Describing Pakistan as a safe haven for terrorists, secretary general of the Awami National Party (ANP) Afrasiab Khattak demanded of the United States (US) and the international community to focus on militants having sanctuaries in that country.
Addressing a function organised by the Regional Study Centre here on Thursday, Khattak said harbouring terrorists was the policy of the military regime in Pakistan.
The function was organised to review the trouble in Pakistan's tribal areas and Balochistan and its impact on peace in Afghanistan.
He said the problems would be solved after the holding of free and fair elections and formation of a true representative government of the people.
"There is no democracy in Pakistan. Both the internal and foreign policy is prepared by the military," said Khattak.
He said the government of Pakistan, after the overthrow of Taliban, had given a free hand to the militants in the tribal areas. The terrorists in those areas had trained foreigners, who were now posing threat to Pakistan's own interests.
Regarding the recent trouble in Balochistan, Afrasiab said such crisis had caused disintegration of the country in the past and the same was likely to be repeated if the problem was not resolved in an amicable manner.
Criticising Pakistan's Afghan policy, Khattak said: "Pakistan wants a puppet government in Afghanistan. But the policy is wrong."
Lashing out at the Pakistani media, Afrasiab said they were publishing reports regarding terrorist acts while news about progress and reconstruction were not paid any heed.
Director of the Regional Study Centre Abdul Ghafoor Liwal, advisor to president on cultural affairs Zalmay Hiwadmal, Minister for Borders and Tribal Affairs Abdul Karim Barahvi, Director of the Academy of Sciences and its members also attended the function.
Posted by: john ||
07/02/2006 12:29 ||
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Kick the door down, lob the grenades (plus assorted boomers), close the door, move on
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/02/2006 19:33 Comments ||
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KABUL: The Afghan government has launched a probe into the beating last month of a lawmaker, allegedly by men loyal to a powerful northern warlord, an official at the interior ministry said on Saturday. Faizullah Zaki was on holiday in his hometown in northern Jozjan province when he was attacked, apparently for violating the line of Jambush-i-milli, Abdul Rashid Dostam's ethnic Uzbek party, parliamentary sources said.
A government delegation has been sent from Kabul to investigate the incident, which occurred some three weeks ago, said interior ministry official Abdul Wahab Khetab. "That's true that Mr Zaki has been beaten. We've sent a delegation to investigate," Khetab told AFP. "Until the delegation has delivered its report we can't say who has beaten him up or why."
Following the beating, Zaki was airlifted to a hospital in the Uzbek capital Tashkent where he is still under treatment. A parliamentarian speaking anonymously said the beating was triggered by the allegation that Zaki had backed President Hamid Karzai's cabinet nominations during a vote by the lower house in April. Another lawmaker who also refused to give a name told AFP that Dostam had ordered Zaki's beating.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2006 00:00 ||
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Al-Qaeda's number 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri is the real spin doctor behind the terrorist network, developing it's ideology and terror strategies against the United States. Videos illustrating current Taliban activities in Afghanistan recently obtained by Adnkronos International (AKI), detail Taliban operations to lure members of the Afghan National Army and the coalition troops out of their bases and target them in the narrow valleys of Afghanistan. Sources say al-Zawahiri is behind this strategy and suggest that he is deep inside the Afghan provinces as US-led forces continue to track him down.
Considered Osama bin Laden's mentor, Egyptian doctor al-Zawahiri is at the heart of the al-Qaeda leadership, with Washington offering a 25 million dollar bounty for his capture. In the early 1990s, Osama bin Ladens call for foreign forces to "leave the Arabian peninsula" had a muted response from the Americans. The reaction to bin Laden did not change until May 1998 when al-Zawahiri appeared on the scene and changed the al-Qaeda leader's strategy, according to Saudi dissident Saad al-Faqih, who runs the UK-based Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA).
The strategy was to firstly organize a Muslim backlash by sharpening the focus of the conflict and secondly, as Saad al-Faqih has previously analysed, Zawahiri impressed upon bin Laden the importance of understanding the American 'cowboy mentality', which implied that the best way to confront the Americans was to use extreme measures. The al-Qaeda attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and the subsequent 09/11 terrorist attacks in the United States served both these objectives. It brought the Americans into the battlefield (Afghanistan) on their own and as a result of the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, a powerful Muslim backlash was generated around the world.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2006 00:00 ||
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Ah, OK. So, 9/11 was part of a plot to get the US in Afghanistan where the infidels could be defeated by the Lions of Islam, eh?
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/02/2006 11:27 Comments ||
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#3
... 9/11 was part of a plot to get the US in Afghanistan where the infidels could be defeated by the Lions of Islam, eh?
As Fred would say, 'worked well, huh?'
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/02/2006 12:36 Comments ||
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#4
That clever strategy to lure Coalition troops into an Al Qaeda ambush, werein several dozens of AQ gunnies are killed but all the kaffirs escape unharmed to repeat the next time. Amazingly impressive, that.
(KUNA) -- The Sudanese First Deputy President Salva Kiir Myardit Saturday officially announced his approval over deployment of international forces in the western troubled Darfur region despite President Umar Al-Bashir's opposing stance. Kiir was quoted by the local media today saying the popular movement, as partner in government, is not opposed to having international troops in Darfur and that this stance was announced for sometime now. There is no point or prestige, he said, in opposing UN forces while both sides have already agreed to this point virtue of the peace agreement for the south and all Sudanese regions.
Kiir noted the UN forces that would come to Darfur would have the same duties that were entrusted to the forces in southern Sudan. Those forces, he added, have not yet violated their mandate. Kiir said it is the President who is the one responsible and the one to answer to questions why UN presence in Darfur is opposed.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2006 00:00 ||
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Crazy Grady? Is that you?
Posted by: F G Sanford ||
07/02/2006 9:49 Comments ||
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One of Somalia's new Islamist leaders has denied US claims that he is linked to terrorism. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, head of the Council of Islamic Courts which has recently taken control of Mogadishu, was speaking during a BBC phone-in. He has been on the US list of people "linked to terrorism" since shortly after the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
Sheikh Aweys said the case against him was built on false allegations from enemies in Ethiopia. "There was a war with Ethiopia. The Ethiopians infiltrated into Somalia and we fought with them. They interpreted this fighting as terrorism. America took it from them that this was true, but it was not. And we did not fight with Americans - we have never harmed Americans in any way," he said in response to a question from a caller.
Mr Aweys fought in the two countries' war for the region in the 1970s. Ethiopia also played a key role in defeating his Islamist militia al-Itihaad al-Islamiya - described by the US as "terrorist" - in the 1990s. The US and Ethiopia have been concerned by the speed at which the Islamic Courts has taken control of the Somali capital and several other towns in recent weeks. The US fears that a Somalia run by Islamists could be used by Islamic fighters linked to al-Qaeda.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2006 00:00 ||
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UBL's ringing endorsement ain't helpin your argument Mr. Sheikh
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/02/2006 0:46 Comments ||
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A summit of African leaders opened yesterday with a special welcome for the firebrand presidents of Iran and Venezuela, each visiting the world's poorest continent to win support for his anti-American agenda.
