the president has been using his limited influence to purge military and other institutions to them to make them more ideologically pure just in case things get dicey for the regime.
#7
'"Among Gulf nations, the letter fueled suspicions toward Iran.
The Saudi-owned daily Asharq Al-Awsat called the letter proof that "Iran is not enriching uranium for peaceful purposes as it says, and is striving for leadership and control of the region."
Such Iranian leadership would mean the Israeli-Palestinian peace process "would be stalled, the Iraqi dream (of democracy) would be thwarted and we would witness a new wave of armament," wrote Tariq Alhomayed, the paper's editor-in-chief.
The Kuwaiti newspaper Arab Times ran an editorial in which editor-in-chief Ahmed Al-Jarallah accused Ahmadinejad of acting "as if he owns the region." '
#9
Imagine, if you will, sleeves rolled up, Howand Dean giving this speech as the keynote at the 2008 donk convention. Really not to hard to imagine, is it. Coincidence? Not when you're a donk in the Twilight Zone.
#10
The Wall Street Journal has the original memo from Amaddinnerjacket. Look at the font. It is the same typewriter that was used by the Texas Air National Guard to type Bush's efficiency reports. Note that the th's are not superscripted, because that cannot be done without a word processor. Seventh century philosophy from nineteenth century technology. Another coincidence? I think not.
#13
Cavuto on FNC this AM had a bullet list of MadMoud's main premises - iff my memory is correct, Cavuto's bullet points, or most of them, were: (1)Liberal and Western Democracy is a failure, (2) God-based Government is the future for the world , (3) ISRAEL has no right to exist, andor why is the USA helping Israel to exist, and (4) The WOT/WAR IN IRAQ is based on lies.
MadMoud also alleged that the USA is weak and cannot survive, and that America must either accept Islam or be destroyed, or words to that effect. Substitute GLOBAL SECULAR SOCIALISM in place of Radical Islam or GOD/FAITH-BASED SOCILAISM and basically MadMoud's premises is no different than for the Leftism-Socialism-based anti-American and Globalist-OWG agendists, OR AT LEAST PRAVDA.
*Secular Socialists parallels: (1) Always, (2) Substitute STATE-CONTROLLED/REGULATED/TAXED CHURCHES AND RELIGIOUS ORGS, or [Islam-style] SECULAR ULTRA-CONSERVATISM-TRADITIONALISM-TOTALITARIANISM, (3) Israel > surname also for USA/NATO/West, and (4)Substitute America & Americanism] + Western Democracy [includ Western Demo/LeftSocialism] + Capitalism + Materialism. Pragmatically, any and all wars fought by the USA-West against the USSR-Commie Bloc has been criticized by the Left and Commies as based on alleged Western-Capitalist lies. MAD MOUD = NORTH KOREA BEATING THE EMOTION-HEAVY RANTS AND DRUMS OF WAR, SECULARIST AND SOCIALISTS = CHINA'S PLAAF AND PLAN DOING THE BUZZIN' AND PENETRATIN' OF JAPANESE AIR-AND SEA-SPACE [Japan = Western Demo Govt, Institutions, and Values].
China made clear Monday that it opposed the core of a Western UN resolution ordering Tehran to curb its nuclear program but would not use its veto power to kill the measure. Russia and China, which along with the U.S., Britain and France have veto power in the 15-nation Security Council, fear too much pressure on Iran would be self-defeating or precipitate an oil crisis.
"My position is clear, because Chapter 7 is about enforcement measures," Ambassador Wang Guangya told reporters. "My understanding is that a resolution of the Security Council is itself legally binding, so all the parties have to implement Security Council resolutions."
And we all saw how well that worked with Saddam, didn't we.
Many international lawyers disagree and say the only way to make a resolution legally binding is to invoke Chapter 7. "We are not thinking about a veto. We are thinking about unifying the whole council," said Wang, whose country rarely casts vetoes.
Any chance they're setting the stage to abstain?
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/09/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
The hint of Taiwan being 'nuclearized' can be a powerful inducement to rethink one's position...hint..hint!
#2
an abstention is what we've wanted from them. Thats what the maneuvering is all about. Ive been one of the few here suggesting that theres a possibility they wont veto. Of course its still quite possible, maybe even likely, that they will.
