The prime minister of Pakistan, Shaukat Aziz, is set to visit Kabul today and hold crucial talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to iron out differences between the two countries and discuss Pakistans decision to fence and mine the 2,400-km Pak-Afghan border, a proposal which Kabul has rejected.
Officials say the visit aims at removing misunderstandings between Islamabad and Kabul that recently emerged following a statement by Richard Boucher, assistant secretary of the US Department of States Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, that the Taleban have set up their command and control center in Pakistans southwestern town of Quetta.
In order to normalize relations between the neighbors, US President George W. Bush organized a tripartite meeting at the White House in September. That meeting led to a truce, but relations soured after Bouchers statement in December. Pakistan strongly denies the claims and has sought intelligence reports about them from Washington.
Aziz is officially visiting Kabul for a day, but officials accompanying him say he may extend his stay. The prime ministers stay may be extended if an acceptable formula to check the Taleban is not reached, said one official.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Mogadishu, Somalia Ethiopian troops will stay in Somalia for another few weeks to help the victorious government pacify the Horn of Africa nation after a two-week war to oust militant Islamists, Addis Ababa said on Tuesday. Tightening the net on defeated Somali Islamic Courts Council (Sicc) fighters fleeing south, neighbouring Kenya said it had sealed its long and porous north-eastern border.
A triumphant Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, whose intervention turned the war against the Islamists, said his forces would only remain "for a few weeks" while the interim government pacifies the chaotic nation. "It is up to the international community to deploy a peacekeeping force in Somali without delay to avoid a vacuum and the resurgence of extremists and terrorists," he added.
Uganda has offered a battalion, while the Somali government says Nigeria may also give troops to an African peacekeeping mission already endorsed by the United Nations before the war.
Ethiopian planes, tanks and troops helped the Somali government drive out the Islamists from Mogadishu last week. The administration broke out of its provincial outpost to end six months of Islamist rule across much of the south.
UNITED NATIONS - The Daily Telegraph of London reported on Tuesday that UN peacekeepers and civilian staff were raping and abusing children as young as 12 in southern Sudan. The newspaper, in a story posted on its Web site, said it had gathered accounts from more than 20 young victims in the town of Juba of UN civilian and peacekeeping staff forcing them to have sex.
This isn't unusual. The outrage is that this isn't unusual.
The UN Peacekeeping Department in New York declined to comment. The report appeared on the first day of work for UN leader Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, who this week became the world bodys eighth secretary-general, succeeding Kofi Annan of Ghana.
There are more than 11,000 UN peacekeepers and police from some 70 countries in southern Sudan, enforcing a January 2005 peace agreement that ended a 21-year civil war.
The Telegraph said the first signs of sexual exploitation of local youths in southern Sudan emerged within days months of the peacekeepers arrival in March 2005. The UN Childrens Fund UNICEF drafted an internal report detailing the problem, it said.
The newspaper said Sudans government had gathered evidence including video footage of UN workers having sex with young girls. But the United Nations has yet to publicly acknowledge there was a problem or even investigate, the newspaper said.
Kofi was going to get around to it but his term ended.
exual abuse charges have surfaced for decades in UN peacekeeping missions and among civilian and other humanitarian staff operating in world hot spots. But the United Nations began more or less seriously pursuing offenders in the past two years after reports of widespread abuse in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it has 17,000 troops.
Semi-pursuing this as far as necessary to get the human rights do-gooders off their backs, since even the usual apologists for the U.N. started getting upset. Don't expect Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International to make this a front-page issue anytime soon.
Since January 2004, the United Nations has investigated abuse allegations against 319 military and civilian personnel in all its missions, the world body said in late November. It has disciplined 179 soldiers, civilians and police since then but acknowledges minors and the poor are still exploited.
The 'disciplining' consists of sending them back to their home countries, where rarely anything more is done. How about creating an international court for this one? Carla del Ponte could stay busy for decades.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
How about creating an international court for this one?
Never happen. International courts are only for situations in which absolutely nothing will be done.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/03/2007 5:19 Comments ||
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something about starvation, malnutrition, and desperate orphans just turns the UN guys on
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2007 8:13 Comments ||
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Koffi's Legacy: Underage Nookie for Food program.
#4
International courts are only for situations in which absolutely nothing will be done.
Like I was sayin' ....
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/03/2007 10:15 Comments ||
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#5
Sadly, these desperate people often confuse the UN's practices with "American policies", fueling ignorance and mistrust of the West. The UN needs to go.
#6
And, yet, we're the ones operating the "gulags" under "new management" in Gitmo? Jeebus, the mind boggles.
There's a HUGE difference between milking a jihadi for info and taking advantage of a 12 year old orphan in a war zone. Of course, big Mo himself did it, so it must be o.k. with all those muslim "peacekeepers," eh?