Gambian President Yahya Jammeh hailed the presence of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the summit of the 53-nation African Union as "a morale booster as well as an assurance that Africa can make it."
Mr. Ahmadinejad's visit was seen as an attempt to bolster Iran in its standoff with the United States and Europe over its nuclear program. The Iranian president has made several high-profile trips to Asia, where he drew crowds of Muslims cheering Tehran for defying the West. He prayed with African Muslims at Banjul's main mosque Friday, encouraging Gambian Muslims to "come together on the path of Islam to God."
Ninety percent of Gambia's 1.6 million people are Muslim, and Islam is a powerful force throughout much of Africa.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/02/2006 01:07 ||
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good time for a plane crash
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/02/2006 10:45 Comments ||
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Party like it's the 8th Century
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/02/2006 11:28 Comments ||
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#3
Can Africa make it without any US foreign aid and with steep import tariffs? Let's find out.
#4
"Islam is a powerful force throughout much of Africa"
So thats the problem, here was me thinkining thit a whores grasp of macroeconomics a street corner crack dealers grasp of justice and a culture that ignores scientific medicine and worships tribal thuggery and violence were the only foibles Africa embraced with its leaders.
Tsk you live and learn maybe someone should tell this to the OAU, what all the representatives are busy flying into a conference in monaco, shame.
Posted by: Joseph Conrad ||
07/02/2006 18:23 Comments ||
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#5
all OAU conferences should occur in Darfur and Harare with the occasional Nigerian Delta site for "unofficial" get-togethers
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/02/2006 18:40 Comments ||
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A summit of African leaders opened Saturday with a special welcome for the presidents of Iran and Venezuela, each visiting the poorest continent to win support in disputes with the United States.
President Yahya Jammeh of Gambia hailed the presence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran at the summit of the 53-nation African Union as "a morale booster as well as an assurance that Africa can make it."
Ahmadinejad's visit was seen as an attempt to bolster his country in its standoff with the United States and Europe over its nuclear program. Ahmadinejad has made several highly publicized trips to Asia, where he drew crowds of Muslims cheering his country for defying the West.
Continued on Page 49
#3
One of these days these folks are going to "show solidarity" themselves right out of US foreign aid.
I'll applaud that day when it comes and we tell the rest of the world to go f$%k themselves, withdraw all foreign aid, and start carrying the Big Stick (and actually using it to wack anyone stupid enough to dick with us).
A failed asylum-seeker has been 'unfairly sentenced' to 12 years' jail in Syria after being forcibly returned from the UK, according to Amnesty International.
Muhammad Osama Sayes, 30, was jailed on 25 June after he was convicted of belonging to the banned Muslim Brotherhood. Amnesty said Sayes was tried by the 'notoriously unfair' Supreme State Security Court, whose trials fall short of international standards.
'It's appalling that this man has been jailed for 12 years just for expressing his political beliefs,' said Amnesty's UK campaigns director, Tim Hancock. 'This is a glaring example of what happens when countries like the UK fail to offer protection to asylum-seekers: incommunicado detention, unfair trials, draconian jail sentences and a real risk of torture.'
#2
and exactly why did a member of the Muslim Brotherhood expect England to offer him asylum? The Brits may slip once in a while, but they can usually be depended upon to not be self-destructive.
FOREIGN Minister Alexander Downer has rejected claims Australia is denying justice to suspected terrorist David Hicks by insisting he be tried by a foreign government.
Hicks, who has been held in the Guantanamo Bay US military prison in Cuba for four-and-a-half years, faces charges including attempted murder and aiding the enemy after he was captured with Taliban forces in Afghanistan in late 2001.
The US Supreme Court this week ruled that the military commissions set up by the Bush administration to prosecute Hicks and hundreds of others held at Guantanamo Bay were illegal.
AUSTRALIA has refused to throw a lifeline to Australian terror suspect David Hicks, despite a US Supreme Court win for him and other Guantanamo Bay inmates. In a blow to US President George W. Bush and the Australian Government, the court ruled the military commissions set up to try "war on terror" prisoners were illegal. Mr Howard yesterday urged the US to find another way to deal with Hicks, but rejected calls for his return to Australia. "I have sympathy for the principle that people should be brought to trial when they're charged with an offence," he said. "But I don't have any sympathy for somebody who trained with an organisation such as al-Qaida."
In a 5-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled the military commissions violated US military rules and four Geneva Conventions signed since 1949. The ruling was made in relation to Yemeni national Salim Hamdan, who is accused of being Osama bin Laden's bodyguard and driver. It also affects Hicks and nine other Guantanamo inmates charged with terrorist offences.
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer yesterday called for a speedy trial for Hicks. Hicks, 31, of Adelaide, has spent 4 1/2 years in custody in the Cuban prison awaiting trial. "I would have much rather David Hicks' case was brought to court long ago," Mr Downer said. Hicks' father Terry said it was time to bring his son home. "Let's get him back here," he said.
Why? Has he got chores to do? He wanted to be a big-time international terrorist. This is what happens to big-time international terorrists.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2006 00:00 ||
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We need to put about five supreme court justices in Guantanamo with Hicks. The Congress has the right to create courts below te supreme court level. They've done so. The supremes decided this was a no-no, and needed to be reversed. The five supremos that voted for this have taken jurisdiction belonging to the president for themselves. They need to be right there beside Hicks as members of an enemy force.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/02/2006 16:59 Comments ||
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Six Frenchmen released from the US base in Guantanamo are to face trial in Paris for allegedly being recruited to fight in Afghanistan. Imad Achab Kanouni, Khaled Ben Mustapha, Redouane Khalid, Brahim Yadel, Mourad Benchellali and Nizar Sassi all face charges of "associating with criminals in relation to a terrorist enterprise". The latter two are also indicted on counterfeiting charges. Their trial starting Monday is expected to run to July 12.
All the suspects except Yadel, who remains in detention, were freed by French authorities in the months following their repatriation from Guantanamo in July 2004 and March 2005. A seventh Frenchman who was held in Guantanamo and turned over to French authorities has since been cleared of any wrongdoing and faces no charges.
The prosecution alleges that the six on trial were recruited from 1998 by an Algerian Rachid Boukhalfa, also known as Abu Doha, who is being held in a British prison. Boujhalfa, an Algerian, is suspected of having planned al-Qaeda attacks in the United States. The six went to Afghanistan between March 2000 and August 2001. Prosecutors allege they underwent guerrilla training in an al-Qaeda camp near Kandahar. They were captured by US troops after the 2001 invasion and sent to Guantanamo when the notorious US base there was converted in January 2002 to detain fighters deemed "illegal combatants".