#3
LH, an abstention is the best we are going to get on this and you could be right, we might get it. If they do, you should give us an I told you so. We deserve it.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
05/09/2006 14:36 Comments ||
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Israel will strike Iran's nuclear facilities in the next "month or two or three," an Israeli official has been quoted here as saying. The unnamed official told Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor-in-chief of the United Press International (UPI), at the recently held national day reception at the Israeli Embassy that he believed Israel would strike Iran first in the next two or three months and that fighter bombers would not be involved as they had been to take out Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor before it went critical in 1981. For Osirak, Israel had used 14 F-15s and F-16s. This time, the Israeli said, it would be missiles. Asked if Israel would employ Cruise missiles, he replied, "with a gesture of his hand that went up and down again", which meant that it would be the weapon of choice.
Asked if tunnel entrances to widely scattered Iranian nuclear facilities would be targeted, he responded that Israel had its own geo-stationary spy-in-the-sky satellite taking constant pictures of Iran with a resolution down to 70 centimetres. "We know far more than anyone realises," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Oh Dubya, can we have a draft now? Never mind the DemoLeft as they will hide behind anything and everything, and nothing, to achieve their Reality = Propaganda and vice versa, Socialism = Capitalism/Federalism, Regulation = Laissez Faire, Cops/Judges/Law = Crooks-Mafiosi, ....
....@etal. Commie-Socialist, Hated Despicable Fascists = Merely Misunderstood Delinquent Runaway Tweeney Half-A-Commies, agenda. America needs to do what it takes to achieve victory - NO DIFFERENT THAN WHAT THE FAILED/ANGRY LEFT AND AMER'S ENEMIES ARE DOING NOW TO DESTROY US!? Why are they allowed to do everything to kill us, by any each every and all means necessary, while we aren't allowed to do anything, or only one thing???
#3
Is it possible the Israelis would go heads up with a minimal or very short notice to the US before it's preimption?? Naw...I'm sure they'll wait for the carrier groups to 'check off' the operation, and the AWACs to be placed, wouldn't they?
If they go, when they go, They will announce it to US by telling us to stay the hell out of the way because it's already underway. There will be zero notice.
They will not be leaking it to Newspapers or the
media. They will just do it. Israel is not the US.
Israel doesn't practice all the wankery the US seem to need to before we do things. After all we are now known to leak everything we are told. Would you tell the US in their shoes? Would you tell the US in anyones shoes? The CIA is like colander it leaks so much.
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/09/2006 4:00 Comments ||
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#5
SPOD - a Question - wouldn't there be at least coordination within the theater with US forces? Several days, at most? For several reasons, the two most important being to avoid a whole bunch of friendly fire from automatic pre-sets, and also that the local military security and leak proofness is superior to anything within 100 miles of DC.????????
#7
Of course the article is bogus. We've all seen how the Israeli milirary works. Shoot first, and take the heat from the world later. We don't have their perspective, and never will, unless someday we become surrounded by 6 or 7 nations of blood-thirsty fanatics hell bent on destroying us.
However, they will strike. They've already blown up Iran's nuclear facilities both with covert ground forces, and by air. They will do it again. I for one say thank God for a country with some sack.
#8
This is bogus for many reasons already stated above. Another one is that Israel doesn't have enough cruise missiles to carry out an attack with them alone unless they were carrying nukes.
Maybe they should consider inserting by commando a 20kton fission bomb one of Iran's main facilities. Then call it a "work accident."
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
05/09/2006 9:20 Comments ||
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#9
another reason its bogus is that Arnauld de B is an idiot, the old paleo con publisher of the Wash Times, who still seems offended its been taken over by neocons. and whose columns ALWAYS feature statements supported by anon sources, if any.
#11
Let's take it at face value. That would be that Israel wants to announce something to someone.
First of all, that someone might be one or more of the following: Iran, the US, Russia, China, the concerned EU nations, and other nations with personnel and interests at risk in Iran.
Much harder is figuring out what that something they are trying to say is. The list here has all sorts of possibilities:
1) We will attack, but with/without nukes, so be advised.
2) We will attack, so if you want to put your butt on the line for Iran, or stay out of it, or join us in the attack, let us know now.
3) We will attack, so be prepared for an Iranian counter-attack at other than Israel.
4) We are prepared for hostilities, if Iran plans to attack us, which may/may not require nuclear retaliation.
5) We are bluffing, to agitate Iran into revealing its true intentions to everyone, or to stimulate them into an attack on us.
6) We are sending out false signals to confuse any real signals we might have sent inadvertantly, casting reasonable doubt.
#14
Optical spy satellites usually fly around 300 miles up.
Posted by: ed ||
05/09/2006 12:02 Comments ||
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#15
Geosync optical?