Posted by: BA ||
01/03/2007 15:03 Comments ||
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(SomaliNet) Hussein Mohamed Aideed, the interior minister of the transitional federal government has said on Tuesday the government wants that Somalia and Ethiopia share a single passport and wipe out the boundary between the countries citing the unity of European countries as one nation and share one currency.
Mr. Aideed who met today with clan and traditional elders in the former presidential palace in the Somalia capital Mogadishu said since Somalis and Ethiopians are brothers and both countries share 2000 km long border my government would suggest to use a single passport in the two countries and unified security forces because there is blood relations between both communities in Somalia and Ethiopia. There are thousands of Somali refugees living in Ethiopian and hold Ethiopian passports who can travel everywhere in the world, Mr. Aideed said.
Hussein Aideed said 60% the Somali refugees are in Ethiopia the rest being in Minnesota and argued that nothing can prevent us from joining hands with Ethiopia since they came to help us from thousands miles away. The interior minister asked the elders to welcome the Ethiopian forces helping the government for restoring peace and stability. He said the Ethiopians should be seen as friends but not as enemy. Ethiopia is the only country which supported Somalia out of the problem, he said.
The EU sure wasn't helpful. And he prob'ly doesn't know/can't talk about the aid from the U.S.
December 10, 2006, some members of the transitional parliament in Somalia put on view publicly a map which they said secretly stolen from the office of Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi in Baidoa. The map shows all countries in African continent with Ethiopia annexing Somalia. But the premier Gedi denied the allegation as false paper.
"Lies! All lies!"
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
Maybe stupid, maybe smart. If it doesn't cost them much $$$ they could come out of this with a lot of regional juche, power that is. They could, given the state of the rest of the horn, become the uncontested big boy in that part of the world. And that wouldn't be so bad to have the second oldest Christian nation in the world take the reigns in that region.
#4
Could be good, or bad. Good: Could bring order and peace to an area long in anarchy.
Bad: Could inflame tribal tensions and lead to more civil war and anarchy.
#5
Do you have any reason to believe that Somalis in Ethiopia will be any different?
Sure do. Ethiopians are not Americans, and as such, probably not as infected/afflicted with PC BS, or multi-culti BS. The Ethiopians would most likely thump the snot out of any slammers that stepped out of line, they seem to do a pretty good job of keeping their own slammers in line.
Posted by: Chuck Darwin ||
01/03/2007 9:46 Comments ||
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The great thing here is that it's an African problem resolved by Africans.
The hidden bad thing is that the Christians in Ethiopia will become targets to be overwhelmed by birth rates, rapes, murders, and IEDs as the jihadis march into eternity.
#9
With the existing agreements with both Djibouti and Somaliland, the Ethiopians may lack ports of their own but they do have assured access to others' ports.
#10
#5 Soviet Union did a good job of "keeping their own slammers in line". Once it was gone, they came back in all slammer glory. Which shows that keeping "slammers in line" is just passing the problem to your children.
(SomaliNet) Somalia Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi had on Tuesday a close doors meeting with the peace makers and politicians of Ayr sub-clan of Habar-Gidir clan of Hawiye tribe over how the Ayr clan (supporters of ousted Islamists) would work with the transitional federal government. The meeting has taken place in Global Hotel in north of the capital Mogadishu.
Mr. Gedi, requested the Ayr sub-clan to support the transitional government and hand over their weapons to the government promising them that his government will establish the security in Mogadishu and entirely Somalia. You should not fear to face any problem from other clans, he said.
A letter written by the sub-clan was submitted to premier Gedi. In the letter, the Ayr clan gave advices to Gedi, sources say. One of the attendees in the meeting told Somalinet that the session between the clan elders and premier Gedi was successful.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
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"It's tense, Sarge!"
"Yeah. Too tense!" For six months Somalia's Islamists used freelance warlord Mohamed Qanyare Afrah's home as one of their bases as they took over much of the country. They used his many battlewagons and held meetings in his living room. Last week, they fled an onslaught led by troops from neighboring Ethiopia with Somalian government forces. Mr. Qanyare is grateful but only up to a point. "What I say is Ethiopia should not interfere in Somalian politics," he says. "They can stay as long as they are fighting Al Qaeda - that is a problem for the entire region. But if they try to become involved in our politics then we will oppose them." I predict that'll meet with approximately the same degree of success the Powerful Islamic Courts™ met with. Remember, Moh, they kicked your tails before the Aethiops kicked theirs.
Ethiopia's preemptive offensive signals the opening of a new front in the global struggle against Islamist militants. And the speed of the Islamists' retreat is reminiscent of how insurgencies began in both Iraq and Afghanistan, say analysts. Now, victory may hinge upon whether warlords like Qanyare support occupying Ethiopian forces or the Islamists.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
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From there the Islamists have disappeared into the forests of Ras Kaambooni, close to the Kenyan border. Hussein Aideed, deputy prime minister, admits the government now faces a tough challenge.