Continued on Page 49
#1
This is not exclusive to Muslim girls. It was said, back when I was at university, that the Japanese girls who came over for English as a second language classes always had their virginity surgically restored before going back home --it only takes a few stitches, apparently.
#3
This was 1978-81, bombay, so maybe things have changed. What I do know is that several of the future Mr. Wife's sweet little Japanese students made it very clear that they were extremely interested in an American adventure. Anetowa skibbi deska?
Izzat so? Has a car bomb killed 66 reporters recently?
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2006 11:02 ||
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"When it is a Top Secret operation, it is NOT the job of the press to determine what is appropriate to release and what is not," wrote Webb in an e-mail to the St. Petersburg Times Tuesday. "The problem ... is that media does not see the terrorist threat." Amen! The problem is that the MSM are elitest and arrogant. They do not care a whit about the greater good of the country despite mouthing such. They put story first, even if it is very often fabricated and allegiance to the country somewhere way down the list of important things. They are more interested in proving the U.S. wrong at every turn. They have their own agenda. The Rosenburgs were executed for giving away atomic secrets during the Cold War. We need to start prosecuting leakers and people in the MSM who aid and abet the enemy by divulging secrets during war time. I am, however, skeptical that this will happen.
#3
Notice in all this whining, the largest number of reporters in the crosshairs and in the graves are Iraqi. Iraqis who understand what a free government means, what a true free press means [they ain't doing it for money or a Pulitzer], and have been willing in the numbers to pay the price. The elites will include their numbers in the count, but they'll never acknowledge what they really died for.
#4
Actually, reporters aren't against the United States, they're against a Republican president, a Republican House, and an Republican Senate - the choices of the people. They will do anything to bring down the Republican party and the people that represent it. Partaisan politics are more important than national security, even national survival, to this bunch of twits. They deserve to be hung 50 feet below an AC-130 making touch-and-go landings at Kandahar, Afghanistan (it's called trolling for talibanners).
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/02/2006 17:28 Comments ||
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#5
Good questions, Fred. I find it disgusting when the media reports (read: whines) about itself.
Notable exceptions (i.e., Richard Pearl, the WaPo journalist who was killed during the invasion, and the television person who was killed during reporting)
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/02/2006 19:47 Comments ||
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The Supreme Court decision that ruled against the Bush administration's plan to try suspects being held at Guantanamo Bay prison has "hampered our ability" to deal with terrorists, the U.S. attorney general said Saturday. Under the 5-3 court ruling, the Bush administration must adopt a military system for trying suspected terrorists consistent with international standards -- or release the suspects from military custody. "What this decision has done is, it's hampered our ability to move forward with a tool which we had hoped would be available to the president of the United States in dealing with terrorists," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told CNN.
The administration had planned to try suspects in military tribunals as "enemy combatants." They would not be eligible for the rights, as established by the Geneva Conventions, guaranteed to prisoners of war. "We are currently evaluating the writings of the Supreme Court," Gonzales said, and "we are going to be working closely with Congress to look at legislation."
The administration is "hopeful that we will have the ability to try people through military commissions," he added. Gonzales emphasized that the court ruling didn't say "that we could not continue to hold enemy combatants indefinitely for the duration of hostilities, which was something the Supreme Court said we could do..." The prison was established in early 2002.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2006 00:00 ||
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Administer justice on the battlefield
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/02/2006 0:51 Comments ||
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Explain to me please, Just what makes the SCOTUS think they rule the world,
They're only the AMERICAN Court.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/02/2006 11:12 Comments ||
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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office said Saturday he was ordering the release of dozens of intelligence reports prepared for the state Office of Homeland Security a step that comes as lawmakers from both parties are denouncing a practice in which state intelligence agents compiled information about political and antiwar protests and rallies.
Schwarzenegger administration officials say there were only two cases in which state homeland security agents collected material on political protests in recent months. Releasing the full trove of intelligence reports will prove that point, assuring the public that the practice was not more widespread, according to those officials.
State lawmakers from both parties said it was inexcusable that two such intelligence reports from March and April carried details about the location and purpose of political rallies throughout California.
Continued on Page 49
#3
One good man? Good grief, who wrote the title at the Telegraph? Did they bother to read the story?
Although I'm damned displeased by the hodge-podge of presumptuous bullshit pumped out of the SCOTUS rectum (can you tell?) this week, this is our system. These are our people. They do their jobs with dedication and resolve. The result may be surprising to the Telegraph, but not really to us. Within the system, when it works as it should, all do their level best.
The SCOTUS's Dipshit Five is where any ire should be directed. I would be dishonest if I didn't say that I hope at least two of them die soon. In the next 2 years, in fact. I offer them my most sincere negative vibes to that end.
History will not be kind to Stevens, Kennedy, Ginsberg, Souter, and Breyer...
Assuming there will be a history written in something other than Arabic.
#4
>>>?The Court ruled Thursday that the President did not have the authority to set up the tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and that military commissions are illegal under both military justice law and the Geneva Convention. It also ruled that Congress did not take away the Court's authority to rule on the validity of military commissions. The Defense Departments Office of Military Commissions assigned Lt. Commander Swift as Mr. Hamdans military defense lawyer. He argued Mr. Hamdans case in the lower courts, but was only present for the Supreme Court oral arguments in March.
My take:
I watched a bit of Lieutenant Commander Swift talk about the Supreme Court ruling in the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case. C-SPAN
Swift is thoroughly trained in Military history, Military law, and the Geneva protocols. BUT OF NOTE even Before he was chosen to be Hamdan's attorney, Swift along with a large group of other lawyers in and out of the military had rejected the legality of tribunals/military commissions and had a overarching agenda to ban them!
Tactically the the Hamdan case just provided them the vehicle to effect their Strategic goal.
Swift claims that the tribunals/military commission that were set up during WWII are antiquated and out of date law now.
He personally wants all prisoners, even illegal combatants and terrorists to be guaranteed the rights of any legal defendant within the rules of a regular Courts Marshall and/or to be tried in the Federal Courts.
Lieutenant Commander Swift is a true believer an acolyte of the ACLU and quite possibly their next Emperor.
*
Washington WWII: [office locations have changed since]
A military attorney walked right across the street from his office to one of the Supreme Court Justices house and submitted a brief directly to the justice challenging some aspect of military commissions. [I got the impression there was already an informal discussion between the two on the issue at hand.]
the second case i can't recall enough detail to even allude to fairly..
But as this story developes lets watch and see how much "coordination" took place with some of the last "deciders" this time!! [sic Supreme Court]
#8
Granted, if you can identify the justice and make the case a SCOTUS justice acted in collusion with a lawyer with a case before the court, then that justice is certainly impeachable.
If you come across more detail, please post - that is very unsettling information. They're usually not so transparent, but we are talking about the Dipshit Five, so...
