The second working committee of the Pak-Afghan joint peace jirga in Kabul was tasked with apprising of factors and circumstances, which contribute to the growth of terrorism and militancy. It also devised a mechanism to help Pakistan and Afghanistan combat this "menace" through cooperation and strategy.
Some 700 delegates from the two countries met in Kabul from August 9-12 to discuss ways to eliminate terrorism. The committee put forward the following recommendations for taking the fight on terror to a logical end:
The governments and people of Afghanistan and Pakistan consider terrorism a notorious, anti-human and anti-Islamic phenomenon and believe this to be the evil menace for the people of both countries.
Participants of the Afghan-Pak joint peace jirga unanimously declare from the platform of this jirga an extensive, comprehensive and unrelenting campaign against terrorism, and regard terrorism and other related inhuman activities as a major threat to humanity and Islam.
Members of the joint peace jirga propose establishment of a special jirga with a strong mandate and an authority of representatives from executive and legislative of both countries, religious scholars, tribal elders, intellectuals and civil society organisations to ensure practical and sustainable process of the campaign against terrorism. The jirga will meet regularly to:
Monitor the implementation of decisions made at the joint peace jirga.
Facilitate convening of the next joint peace jirgas.
Expedite the ongoing process of dialogue for peace and reconciliation with the opposition.
Ease visa restrictions and increase efforts for free trade and more people-to-people contacts.
The war on terror should be accelerated and reinforced in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The governments and people of Afghanistan and Pakistan undertake not to allow their soil for terrorist activities.
The governments and people of Afghanistan and Pakistan pledge not to allow sanctuaries for any terrorist group to exist and operate in any part of their countries, and work closely together to coordinate their efforts more effectively in this endeavour.
The two governments and the international community should start and accelerate economic, social, welfare and educational projects in the areas affected by terrorists and should accelerate the pace of reconstruction and development in those areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
The United States said on Friday it was considering putting Eritrea on its list of state sponsors of terrorism for allegedly funneling weapons to insurgents fighting the Ethiopian-backed government in Somalia. Putting Eritrea on the list would impose sanctions on the Horn of Africa nation, including a ban on arms-related sales, prohibitions on some U.S. aid and U.S. opposition to International Monetary Fund and World Bank loans to Eritrea.
The fragile interim Somali government, backed by troops from Eritrea's archrival Ethiopia, is fighting an Islamist insurgency in a conflict that has killed hundreds of people since December. A U.N. monitoring group last month said large quantities of arms, including surface-to-air missiles, were flowing from Eritrea to Somalia. Eritrea has denied sending the weapons.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
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[5 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
Police on Friday arrested 16 prominent Muslim Brotherhood leaders and businessmen for allegedly holding a secret meeting of the banned movement, a police official and the Islamic opposition group said. The arrests occurred as police raided a house where the group was meeting, the police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Essam el-Erian, a key Brotherhood leader was among the arrested, the official said, adding that the detained members' activities at "reviving efforts" of the outlawed group had led to the arrests. Authorities also confiscated Brotherhood material and publications, the official said. The Brotherhood's Web site identified the arrested as "top leaders of the group," and said they had gathered in the home of Nabeel Moqbil, a Brotherhood member and well-known businessman, in Giza, Cairo's twin city.
This article starring:
ESAM EL ERIAN
Muslim Brotherhood
NABIL MOQBIL
Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood
A far-left group of anti-American conspiracy theorists, calling itself United for Truth (UfT), is going to demonstrate in Brussels on 9 September. The group will march from the North Station to the South (Midi) Station in protest against "George Bushs involvement" with the 9/11/2001 terror attacks in New York and on the Pentagon.
Recently the French Minister for Housing and the City Mme Christine Boutin (fat catholic moonbat) expressed her doubts about the official 9/11 report. Before, Michael Meacher, secretary of state in Britain and Andreas Von Bulow, ex Minister from Germany, stated clearly that 9/11 and the war on terror are orchestrated by the Bush administration. Prof. David Ray Griffin held on September 14th, 2006 a lecture (Should the truth be revealed or concealed) in Copenhagen. In this lecture he asked for a European investigation to the facts of September 11, 2001. To make this demand stronger, the United for truth organization in Belgium, is organizing a European protest rally through Brussels, on Sunday September 9th, 2007. [...] The United for truth organization consists of members of various truth, peace and human right movements in Europe.
The 9/9 - United for truth rally will be the first major protest in Europe demanding a serious change and challenge to all politicians in Europe. The protesters [...] agree the 9/11 attacks and other terrorist acts, no matter if they were carried out by some so-called Afghan cavemen or by the governments themselves, inflicted the current policy of fear. [...] The protesters want to show their solidarity with the American people, who are also asking the same questions and demanding the same answers for years to their government.
Unlike the anti-Sharia demonstration, planned to be held next September 11 in Brussels, the 9/9 United for Truth demonstration of September 9 has been authorized by the Brussels authorities. Last week the Brussels mayor, Freddy Thielemans, banned the anti-Sharia demonstration because he fears it will upset the Muslim inhabitants of Brussels.