#2
"Or you could declare war on the Hawiye, kill them all, and divide their goods and their lands among the other clans."
Yeah, but that would mean keeping all the other clans together, probably no easy feat. Betting on the strongest (the Hawiye) might be a good idea. Otherwise you need outside troops to help, and it looks like the Ethiopes wont stay long. That leaves the proposed African Union force. Who here expects them to be effective?
(AKI) - The airport of the Somali capital Mogadishu will re-open on Wednesday, sources with the transitional government were quoted as saying by Arabic web site Elaph. The airport had been closed since 25 December after Ethiopian jets bombed it. It will reportedly be open to all commercial and cargo flights that get permission to land and take off from the transitional government.
Meanwhile, the transitional government announced on Tuesday that Ethiopian troops will remain in Somalia to ensure stability after the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) were chased out of the capital they had occupied for the previous six months. The interim government was created in 2004 in the 14th attempt to restore central rule in Somalia, which has been without an effective government since former ruler Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
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(AKI) - A condolence house has been set up in the Yemeni capital Sanaa for former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who was executed on Saturday. The office, which was opened on Monday, is for both Yemenis and Iraqi residents living in Yemen to mourn the death of the former Iraqi president. According to reports in the Arabic daily, al-Quds al-Arabi, the office will remain open till Tuesday evening and was set up by an association known as "Kanaan", led by Yahya Muhammad Abdullah Saleh, nephew of Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh and the head of the local security forces.
Various members of Saddam Hussein's family, who had taken refuge in Yemen after the fall of his regime in 2003, were present to receive the condolences from the people. The names of Saddam's family members at the condolence house were not revealed for security reasons but according to the report in the Arabic daily, they are believed to be the second tier of Saddam's large family.
Reports say the number of people offering their condolences far exceeded the number expected. The former Iraqi leader, 69, was hanged early on Saturday morning after being sentenced to death over the killings of 148 Shiites from the town of Dujail in 1982.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
So have the GPS coordinates been fed into the appropriate computers yet? (dumb question generator 'off')
All eyes are on Iraq and Afghanistan, but military observer Peter Caddick-Adams is looking closer to home for the most drastic change in events - Northern Ireland. There are about 15,000 UK troops stationed there, but most will be given notice to leave by the end of 2007, he thinks.
The effect will be to release a huge number of soldiers for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. And it's the latter that Caddick-Adams thinks will increasingly become the primary focus of the British forces, to the extent that it will replace Northern Ireland as Britain's main long-term military commitment.
"That won't be said, as such. No general would say it without the backing of a politician. But between Iraq and Afghanistan, Afghanistan is the more winnable option. You're not so much fighting an ideology as a tribal habit," says Caddick-Adams.
"Northern Ireland has exacerbated the recent overstretch - after nearly 40 years of involvement there, it's become home to permanent garrisons, barracks, headquarters and the like. But Sinn Fein's move at Christmas to accommodate the new Police Service of Northern Ireland signals a long-term peaceful outlook."
Northern Ireland's part of Britain, at least until Britain dissolves. It should have its share of permanent garrisons, same way Mississippi and Illinois have their share of US armed forces bases. 15K troops in the troubled Isle might be too many -- or not enough -- but that isn't the problem; the problem is higher in the MoD.
BTW, if you look at the picture, what is that soldier doing to that little old lady?
(AKI) - Germany's interior minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble is seeking controversial changes to the constitution that would allow the military to shoot down terrorist controlled aircraft. Schaeuble, a member of Germany's conservative Christian Democratic Union, was quoted by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung on Tuesday as saying such an amendment would create a so-called "de facto defence situation," enabling the prevention of attacks like the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United Nations that killed close to 3,000.
The plan, which comes less than a year after Germany's top court ruled on 15 February 2006 that a law allowing the destruction of terrorist-controlled planes was unconstitutional, has come in for harsh criticism from politicians across the political spectrum. In last February's ruling, judges said the lives of innocent plane passengers could not be weighed against those of people on the ground.
"Schaeuble is trying to side-step the constitutional court," Volker Beck of the opposition Greens party told the online newspaper Netzeitung, adding that German parliamentarians should not grant a "license to kill."
Dieter Wiefelspuetz, an interior policy expert for Schaeble's coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party, cited by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, also termed the interior minister's plan "unacceptable." Only if national security is threatened could the sacrificing of innocent lives be countenanced, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
The Greens want only the terrorists, aka their future overlords, to have a "license to kill."
#2
...enabling the prevention of attacks like the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United Nations that killed close to 3,000.
Don't wire services employ proof readers anymore?If only the attack had been on the Turtle Bay facility and its occupants. Sigh...
And wondering whatever became of TGA.
#4
Thanks, JFM. That helps.
