KABUL - Afghanistan has recalled an official from its Berlin embassy after an Israeli diplomat was invited to a party there despite Kabuls stance against the Jewish state, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.
"Joooties!"
Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Kabir Farahi also faced angry questions in parliament over the incident with some MPs calling for the removal of the Afghan ambassador to Germany.
Farahi told parliament that the Israeli diplomat was invited to the event, held to mark Afghanistans Independence Day in August, against the ambassadors wishes, a ministry statement said. This was a simple technical mistake made by the embassy employee, Farahi said, according to the statement.
The official concerned has been recalled to Kabul and will be transferred, ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmad Baheen told AFP.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Yo ... is this why we spent untold billions of dollars to "liberate" this Islamic shithole? Either they respect their own signature to the UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) or we should depose their current POS government in favor of one that will not impose shari'a law.
#3
Some Afghans are really fond of Israel: in a brief excahnge of mails I had with one of them he made the most vibrant praise of Isreal I have ever read or heard.
Also some Pashouns tell that Pashtuns are descendants of one of the tribes of Israel who after being released of Babylon's captivity by the Persians marched eastwards instead of returning to Judea. I am not sure they really believe it but it sure pisses off both Arabs and Taliban and it is probably the intended effect...
During the Babylonian and Persian empires, Jews went every which way in the Middle East, Mediterranean, and Africa, and along the Silk Road. In Acts 2, visitors to Jerusalem from all over, including "Parthians, Medes, and Elamites" heard Peter's sermon on the Day of Pentecost.
I don't know if Jews made it all the way to China, but Nestorian Christians worked their way down the Silk Road and into China by the 7th Century. This may explain why the Kwan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, is sometimes pictured as a mother with a child; Kwan Yin was represented as male earlier on.
#5
I'm beginning to think the best solution in Afghanistan is to get medieval on their asses. I have a lot more hope for Iraq. Saddam might have actually helped by secularizing Iraq to a certain extent and attempting to modernize. No such luck in Afghanistan. Those people really are stuck in the seventh century. It might be OK just to leave them to it except for Al Qaeda and the opium. I'm so sick of guys like Karzai who wring their hands and act like they can't do anything. If he's so helpless then just get rid of him, declare martial law and install a US general as the country's governor. Just tell them "Yes, idiots, we conquered you. We tried to be nice about it but you are idiots so this is how it's going to be."
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 ||
10/24/2007 12:29 Comments ||
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#6
Mom I don't doubt some Jewish mearchants could have reached Afghnistan but those Pashtuns aren't claming about some moleculae of Jewish blood in the veins of a few Pashtuns but for the Pashtun nation being in fact one of the tribes of Israel.
#7
I don't know if Jews made it all the way to China
Yes they did, mom, at least twice. The last of the (an? earlier trek was photographed in the early part of the twentieth century -- both in clothes and appearance fully Han Chinese. There was another settlement -- mainly in shanghai -- during the 1930s and '40s, escaping the Nazis. The Sasson family of haircare fame is, I believe, part of that lot, along with one of my university roommates, whose father originally came from Austria, then emigrated to New York City after the war.
There was also the kingdom of the Khazars, I think, whose leader invited spokesmen from the Christians, Muslems and Jews, listened to them argue for their beliefs, then converted the entire kingdom to Judaism. They were eventually conquered and converted when the Muslims conquered the rest of Afghanistan.
The Jews have legends that the ten lost tribes of Israel are safely ensconced somewhere, and those more knowledgeable of geography than I claim the area described as vaguely somewhere in Afghanistan.
#9
One of the rock edicts of the Indian emperor Asoka is located in what is now Kandahar, Afghanistan.
It is written in Aramaic.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/24/2007 16:11 Comments ||
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#10
Posted by: john frum ||
10/24/2007 16:14 Comments ||
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#11
I'm so sick of guys like Karzai who wring their hands and act like they can't do anything. If he's so helpless then just get rid of him, declare martial law and install a US general as the country's governor. Just tell them "Yes, idiots, we conquered you. We tried to be nice about it but you are idiots so this is how it's going to be."
Absolutely, Abu Uluque! If there is one legacy we must establish throughout the MME (Muslim Middle East), it is having expunged shari'a law in our wake wherever we go. Both Afghanistan and Iraq deserve the above treatment until they both get over any lingering infatuation with the barbaric pseudo-jurisprudence known as shari'a law.
#12
Im a Jew and a Zionist, and have been both all my life, and Im not so upset at this. Id be willing to bet that Israel has quiet relations to the Afghan for ministry, and I think the State of Israel will survive even if its ambassador to Germany has to do without Afghan kabob for one night - heck, they probably werent even serving drinks at the party. Right now whats important is that the Afghan govt make progress on governance. And yeah, they havent been doing so well at that, and Karzai may well have outlasted his usefulness. In my opinion he was a great man, but even great men have their limits.
But US declared martial law would mean losing 30,000 afghan soldiers, not to mention the Brits, Canadians and Dutch. And creating an insurgency in the North and west.
I doubt very much that US commanders want to see that. Unless someone knows where they can get 50,000 or more additional US troops from.
I also doubt very much that US commanders care where the Israeli ambassador to Germany eats dinner.
#13
I doubt very much that US commanders want to see that. Unless someone knows where they can get 50,000 or more additional US troops from.
Nice and gloomy realpolitik analysis there, liberalhawk. About half of that number is sitting unappreciated in South Korea even as we type. Moral relativism aside, let's try not to forget that all of the coalition countrieswhether they admit it or notshould each of them be fighting tooth and nail to quash shari'a law forever. None of them should abandon the creation of a NATO suzerain in Afghanistan just because of squeamishness over finally driving a stake through shari'a law's heart in one of many Muslim majority countries.
Leaving shari'a law intact anywhere is a surefire guarantee of many more thousands dieing due to abject abuse of human rights, not to mention how anywhere that Islamic theocracy flourishes, terrorism does as well. There is not one single Islamic country that does not have a terrorism problem. ALL of it can be traced back to the Koran and shari'a law. The sooner this jurisprudent abomination is wiped from the face of this earth, the better.