Hey Freddy, doesnt the 9/9 demo upset the Americans living in Brussels? Or have you banned the 9/11 demo because the organisers want to have one minute of silence for the 9/11/2001 victims?
#2
If only the Jihidis were loony enough to attack the demonstrators....
Except, even if they caught one of the perps redhanded, spouting the jihadi drivel, the moonbats would see it as a Bush frame-up!
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/18/2007 13:36 Comments ||
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#3
The neo-Soviets have finally figured out that it was useless to cause enough European hatred for them to refuse American treasure and protection but it might work to cause the Americans to hate the Euros enough to leave them to their dark fate.
Posted by: ed ||
08/18/2007 13:54 Comments ||
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#4
9/11 and the war on terror are orchestrated by the Bush administration.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday at the end of his US vacation that France is popular again in the United States and hailed the countries' "terrific" relationship. "France is back, there are no problems between France and the United States, or between the French people and the American people," said Sarkozy on the eve of his departure from a two-week family holiday in New Hampshire.
"And that is terrific," he added. "That doesn't mean there are no disagreements. We will have disagreements," said the French leader.
While on his vacation Sarkozy spoke last week with US President George W. Bush to firm up the countries' bond after several years of tense relations. The leaders met at the Bush family residence in Kennebunkport, Maine, and dined on an American picnic lunch of hot dogs and hamburgers, though Sarkozy's wife Cecilia bowed out at the last minute citing a throat ailment. She was seen out walking the next day but the apparent snub got little play in US media.
Well-bred people do not respond to poor manners except by pointedly ignoring them.
Sarkozy said strong US-French ties are all the more important because "the United States is soon heading into an election cycle" and will be choosing "a new team to govern."
Can't wait for Dem in the office, huh?
He summed up his US vacation as "fantastic" and praised Americans for being "very nice." "We did some exercise, took walks, relaxed as a family, it was wonderful,"said Sarkozy, 52, adding he "would have liked to have had the opportunity to come here when I was young."
"Americans were very warm with my family and me, we saw it multiple times," Sarkozy said. "Each time we went out to eat, or were out exercising, people were very nice." Americans are nice to most everyone.
Don't think I've forgotten what the French government and press did, and most especially the stab in the back over Iraq. I will smile and make nice and be happy enough if we can find ways to cooperate on useful endeavors, but do not for a minute think I personally have forgotten or forgiven.
"The friendship between France and the United States is not simply a friendship between two presidents, it is a friendship between two peoples."
#3
Sure Fredo, all's forgiven and forgotten. Let's go fishin'.
Posted by: regular joe ||
08/18/2007 9:56 Comments ||
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#4
Wife and son were in Paris a couple of weeks back for three days. They had been traveling through Germany, Denmark, France and Switzerland. Wife said that the nicest and most helpful people she met were in Paris. She was really surprised, after all the discord before and after the start of OIF. One of the highlights of the trip was Paris.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/18/2007 11:44 Comments ||
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#5
Color me skeptical after the de Gaulle-Chirac years.
Interesting data point, AP. Yeah, let's all go fishing!
#8
Yup, and where I work has hosted some young French military from St. Cyr and I was glad to meet them.
I'm just concerned that the French public understand that what Chiraq did has very real consequences. We and the Iraqis have paid most of them, but there is a price owed from France too IMO.
Unfortunately, y'all are likely to pay it internally in the banlieus.
#2
"Stone's publicist referred to the bad image that the U.S. media has given to Islam and Islamic countries and said that the documentary could assist in countering such negative propaganda,"
#3
Don't criticize Stone. He is our second best deep cover CIA agent after Michael Moore. If they let him into Iran, he and his team will plant high tech GPS homing devices everywhere.
It was amazing that Castro survived after Stone shook his hand. He gave him enough high tech poison with that to kill a dozen elephants.
Dick Cheney must really be pissed off to order him there. It could be a real bloodbath.
#5
Is there any doubt anymore that a sizable portion of US population is veritably insane?
Somehow, conflict with a smidget of remaining sanity compells them to engage in suicidal tendencies, but the disease progressed so that they project their state on the rest of us and want to take us with them.
Well, not only US population, it's everywhere, manifesting in different forms that seem to form symbiotic bounds, leftism and jihadism is one example... Lefties secretly hope that heir necks would be striken by self-destructive jihadis.
Insanity is on the rise and the prognosis is bleak--it will be very ungood until it is over.
#6
No, they are not insane, they are the poisoned fruit of a very successful Comintern operation launched in the 1930s. The idea was to undermine the West's image of itself and destroy the will to fight back if and when the Soviet Union and its minions attacked the West. Most of the "peace movements" of the 1940s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and today have been run by true believers in the Comintern program. Notice that those "peace movements" have all demanded that the West not fight back,defend itself, aid allies, etc against any of the arrayed enemies and have NEVER demanded the same of those attacking groups.
#7
Shieldwolf, I've been indoctrinated by commie ideology for most of my childhood. That is until I were able to discern, discriminate and reason at the age of 13, when I was able to see through all that bullshit.
I was not alone. A majority of my peers went through the same process. There were some induhviduals that were eating it hook line and sinker, but at about the ratio of 30:2. The 2 corresponding those dummies that thought marxism was the best invention after sliced bread, if not the best. Two out of thirty.