I had thought he had gotten a position in Merkel's government and just didn't have time to post. Obviously he is missed here at RB.
#7
lol, TW! Only you could come up with such an exquisite explanation in such a short time.
Back to topic...this actually has to be legalized? And, what's with those judges. We now must assume that anyone aboard a hijacked airliner is a "dead man flying". Saving add'l lives on the ground is the highest priority.
Posted by: BA ||
01/03/2007 14:52 Comments ||
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#8
More than five years later and they still have not sorted this out? Talk about flying blind.
#9
Of course my explanation has no technical basis or understanding behind it, BA. It's ever so much easier to explain things when not weighted down by reality. ;-)
Associated PressBAGHDAD, Iraq -- The person believed to have recorded Saddam Hussein's raucous execution on a cell phone camera was arrested Wednesday, an adviser to Iraq's prime minister said. hang em, and let me video tape it
The adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, did not identify the person. But he said it was "an official who supervised the execution" and who is "now under investigation." LOL
"In the past few hours, the government has arrested the person who made the video of Saddam's execution," the adviser said.
[...]
"Saddam spoke very well to our military police, as he always had, and when getting off at the prison site he said farewell to his interpreter; he thanked the military police squad," Caldwell said. RD
BBCIraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has made clear he dislikes being the country's leader and would prefer to be in Philadelphia leave the job before his term ends. In an extensive interview with a US newspaper, Mr Maliki said he would certainly not be seeking a second term. A compromise choice, his tenure has been plagued by factional strife within both the country and government, and rumours the US has no faith in him. honey where's that ole Stradivarius?
"I wish I could be done with it even before the end of this term," he said. boo f'n hoo, meanwhile a few more bodies washed up..
"I didn't want to take this position," he told the Wall Street Journal. "I only agreed because I thought it would serve the national interest, and I will not accept it again." nevermind
Mr Maliki, a stalwart of the Shia movement which led the resistance to Saddam Hussein, was sworn in as prime minister for a four year term last May after Sunni and Kurd parties rejected the Shia alliance's first nominee. Sit down at your typewriter or word processor, or with a blank sheet of paper.
First line reads "SUBJECT: Letter of Resignation".
Not much else is required besides a signature block. more at link RD
Iraq's prime minister ordered an investigation Tuesday into Saddam Hussein's execution to try to uncover who taunted the former dictator in the last minutes of his life, and who leaked inflammatory footage taken by camera phone of the hanging.
The unofficial video, on which at least one person is heard shouting "To hell!" at the deposed president and Saddam is heard exchanging insults with his executioners, dealt a blow to Iraq's efforts to prove it was a neutral enforcer of the law. Instead, the emotional, politicized spectacle raised tensions between the Shiite majority and Sunni Arabs who ran the country until their benefactor, Saddam, was ousted in the US-led invasion of 2003. A prosecutor who saw the hanging said some of the taunting came from guards outside the execution chamber, not the masked ones who put the noose around Saddam's neck.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Saddam's biggest problem was that the rope was too short.
Posted by: Cartoon Dog ||
01/03/2007 8:34 Comments ||
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Saddam's biggest problem was that the rope was too short.
Personally, I believe the drop was too short. They should have taken him up to about 25,000 feet in a C-130, wrapped him in about 400 yards of double-bass G-string piano wire, and dropped him 2000 feet off the back ramp with a heavy wire cable over the Persian Gulf. No burial required, no body to be found, no martyrdom - he just "disappeared". Then just grin wickedly at MonkeyMan.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/03/2007 14:36 Comments ||
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link
hey I finally figured out how to link properly ;)
Posted by: Jan ||
01/03/2007 15:28 Comments ||
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Congratulations, Jan! I can personally attest to what a big step that is for some of us. ;-)
#6
Hee Hee from Rueful Red at 'em ninme's place to the tune of the famous show tune from Mall Fair Lady: On the Street Where You Shiv I have often stood on these floor before.
But the trapdoor always stayed beneath my feet before.
All at once am I just a bit too high
And I hope that that ropes got some give.
Are there lilac trees in the heart of town?
Though its less than likely Ill be in that part of town
Once I take that drop, theres nothing to stop
Oh I hope that that ropes got some give.
But oh, that wonderful feeling, to know that my deathly hush
Will be broken by WaPo revealing
That, as a martyr, Im still smarter than George Bush.
Are there funny jokes for this kind of fix?
Or are Sunni folks now fated just to take their licks?
Theres the camera! Hi! Ill just wave good-bye!
Oh I hope that that ropes got some give!
The Israeli economy continues a three year expansion. While unemployment is still about eight percent, that's a ten year low. The economy was supposed to grow 5.4 percent last year, but only did about 4.8 percent because of the Hizbollah war last Summer.