Algeria will not extradite Algerians wanted by Interpol to any nation whatever the crimes they are charged with are serious, according to the director of judicial police Rabeh Laj, division police commissioner. Algerian law is clear in this issue. It stipulates that Algeria does not extradite any Algerian to be trialled in a foreign country, he said.
He added that this law is applied on all Algerians who are in Algeria and are accused of perpetrating certain crimes in foreign countries.
In a press conference held with the chief of Interpol office in Algeria Abbad Ben Yamina, Laj said justice is now handling the case of Hassan Hattab the founder of the Salafist Group for Preaching and combat (GSPC). As Hassan Hattab has surrendered, the mission of judicial police is over and that of the justice ministry starts here, he added.
No statement has been made about the number of Algerians wanted by Interpol in the World. Their number is not constant. It is changing because it is linked to the data base of Interpol.
Some of the Algerians who are wanted by Interpol are accused of drug trafficking, money laundering and counterfeiting of hard currency, said the division police commissioner.
At present there is no Algerian wanted by Interpol for terror-related charges except the twenty ones who are mentioned in the Interpol resolution No 16 / 73, according to the same source.
Algeria is working with Interpol mainly in drug trafficking especially cannabis and money laundering, said Rabeh Laj.
For his part, the representative of Interpol in the Middle East and North Africa Hossam Abdelatif said cooperation between the Interpol offices in different countries depends on the nature of political relations between these countries. As much as political relationships between two countries are good, as much as cooperation between Interpol offices in both nations is good and vice versa, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/24/2007 00:00 ||
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Someone's awake in Spain, and as usual it's Seafarious' our favorite judge ...
MADRID, Spain (AP) - A Spanish judge has indicted 22 people suspected of links to a recruitment network sending fighters to Iraq, a court said Tuesday. National Court judge Baltasar Garzon charged 18 of the suspects with belonging to a terrorist organization, and the other four were accused of collaborating with it, the statement said. The cell's mission was to send potential fighters to Iraq ``so they might join in terrorist activity sponsored and directed by al-Qaida,'' Garzon said.
One of those arrested, Moroccan Omar Nakhcha, 24, was also charged with helping some of those involved in the 2004 Madrid train bombings to escape from justice. The bombings killed 191 people and wounded 1,800.
Rat bastards ...
A total of 28 people, most of them Moroccans, have gone to trial in connection with the bombings. The five-month trial ended in July and a verdict is expected in late October.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/24/2007 00:00 ||
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Clipped from a much longer article about Bill Clinton raising money for Hillary in Minneapolis. H/t Lileks @ buzz.mn.
Early in his speech, Clinton was sporadically heckled. One heckler shouted that 9/11 was a fraud, and Clinton bristled. "No, it wasn't a fraud. I'll be glad to talk about it if you'll shut up and let me talk." The heckling continued, and he told another heckler "these people did not come here to hear you speak. If you don't have any self-control, we can deal with that."
When a third called 9/11 an "inside job," Clinton snapped back "How dare you? I live in New York, and I know who did that. You guys have got to be careful, or you're going to give Minnesota a bad reputation."
Two reactions:
1. Good for him! I can't stand the SOB, but at least he didn't do a John Kerry and pander to the nutcases.
2. Will this help drive a wedge between Hillary! and the Dem base?
Posted by: Mike ||
10/24/2007 14:17 ||
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#1
Will this help drive a wedge between Hillary! and the Dem base?
Well, they can always nominate Osama Barak and see how well they do in '08 up against Guiliani. That would be fun to watch.
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 ||
10/24/2007 15:58 Comments ||
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#4
It's human behavior. The Paks looking the other way with terrorist because it's convenient for them and their little games suddenly are getting bit by the dogs. The Donks are starting to get the same response from groups they've cultivated. It's the old adage - As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap.
The DRUDGE REPORT has optained internal documents from the investigation of THE NEW REPUBLIC'S "Baghdad Diarist", Scott Thomas Beauchamp, an Army private turned war correspondent who reported tales of military malfeasance from the Iraq War front. . . .
Document 1: Beauchamp Refuses to Stand by Story (Beauchamp Transcript Part 1)
. . . During the call, Beauchamp declines to stand by his stories, telling his editors that "I just want it to end. I'm not going to talk to anyone about anything really." The editors respond that "we just can't, in good conscience, continue to defend the piece" without an explanation, but Beauchamp responds only that he "doesn't care what the public thinks." "So that means we'll have to defend it in bad consience."
"Works for me."
"Yeah! Defend it, and then feel bad about it later."
"Yep, that's the ticket."
The editors then ask Beauchamp to cancel scheduled interviews with the WASHINGTON POST and NEWSWEEK.
Document 2: Beauchamp Admits to "Gross Exaggerations and Inaccurate Allegations" (Beauchamp Transcript Part 2)
The DRUDGE REPORT has also obtained a signed "Memorandum for Record" in which Beauchamp recants his stories and concedes the facts of the Army's investigation &0151; that his stories contained "gross exaggerations and inaccurate allegations of misconduct" by his fellow soldiers.
Document 3: Army Investigation: Tales "Completely Fabricated," Beauchamp Wanted to be Hemingway
. . . The report concludes that "Private Beauchamp takes small bits of truth and twists and exaggerates them into fictional accounts that he puts forth as the whole truth for public consumption."
Not exactly "news" if you've been following the story, but it's nice to see it in print in an official document.
Developing...
Posted by: Mike ||
10/24/2007 13:41 ||
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#1
If there was ever a POS that needed to experience a blanket-party, Scott Thomas Beauchamp qualifies with "honors". He's being watched too closely right now, but then, vengence is best served cold - and unexpected.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/24/2007 17:25 Comments ||
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#2
Maybe, OP, maybe, but if the boy is truly repentant (seems from the documents that he might be), Luke 15:7 applies.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/24/2007 17:41 Comments ||
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#3
The problem wasn't story telling, it was failing to properly label the product as 'story telling'. I think a case could be made of fraud committed in interstate commerce and conspiracy to do so. Not a first amendment issue, rather one in "truth in labeling" business practice.
#4
Mike, repentence is all nice, but the damage is done, no mater how he would declense "I am sorry". In some years when people would forgotten the backgroud, tis crap would get cited by moonbaticae as memetic examples. The only acceptable recourse would be if he personlly dennied his stories every time they appear somewhere in any form, for the rest of his life.