#3
Imprisoned without charge, tortured, convicted, sentence to prison for a very long time. I call that a win for us, a loss for them. So a loss for reuters, I guess.
#4
The progressive community is wailing because Padilla was held for 3 1/2 years without charge. The news community is telling us all that it shows we can try terrorist cases in civilian courts (even though the charges finally made against Padilla didn't relate to what he was trying to do).
I can make everyone happy -- next time we catch someone like this, we immediately declare that person's citizenship forfeit (per USSC 1942), convene a military tribunal, try the man, and if convicted, give him a single appeal straight to the SecDef. If that appeal fails, shoot the SOB.
There now, that wasn't so hard, was it?
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/18/2007 12:04 Comments ||
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#5
Point of order here, they couldn't make the dirty bomb case because Joser admitted that with his Miranda Rights. So the Feds couldn't use that in court but there was a MOUNTAIN of othe evidens linking him to Al Quaeda and illegal activity. That's why he got convicted on associated crimes and not the primary one. The LLL Mo0b@t$ think that just because we couldn't get him on hte dirty bomb charges he should be set free...Think again.
#7
Feds got Capone on tax evasion. They wanted him for a whole raft of activities, including a couple murders. But taxes is what they could nail him on in a trial.
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards says, if elected next year, his administration would open direct talks with Iran to try to contain Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Edwards proposes an abrupt shift in Bush administration policy toward Iran in an article he wrote for Foreign Affairs magazine's upcoming issue, saying he would boost U.S. diplomacy worldwide if elected in November 2008. Edwards does not rule out the option of military force, saying: "With a threat so serious, no U.S. president should take any option off the table."
But he would be prepared to engage the government of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a way that has not been done since the United States severed relations after Tehran's 1979 revolution. President George W. Bush has refused talks with Iran over its nuclear program, limiting contacts to talks about Iraq. Tehran denies it is seeking nuclear weapons.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
"With a threat so serious, no U.S. president should take any option off the table."
Does this mean that the Breck boy will not take direct military action off the table?
#3
I have a hard time understanding how the trial-lawyer skills he honed by ventriloquizing brain-damaged babies from their mothers' wombs would help him deal with Iran.
#6
Is this guy still running? Or vying for that veep slot on the Kucinich ticket?
Posted by: regular joe ||
08/18/2007 9:54 Comments ||
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#7
He's not viable, I just read his exploits for the humor.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/18/2007 10:55 Comments ||
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#8
Shoudla said "Antics" not "Exploits".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/18/2007 10:57 Comments ||
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#9
Neville Chamberlain at least gave strong support to Churchill when it was critically needed when sh*t finally hit the fan in WW2.
Breck Boy would never do such a thing. An expensive hairdo and an empty suit. There....I wrote his obituary in advance. Pfeh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/18/2007 11:50 Comments ||
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#10
What will it take before politicians of either stripe finally realize that there is no such thing as negotiating with an Islamic country? Taqiyya precludes any and all possible successful outcomes from the get-go. Opening talks or anything elsesave a king sized can of major whup-assmerely gives unwarranted credibility to these thugs and guttersnipes.
Today's idiot A U.S. diplomat accused of having said "the only good Arab is a dead Arab" in a voice mail left with an Arab-American group has retired from the government, the State Department said on Thursday. The diplomat, Patrick Syring, was accused of having made abusive, intimidating and racist comments in e-mails and voice mails to employees of the Arab American Institute, a Washington group that promotes Arab-American interests.
The State Department declined comment on the legal case against Syring, which was outlined in an indictment filed at a U.S. federal court on Wednesday, but said the diplomat had decided to retire.
Syring is alleged to have made the comments in a series of e-mails and voice mails to officials the Arab American Institute, including its president James Zogby, when Israel was at war with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas in July 2006.
"The only good Lebanese is a dead Lebanese. The only good Arab is a dead Arab. Long live the IDF. Death to Lebanon and death to the Arabs," Syring said in a voice mail recorded at the institute on July 17, 2006. IDF stands for Israel Defense Forces -- the Israeli military.
"Fuck the Arabs and Fuck James Zogby and his wicked Hizbollah brothers. They will burn in hellfire on this earth and in the hereafter," he wrote in an e-mail to Zogby and another institute employee on the same day.
The voice mails and e-mails, which were sent from a personal e-mail address, were quoted in the indictment. Syring served as a U.S. diplomat in the Middle East and most recently worked in Human Resources at the State Department.
He stands accused of violating U.S. law on federally protected rights and of making threatening communications.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack declined to address the Syring case specifically other than to say he had retired. U.S. officials declined to comment on whether he had decided to retire before or after having allegedly made the remarks.
Speaking generally, McCormack said such comments were unacceptable to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"Let me just underline for you the seriousness with which the secretary approaches the idea that the State Department should be a workplace that in no way, shape or form tolerates discrimination or hateful language," he said. "It's just not condoned or acceptable in this department."
Calls to Syring's home in Virginia were not returned.
#6
Before you judge the chap too harshly, imagine working for USDS yourself---how long before you'd snap?