That conflict devastated the Lebanese economy, cutting GDP by at least five percent. The Palestinian economy shrunk by over ten percent last year because of the continued internal conflicts, and terrorist campaign against Israel.
#1
5% GDP drop over the 30% Shiite Territory > 15% drop. Sucks to be Hizzbie.
Posted by: ed ||
01/03/2007 15:30 Comments ||
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A misunderstanding. They're assessing the economy in terms of jobs and GDP. Clearly, there are wads of cash in Gaza, all being spent on weapons (not infrastructure, services, job creation, education . . . or anything remotely associated with a vital society or a society that strives to be).
#4
Don't be silly, PlanetDan. A small percentage of the wads of cash go to finance the Little Jihadi Summer Camps emplaced throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The young lads learn all sorts of useful skills and amusing games that will be terribly helpful as they make their way from downy youth to expanding red mist.
RAFAH, Gaza Strip -- In houses along the steel wall separating Gaza and Egypt, the lights are flickering -- a sign that smugglers are digging tunnels below, their powerful drills weakening the flow of electricity.
Tunneling is the fastest-growing business in this impoverished border town and one of the biggest obstacles to any lasting Israeli-Palestinian truce.
Since Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip a year ago, the number of tunnels for smuggling weapons, drugs and other contraband has more than doubled, evolving into an underground maze clawed out of Gaza's soft soil. Ending scenes of Paint Your Wagon to be re-enacted soon! Continued on Page 49
#2
Bunker-busters to blast the tunnel walls, followed by pipelines to the Med to flush the little rodents out into the open. Then kill them. Maybe we need to give Israel a few MOABs. I'm sure they'd do the trick. Photo looks like limestone.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/03/2007 15:11 Comments ||
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"A Palestinian security official said cordite, an explosive propellant for anti-aircraft weapons, has come through the tunnels, in one case blowing up on the buyer and killing two persons in October"
#6
actually theyre south syrians - their dialect of arabic, cuisine and other cultural traits are closer to Syrian (And Jordan and Lebanon) than to Egypt.
(AKI) - Militant ruling Palestinian group Hamas is said to have accepted Israel's offer of 450 Palestinian prisoners in the second stage of a planned deal to free captured Israeli private Gilad Shalit - who is believed to have been held by militants since his abduction in a cross-border raid on 25 June. Palestinian sources were reported to have told Israeli daily Haaretz that under the terms of the proposed accord, Hamas would supply Israel with a a video showing that Shalit is alive. Israel would then release an as-yet undecided number of women and minors held in its jails.
In the next phase of the deal, 20-year-old Shalit would be transferred to Israel via Egypt and Israel would simultaneously release the 450 Palestinian prisoners. In a final phase of the accord, some two months later, Israel would free a "generous" number of additional prisoners, according to Haaretz sources. Israel would be authorised to decide both how many and which prisoners to free at this stage, Haaretz reported.
Hamas will transfer to Israel, via Egypt, a list of prisoners it wishes to see freed which includes senior figures in the group's political and military wings, as well as members of Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah group, such as Marwan Barghouti.
Israel has not, however, yet agreed to the list of names, and a dispute over which prisoners will be released could delay the process further, Haaretz said. The proposed deal was put together in meetings between top Egyptian intelligence officials and Hamas' political leader, Khaled Meshal, Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh in Saudi Arabia and in a separate meeting with Abbas in Gaza, Haaretz said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Israel will dust the 450 paleos with Po dust before release I would hope.
Admitting there were major failures during the war in Lebanon, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz dispelled rumors of his imminent resignation on Tuesday and announced he planned to stay in his post to lead the military through the difficult process of post-war rehabilitation. He added, however, that if the government-appointed Winograd Committee recommended he resign, he would do so. Defense Minister Amir Peretz made a similar pledge this week. "I hadn't heard that my superiors were calling for me to go," Halutz told military correpondents at his first press conference in four months. "When they tell me so, I'll answer them."
Halutz said that he had decided to "take responsibility" for the outcome of the war. But, he said, that did not mean he needed to step down. "When I chose to take responsibility, I chose to take responsibility," Halutz said. "There are those who interpret responsibility as running away; I have decided to stay and deal with the investigations."
Halutz reviewed mistakes that occurred during last summer's fighting, noting that the IDF's failure to stop or even to minimize the daily Katyusha rocket attacks was the "No. 1 failure" of the war. Stopping Katyusha fire should have been defined as a primary goal, he said. In addition, orders should have been clearer and a broad-scale ground incursion should have been initiated earlier. "We attacked the Katyushas [rockets], but unsuccessfully," he said, adding that one of the key achievements during the war was the success in destroying Hizbullah's medium and long-range rockets.
Halutz, in a professional tone, accepted personal responsibility for the war's errors in only one or two instances. Although he admitted that many of the different internal military inquiry committees' accusations were correct, he mainly assumed general responsibility as the IDF's head. He said that the transmission of orders as well as the dialogue between the General Staff and the Northern Command was "not good", adding that orders were even in some cases unclear.