#9
Oops, sorry - I just realized you're referring to a WWII incident. Doesn't change my opinion of the Dipshit Five, but it makes my #8 wasted bandwidth. Apologies.
#12
SCOTUS, circa 1946, took a different view of military tribunals, lets repeat SCOTUS own words on Yamashita vs. Styer -
The military commission appointed to try the petitioner was lawfully created. P. 9. (a) Nature of the authority to create military commissions for the trial of enemy combatants for offenses against the law of war, and principles governing the exercise of jurisdiction by such commissions, considered. Citing Ex parte Quirin, 317 U.S. 1, and other cases. Pp. 7-9. (b) A military commission may be appointed by any field commander, or by any commander competent to appoint a general court martial, as was respondent by order of the President. P. 10. (c) The order creating the military commission was in conformity with the Act of Congress (10 U. S. C. @@ 1471-1593) sanctioning the creation of such tribunals for the trial of offenses against the law of war committed by enemy combatants. P. 11.
#13
Glock (much cooler than my Glaitch handle) check out the SCOTUSblog, if you haven't already. Should be plenty there to raise your blood pressure. They talk a bit about the decision you cite in a place or two, IIRC.
#14
Unfortunately, Telegraph, Gitmo isn't closed and the assholes there are not going free....bummed?
Five supreme Court justices left President George W Bush's policy on Guantanamo Bay in chaos last week but it was a diligent career navy officer who plotted the legal downfall of his commander-in-chief.
Lt Cdr Charles Swift, 44, an experienced military defence attorney, was expected to draft a simple plea bargain after prosecutors requested the appointment of a lawyer to represent Osama bin -Laden's driver in 2003.
Instead, he launched a series of ground-breaking legal challenges that ended with the ruling by America's highest court that the military commissions backed by Mr Bush for international terrorism suspects were unlawful.
"As an officer, I have the deepest respect for the President," he told The Sunday Telegraph after the hearing. "But as an officer, it is also my duty to point out when an order is wrong. What protects our democracy is that we do not just follow orders blindly.
"There was often a real Alice in Wonderland quality to this case," he said. "They had already decided that the detainees were terrorists so didn't have normal rights, but then they wanted to hold a commission to determine that they were terrorists."
Lt Cdr Swift, a 19-year US Navy veteran, could not hide his elation as he walked down the marble steps of the Supreme Court in full uniform on Thursday after the ruling, although he acknowledged that his role had not endeared him to everyone.
"I'm really not worrying whether I'm the most popular man in the US military today," he declared cheerfully. "You don't win any popularity contests by conducting a defence but I can't do my job by opinion poll."
Lt Cdr Swift has received few direct criticisms for standing up for the legal rights of men seen by many of his comrades - not to mention much of the American public - as terrorists. But his military career is likely to come to an obligatory end next year if, as he expects, he fails for the second time to win promotion.
When he finally got home on Thursday, his wife, an airline pilot, told him how surprised she was that he had won. Next day he received a hero's reception from fellow military defence lawyers in northern Virginia, including a hug and kiss from a female colleague "that probably breached military protocol".
Just as rewarding, he said, was that a senior military prosecutor and government legal officer also congratulated him on a job well done, even though they did not like the conclusion.
By a five-to-three majority, the justices ruled that the US military could not continue to try detainees using special military panels - the method that the White House devised to start emptying a prison that has become an international embarrassment.
The Supreme Court concluded that the commissions denied defendants basic legal rights and that if detainees were to be tried for war crimes, the proceedings should be held either by court martial or in a civil court.
The justices also found that conspiracy - the single charge laid against Lt Cdr Swift's client, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a 36-year-old Yemeni - did not qualify as a war crime. "This case is not about my client avoiding justice," Lt Cdr Swift said. "It's about what form of justice he should face."
His delight was nothing to do with a defeat for the White House or Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary and plaintiff in the case; rather, he said: "This vindicates the military justice system and I'm very proud of that. This ruling reinforces a huge difference between us and our opponents. We believe in common decency, fairness and the rule of law. Our opponents don't."
On Thursday afternoon he telephoned Hamdan at the camp 1,300 miles away and told him of the ruling through an interpreter. "I think he was awe-struck that the court would rule for him and give a little man like him an equal chance," he said. "Where he's from, that's not the case."
Britain urged to take back detainees
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/02/2006 10:59 Comments ||
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#15
A blatant power grab by liberal wing of SCOTUS. I hope Bush goes to Congress and neuters SCOTUS.
#16
Lt Cmdr Swift can at least look forward to joining Karpinski on the speaking tour.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/02/2006 13:25 Comments ||
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#17
is that a joke JohnQC or are you just uninformed as to how the system works? Forgive me if it's a joke I didn't get. These days it's hard to tell cause some people really are that stupid.
#19
You can always choose a name of your own, Glaitch Groting9149. Just type the handle of your choosing into the "Your Name" box, and allow the Rantburg cookie to remember it. It would be easier for the rest of us to recognize you at first if you append (formerly known as Glaitch Groting9149) for a few days, like dear Swamp Blondie did.
It's Take A Gitmo Slug Home With You day, and it's time to see the Left belly up to the bar.
MUNICH - Germany is being asked by Washington to accommodate four prisoners after their release from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, a German news magazine reported on Saturday.
Focus said US President George W Bush had asked Chancellor Angela Merkel to take in the men because of the difficulties that would arise if they were sent back to their native countries. It said Washington had set this as a condition for the release of Murat Kurnaz, a Turkish national who was raised in the German city of Bremen. Berlin has been pressing for his release and return to Germany. A German government spokesman said the Focus account was inaccurate.
The government is conducting talks on a release of Murat Kurnaz. There is no condition of the nature descr, he said. Kurnaz has been detained at the US camp on the island of Cuba for four years. He was caught in Cuba after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States and moved to Guantanamo Bay in 2002.
Focus said the German embassy in Washington and the Bush administration were close to an agreement, with Germany agreeing in principle to take one other detainee from the camp, but not four. In the report carried in its edition to hit the streets Monday, Focus said the men would arrive soon. Germany had not been told who the other person to be released would be, nor why they could not return to their home country.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/02/2006 00:00 ||
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This should be interesting. Given that the evil Bush-US-rendition-Gitmo is offering a Turk terr to Germany. (Germans generally not too fond of Turks to begin with)
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/02/2006 0:54 Comments ||
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A Muslim rights group has cautioned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against sending Indian troops to Afghanistan to beef up the US-led forces, saying this would have severe consequences.
Even the slightest reflection of being with the American-led forces in Afghanistan would have severe consequences and would send disastrous signals not only to common Afghans but also to the domestic population in India, apart from putting the minute Hindu and Sikh population in Afghanistan at great risk, Navaid Hamid, secretary of the South Asian Council for Minorities (SACM), said in a letter to the prime minister.