I think it needs to be said more often! And it needs to be said about a lot of other groups as well. The only good __________, is a dead ___________! Fill in the blanks!
Posted by: Natural Law ||
08/18/2007 11:28 Comments ||
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#7
I'll go first! Communist/Communist.
Posted by: Natural Law ||
08/18/2007 11:29 Comments ||
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#8
Ah - the legacy of Phil Sheridan lives on!
Posted by: Glinesh Dark Lord of the Hemps6193 ||
08/18/2007 12:55 Comments ||
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#9
Syring for Senator! Can't wait for his Murtha critique.
Posted by: ed ||
08/18/2007 14:03 Comments ||
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#10
Natural Law, there is difference between holding an opinion & expressing it in an unappropriate venue.
...said the only way to eliminate terrorism from the world and to have lasting peace was to set up a caliphate.
said the only way to eliminate terrorism from the world and to have lasting peace was to set up a caliphate.
He expressed these views during Friday sermon at Jamia Masjid al-Qadsia at Chauburji, Lahore. Hafiz Saeed said foreign powers had decided as to which leaders would rule Muslim countries and for how long. He said Muslim rulers were subservient to foreign powers, so much so that legislation in Muslim assemblies was done in accordance to the wishes of foreign powers. Hafiz Saeed said rulers who themselves were not free, could not bring freedom to their peoples. He said it was necessary to get rid of western- backed Muslim rulers. He said the political scenario of world was rapidly changing due to the sacrifices of Muslims. He urged Muslim nations to unite in order to fight the onslaught of the enemies of Islam.
This article starring:
HAFIZ MUHAMAD SAID
Jamaatud Dawa
Jamaatud Dawa
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba
#1
Is that the same caliphate that is calling for suicide bombers of muslim children, and muslim on muslim violence?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/18/2007 11:01 Comments ||
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#4
Cept, no moslem would ever be able to agree on how the caliphate should be set up ergo eternal warfare. Just like it is with moslems in all four corners of the earth. Eternal warfare. What a joke. It never worked and it never will. An arab pipe dream.
#7
Caliphate, ya say? Check out Saudi Arabia. And Pakistan is a work in progress. Inspirational....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/18/2007 11:53 Comments ||
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#8
the only way to eliminate terrorism from the world and to have lasting peace was to set up a caliphate.
In other words, the terrorism isn't going to stop unless we give Muslims their way. Time to give Islam a major smackdown. It would be so nice to see idiots who write this sort of drivel show up with a toe-tag the next morning.
Banned terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed has said that jihad is the only remedy for all threats posed by India and US. The LeT chief told a large rally at Regal Chowk that the India and US were directly involved in terrorism and sabotage activities inside Pakistan.
He claimed that the Pakistan Government was alleging that jihadis and Afghan mujahideens were carrying out bomb blasts, but this was being done just to please America. "We have always stated that no mujahideen would ever get involved in suicide blasts against innocent civilians, and this stance was vindicated by the statement of the Parliamentary Secretary."
He claimed that the Pakistan Government was alleging that jihadis and Afghan mujahideens were carrying out bomb blasts, but this was being done just to please America. "We have always stated that no mujahideen would ever get involved in suicide blasts against innocent civilians, and this stance was vindicated by the statement of the Parliamentary Secretary."
He said US leaders have been threatening attacks on Muslim holy places, and added that the nation was not afraid of any such threats. Saeed said the rulers had caused great loss to the nation by befriending Washington and New Delhi, and allowing India to build a fence along the LoC, as well as by participating in the so-called grand jirga in Kabul.
Referring to a statement by the Parliamentary Secretary for Defence in the Senate, Saeed said that the Pakistan Government has adopted policies against Islam, and the wind of change has started blowing. Saeed said the statement of the Parliamentary Secretary signified changes at the top, and added that it was the inner voice of the whole nation.
He warned that if the rulers did not change their policies then they themselves would have to be changed.
He warned that if the rulers did not change their policies then they themselves would have to be changed. He further said that policies of the rulers had already created serious hatred against the Pakistan Army and the present situation resembled that of 1971, The News reported.
This article starring:
HAFIZ MUHAMAD SAID
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[12 views]
Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba
#4
Is incitement of terrorist acts against the United States a federal crime?
Posted by: john frum ||
08/18/2007 11:25 Comments ||
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#5
How come these guys all look like they live in dumpsters?
Because they are pious Allan fearing men, that have cast off all the trappings of wealth!
/sarc
Posted by: Natural Law ||
08/18/2007 11:34 Comments ||
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#6
I read somewhere the red hair is indicative of the divide and conquer policies of the old Assyrian Empire, with intentional displacement of people groups to dilute their power. I'd profile.
Muslim clerics in eastern India issued a 'death warrant' against Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen on Friday, threatening her life if she did not leave the country where she lives in exile.
They're actually making the assumption that they live in an uncivilized country, the kind where holy men aren't held to the same standard of beheavior as normal people, where they can issue such decrees without being charged with incitement to murder. I guess the rest of us will find ou if that's the kind of country they live in or not.