LMAO. Yeah like there's any value to parking a 70 cm resolution lens at 23,000 miles (if such a thing even excists), when you can just as well orbit 60-110, where you'd actually, you know, SEE something, or send a low-emissions/low-reflectivity UAV at 10 miles (60K ft) and actually know what you're seeing.
#16
Perhaps this is the ol' tried-and-true trial balloon?
Unnamed source sez: "We're gonna bomb 'em."
Hyperventilating newspaper editorials denounce them, but quiet diplomatic exchanges will let it be known that while certain countries will publicly disapprove of bombing the Iranians, privately they'll be relieved.
#17
As far as not telling the U.S. goes, they better.
Iraq is under new management if they try to fly over Iraq without permission they will get shot down. Same with Saudi Arabia, the Gulf, the Arabian Sea, Pakistan. The U.S. has too much military over thier right now for Israel to be able to do that without our permsission. Unless they somehow get permission from Turkey. Good luck with that.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
05/09/2006 15:56 Comments ||
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#18
he replied, "with a gesture of his hand that went up and down again", which meant that it would be the weapon of choice.
..I dunno - when I see an 'unnamed official' gesture up and down with his hand, it ain't cruise missiles I'm thinkin' of.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/09/2006 18:02 Comments ||
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The United States has circulated a draft resolution urging UN peacekeepers in Sudan to back their African Union counterparts in Darfur, ahead of a ministerial session of the Security Council on the issue. The US text was circulated on Monday as George Bush, the US president, announced that Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State, would address the Security Council on Tuesday to seek a rapid deployment of peacekeepers in Sudan. The move followed last week's peace agreement in Abuja, Nigeria, between Khartoum and the major Darfur rebel faction.
John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, said the aim of the draft was "to accelerate the planning and assistance both for the transition to a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur, as well as to strengthen the hand of the African Union force that's deployed there".
US President George W Bush has urged Sudan to allow UN peacekeepers into Darfur, and says he is shipping emergency food to the country. Mr Bush has called Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who he has previously accused of aiding genocide in Darfur, to press him to allow UN and NATO troops to take over from an African peacekeeping mission in double the numbers. 
The Kingdom is vying today for one of the 47 seats of the newly formed United Nations Human Rights Council. Sixty-five countries have announced their candidacies for a place on the council. The election is being held by the UN General Assembly in New York.
A federal magistrate judge yesterday recommended rejecting a petition by the sole remaining enemy combatant being held on U.S. soil, finding that 
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) will remain the intelligence community's center of excellence under General Michael V. Hayden, his immediate boss, Director of Intelligence John Negroponte, said on Monday, and the agency will continue to be the most important repository for intelligence analysis "on virtually every imaginable topic, including our highest priority areas, such as Iran, North Korea and weapons of mass destruction." Asked about the recent letter sent by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to President George W. Bush through the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, Negroponte said that "given the fact that the issue of Iran is before the United Nations at this time, certainly one of the hypotheses you would have to examine is whether and in what way the timing of the dispatch of that letter is connected with trying in some manner to influence the debate before the Security Council.
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Five nations seen by rights groups as among the worldÂ’s worst abusers were elected along with 39 other countries to the United NationsÂ’ new Human Rights Council in a first round of voting on Tuesday.
BAGHDAD - Leaders of IraqÂ’s various parliamentary blocs were set to meet President Jalal Talabani on Monday to finalise the countryÂ’s first full-term post-Saddam Hussein cabinet, a Shiite MP said.
Britains new Defence Secretary Des Browne Monday defended UK troops who fired live ammunition and baton rounds during disturbances in the Iraqi city of Basra in which five Iraqis, reportedly including a child, were killed. 
The donor-starved Palestinian Authority may cease to function if government employees continue to go without salaries for much longer, the World Bank warned in a new report released yesterday. Civil servants will simply down tools and discipline in the ranks of the security services could well collapse if pay checks, which have not arrived for the last two months, are not forthcoming, the Washington-based body said.
It may sound like science fiction, but the prospect that suicide bombers and hijackers could be made redundant by flying robots is a real one, according to experts. The technology for remote-controlled light aircraft is now highly advanced, widely available -- and, experts say, virtually unstoppable. 
The trials begin in Bali today of four men accused of being part of a conspiracy behind three suicide attacks on restaurants last October. Twenty-six people, including four Australians, died in the blasts. 
China made clear Monday that it opposed the core of a Western UN resolution ordering Tehran to curb its nuclear program but would not use its veto power to kill the measure. Russia and China, which along with the U.S., Britain and France have veto power in the 15-nation Security Council, fear too much pressure on Iran would be self-defeating or precipitate an oil crisis.