Recalling the fallout of India's foray into Sri Lanka in the 1980s to broker peace between the government and Tamil Tigers, Hamid maintained it would be disastrous, politically and historically, to align with the forces which are messed up in the situation created by their misadventures in the troubled nation.
#1
A Muslim rights group has cautioned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against sending Indian troops to Afghanistan to beef up the US-led forces, saying this would have severe consequences.
#2
Hum, this muslim rights group seems to have a his priorities a bit mixed up, when it is in fact threatening its host body. Btw, this IMHO shows well its loyalties and concerns go to the ummah first, a deep trend among muslims I fear.
#4
Islamic groups were successful in preventing the deployment of a division of Indian troops to Iraq.
With rumors of India offering at least a brigade to the US effort, they want to nip this in the bud.
Posted by: john ||
07/02/2006 10:32 Comments ||
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#5
Could it be that our "Muslim Rights Group" is a front for a terrorist organization? hmmm... I'm sure the reporter would have sniffed that out.
Naw. The real news would be finding a Muslim "rights" group that isn't a terrorist front.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/02/2006 13:37 Comments ||
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#6
I'd like to see Turkey offer 25 divisions to help the US in Afghanistan - by moving across Pakiwakiland in full destruct mode, especially in the NWFP and Kashmir. Leave no stone unturned, no armed muzzie alive. THEN help us clean out Iran and Syria. We'll help them at home with a few modern weapons - Strykers, M1A2 tanks, MLRS, and 50,000 brand-new Ma-deuce, with ammo, plus some veto power in the UN.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/02/2006 17:52 Comments ||
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GUWAHATI: An outlawed separatist rebel group offered direct talks with the Indian government to end decades of violence in the northeastern state of Assam. "We are satisfied with the progress made in talks between the government of India and our representatives," the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) said in a statement on Saturday.
The ULFA, which has been fighting for an Assamese homeland since 1979, said it awaited the release of five of its imprisoned leaders, which had been agreed upon in talks its representatives held last month with the Indian government. "We hope the assurances given by the Indian government become a reality to pave the way for direct talks," ULFA Chief Arabinda Rajkhowa said in the statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2006 00:00 ||
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The government has found no evidence of Al Qaeda's presence in Mohmand Agency, Federal Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told a delegation of tribal elders from the agency during a meeting on Saturday. "There is no Qaeda network in Mohmand Agency," Sherpao said, adding, "Mohmand Agency is a peaceful area."
Sherpao also welcomed the ceasefire by militants in North Waziristan. He issued a warning to "forces" that were creating "hurdles in the way of free and fair elections", but did not name the "forces". He said that a committee had been formed to shortlist prospective officers for the post of political agents, adding that only candidates with a sufficient knowledge of tribal traditions and customs would be appointed political agents. He said the government would soon introduce "positive reforms" in the political administration of the tribal region.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Say, bub, mind if we take a look?
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/02/2006 0:55 Comments ||
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I'm still not sure if was revenge for a lost buddy where they went gangsta, or they randomly victemized some poor family.
BEIJI, Iraq -- Investigators believe American soldiers spent nearly a week plotting an attack in which they raped an Iraqi woman, then killed her and her family in an insurgent-ridden area south of Baghdad, a U.S. military official said Saturday.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said the attack appeared "totally premeditated" and that the soldiers apparently "studied" the family for about a week before carrying out the attack.
According to the official, the Sunni Arab family had just moved into a new home in the religiously mixed area about 20 miles south of Baghdad. The Americans entered the home, separated three family members from the woman, then raped her and set fire to her body, the official said. The three others were also slain. A senior Army official who also requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing said one of the victims was a child .
U.S. officials said they knew of the deaths but thought the victims died due to sectarian violence. A local police official, Capt. Ihsan Abdul-Rahman, said Iraqi officials received a report March 13 alleging that American soldiers had killed the family in the Khasir Abyad district about 6 miles north of Mahmoudiya.
----
The satellite channel Al-Jazeera gave wide coverage to the alleged rape-slaying, which threatens to stoke public anger in the wake of a series of other cases of U.S. troops allegedly killing and abusing Iraqi civilians.
----
The U.S. official said at least four soldiers were being investigated. Two other U.S. officials said Friday that five were under investigation but one already had been discharged for unspecified charges unrelated to the killings and was believed to be in the United States.
The U.S. command has said only that Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of U.S. forces in the Baghdad area, had ordered a criminal investigation into the alleged slaying of a family of four.
Those troops under investigation are from the same platoon as two soldiers kidnapped and killed south of Baghdad this month, another official said Friday. Their mutilated bodies were found June 19, three days after they were abducted by insurgents near Youssifiyah, southwest of Baghdad.
The military has said one and possibly both of the slain soldiers were tortured and beheaded. The official said the mutilation of the slain soldiers stirred feelings of guilt and led at least one member of the platoon to reveal the rape-slaying on June 22.
The senior Army official said the alleged incident was first revealed by a soldier during a routine counseling-type session. The Army official said that soldier did not witness the incident but heard about it.
A second soldier, who also was not involved, said he overhead soldiers conspiring to commit the crimes and then later saw bloodstains on their clothes, the Army official said.
The first report said that one of the participants had confessed.
Now it's someone who wasn't there, but heard about it.
Is it too much to wait until they have something more than rumor? Are they so desperate to slime the US Military? It appears the answer is yes. I would ask what the WaPo Editors would do if one of their sons or daughters were involved, would they do this? But, of course, none of their spawn would likely be serving.
#5
Hard to believe that four would go off the deep end at the same time in the same way, and that one unrelated guy would sit on it. But it should be looked into. We'll see.
Posted by: grb ||
07/02/2006 18:38 Comments ||
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#6
Anyone who thinks it's impossible for American servicemen to commit crimes is an idiot. The difference lies in our investigating, trying, and punishing crimes.
Our enemies, lest we forget, celebrate their crimes.
The traitors in our ranks (press, Democrats) spend their days making sure we hear little of our enemy's crimes, and little but our servicemen's crimes.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/02/2006 19:40 Comments ||
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#7
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity...
It had better be a embassy official cause if its uniform he/she is going to Ft Leavenworth if it is found out. I pretty sure the orders have gone out more than once not to talk UCMJ cases with any media.
#8
Wasn't this a recent movie or tv plot? When I 1st heard of this 'event', I thought: "Oh, yeah. I saw that too. This scandal won't last and be just another anti-US smear propogated by the MSM.
#1
If we took advantage of AQ's internal dissension to get rid of this evil man, I would be quite pleased. Do keep complaining Mrs. Zarqawi, focussing the minds of your fellows on how they can't trust one another. Thanks ever so!
#8
If she is hiding in Europe, how did the Italians find her in Geneva? And how does she know it was a CIA deal, providing Bin Laden protection? She must be in UN protective custody.