#5
The impression I get from reading the .pdfs (after following the story) is that the whole thing simply spiraled out of control.
The guy wanted to be a writer, the next Hemingway or Palahniuk. He made up some stories, the kind that usually start "This is no BS...". The stories ended up getting published by TNR who had their own agenda. At that point, the whole thing became unstoppable. If bad journalism was a crime, TNR would get 3-5, easy. Beauchamp has *bleep*ed his unit, his wife who works at TNR and his career. I'd bet dollars to donuts he would rewind the entire scenario right now if he could.
#6
Bob Ownes at Confederate Yankee has owned this story. Drudge just stole this at the end. Franklin Foer is toast....
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/24/2007 18:20 Comments ||
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#7
or Owens.....yeeeesh
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/24/2007 18:21 Comments ||
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#8
I'm halfway through the first .pdf (Drudge took them down, but LGF still has them), and boy is this sickening. What a bunch of weasels...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
10/24/2007 19:07 Comments ||
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#9
The only acceptable recourse would be if he personlly dennied his stories every time they appear somewhere in any form, for the rest of his life.
Agreed.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/24/2007 20:53 Comments ||
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#10
All the late night comedians read Drudge, as I understand it, and so do the gossip shows, to see what everybody else knows so they can talk about it, too. I missed my morning nap, so I'm going to fall asleep early tonight, but if y'all see anything as you're flipping past to HGTV or the cage matches or National Geographic, drop by the O Club to mention it -- unless there's another article tomorrow -- and have a drink on my tab. Thanks lots!!
Oh, and it doesn't count as repentence in my book unless he works to fix the damage. Feeling sorry he was caught isn't enough. I disagree with SteveS that he's just an innocent fiction writer caught up in a mess he didn't intend. In my opinion he's a guilty fiction writer who thought the mess he created wouldn't get big enough to ruin lives. But he enlisted in the Army in order to buttress his future literary reputation, much like Mr. Hemingway's tall tales about his own wartime valour; he used personal connections to peddle his nasty fiction to one of the premier monthly magazines putatively on the left of the center-left; and he has never once apologized for the destruction he caused. He's a small-time Winter Soldier wannabe with literary pretentions, but that's exactly what he worked to create. Let him sit in what he shat.
#12
Makes you think the shortest book in the library is not ethics for defense lawyers but Ethical Behaviour for Journalists.
This is sickening.
The problem is that it is now almost urban legend. The story ran front page for way too long and then when it unraveled, the press quietly moved it to page 37 next to the receipes and The New Republic never really admitted until their face was rubbed in by the Army that their hot shot insider was a lying little piece of crap.
Too bad someone can't figure out a way to class action sue the New Republic for slandering an entire organization like the Army.
Could we give the New Republic's address to Hamas and tell them it is a front for the Protocols of Zion?
Is it spinelessness, political caution (to get Ind. voters in 2008), financial profiteering from Mil/Ind Complex investments, lack of conviction, or simply not being good at stopping Rethug's from blocking legislation that makes our Congress ineffectual? Or is there another, more nefarious, reason for their inability to stand up to White House?
I made a comment, earlier, about how Pelosi talked tough to W.H. but, then, backed down on everything. Senate can't put up any real fights, either. Couldn't even nab Gonzo. Now we get the FISA-Telecomm deal. I got to wondering if lots of Dem. Congress People are being blackmailed. That would explain a lot of folding and playing dead. Wireless surveillance could have been done on our House/Senate people, learning things that Rove could use, and now they're afraid. Maybe they were even quietly threatened with plantings of drugs, kid porn, gay porn, National Review...that kind of sorted thing. You get tagged with any of this stuff and your career is over.
Does anybody believe our current W.H. wouldn't get this low? It worked for Hoover, and Nixon (for a time), so why not?
Course, it could be that I'd just rather believe this than that Feinstein, Pelosi, Reid, Rockefeller, Durbin, Hoyer and so many others are gutless. I can forgive blackmail problems.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/24/2007 10:46 ||
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#1
You can't be blackmailed if you are above the law and have no sense of shame.
#3
Wireless surveillance could have been done on our House/Senate people, learning things that Rove could use, and now they're afraid. Maybe they were even quietly threatened with plantings of drugs, kid pr0n, gay pr0n, National Review...
Yeah, you might wiggle your way out of it on the pr0n and the drugs, but National Review? That's Kiss of Death stuff.
Must sign off now before black helicopter squadron gets a fix on me.
Out.
#4
"Course, it could be that I'd just rather believe this than that Feinstein, Pelosi, Reid, Rockefeller, Durbin, Hoyer and so many others are gutless."
Yes, rainmanjr, that's quite possible; you "progressives" are capable of believing anything (which is why you're "progressives" in the first place).
But there's a simpler explanation: it's not that Feinstein, Pelosi, Reid, Rockefeller, Durbin, Hoyer et al are "gutless", but rather they're simply not as stupid and insane as you are.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
10/24/2007 11:32 Comments ||
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#5
What? You didn't think the dems would deliver on their promises after they won the elections did you?
lol! In your Whose Who The Most Corrupt Politicians Diverting Billions of Your Tax Money to Personal Relatives, you forgot Teddy Boy and The Klu Klux Klan Master. But they are willing to "talk" tough against Bush, so I guess you still have that.
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 ||
10/24/2007 12:35 Comments ||
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#10
They're onto us.
Posted by: Lord Piltdown ||
10/24/2007 13:50 Comments ||
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#11
They just can't understand why the Dems in Congress cannot garner the votes to lose the war. The answer must be blackmail, which is their default position on what motivates American elected officials. But here, some members of Congress believe the Dems efforts to lose the war is treasonous. Question, would blackmailing a Congressman to not commit treason be a crime?
Posted by: High Brow ||
10/24/2007 14:06 Comments ||
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#12
The dems majority is thin. All it takes is a few of them to have some sense to derail the fantasies of the hard left. But this is the difference of those who actually wield the power and those who wish they did. The ones wielding it actually have to deal with the consequences of their actions. While a large majority of the dems still would be happy to turn this country into a socialist swamp, at least a few, enough for now, are unwilling to do so. And that drives the Koskids banannas.