Some of the problems, according to Halutz, stemmed from circumstances outside the IDF's control. "It is the nature of terror organizations to view the civilian home front as their target. In our case, the proximity of the home front to the military front forges civilians and soldiers into one continuum. Also, the terrorist's understanding of 'winning' as 'not losing' brings them to strive for ongoing attrition. "Therefore, we need to redefine the concept of defeating the enemy," he said. Halutz went on to address failures within the IDF system itself, emphasizing the issues of logistics, reserve force operation and training and intelligence.
"There were logistical errors. We knew about the lack of supplies and did not act quickly enough to replenish them. Also, during the war itself, logistical issues were dealt with inefficiently."
Halutz also revealed that there were cases when officers refused their orders in direct "contradiction of the army's basic values." He said a senior officer was suspended as a result. "There were cases in which officers did not carry out their assignments, and cases in which officers objected on moral grounds to their orders," Halutz said, an apparent reference to resistance against attacking south Lebanese towns and villages.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
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IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz said Tuesday evening that the achievements of the Lebanon war this past summer were expressed in the damage done to the medium- and long-range rocket launching systems.
At a press conference follwoig the presentation of the IDF investigations into the summer's war, Halutz went through the various errors of the IDF during the fighting. Stopping Katyusha fire should have been defined as a primary goal, he said, adding that orders should have been clearer and a broad-scale ground incursion should have been called earlier.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Killing the bastards firing the rockets Stopping Katyusha fire should have been defined as a primary goal, he said...
#2
Halutzinations: achievements of the Lebanon war this past summer were expressed in the damage done to the medium- and long-range rocket launching systems...
Easy to replace (with ample funds coming in spades from Iran).
The primary goal should have been obliteration of Hizbully in toto.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz said during the military conference on the Lebanon war that he accepts intelligence assessments that the recent Syrian peace overtures are serious. Peretz added that Hizbullah had taken a serious beating in the war. Its infrastructure was destroyed, and it suffered billions of shekels worth of damage, he said.
IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen Dan Halutz was expected to give a press briefing shortly after the end of the conference.
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Tehran, 3 Jan. (AKI) - Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Gholpayeghani said on Wednesday that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was wrong in writing to Pope Benedict XVI a letter delivered on 27 December last year. "Ahmadinejad has committed a grave error writing to the pontiff because the latter, who has offended Islam, should have sent to the heads of state of Muslim countries a letter of apologies," the top cleric said. He was referring to a speech by the pope on 12 September linking Islam to violence which angered Muslims worldwide.
Ahmadinejad wrote a letter to the pontiff in which he said that "the unjust relations existing in the world need the cooperation of different religions. It is important to establish new political and humane relations on the basis of common teachings of the prophets."
The president's missive followed the delivery to Ahmadinejad by the apostolic nuncio in Tehran, Angelo Mottola,of a message from the pope in which Benedict highlighted the importance of religious freedom and that the lack of respect for it in "some states" was worrying.
#2
That's the way I read it, mhw. I doubt Ahmadinejad has unanimous support amongst the Qom ayatollahs, so it looks like the knives are coming out as part of the succession's prelims.
Currently, Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) issues its proformas in the euro, however, if merchants ask for major foreign exchanges other than the currency, the shipping line is prepared to do so, MNA reported. In his reference to the governments decision on the replacement of the dollar with the euro in foreign transactions, the managing director of the nations shipping lines, Mohammad-Hussein Dajmar said on Monday that all proforma invoices for the shipment of goods are now issued in the euro. Proforma is a document that is provided in advance for an actual business deal. It serves as a model for actual contract.
The official also warned that since the move replacement of the US dollar with the euro in foreign transactions- would contain risks of fluctuations in the euro exchange rates against the dollar, the government should give the required guarantees and supports to the businessmen engaged in the transactions. The IRISIL director reiterated that in doing so, we should adopt a policy to reduce possible risks. He said that the Iranian government has recently ordered the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) to change the state's dollar-denominated assets held abroad into the euro and use the European currency in foreign dealings.
If I read this right, the shipping director is mostly ignoring Tehran and operating in dollars as much as possible. *He* knows the Euro is overinflated and doesn't want to get caught holding the bag. I s'pect he has a *naccident* soon in favor of someone more politically reliable...
#1
Well if all these folks want to use Euros they are going to have to print more of them, just doing that will devalue the currency and spark inflation some what.
They want to use Euros more power to them, it makes US goods cheaper to obtain and others more expensive.