The threat came after a meeting of dozens of clerics from prominent mosques in Kolkata - where the writer lives - who said she had invited their wrath through her 'repeated criticism' of Islam in her books and speeches.
There's a growing number of people world-wide who're inviting their wrath. The reason so many people are inviting their wrath is because of the misplaced arrogance of the holy men, who attempt to impose their own laws on the rest of mankind when the rest of mankind would as soon see them in hell.
While one prominent cleric said Nasreen had a month to leave, another said she had 15 days.
They weren't real good on arithmetic or even time keeping back in the madrassah, were they? Neither is in the Koran.
Anyone who killed her would get cash reward of Indian Rs 100,000, they said. "Anyone who executes the warrant will also be given additional rewards," said Nurur Rehman Barkati, a cleric of one of the biggest mosques in Kolkata. The move by the clerics came a week after Muslims in Hyderabad attacked Nasreen during the launch of a translation of one of her novels. Police said they had stepped up security around Nasreen's house in Kolkata. Nasreen said their illegal order destroyed India's secular image. "I have never hurt religious sentiments and strongly believe in freedom of speech," she said.
This article starring:
Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen
Nurur Rehman Barkati, a cleric of one of the biggest mosques in Kolkata
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
Order a hit get the electric chair sounds fair.
Iraq's prime minister, a Shiite, flew to Saddam Hussein's hometown and told Sunni tribal chieftains that all Iraqis must unite in the fight to crush al Qaida in Iraq and extremist Shiite militias "to save our coming generations".
With the US Congressional majority increasingly eager to get out of Iraq, Nouri Maliki's bold incursion into Tikrit - a city once pampered by Saddam, its favourite son - underlined the prime minister's determination to save his paralysed government from collapse and prevent further disillusionment in Washington.
The sharp alteration of political course - a willingness to talk with former enemies - suggested a new flexibility from the hard-line religious Shiite.
Rather hard to run a parliamentary government if a big chunk of your cabinet won't show up and your majority is dwindling. Might be a good thing for the government to fall -- parliamentarily speaking -- and let the Iraqis go to the polls again.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
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#1
my post above is a dupe, sorry
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/18/2007 0:04 Comments ||
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#2
Not really, it has some useful info that the Channel 4 story doesn't have. We'll keep both. AoS.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/18/2007 0:17 Comments ||
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#3
hmmm...what can we use to unite us? Oh the jews!
Posted by: Boss Craising2882 ||
08/18/2007 7:33 Comments ||
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#4
Maliki's support of Shiite militias forks his tongue on this topic.
WASHINGTON - military commanders plan to maintain the current level of about 160,000 troops in Iraq until next year and then start to draw down, a general said on Friday. Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno said security in Iraq had improved in recent months as the result of the surge in forces ordered by President George W. Bush but the gains did not yet represent enduring trends. Much would depend on Iraqis ability to build on that progress, he said.
Odierno, the top commander for day-to-day operations in Iraq, said extra units deployed for the build-up would leave between next April and August to keep a promise that their tour would not last more than 15 months. The surge, we all know, will end sometime in 2008, Odierno told reporters at the Pentagon by videolink from Iraq.
He said commanders would be faced with a decision on whether to replace the units. Right now our plan is not to backfill those units, he said. A final decision has not been made and would fall to Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, Odierno said.
But his remarks offered an insight into the thinking of commanders in Iraq before a much-anticipated progress report due next month to the Congress by Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the ambassador in Baghdad.
Odierno said the total number of attacks in Iraq were at their lowest level since August 2006, and attacks against civilians in particular were at a six-month low. He did not give figures reflecting the number of casualties in recent and past attacks.
Civilian murders in Baghdad were down more than 51 percent since and Iraqi forces launched a crackdown in the capital earlier this year, he said. Odierno said the Baghdad murders were at their lowest level since just before the February 2006 bombing of the al-Askari mosque, a Shiite shrine in the city of Samarra, which set off a huge wave of sectarian violence. Although our recent tactical successes are not yet enduring trends, we are heading in the right direction, he said.
He echoed statements by officials that military operations cannot alone heal Iraqs sectarian divisions and Iraqs government must approve measures to foster reconciliation between Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. We understand that our recent tactical successes will only add up if Iraqis take advantage of them and ultimately the government of Iraq is a key to progress, Odierno said. We are setting the conditions in buying the government of Iraq time to improve their capacity in order to gradually and steadily empower the Iraqi government and not hand them too much, too quickly, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
Not much reading between the lines necessary to see the surge is suceeding, at least in the Khaleej Times. It is a Reuters piece, however, so I'll watch the Washington Post tomorrow - they'll probably pick it up!
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/18/2007 7:20 Comments ||
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#2
Odierno's obviously doing a great job, but for the billionth time, can anyone here play this game? Body language conveying anything other than relentless determination directly undermines our mission and gets more Americans killed in the long run. At the same time, it is utterly irrelevant to the domestic political situation, where (as though it wasn't obvious from the start) the opposition and the pathetic weather-vanes of the GOP lack the guts to do anything dramatic on Iraq. Somehow the political geniuses all over DC incl. the White House cannot recognize the obvious fact that Americans are sensitive to perceptions of progress or utility in our efforts and sacrifice, and not hung up on dates and deadlines. I believe the DOD has done focus group work over the last few years that documents this and other common sense things - but apparently either that's a rumor or the results aren't shared with the WH.