At first I thought he meant 'kinda-sorta' - a Chicago idiom. But upon reflection, I'm pretty sure he meant 'sordid'. Bwahahaha! Moron!
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/24/2007 15:27 Comments ||
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#14
PAYVAND.com IRAN NEWS > USA SUPPORTING TERRORISTS WHO ARE ALSO NOT TERRORISTS. Article > USA - A "Terrorist(s)" is whom the USA=USG says it is; + WND > US ARMY OFFICERS TRAINING, EMAILING TERRORISTS. In the ME. US Army trainers unknowing keeping in touch wid former students whom are also memebrs of known or major Terror orgs.
The senior detective leading the investigation into the suicide attack on Benazir Bhutto withdrew from the case after the opposition leader accused him of involvement in the torture of her husband, a senior official said Wednesday. Ghulam Muhammad Mohtarem, the home secretary of Sindh province, said the government would assemble a new team of investigators.
"Don't torture yourself, Gomez Asif. That's my job!"
Bhutto has blamed militants for the attack on her but accused elements in the government and security services of complicity and called for international experts to help in the investigation. She specifically objected to Manzar Mughal, a senior investigator in the Sindh province police force, claiming he had been present while her husband, GomezAsif Ali Zardari, was tortured in custody on corruption charges in 1999. "The investigation team will be formed anew after Manzur Mughal disassociated himself from the investigation in view of the objections raised by Benazir Bhutto on the chief investigator's credentials," Mohtarem said.
Mohtarem said the provincial government had no doubt about Mughal's competency and professionalism, but that he had decided to withdraw from the five-member investigation team to protect it from accusations of bias.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz reiterated the government's insistence that Pakistani authorities are capable of solving the case without the foreign help that Bhutto has requested. "Pakistan is a sovereign country. We know what we're doing. We don't need assistance," Aziz said, adding that Mughal's withdrawal "doesn't change the very fact that we have a whole process looking into such cases."
A police investigator in Karachi said 15 or 16 people had been detained for questioning in the blast. Some had been injured in the attack and were picked up from hospitals, though none was being treated as a suspect, the investigator said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. He would not identify them or say where they were being held.
A second police investigator confirmed that a number of people were being questioned.
Authorities have said the attack was likely carried out by two suicide bombers. They have released a picture showing the head of one of the attackers but have yet to identify him. Security in the city remains high after Bhutto claimed on Tuesday that she had received a new death threat. She said her lawyer received a letter from an unidentified "friend of al-Qaida" threatening to slaughter her "like a goat."
The authenticity of the letter could not be confirmed. Bhutto said the writer claimed to be the leader of the suicide bombers "and a friend of al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden." Speaking at her heavily guarded Karachi residence, Bhutto said her opponents "are petrified that the Pakistan People's Party will return (to power) and that democracy will return."
KARACHI, PAKISTAN The government of President Pervez Musharraf insists that those responsible for trying to kill former leader Benazir Bhutto in a bombing last week that left nearly 140 people dead will be brought to justice. But history suggests otherwise.
I'm no Sherman Oakes, Ace Detective, but I'm guessing that if you don't want to solve a crime you won't.
Of dozens of suicide bombings and other attacks that have taken place in Pakistan over the past several years, including a number of high-profile assassination bids, very few such cases have been definitively solved.
I believe that in a number of those cases those controlling the investigations were also those who helped plan the festivities.
One notable exception: two attempts in 2003 to kill Musharraf with bombs near his headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. The alleged mastermind was hunted down and shot to death months later by Pakistani security forces.
Your own mortality is always so much more real than somebody else's, at least when your nose is rubbed in it.
Analysts, together with current and former investigators and government officials, said it was highly unlikely that those who planned the attack against Bhutto as she returned home from eight years in self-imposed exile would be captured, tried and convicted.
That's prob'ly the Rantburg consensus, too. Benazir gave Perv the names of the five top suspects, all of them connected at one time or another with ISI. I can't imagine any of them being hauled in, and one of them is Perv's lover close personal friend.
They cited imprecise investigative methods, the shifting nature of the many Islamic militant groups with the desire and motivation to kill Bhutto, the vagaries of the Pakistani judicial system and a degree of sympathy in some official quarters for the militants' cause. "Are we going to try? Yes," said one Pakistani official who is close to the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Are we going to succeed? To be very honest, I have my doubts."
Do you intend to succeed? To be very honest, I have my doubts.
Bhutto and the government have cast suspicion on radical Islamists who are angered by her pro-Western stance and repelled by the idea of a woman in a leadership role. But assuming that theory is correct, narrowing the list of suspects will be difficult and painstaking.
I think we're down to approximately half the population of Pakistain for the suspects' shortlist now.
No CSI here
Modern forensic methods are little used in Pakistan. From the moment of the attack early Friday, the crime scene was tainted and trampled by hundreds of people, victims and rescuers. Amid panic and chaos, police made little effort to cordon off the area around the blast. "It wasn't exactly CSI not Miami, or Las Vegas, or even some small town," said a Western diplomat in Karachi, referring to the popular U.S. crime series in which latex-gloved forensics experts minutely examine the tiniest of clues.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/24/2007 09:44 ||
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#1
thats why Bhutto called for FBI and Scotland Yard help. And has been turned down so far. How blatant can the govt be about not trying, before Bhutto's deal with Perv is untenable? If Bhutto gives up on the deal, and calls on the PPP to hit the streets, along with Sharifs group, can the military keep power?
A debate has started within the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) on whether to quit the dysfunctional Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) before the general elections or not, party sources said on Tuesday.
Staying with the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) in the alliance is politically risky, but campaigning without the MMA platform is not less than a gamble, a senior JUI-F leader said on condition of anonymity. Hawks in both parties are making strong arguments to part ways with each other.
The JI and JUI-F, the two major components of the alliance, are having differences over the MMA decision to dissolve the NWFP assembly before the presidential poll.
The people perceive the MMA as a symbol of unity among religious parties. If the MMA breaks then the public opinion will also change, he said.
Another JUI-F insider said that JUI-F NWFP chief Senator Gul Naseeb was against staying together with the JI. Gul Naseeb told a JUI reception in honour of former NWFP chief minister Akram Durrani and his cabinet members on Tuesday that there was not much difference between the JI and secular parties.