#6
Does this ever get to the stage where shiploads of cash are delivered hither and yon, or is this more like choosing miles vs. kilometers as the measuring convention while doing calculations? Because if the latter, then it's really only a matter of pride if one's own currency is chosen -- I mean, the computers can do the currency translation calculation easily enough at the end. On the other hand, if real currency is passing from hand to hand, the inflation SPoD refers to as the Europeans print more will significantly reduce the value of the Euros being printed in Iran, right?
(AKI) - Iran's top spiritual and political figure, Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei is seriously ill and will have to be replaced in the coming months as he is no longer capable of holding office, according to Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Nasseri. The powerful clerical body appoints and oversees the country's supreme leader. "Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei is gravely ill - he can no longer see very well, has difficulty hearing, and is no longer able to properly perform his duties," Nasseri told a women's group.
Iranians have speculated for sometime about Khamenei's health. But talk of the 67 year-old Khamenei's health is taboo and officials have denied he is seriously ill, although United States sources had previously said Khamenei had cancer. He is widely regarded as the figurehead of the country's conservative establishment. The survivor of an assassination attempt, his supporters call him a "living martyr."
The country's supreme leader since 1989, Khamenei succeeded the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, as president in 1981 and served two terms. His death or removal from office by the Assembly of Experts will trigger a power struggle within Iran's clergy, according to observers.
The names of three possible successors to Khamenei are currently on the lips of Iranians: Khamenei's son, Mjtaba; Iran's former reformist president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani; and Gholam Ali Mesbah Yazdi, the ultra-conservative ayatollah who is considered the spiritual father of Iran's current hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
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#1
he can no longer see very well, lost touch with reality, has difficulty hearing, understanding, suffers from denial, believes he's still living in the sixth century AD, hates sex and naked wimin, <S>the standard supreme Ayatollah, spiritual leader, maladies.
#3
I remember Khomeini's funeral.Possible coming attractions...
Iranian officials aborted Khomeinis first funeral, after a large crowd stormed the funeral procession, nearly destroying Khomeini's wooden coffin in order to get a last glimpse of his body. At one point, Khomeini's body actually almost fell to the ground, as the crowd attempted to grab pieces of the death shroud.
#2
WND.com's "Mahdi/Immam in Spring Equinox" timeline doth not endeth "late in 2007" -even presuming that ----- does hit the fan in Spring 2007, more likely Robertson's prophesy is about SUPERPOWER CONFRONTATION/BRINKMANSHIP, which for Amer's enemies is about STOPPING any US retaliation.
#4
Don't we get enough BAD news from the major news networks? Don't these holy men ever have any GOOD news to pass along? How about some GOOD 2007 prophesies .... ie, stock market will climg to unprecedented levels, gasoline prices will decline, Kim Jong II accepts Christ as his Lord and Savior, Ted Kennedy and Nancy Pooolosi renounce US Citizenship and defect to Iran, etc.
#11
Hey, Pat. Why's God being so cryptic? If you and him are so tight, why doesn't he tell when, where, how and who? Sounds like he's dicking you around.
#14
For 2007, I predict:
Violence in the Middle East
Terror attacks
Further surrender of western nations
Earthquake somewhere
Volcano somewhere
Plague/sickness/virus scare
Iran pissing on the west
Water will still be wet
Fire will still be hot
#15
Pat Robertson is a prophet? Damn maybe I should have paid more attention instead of doing bong hits and laughing my ass off watching the early days of the 700 club.
#17
Aren't the Iranian's predicting the 13th Imam will come out of the well this Spring? Now Robertson's got his own prophesy. Perhaps Imam 13 vs Jesus in a cage match by Summertime. can't wait.
#18
How about Pat Robertson and Ahmadinejad in a steel-cage death match? Winner gets to take on Keith Olbermann for the title of World Heavyweight Idiotarian.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/03/2007 12:21 Comments ||
Top||
#19
"God used to talk to me, but I persuaded Him to play easy listening music instead."
#22
What happened to Pat? Back during the Reagan years he was at least lucid and quite usefull at organzing the moral majority. Now he comes off like someone making attle minded predictions to Art Bell on CoasttoCoastAM.
#24
What happened to Pat? He ran for President and did very poorly if my memory is correct. Probably shook his confidence that God was really in his corner.
That and he's been trying to get more money for his important causes.
#25
I'm going to cut Robertson some slack, to a point. If he had said it was going to be a "massive muslim terrorist attack" I might stand there right with him.
But then again that would be like predicting rain in the Amazon.
How many plane was it that the porKoranimals were going to drop on our cities last Fall? How soon we forget and when we have someone like Robertson reminding us... Shakes head and looks south to New York city.
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The prime minister of Pakistan, Shaukat Aziz, is set to visit Kabul today and hold crucial talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to iron out differences between the two countries and discuss Pakistans decision to fence and mine the 2,400-km Pak-Afghan border, a proposal which Kabul has rejected.