Sheesh.
Show bloody, bared teeth and a slightly maniacal visage to the world until you get what you want. Then it's time for transparency about future plans.
Talking points for Odierno (he can use them without a royalty fee): "As we've said before our future actions will be determined by results and conditions here on the ground. Our actions on increasing or decreasing troop levels will be conditions-based, the only important conditions being our progress in achieving our objectives. There's no timetable in a war, and in this war the only end-point will be the achievement of our objectives. The enemy, and anyone else, had better think accordingly."
Following are excerpts from an episode of the children's program Pioneers of Tomorrow, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on August 10, 2007.
"We Must Arise in Order to Take Revenge Upon the Criminal Jews, the Occupying Zionists"
Nahoul, a giant bee: "My friends, Al-Aqsa awaits you. My dears, Al-Aqsa is very sad. My friends, Al-Aqsa is being held prisoner and is besieged by the criminal murderers of children. We must arise in order to take revenge upon the criminal Jews, the occupying Zionists. We must liberate Al-Aqsa. Do you know how we can liberate it and get hold of its key, just like it was liberated by Saladin?"
Child host Saraa: "How, Nahoul?"
Nahoul: "How? By means of morning prayers, blood, sacrifice, and pain, by means of martyrs, and with endurance. This is the key. I am so sad, Saraa."
[...]
"Allah Willing, We Will Regain the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Cleanse it of the Impurity of the Zionists"
Saraa: "Don't be sad, Nahoul. I, you, the dear children, even the older ones - the generation of the 'Pioneers of Tomorrow'... Allah willing, we will regain the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and cleanse it of the impurity of the Zionists."
Nahoul: "Allah willing."
Saraa: "On a different subject, Nahoul, let's see what you got up to this week."
Nahoul: "Nothing, Saraa."
Saraa: "Let's see for ourselves."
Nahoul enters the cats' cage at the Gaza Zoo. Nahoul: "Meow! Meow! I'm opening the door and going in. I opened the door and entered the cage, and the guy didn't see me. I am now standing in the cats' cage. The cats here are asleep - the poor, wretched, imprisoned cats. I feel like abusing them. This cat is asleep. I feel like attacking it."
Nahoul picks up cat by its tail. You've really got to click on the clip at MEMRI to truly appreciate the horror of this.
[...]
"Shoo... Meow..."
[...]
"I should get out of here before the guy comes, and I get scolded."
[...]
Nahoul throws stones and roars at the lions in their cage.
[...] Saraa: "What have you done, Nahoul? Haven't you heard of the hadith of the Prophet..."
Nahoul: "No, Saraa, I haven't heard." I don't need no stinking Hadiths when I'm having fun.
Saraa: "He said that a woman went to Hell because she locked up a cat, without feeding it or letting it eat on its own, Nahoul. Therefore, Allah punished her and sent her to Hell. If you keep doing this, you will have the same fate, Nahoul." I ain't no stinking woman! and nothing bad happens to Nahoul. There's going to be a lot of swingin' kitties in Ghaza. Such a wonderful kiddies show.
#6
Bashar: "Kimmie I'll trade you your hairline for my chin."
Kimmie: "Me noh longah ronrey."
The comedy keeps comin' don't forget to tip your waitresses and drive safe.
Posted by: regular joe ||
08/18/2007 15:12 Comments ||
Top||
#7
It's difficult to imagine how anyone could make a much more brazen statement of outright and intentional hostility towards the entire human race.
The chief commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday boasted of his elite force's military prowess, saying its missiles and ships had the "length and breadth" of the Gulf under cover.
"We have surface-to-sea missile systems that can cover the length and breadth of the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman," Yahya Rahim Safavi, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards told Iran's international Persian language Jam-e Jam televison channel in an interview.
"No boat or vessel can cross the Persian Gulf without being within the range of our coastal missiles," he warned in the interview, which was reproduced by the semi-official Fars news agency.
#1
Yeah, with all your old crappy equipment and a willingness to die like lemmings (i.e.: "prowess"), you might even manage to hit a few before being wiped out.
Saudi Arabia has strongly criticised claims from Syria that it has lost influence in the Middle East. The Muslim kingdom branded criticism by Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Shara earlier this week "lies and fallacies". In a speech in the Syrian capital of Damascus, Mr Shara said Saudi foreign policy was "virtually paralysed".
But an unnamed source quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency said the Syrian remarks did not come from a "rational or prudent person".
Mr Shara said the collapse of a Palestinian unity deal brokered by Saudi officials in the holy city of Mecca showed the kingdom's influence was on the wane. He also criticised Saudi Arabia for not attending a meeting on Iraqi security hosted by Syria earlier this month.
But a Saudi official told the official press agency: "The government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has followed with great surprise the distasteful statements recently made by ... (Mr Shara), which included numerous lies and fallacies aimed at harming us.
"Talk about the paralysis of the kingdom's Arab and Islamic role does not come from a rational and prudent person, as this role is well known to everyone.