Gul asked party leaders how the JUI-F could work together with the JI when his party had beaten the JI in Dir district in the 2002 polls. Another JUI-F leader said that the Monday meeting between JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and JI chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad was aimed at controlling the situation, which he said has reached a tipping point.
Qazi belittled MMA: He said the JUI-F accused Qazi of belittling the MMA by joining hands with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-dominated All Parties Democratic Movement.
An NWFP bureaucrat called the alliance clinically dead, adding that the leaderships of both parties were keeping the alliance alive under compulsions. He said Qazi and Fazl were aware of the hatred among their parties ranks against each other, but were waiting for the other to announce a separation from the alliance.
Separately, a source in the JI said both parties were also debating the distribution of elections seats despite differences between them. The JI wants to contest on the seats it won in the 2002 polls, but the JUI-F is calling for a new approach to be adopted, he said.
Analysts said the JI joined hands with the PML-N and the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf in the APDM to win maximum seats in Punjab.
This article starring:
Jamaat-e-Islami
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
Akram Durrani
Gul Naseeb
JUI-F
Maulana Fazlur Rehman
JUI-F
Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf
Qazi Hussain Ahmad
Jamaat-e-Islami
Posted by: Fred ||
10/24/2007 00:00 ||
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The October 18 blasts should not be politicised and all political parties should join hands to counter the growing Talibanisation and suicide attacks in the country, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao said in an interview with ARY television on Tuesday.
Right. I thought they were a political act, aiming to take a politician off the national poltical stage. But I could be wrong.
He told the channel that the federal government had asked the provinces to propose a security strategy for the polls, adding that rallies and processions were banned to avoid any untoward incident. He said most suicide attackers were uneducated minors between the ages of 13 and 15. He said the people should be educated to identify and discourage suicide attackers.
His lips move. Words come out. He makes no sense.
The minister said that a sense of deprivation prevailed in the NWFP that needed to be catered for.
Blaming agencies inappropriate: He said, It is inappropriate to blame intelligence agencies for the Karachi blasts, as they have no political role.
Yeah, hell. It couldn't have been them.
This article starring:
Aftab Ahmed Sherpao
Posted by: Fred ||
10/24/2007 00:00 ||
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Federal Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid said on Tuesday that the people working under the flag of imperialism would face more suicide attacks, as there was a strong reaction to US policies in Pakistan.
Addressing a press conference at a local hotel here, he said Benazir Bhuttos talk of discussions with extremists had come too late. She should have given this statement before coming to Pakistan. She was told that her life was in danger, he added. However, the minister declined to respond to a question on whether President Pervez Musharraf was also a target for suicide attacks, as he supported several US policies.
Sheikh said the president had agreed to remove the bar on third-time premiership in his and Bhuttos first meeting, but had not been willing to withdraw the cases against her. He expressed disapproval over a statement by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain that implied that the Pakistan Peoples Party was involved in the Karachi blasts. He said a working relationship between the political parties was very important for democracy.
He also demanded that Benazir, as she is rich, should announce at least Rs 10 million for each person that died on October 18. The time of politicking on dead bodies is over the electronic media conducts a postmortem for everyone from the government to the opposition. Nobody can gag the judiciary or media, he added.
Is it just me, or is that statement pure blither?
Country polarised: He said the country was facing a polarisation similar to what it faced in 1990. This was started by Benazir Bhuttos side when she blamed three individuals for the bomb blast. Because of this, the National Reconciliation Ordinance has come under threat and the next two weeks are crucial, he added.
Responding to a question on how Bhutto could rule a country after she had expressed a lack of confidence in its security agencies, he said, The highest agency in Pakistan supported talks between the government and Benazir Bhutto. The head of that agency was on the team. If the agencies had not agreed to allow Benazir Bhutto to return, she would not have been able to return.
Caretaker announcements: He said the name of a caretaker prime minister and chief ministers would be announced in the last week of October. According to the Constitution, if the assemblies are dissolved on November 14, there will be an election campaign for 90 days and if the assemblies are dissolved on November 15, the election will be held within 60 days. He rejected a PPP claim that three million people had welcomed Benazir, claiming there were only 100,000 to 200,000 people there.
Responding to a question, he said the PPP had a role in the countrys politics, but he did not see Benazir Bhutto becoming prime minister again. He said Maulana Fazlur Rehman would play an important role in future politics and should not be underestimated. He said there was a good working relationship between President General Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto, but the relationship between the PPP and PML was not good enough. He said the MQM would have a role in the future and their seats would not be reduced. I foresee a hung parliament, he predicted. He said as of October 23, there were no plans to allow Nawaz Sharif to return to Pakistan.
This article starring:
Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain
Federal Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid
Maulana Fazlur Rehman
Nawaz Sharif
Posted by: Fred ||
10/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
DRUDGEREPORT > BUSH - By 2015 IRAN can have the LR missle ability to strike Europe, USA. Dubya porb means NOT JUST WID A HANDFUL/FEW MISSLES EITHER???
#6
The Federal Railways Minister?
Stepping up next to the podium, the Minister of Weights and Measures. Coming up later, for his expert opinions, the Minister of Sunken Ferryboat Salvage...
And I thought hacks here had a high opinion of themselves...
Ms Bhutto, in her letter to Gen Musharraf of October 16 before she returned to Pakistan, had named five former and serving officials who should be investigated in the event that she was assassinated on her return to Pakistan.
These include IB chief Ijaz Shah, Mr Sharifs former top spook Imtiaz Billa, former ISI chief Hameed Gul, special prosecutor for NAB Waseem Afzal and Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim. One of the six suspicious cell numbers cited in her letter led to several arrests, according to the intelligence sources.
This article starring:
Arbab Ghulam Rahim
Hameed Gul
Ijaz Shah
Imtiaz Billa
Waseem Afzal
Posted by: Fred ||
10/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
All related to the ISI. The ISI needs to meet its own SA-style Night of the Long Knives.
Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto received a death threat from a "friend of al Qaeda" on Tuesday, four days after 139 people were killed in an assassination attempt by one or more suicide bombers.