#9
Mohamed, whom the paper described as a Jordanian woman aged around 40, said the agreement had been reached with the Sunni tribes charged with protecting her husband, with the Jordanian secret services acting as intermediaries.
Otherwise, they would never have been able to kill him in such a way, unless the Baquba attack was just luck, she continued.
Or skill. Or good intel. Or his bunkmate having reached his limit on the BO. Or that young thing getting pissed he was sending money back to the 1st wife. Or ....
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq killed this month in a U.S. air strike, has been buried in a secret grave in Iraq, Iraq's national security adviser said on Sunday.
"The Iraqi authorities recently buried the body of Zarqawi in a marked but secret place," Mowaffak al-Rubaie told Reuters.
Zarqawi, a Jordanian, was killed on June 7. Iraqi, U.S. and Jordanian authorities have been anxious his tomb not become a place of pilgrimage.
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden called on the U.S. military to release Zarqawi's body to his family in a Web site audio tape on Friday. He also said Jordan's King Abdullah should allow him to be buried in his home town.
"You (King Abdullah) prevented Abu Musab from returning to his country alive," the recording said. "What scares you about Zarqawi after his death is that (his funeral) will be huge and will show the degree of sympathy Muslims have for the mujahideen."
A U.S. military spokesman declined comment on the burial, saying Zarqawi's body had been turned over to the Iraqi government "and any further comment will come from them". He did not say when the handover took place.
Hey, we could even turn it into one of those GPS treasure trove hunts, with a twist: a predator on 24 hour watch with a Hellfire or two. Candid camera would have nothing on this;
"Here's Ali al-Jerkwad hot on the trail of ol' Zarks nose. He's got the co-ords ok, remember they were all printed in the NYT so he's pretty sure they're kosher - whoops Freudian slip. Well, what he doesn't know is we're all watching him here as well as Mrs O'Bannion of Sioux Falls who you'll all remember won the lottery on what ordnance would be used to dispatch our lucky contestant from this vale of tears, well she's on the line now. Hi Mrs O'Bannion, have you made your choice?"
"Yes, Ray, I'd like a MOAB please"
"Whoa, Mrs O'Bannion - you know the rules, we only use a MOAB when all the contestants have managed to collect Zarks bits and are about to re-assemble them in Iran"
"Sorry Ray, in that case, I'd like some of those knife-missiles please"
"Oh good choice Mrs O'Bannion, a cell of autonomous surgical steel bladed weapons to go. Rather fitting for someone who cuts heads off - and ol' Ali here has done plenty of that."
"Here he comes now folks..."
...fade to black...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/02/2006 9:35 Comments ||
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#4
Ummm, we DID put that thermite cannister with the ten day time delay fues in his abdomen, Didn't we?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/02/2006 11:10 Comments ||
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#5
"the septic tank for the US Embassy seemed appropriate"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/02/2006 11:17 Comments ||
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#6
I'd have preferred cremating him and adding the ashes to nuclear waste. But, that's just me.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
07/02/2006 12:03 Comments ||
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#7
Serve his head, on a platter, at a dinner with the Saudi and Pakistani ambassadors.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/02/2006 13:59 Comments ||
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#8
Get the NYT on this breaking story! We need to know where, who, what....
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Friday approved up to $5 million in exchange for information on Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the new face of al-Qaida in Iraq. Al-Masri is presumed to be the successor of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed by an American bomb in early June. Al-Masri is an Egyptian explosives expert who trained in Osama bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan and was an associate of al-Zarqawi. Al-Masri has been fighting in Iraq since at least 2003 and was engaged in the battle of Fallujah in 2004. Rice's agency is offering the money to encourage people with information about al-Masri's location to come forward, said spokesman Adam Ereli.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Since Masri was such a close associate of Zarq's, I would imagine some of the intelligence we gathered at the Zarq Bar-B-Que would prove useful in tracking this mother f'er down.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/02/2006 0:57 Comments ||
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Thousands of Palestinians are stuck in two Egyptian towns by the Gaza border, unable to return home amid an Israeli assault on the coastal strip, an Egyptian security official said Saturday. Brigadier Khairi Awwad, head of the Rafah city council, said more than 4,000 Palestinians were in staying in Rafah, on the border with Gaza, and El Arish, a town about 30 miles to the west. Many of them are Palestinians who work in Persian Gulf countries and travel home through Egypt to Gaza for summer vacation, he said.
Mohammed Awadallah, a 56-year-old high school teacher, was traveling from Saudi Arabia with his wife and seven children to spend the summer with relatives in Gaza. "I will go back to collect my stuff if they let us pass, and then go back to Saudi Arabia and will never go home again," he said.
The Gaza-Egypt border was open only sporadically over week since Hamas-linked militants kidnapped an Israeli soldier and Israel launched a military assault on Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinians took refuge inside the border terminal or spent several nights sleeping on the asphalt on the Egyptian side of the border. Many were stuck in no man's land between Egypt and Gaza, having had their travel documents stamped exiting Egypt, but unable to enter the Palestinian territory.
A large tent was erected outside the terminal to provide women and children shelter from the sweltering desert sun. Egyptian officials handed out food to refugees who had been there for days. With no money for a hotel, Harbah Salem and her husband spread a blanket over the hot concrete for their four handicapped children, all blind from a birth defect. "Me and my kids are suffering from bug bites, the hot sun during the day and the cold wind blowing during the night," she said.
Many hotels in El Arish were full, and Palestinians were seen in the town's public squares and restaurants, hauling their possessions on their backs. "We are still on security alert," Ahmed el-Masri, chief of police in Rafah said, though a curfew in Rafah had been lifted. He said Egyptian authorities had conducted raids along the border area, to ensure that the Israeli captive had not been smuggled to Egypt.
#2
"Mohammed Awadallah, a 56-year-old high school teacher, was traveling from Saudi Arabia with his wife and seven children to spend the summer with relatives in Gaza."
Not too smart, #1.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/02/2006 16:10 Comments ||
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GAZA - Lutfi Halawa stood beside the hospital bed of his nine-month old daughter Isra, praying power cuts hitting the Gaza Strip will not shut down her ventilator. Without electricity my daughter will die, he said.
That's a shame, and your kid didn't do anything wrong. Perhaps you could lobby your Hamas representative to give the Israeli kid back to his parents?
Palestinian health officials say an Israeli air strike, which knocked out Gazas main power plant has put the lives of hundreds of patients in imminent danger.
The attack was part an Israeli offensive to free a soldier captured by Palestinian terrorists militants last Sunday. Israel, which provides most of Gazas electricity, says it has boosted supplies because of the current situation. But the United Nations and the International Committee for the Red Cross say the strike has cut vital electric power for hospitals as well as families. Air strikes have also knocked out water supplies, they said.
Israels closure of Gazas borders has also halted commodities including gasoline, meaning the fuel Palestinians are using to power home generators is being depleted.