"Perhaps Mr Shara had a slip of the tongue and meant by paralysis the policy he speaks for."
Correspondents say Saudi Arabia and Syria remain at odds over many issues in the Middle East, including relations with Iran and the political crisis in Lebanon. The BBC's Magdi Abdelhadi says the unusually strong Saudi statement reflects growing frustration with the regime in Damascus.
A senior Iranian cleric said on Friday that plans by the United States to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist group invited a fight with the Iranian nation which America could not win.
"Americans should know that in this field, as with nuclear energy, they are dealing with the whole nation. And the great nation of Iran will never abandon its revolutionary people," Ahmad Khatami told worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran. "Americans should know that if they act madly in this regard, they would be entering a swamp they won't be able to get out of," the conservative cleric said in a speech that was broadcast live on the radio.
Khatami is a member of the Assembly of Experts, an influential clerical body which has the power to appoint or dismiss Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. US officials said on Wednesday the United States may soon name the Revolutionary Guard as a foreign terrorist group, reflecting frustration over Tehran's nuclear programme and suspected role in Iraqi violence. The designation would be the first time the United States has placed the armed forces of any sovereign government on its list of terrorist organisations.
This article starring:
AHMED KHATAMI
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: IRGC
#1
*cough cough* wetworks on Khatami *cough cough*
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/18/2007 0:05 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"Americans ... would be entering a swamp they won't be able to get out of"
There is no problem getting out of a swamp when you can simply boil it and turn it into radioactive glass.
#5
Why couldn't we just smack their leadership and then stand back? The "revolutionary people" should know what to do.
1. Which leadership? The mullahs, the Iranian government, or the IRGC? This isn't like taking down a couple dozen tribal chieftains.
2. "Revolutionary people"? Not enough cohesive leadership and more importantly, not enough organization. Yet.
3. What "revolutionary people" there are, are in the urban areas. In event the urban areas revolted (again):
a. The rural areas would still support the regime. And there is a lot of rural area.
b. The Baseej (which now responsible for internal security) has several units armed with heavy weapons stationed near the cities. They aren't yo' daddy's mine-clearers any more. Even the IRGC isn't sure who they answer to.
4. Which revolutionaries are you talking about? The marxists, the students, or the religious fanatics?
#6
This is why we seriously need space based microwave beam weapons. Just pick the house these guys are in, focus the beam and turn it on. Then they explode. We could do it to people like Syria and Iran's leaders, and anyone caught chanting "Death to America" Give em a taste of the real death ray. Exploding people makes a powerful statement and others will be less likely to open their mouths against us if it leads to being flash heated to 2500 degrees.
#7
Come on, Pappy. You have to admit it's worth a try. The benefits far outweigh any negative consequences.
A.) The message sent to other Islamic theocracies would be priceless.
B.) The piper would be paid for 1979.
C.) A real price tag would be attached to Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons.
D.) Iran's gander finally would be sauced for sponsorship of proxy terrorist wars.
E.) Lastly, just as with Zimbabwe's Mugabe and North Korea's Kim, there simply isn't anyone worse who could ever take the helm. Iran's Islamic theocracy is so far beyond the pale of this civilized world that decapitating their entire government could not possibly result in anything more evil that what is currently passing for leadership in-country.
If the West is ever to win the war on terrorism it is vital that Iran's Islamic theocracy be dismantled as an object lesson for all Muslims who aspire to a global caliphate. There is simply no room in this world for shari'a based societies. Their abuse of human rights is so manifest and manifold that they must be thwarted at every turn.
Iranlike North Korearepresents a pinnacle of crimes against humanity that requires immediate and catastrophic disassembly.
#8
Hmmm what would be the impact of a decapitated Iran? A less organized rogue nation? Inability to coordinate and facilitate terrorism in Iraq? Fallow oilfields for our titular allies? Toothless condemnation of the international community? Am I missing anything?
Posted by: regular joe ||
08/18/2007 15:24 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Am I missing anything?
You sure are, regular joe. As in people all over America loudly cheering from their windows and handing out candy to kids in the street.
Russia has begun delivery of modern air defence units to Syria while rejecting speculation that some of the weapons could be forwarded secretly to Iran, a newspaper reported on Friday. "The first part of the delivery to Syria has started", the centrist daily Nezavissimaya Gazeta reported, quoting information from a domestic military information agency.
A spokesman for Russia's arms export agency Rosoboronexport, contacted by AFP, declined to comment on the newspaper report. The report acknowledged that the delivery of the weapons, the Pantsyr-S1E self-propelled short-range missile air defence system, was particularly sensitive in light of Israeli claims last year that Russian arms sold to Syria had ended up in the hands of militant group Hezbollah.
Israel fought a brief war with Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon in July 2006 and afterwards accused Russia of indirectly supplying Hezbollah with relatively sophisticated anti-tank weapons, an accusation Moscow denied.
Nezavissimaya Gazeta quoted an official involved in Russian arms export policy as describing concerns that Russian air defense weapons could be re-exported to Iran as "silly rumours". "This is not possible," Vitaly Shlykov, a member of the state committee on foreign and defence policy, was quoted as saying. "One of the conditions for every deal is the prohibition on transfer of the weaponry to a third country."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
"One of the conditions for every deal is the prohibition on transfer of the weaponry to a third country."