No arrests have been made since last Friday's attack in Karachi, which government officials swiftly blamed on Islamist militants operating out of tribal areas that have become hotbeds of support for the Taliban and al Qaeda. Police were unsure whether there were two suicide bombers or one, and had yet to confirm whether the photograph released of a severed head belonged to a suicide bomber, Karachi police chief Azhar Farooqui told Reuters.
The investigation hadn't singled out any particular organization, the police chief said, but Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said the trail led to tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. "Suicide bombers are trained in Waziristan and some other places in tribal areas. There are three groups in Waziristan. So the tracks go to tribal areas," Sherpao told independent television news channel ARYONE.
A fresh threat to kill Bhutto was passed onto her lawyer, Senator Farooq Naik, by a government prosecutor on Tuesday. Written by someone who described himself as the "chief of suicide attackers" and a friend of Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, and Pakistani jihadis, the letter said Bhutto could be stabbed, attacked in her car, or in her bedroom, Naik told Reuters. Naik said the threat should be taken seriously, even if the letter may have been written by a crank.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
..Am thinking her desk needs to have three baskets: In, Out, and Death Threats.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/24/2007 5:10 Comments ||
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#3
Police were unsure whether there were two suicide bombers or one, and had yet to confirm whether the photograph released of a severed head belonged to a suicide bomber...
Hello. Do you know this severed head? If so please call 1-800-ISI-GUYS with any information and we will come and sever your head...
The Bush administration is starving for good news out of Iraq, and it may finally have some: new U.S. government statistics showing that violent attacks of all kinds are down to levels not seen since 2005. But until recently, the administration appears to have resisted acknowledging a key element of the new data, because it flies in the face of President George W. Bush's ongoing rhetorical confrontation with Iran's clerical regime. According to three senior U.S. officials, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information, the decline in Iraq violence also includes a decrease in the number of attacks attributable to insurgents backed or armed by Iran. Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell confirmed to NEWSWEEK that "there has indeed been a drop" in such attacks, but he added that "it's not entirely clear what the reason for that is."
Overall trends show a significant drop in violence over the last several months, according to previously unpublished military statistics obtained by NEWSWEEK. During a single week in mid-September, attacks in Iraq totaled about 900down from about 1,700 a week in June. The number of attacks increased slightly in late September and early October during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. But according to the statistics, the just-ended Ramadan holiday was significantly less violent this year than in the previous two years.
The crucial question is, why? Administration spokesmen have publicly attributed the decline in violence to the success of the administration's troop "surge" policies as well as military operations against Al Qaeda in Iraq. Other factors include improvements to Iraqi security forces and growing revulsion among Sunni tribal leaders over jihadi attacks on their communities. The decline in Iranian-backed violence is harder to explainand despite the new data, some officers on the ground in Baghdad still aren't buying it. But officials back in Washington cite numerous possible reasons for the turnaround. Multiple sources suggest that U.S. operations against Iranian influencewhich have included rounding up alleged Iranian operatives and Iranian-backed insurgentshave taken "quite a bite" out of insurgent cells and supply networks, one official says. Another factor could be that the insurgents have decided to wage fewer attacks. Multiple officials note that radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has close ties with Iran, recently ordered his militia to settle down. It's also possible, two U.S. officials say, that Iranian leaders are responding to diplomatic lobbying from the Iraqi government and scaling back some of their support for the insurgency.
No one in Washington believes that Iran-fomented violence has ceased to be a problem. A senior official noted that a recent arms convoy seized in Herat, Afghanistan, and destined for Taliban rebels, contained IED components similar to those seized earlier in Baghdad and southern Iraq. U.S. officials believe that the Herat consignment originated with elements from Iran's Revolutionary Guard. They concede, however, that they do not know how high up in the Iranian government authorization for the shipment came from or whether it was part of a high-level Iranian strategy to bleed U.S. forces in the region.
#1
Talk about a "no-win" situation. Bush now stands accused of covering up reduced troop casualties in order to bolster justification for attacking Iran! Perish the thought that the Mainstream Media has been nearly mute in terms of any praise for Petraeus' incredible turn-around. Only when these traitorous bastards can finally spin this development into their own preferred narrative do they bring themselves to finally notice fewer troop fatalities. Screw them all straight to hell. Bush really has to start using his propaganda tools to better effect. Had he, the good news would already have been out and the MSM would instead look like the blatant manipulators that they are.
#2
If the Bush administration dances and sings "we're winning" Al Queda will make a point of blowing up enough people to fill the news with stories that we are losing and Bush lied.
The fact that we are winning should be told by the media themselves, but they are somewhat reluctant to do so. Even when they do they say so in a backhanded fashion like this article. The Media are slime.
#3
Multiple sources suggest that U.S. operations against Iranian influencewhich have included rounding up alleged Iranian operatives and Iranian-backed insurgentshave taken "quite a bite" out of insurgent cells and supply networks, one official says.
Maureen Dowd would be so proud. When you only quote "quite a bit" and leave the rest to the editor's discretion, you know that you are being pulled by the nose. Anonymous "multiple sources" suggesting.... LOL! All said, I'll have to give them a thumbs up if they can convince the rubes that Bush is hiding good news.
The left is collapsing and I'm enjoying it. The moderates are becoming embarrased and leaving in droves. I just hope they implode before the next election.
BAGHDAD (AP) October is on course to record the second consecutive decline in U.S. military and Iraqi civilian deaths and Americans commanders say they know why: the U.S. troop increase and an Iraqi groundswell against al-Qaida and Shiite militia extremists.
Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch points to what the military calls "Concerned Citizens" both Shiites and Sunnis who have joined the American fight. He says he's signed up 20,000 of them in the past four months. "I've never been more optimistic than I am right now with the progress we've made in Iraq. The only people who are going to win this counterinsurgency project are the people of Iraq. We've said that all along. And now they're coming forward in masses," Lynch said in a recent interview at a U.S. base deep in hostile territory south of Baghdad. Outgoing artillery thundered as he spoke.
As of Tuesday, the Pentagon reported 28 U.S. military deaths in October. That's an average of about 1.2 deaths a day. The toll on U.S troops hasn't been this low since March 2006, when 31 soldiers died an average of one death a day. In September, 65 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I give you my "willing suspension of disbelief",
General Petreus.
Really!