Al Naser hospital for children, where Isra is being treated, has been relying on a generator during power cuts. But its gasoline reserve will only last four to five days, doctors say. Those patients await their execution if the gasoline runs out and electricity remains cut. Those who destroyed the power plant will be responsible, said doctor Majed Awadallah, head of an intensive care unit treating five infants.
And Hamas hadn't nothing to do with it, of course, it's the Jooooz again.
Palestinian energy authorities are supplying power to different parts of the Gaza Strip in rotation. Residents are denied supplies for eight hours a day. When power is cut, they turn on their generators. But petrol station owners say gasoline supplies may only last a few more days. The Israeli army said on Friday it aimed to open one of the border crossings next week to let in supplies.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/02/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Darwin's law catches up with innocents as well as the guilty....no different than the Nigerian islamic polio victims in 10 years or so
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/02/2006 0:10 Comments ||
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#2
And the kittens, gotta save the kittens
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/02/2006 0:57 Comments ||
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#4
No big deal, allan will save them! It's just that so far they're not Pious enough, and haven't submitted well enough to the Great-Dictator-In-The-Sky.
Ok, maybe if there is an international TV crew around to film the event, along with the obligatory "Jews are killing our children!" speech TM. Otherwise, fuggedaboutit.
#7
Something very fishy here, the hospital is relying on a GASOLINE generator, that implies that the generator is NOT a standard emergency backup generator that hospitals have as standard equipment, those are almost always run either off the natural gas mains, or are diesel, (Or both for backup) and are huge, with automatic transfer switches, built-in/wired-in permanently on standby.
The reason is that Gasoline is both much more dangerous to store and use than either Diesel or Nat Gas, and the hospitals try to eliminate dangerous Gasoline fumes.
Second reason is that it's too easy to siphon off Gasoline for your car, so they eliminate the temptation. (Over there it's a near certainty the tanks would be empty from theft, not so with Diesel)
I suspect that either the "Emergency Generator" is a trailer-towed version hauled in because there's no onsite, or there is no emergency generator and the story's a fake to propagandize against the "Evil Joos" killing "Innocent Victims."
I don't buy it, the whole story smells like the docks at low tide. Too many inconsistencies here.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/02/2006 11:05 Comments ||
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#8
"...Those who destroyed the power plant will be responsible,
No, those who elected a terrorist organization that had no interest in peace will be responsible. Israel left Gaza and Gaza took that opportunity to waste every viable option it had. RIP.
#9
Good point, Jim, and I had missed that. My hospital uses NG backup, and that's on top of the fact that the university already has its own electricity/heating plant just for the campus.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/02/2006 12:27 Comments ||
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#10
Israel provides a little less than 50% of the PA's electricity, and that hasn't been cut off. Lots of Palestinians are not sitting in the dark yet.
#11
These people are too stupid - they will never become adults. Perpetual children require adult supervision. Israel needs to re-occupy the land, and either rule with "an iron fist in a velvet glove", or take the gloves off and crush the nutters into the sand permanently. There can never be a "peaceful, paleostain" state, because they have no concept of "live and let live". Therefore, they need to either be crushed, or ruled over until they learn to grow up (about 2 1/2 eternities should do it).
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/02/2006 18:04 Comments ||
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The mufti of Jerusalem, fired last week by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, said over the weekend that he had been punished for criticizing Israel and opposing Abbas's policies. Abbas's decision to dismiss the mufti, Sheikh Ikremah Sabri, came shortly after the latter said in a newspaper interview that "Israel did not want peace."
Moreover, the decision came after Sabri criticized the international sanctions imposed on the Hamas government and attempts by some Palestinians to bring down the Hamas government. Abbas was also reportedly angered by Sabri's participation in a rally organized in the Galilee two weeks ago by Sheikh Raed Salah's Islamic Movement. At the rally attended by thousands of supporters of the Islamic Movement, Sabri criticized Abbas's decision to hold a referendum on a controversial document drafted by a number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Abbas decided to appoint Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, director of the Aksa Mosque, as the new mufti. Sheikh Hussein is a less controversial figure than Sabri and is closely associated with Abbas's Fatah party.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
so Arafat's bitch finally gets his walking papers. Surprised it took that long. Bad time to get uppity against Abbas
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/02/2006 0:14 Comments ||
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Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said late Saturday he was confident an agreement could be reached to end the crisis with Israel and free IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was abducted by Palestinian operatives last Sunday. "Regarding the soldier, we will surely reach an agreement. It is not a dead end. People want an acceptable solution," Abbas told reporters.
"Israel as a matter of principal does not accept reciprocity. Maybe there will be another formula that won't be turned back," Abbas continued. "I am afraid that what is to come is going to be dangerous because we can't bear another serious aggression and another occupation. What is to come may be more difficult," he said. "What is important is to protect national unity. To protect our people and to avoid bringing danger and disaster to the nation."
Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah said that divisions inside Hamas were preventing progress in talks aimed at releasing kidnapped Cpl. Gilad Shalit. "Hamas doesn't know what it wants," a PA official told The Jerusalem Post. "The movement's leaders are saying different things and we don't know who's in charge there. The rivalry within Hamas makes it difficult to reach an agreement."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
What kinda meds is Abbas on?
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/02/2006 0:59 Comments ||
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#2
Abbas is always confident (guess the numbered swiss acount is doing well).
#3
Mixed signals from Israel don't help, either. Damn Perez's (spelling?) eyes!
Israel, meanwhile, reopened its main cargo crossing with Gaza to allow food, medical supplies and fuel to be sent in to the impoverished area from Israel, Israeli officials said.
While food shortages have not been reported, human rights groups have cautioned that Gaza could face a humanitarian crisis because about 43 percent of the territory's electricity supply was knocked out after Israeli missiles struck Gaza's only power station. Israel has increased its supply of electricity to Gaza, the Israeli army said Saturday, but fuel for generators has been scarce.
#4
"What is important is to protect national unity. To protect our people and to avoid bringing danger and disaster to the nation."
Exactly! Now if everyone around Abbas could all just internalize this! Hint: Give back any kidnappees, stop the corruption, stop being played for the fool by other "Islamic" interests by screwing with Israel (If they were serious, they'd take you into their countries, but they don't!).
Posted by: grb ||
07/02/2006 14:58 Comments ||
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Washington's UN ambassador on Friday said Syria was partially responsible for the latest wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence, saying it harbored militants from Hamas. "We would not be where we are right now if it were not for Syria's support and harboring of terrorists," John Bolton said. Bolton pressed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to join international efforts to resolve a wave of tension that has seen Israel stage incursions into the Gaza Strip in search of an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas.
He particularly urged Syria to turn over for prosecution Khaled Meshaal, Hamas's exiled political leader, who lives in Damascus.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2006 00:00 ||
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Money transfer agencies like Western Union have delayed or blocked thousands of cash deliveries on suspicion of terrorist connections simply because senders or recipients have names like Mohammed or Ahmed, company officials said.