Rubbish. Forwarding on is expected and Russia is fully aware of where this will head. After all Hisbollah isn't a third "country".
The story of the public school in Brooklyn that is poised to become a taxpayer-underwritten, Islamist recruitment and indoctrination center took a dramatic turn last week. The principal-designate of the so-called Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA), Dhabah "Debbie" Almontaser, was forced to resign after she defended a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "Intifada NYC" making clear her radical ideology and proclivity for dissembling. Send her to Gaza.
The question is no longer whether Ms. Almontaser was, as her critics in a group of parents, teachers and concerned citizens called the Stop the Madrassa Community Coalition have insisted, determined to use the KGIA to advance her theo-political agenda. Her claim that "intifada" actually meant nothing more than a "shaking off" and that its use in connection with New York City was unobjectionable was so preposterous not to say alarming that her supporters, notably Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Public Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, found it impossible to ignore the outcry.
Even before Ms. Almontaser was obliged to resign, however, she ran into problems with respect to another part of her agenda: Last week, the Board of Education felt constrained to reject her effort to make the school's kitchen "Halal," the Muslim equivalent of kosher.
Unfortunately, at this writing, it appears that the rest of Dhabah Almontaser's plan for the Khalil Gibran International Academy remains intact. If the school opens as scheduled in September, it will, as a practical matter, have to operate on the basis of her curriculum, with the teachers she has hired and utilizing her selections of Arabic-language textbooks.
Presumably, the same would be true of her plan reported in the New York Post last week to have "retired Arabic-speaking community members converse with the students during lunch periods" although we are being assured that such interlocutors will be subjected to "background checks" before being given access to KGIA's students. Tax dollars for the Muslim agenda.
The inadvisability of allowing the Almontaser influence to persist after her departure is made clear in an "Executive Summary" of her program, the only document about KGIA provided to date in response to a Freedom of Information Law request submitted by a member of the Stop the Madrassa Coalition, John Matthies of the Middle East Forum's Islamist Watch. A scathing critique of this summary is provided by two other coalition members, William Mayer and Beila Rabinowitz, who note on their blog, PipeLineNews.com: "[It] is actually a manual for creating an Islamist vocational school, one in which every activity is planned around creating social activists with an Arab supremacist mindset, in the mold of KGIA's activist/principal Dhabah Almontaser."
Mr. Mayer and Ms. Rabinowitz observe that "nearly every party and organization involved with KGIA does not just represent Arab Muslims, but hard core Islamists with a definite agenda." For example, according to Ms. Almontaser's Executive Summary, an organization known as the Arab-American Family Support Center "will have a constant presence on site" providing a "site coordinator" as well as staff members who will: serve as "student advisors and Arabic language teachers," offer "social services," and develop the "extended-day Arabic language and cultural arts programs."
If that were not enough, the AAFSC's director, Lena Al Husseini, also continues to serve on the KGIA planning committee. Ms. Al Husseini and her organization are closely tied to other Islamist groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and the Muslim Students Association (MSA). CAIR and ISNA were recently designated as un-indicted co-conspirators in a terrorism-financing case. The usual suspects. The MSA is the youth wing of the ISNA.
Like its sister organizations, the AAFSC promotes the image of Arab-Americans and Muslims as victims. In the words of Ms. Al Husseini's predecessor at AAFSC, Emira Habiby Browne: "There's a sense of being targeted, profiled and harassed. There's fear that no matter what you do, you are suspected as a potential terrorist. No one feels secure even in their own homes." Should taxpayers be asked to underwrite the exposure of public school students to a pedagogy rooted in this sort of separatism, victimization and grievance? Or as the anti-"orientalists" write: misrepresentation of the "other."
Posted by: McZoid ||
08/18/2007 06:30 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
Sounds nice, is it going to open on September 11th?
Why don't we just start buying them bombs.
#2
There's a sense of being targeted, profiled and harassed.
Y'know, hon, you folks have become caricatures of yourselves. If I was you, I'd be embarrassed.
If this was actually happening, you'd know.
Believe me, you'd know...
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.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday at the end of his US vacation that France is popular again in the United States and hailed the countries' "terrific" relationship. "France is back, there are no problems between France and the United States, or between the French people and the American people," said Sarkozy on the eve of his departure from a two-week family holiday in New Hampshire. 
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards says, if elected next year, his administration would open direct talks with Iran to try to contain Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Banned terrorist outfit 
Muslim clerics in eastern India issued a 'death warrant' against 
Iraq's prime minister, a Shiite, flew to Saddam Hussein's hometown and told Sunni tribal chieftains that all Iraqis must unite in the fight to crush al Qaida in Iraq and extremist Shiite militias "to save our coming generations".
Saudi Arabia has strongly criticised claims from Syria that it has lost influence in the Middle East. The Muslim kingdom branded criticism by Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Shara earlier this week "lies and fallacies". In a speech in the Syrian capital of Damascus, Mr Shara said Saudi foreign policy was "virtually paralysed". 