#2
And it's a AP report, too. Perhaps a flying pig graphic would be appropriate.
Posted by: Albert Ulinegum4847 ||
10/24/2007 4:09 Comments ||
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#3
"They have to be convinced that we're not leaving. That's the issue. If they were to think we're leaving we'd have also sorts of trouble," Lynch said
So he understands the Donk strategy, but I'm pretty sure he said "we'd have all sorts of trouble". That's the difference between a proofreader and an editor, I guess.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/24/2007 6:19 Comments ||
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#4
Still more important. Second half of Ramadan was during October and Ramadan is the month where jihadists ever try to make a special effort and despite this there is a sharp drop in what they have been able to do.
#5
Based on Osama's squealing like a stuck pig and calling for reinforcements to throw themselves on the fire, I would suggest that times ain't so good for AQI.
#7
A prediction: We will soon see AQ beasts giving themselves up en masse to American troops to keep from falling into the hands of vengeful Iraqis.
This already happens a lot with individuals, but I am talking whole cells and gangs at one time.
Posted by: Lord Piltdown ||
10/24/2007 11:03 Comments ||
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#8
This already happens a lot with individuals
That's very good to know, Lord Piltdown. (I love the nym!!)
A purported audio recording of Osama bin Laden posted on the internet today called for intensified fighting against US-led forces in Iraq and urged Muslims in the region to join the battle.
The recording also called for a holy war against peacekeepers in Sudan and Western forces in the Arabian Peninsula, where thousands of US troops are based. "Where are the soldiers of the Levant and the reinforcements from Yemen? Where are the knights of Egypt and the lions of Hejaz (region in Saudi Arabia)? Come to the aid of your brothers in Iraq,'' said a voice which closely resembled the al-Qaeda leader's.
Parts of the audiotape, posted as a video carrying a still photograph of bin Laden and English subtitles, were aired by Al Jazeera television. The tape was produced by As-Sahab, al-Qaeda's media arm, and posted on Islamist websites. It carried the date of the lunar month that began in mid-October.
US and Iraqi officials say many insurgents and suicide bombers in Iraq are from neighbouring Arab countries. "Increase (the enemy's) disarray and strike further at their necks and hit them with bone-cutting swords,'' bin Laden said. "The Crusaders' flag-bearer (US President George W Bush) has increased his troops, claiming that he will defeat the soldiers of faith, so be steadfast.''
Addressing Iraq's Sunni Muslims - Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen - bin Laden also urged Arab tribes to join insurgents and offer them aid and shelter in their fight to oust occupiers. Bin Laden urged Muslims to drive out foreign forces from other Muslim countries in the region and take up arms against rulers who facilitate their presence. "It is the duty of Muslims in Sudan and ... the Arabian Peninsula to wage jihad (holy war) against the crusader invaders,'' he said.
In a section of the recording aired yesterday, bin Laden had urged Sunni insurgents to put aside differences and unite with his al-Qaeda followers, admitting that "mistakes'' had been made. The recording came amid Iraqi government reports of a sharp drop in violence, following a series of US-led summer offensives against insurgents, and reports of clashes between al-Qaeda and tribesmen and domestic Iraqi jihadist groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
Soon, he will ask for UN peacekeepers to protect the Lions Of Islam against the depredations of the MNF. Clearly, this is a campaing of sytematic abuse that is waged against them!
#3
The Arabs have a keen nose to spot a loser, and are the first to jump shit when the going gets hard, not just going neutral, but joining the other side.
#9
No respect, no respect at all. I guess he is just not as popular as he thinks he is.
At the rate things are going, he might just have to make a appearance in Iraq. If he does, I hope that someone paints him with a big ass freakin bullseye, just like Saddam's boys. He can join them in hell.
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 ||
10/24/2007 12:46 Comments ||
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#13
I believe Lin Baden is dead, but that someone in the US is pretending to be Binny and putting out these calls in order to maximise the surges effect and remove the last AlQ stragglers from around the world.
#15
"Where are the soldiers of the Levant and the reinforcements from Yemen? Where are the knights of Egypt and the lions of Hejaz (region in Saudi Arabia)? Come to the aid of your brothers in Iraq,"
That he even utters these words exposes him as a complete strategic failure. His plan was to radicalize the muslims who would run to him in order to fight against us and now he is on the radio begging for recruits. We provided the craziest of the crazies a place to go where they could fling themselves into the fires of hell and it appears that the rest of the population is in no hurry to follow. Good for them. Sanity might win out after all.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday ordered new measures to improve government oversight of private guards who protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq, including tighter rules of engagement and a board to investigate any future killings. The steps, recommended by an independent review panel she created after last month's deadly Baghdad shooting involving Blackwater USA, would also require contractors to undergo training intended to make them more sensitive to Iraqi culture and language.
The changes to rules of engagement would bring the State Department closer to military rules. The State Department's rules for contractors' use of force were more detailed in some respects, but the panel found that the Pentagon had clearer rules for the steps a guard must take after identifying a threat.
Seems like a reasonable set of rules, but I'd like to hear from RB citizens who've lived and worked in similar conditions.
The moves will not have much visible effect on the way private guards operate in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq: They will still escort diplomats in highly armed convoys like the one involved in the Sept. 16 deaths of 17 Iraqis in a Baghdad square.
The State Department will set up panels that include security officials and others to look into each shooting or other use of deadly force by private guards and organize rapid response teams to investigate shooting incidents. The department will also require contractors to have Arabic speakers on hand.
The report also identified a gap that left private guards for diplomats in Iraq outside the direct control of U.S. civilian or military law and outside Iraqi law. ``The legal framework for providing proper oversight of personal protective services contractors is inadequate,'' the report said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
State Department and rules? What a can of worms that is.
#4
This is as it has to be when things get more peaceful. It is never pleasant, but in the long run it is for the best. Ideally, unless there is an imminent threat, they should have to call a cop.
#6
The steps, recommended by an independent review panel she created..
Which means its composed of State personnel. Which means its not 'independent'. Asking any of the DoD departments that provide similar protection services for its senior commanders would have been an 'independent' review by people who know what's going down. Betcha that didn't happen.
#7
require contractors to undergo training intended to make them more sensitive to Iraqi culture and language.