UNITED NATIONS - The Daily Telegraph of London reported on Tuesday that UN peacekeepers and civilian staff were raping and abusing children as young as 12 in southern Sudan. The newspaper, in a story posted on its Web site, said it had gathered accounts from more than 20 young victims in the town of Juba of UN civilian and peacekeeping staff forcing them to have sex.
(SomaliNet) 
(SomaliNet) Somalia Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi had on Tuesday a close doors meeting with the peace makers and politicians of Ayr sub-clan of Habar-Gidir clan of Hawiye tribe over how the Ayr clan (supporters of ousted Islamists) would work with the transitional federal government. The meeting has taken place in Global Hotel in north of the capital Mogadishu. 
For six months Somalia's Islamists used freelance warlord Mohamed Qanyare Afrah's home as one of their bases as they took over much of the country. They used his many battlewagons and held meetings in his living room. Last week, they fled an onslaught led by troops from neighboring Ethiopia with Somalian government forces. Mr. Qanyare is grateful but only up to a point. "What I say is Ethiopia should not interfere in Somalian politics," he says. "They can stay as long as they are fighting Al Qaeda - that is a problem for the entire region. But if they try to become involved in our politics then we will oppose them." 
(AKI) - The airport of the Somali capital Mogadishu will re-open on Wednesday, sources with the transitional government were quoted as saying by Arabic web site Elaph. The airport had been closed since 25 December after Ethiopian jets bombed it. It will reportedly be open to all commercial and cargo flights that get permission to land and take off from the transitional government.
(AKI) - A condolence house has been set up in the Yemeni capital Sanaa for former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who was executed on Saturday. The office, which was opened on Monday, is for both Yemenis and Iraqi residents living in Yemen to mourn the death of the former Iraqi president. According to reports in the Arabic daily, al-Quds al-Arabi, the office will remain open till Tuesday evening and was set up by an association known as "Kanaan", led by Yahya Muhammad Abdullah Saleh, nephew of Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh and the head of the local security forces.
The Israeli economy continues a three year expansion. While unemployment is still about eight percent, that's a ten year low. The economy was supposed to grow 5.4 percent last year, but only did about 4.8 percent because of the Hizbollah war last Summer. 
RAFAH, Gaza Strip -- In houses along the steel wall separating Gaza and Egypt, the lights are flickering -- a sign that smugglers are digging tunnels below, their powerful drills weakening the flow of electricity. 
(AKI) - Militant ruling Palestinian group Hamas is said to have accepted Israel's offer of 450 Palestinian prisoners in the second stage of a planned deal to free captured Israeli private Gilad Shalit - who is believed to have been held by militants since his abduction in a cross-border raid on 25 June. Palestinian sources were reported to have told Israeli daily Haaretz that under the terms of the proposed accord, Hamas would supply Israel with a a video showing that Shalit is alive. Israel would then release an as-yet undecided number of women and minors held in its jails. 
Admitting there were major failures during the war in Lebanon, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz dispelled rumors of his imminent resignation on Tuesday and announced he planned to stay in his post to lead the military through the difficult process of post-war rehabilitation. He added, however, that if the government-appointed Winograd Committee recommended he resign, he would do so. Defense Minister Amir Peretz made a similar pledge this week. "I hadn't heard that my superiors were calling for me to go," Halutz told military correpondents at his first press conference in four months. "When they tell me so, I'll answer them." 
Defense Minister Amir Peretz said during the military conference on the Lebanon war that he accepts intelligence assessments that the recent Syrian peace overtures are serious. Peretz added that Hizbullah had taken a serious beating in the war. Its infrastructure was destroyed, and it suffered billions of shekels worth of damage, he said. 
Tehran, 3 Jan. (AKI) - Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Gholpayeghani said on Wednesday that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was wrong in writing to Pope Benedict XVI a letter delivered on 27 December last year. "Ahmadinejad has committed a grave error writing to the pontiff because the latter, who has offended Islam, should have sent to the heads of state of Muslim countries a letter of apologies," the top cleric said. He was referring to a speech by the pope on 12 September linking Islam to violence which angered Muslims worldwide.
Currently, Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) issues its proformas in the euro, however, if merchants ask for major foreign exchanges other than the currency, the shipping line is prepared to do so, MNA reported. In his reference to the governments decision on the replacement of the dollar with the euro in foreign transactions, the managing director of the nations shipping lines, Mohammad-Hussein Dajmar said on Monday that all proforma invoices for the shipment of goods are now issued in the euro. Proforma is a document that is provided in advance for an actual business deal. It serves as a model for actual contract.
(AKI) - Iran's top spiritual and political figure, Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei is seriously ill and will have to be replaced in the coming months as he is no longer capable of holding office, according to Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Nasseri. The powerful clerical body appoints and oversees the country's supreme leader. "Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei is gravely ill - he can no longer see very well, has difficulty hearing, and is no longer able to properly perform his duties," Nasseri told a women's group. 