In one example, an Indian driver here said Western Union prevented him from sending US$120 (euro96) to a friend at home this month because the recipient's name was Mohammed. "Western Union told me that if I send money to Sahir Mohammed, the money will be blocked because of his name," said 36-year-old Abdul Rahman Maruthayil, who later sent the money through UAE Exchange, a Dubai-based money transfer service.
Western Union Financial Services, Inc., an American company based in Colorado, said its clerks simply are following U.S. Treasury Department guidelines that aim to scrutinize cash flows for terrorist links. Most of the flagged transactions are delayed a few hours. Some are blocked entirely. In many cases, would-be customers like Maruthayil simply find another way to send the funds often through informal exchanges with less stringent monitoring.
n Washington, U.S. Treasury spokeswoman Molly Millerwise said foreign banks have used the department's list of terrorist names to freeze US$150 million (euro117 million) in assets since it was released after Sept. 11. Millerwise didn't know the value of money transfers blocked using the list, but she said frustrations endured by those with certain names were regrettable but necessary. The list of names, available on the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control Web site, contains hundreds of Mohammeds.
Western Union's caution is perhaps understandable. Sept. 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta sent money from two Western Union agencies in Maryland before boarding a plane he helped crash into New York's World Trade Center.
A Western Union executive who deals with security measures said about 1 percent of the store's 30,000 daily money transfers about 300 a day are delayed or blocked because of suspected terrorist links. Thus far, all have proven false, the executive said on condition of anonymity, because she wasn't permitted to speak to the press.
Western Union routinely delays or blocks transfers between customers whose names even partially match names on the Treasury list. The money is usually released once suspects can show identity documents that prove they are not on the list, the executive said.
#1
Western Union has been part of some of the worst frauds on ebay. Eastern European and African scammers in particular have fleeced tens of thousands of well-meaning ebay buyers and sellers using Western Union money transfer services. It's shameful.
Marine majors have accomplished plenty in the Corps' 230-year history, but tales from "The Terminator" just didn't add up. He'd been a SEAL, a sniper and a pilot. His stories were larger than life, and no one at the Soldiers & Sailors National Military Museum and Memorial in Oakland believed him. But it was the Navy Cross pinned to his dress blues that proved too much to stomach. "He had more battle activity than eight guys together," Ron Gancas, museum president, said about John Eastman, who faces federal charges of impersonating a military officer. "Why he picked this place to B.S. I don't know. Everybody was in the military here."
Eastman, 58, of New Galilee, Beaver County, is accused of falsely wearing a major's insignia at a Veteran's Day function in 2004. He was indicted this year and, if convicted, would face a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a $5,000 fine.
If his outcome is anything like that of another imposter prosecuted this year in Pittsburgh, jail time is unlikely. Albert McKelvey, 68, of Richland, faked being a Marine colonel, presenting neatly folded flags to widows at funerals and delivering inspirational speeches to veterans groups. He paid for his transgressions with a $2,500 fine and probation.
Continued on Page 49
#2
If anybody wants it, I'll gladly send them a sanitized version of my DD214, proving I'm a legitimate veteran, with medals. I don't have any bronze stars, silver stars, or purple hearts - I was lucky!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/02/2006 17:23 Comments ||
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#3
Me neither, got a "National Defense Service Medal" for enlisting "During a time if Crisis".
I'm not proud of it, they gave them out to anyone and everyone, cheapened it so badly we called it a "Geedunk" (That's the ship's store, implication-a dime a dozen)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/02/2006 19:02 Comments ||
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#4
JFnK - you know they are authentic, you certified them yourself, right?
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/02/2006 19:44 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Describing Pakistan as a safe haven for terrorists, secretary general of the Awami National Party (ANP) Afrasiab Khattak demanded of the United States (US) and the international community to focus on militants having sanctuaries in that country.
KABUL: The Afghan government has launched a probe into the beating last month of a lawmaker, allegedly by men loyal to a powerful northern warlord, an official at the interior ministry said on Saturday. Faizullah Zaki was on holiday in his hometown in northern Jozjan province when he was attacked, apparently for violating the line of Jambush-i-milli, Abdul Rashid Dostam's ethnic Uzbek party, parliamentary sources said.
Al-Qaeda's number 2, 
(KUNA) -- The Sudanese First Deputy President Salva Kiir Myardit Saturday officially announced his approval over deployment of international forces in the western troubled Darfur region despite President Umar Al-Bashir's opposing stance. Kiir was quoted by the local media today saying the popular movement, as partner in government, is not opposed to having international troops in Darfur and that this stance was announced for sometime now. There is no point or prestige, he said, in opposing UN forces while both sides have already agreed to this point virtue of the peace agreement for the south and all Sudanese regions.
One of Somalia's new Islamist leaders has denied US claims that he is linked to terrorism. 
AUSTRALIA has refused to throw a lifeline to Australian terror suspect 
The Supreme Court decision that ruled against the Bush administration's plan to try suspects being held at Guantanamo Bay prison has "hampered our ability" to deal with terrorists, the U.S. attorney general said Saturday. Under the 5-3 court ruling, the Bush administration must adopt a military system for trying suspected terrorists consistent with international standards -- or release the suspects from military custody. "What this decision has done is, it's hampered our ability to move forward with a tool which we had hoped would be available to the president of the United States in dealing with terrorists," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told CNN.
The government has found no evidence of Al Qaeda's presence in Mohmand Agency, Federal Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told a delegation of tribal elders from the agency during a meeting on Saturday. "There is no Qaeda network in Mohmand Agency," Sherpao said, adding, "Mohmand Agency is a peaceful area." 
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Friday approved up to $5 million in exchange for information on 
Thousands of Palestinians are stuck in two Egyptian towns by the Gaza border, unable to return home amid an Israeli assault on the coastal strip, an Egyptian security official said Saturday. Brigadier Khairi Awwad, head of the Rafah city council, said more than 4,000 Palestinians were in staying in Rafah, on the border with Gaza, and El Arish, a town about 30 miles to the west. Many of them are Palestinians who work in Persian Gulf countries and travel home through Egypt to Gaza for summer vacation, he said.
The 
Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said late Saturday he was confident an agreement could be reached to end the crisis with Israel and free IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was abducted by Palestinian operatives last Sunday. "Regarding the soldier, we will surely reach an agreement. It is not a dead end. People want an acceptable solution," Abbas told reporters. 
Washington's UN ambassador on Friday said Syria was partially responsible for the latest wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence, saying it harbored militants from Hamas. "We would not be where we are right now if it were not for Syria's support and harboring of terrorists," John Bolton said. Bolton pressed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to join international efforts to resolve a wave of tension that has seen Israel stage incursions into the Gaza Strip in search of an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas.