U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Natango said policy recommendations would be up to that panel. "We need to let the joint commission do its work," Natango said.
Sensitivity training, the penecillin of enlightened multiculturalism. Why does the name of Embasssy spokesperson "Mirembe Nantango" leave me cold and questioning?
#8
Blackwater should mount security cameras on all their vehicles, including a few controlled by helmets worn by their protective services personnel. Record the incoming fire, record the response, and make DA$$$$ sure the tapes are not capable of being "erased, lost, or exposed to hazardous electronic signals". The next time there's a squawk, air the camera images. If they prove Blackwater screwed up, hang the screwee. If it proves what Blackwater has said all along, that Islamic elements use human shields to maximise casualties, screw the Iraqi "minister" of whatever that complains.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/24/2007 21:22 Comments ||
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THE Bush Administration is considering air strikes, including the use of cruise missiles, against the Kurdish rebel group PKK in northern Iraq in an attempt to stave off a Turkish invasion of Iraq to fight the rebels.
US President George Bush spoke with Turkish President Abdullah Gul by telephone on Monday in an effort to ease the crisis. According to an official familiar with the conversation, Mr Bush assured Mr Gul that the US was looking seriously at options beyond diplomacy to stop the attacks coming from Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq. "It's not Kumbaya time any more just talking about trilateral talks is not going to be enough," the official said. "Something has to be done."
The use of US soldiers on the ground to root out the PKK would be the last resort, but the United States would be willing to launch air strikes on PKK targets and had discussed using cruise missiles, US officials said. But air strikes using piloted aircraft might be an easier option because the US controlled the air space over Iraq.
The talk of a joint operation was confirmed by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as he flew to Britain. "We may conduct a joint operation with the United States against the PKK in northern Iraq We expect to work jointly, just as we do in Afghanistan," Mr Erdogan told reporters on the plane.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan arrived in Baghdad yesterday for emergency talks. He warned that his country would not hesitate to attack the rebels over the border if efforts at finding a peaceful solution failed.
Another option being considered by US officials would be to persuade the Kurdistan Regional Government, which runs northern Iraq, to order its Peshmerga forces to form a cordon preventing the movement of the PKK beyond its mountain camps. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke with Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani on Sunday to request his co-operation in dealing with the PKK.
"In the past, there has been reluctance to engage in direct US military action against the PKK, either through air strikes or some kind of Special Forces action," said the official familiar with the Bush-Gul conversation. "But the red line was always, if the Turks were going to come over the border, it could be so destabilising that it might be less risky for us to do something ourselves. Now the Turks are at the end of their rope, and our risk calculus is changing."
An ambush at the weekend by 200 PKK guerillas left 12 Turkish soldiers dead and eight missing. The US, with Iraqi help, could also squeeze the flow of supplies and funds for the PKK coming across the border or through the airport in Erbil, the largest city in Iraqi Kurdistan, according to US and Kurdish officials.
The Bush Administration, which has an intelligence-sharing operation with Turkey, could also lean on the Kurdistan Regional Government to provide more of its own intelligence to the Turks, experts said. The Turkish leadership is under heavy pressure from its public, with thousands of demonstrators shouting anti-PKK slogans in Istanbul after the weekend ambush.
The US-Turkey alliance is particularly important to the Bush Administration in its conduct of the Iraq war. About 70 per cent of the US military's air cargo headed to Iraq is shipped through a US air base in southern Turkey.
Analysts say the PKK, fighting for Kurdish self-rule since 1984, would like to incite Turkey to attack its bases in Iraq to help fuel its movement. Last week Turkey's parliament authorised the Government to send troops across the Iraqi border at any time in pursuit of the PKK. The Kurdistan Regional Government warned that air strikes by the US or the Turks could inflame nationalist sentiments among the millions of Kurds who live in Turkey. "If the US starts bombing PKK camps in the north, Turkey will be ablaze tomorrow," said Qubad Talabany, spokesman for the Kurdistan Regional Government in Washington.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Do not lose focus. Something else is happening entirely. Front movements and political rattling masking something of a different nature entirely.
#3
Jeebus W, just pop a Ranger BN in there for "Hunting the PKK", and move a heavy BN up to relieve them.
Get the the Peshmerga in on it from the start - the set the cordon, and the Ranger go a'huntin (No love lost between the Peshmerga and the PKK). Once the heavy arrives, the IA and Peshmerga go in joint ops with the US units.
Airstrikes? Cruise Missles? Thats way over the top.
Someone in the Whitehouse is smoking crack if they are serious about this.
#8
I think that the US threat of military force against the PKK may throttle them back a bit to help defuse the situation.
However, from reading the Wiki article on the PKK, they have diverse sources of funding and weapons, and operate in the mountainous areas, where it is not so easy to dislodge them. They are some nasty terrorists, and anything that they might do in our favor in Iran would be offset by their nasty activities elsewhere. They are a thorn in our side, as well as with the Kurdish province in northern Iraq.
We certainly don't need Turkey causing problems in Northern Iraq right now, justified or not. It looks like the PKK problem needs to be dealt with now.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/24/2007 9:30 Comments ||
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#9
The Kurdish state needs to rein in the PKK, they have killed 35,000 turks. Wonder why Turkey is mad, see these PKK as another terrorist group and you'd be right. They kill innocents as readily as all other terrorists.
Kurds of Iraq are trying to build a sovereign country within Iraq, they dont need these PKK disrupting this effort and should themselves in consort with Turkey, take action. PKK is a communist organization with mal intent.
#11
Spiny, most RB'ers recognize that the PKK is a terrorist organization. We'd all appreciate seeing them whacked hard. It should be us and the Peshmerga doing it, though, not the Turks.
As OldSpook has pointed out over the last couple of days, the strength and type of Turkish military units, along with their deployment and order of battle, on the border would lead an intelligent analyst to think they have something on their minds other than going after the PKK. That's the issue.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/24/2007 10:51 Comments ||
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#12
keeping armour on the border, Steve? That could fall under the category of sending a very strong message to the Iraqi Kurdish leadership, right?
#15
Libhawk, the armor isnt on the border as much as it is deployed in assault formations along the roads.
Plus its the wrong tool to go after terrorists with - you need infanctry in that terrain with that type of foe. Tanks are support, not primary.
Teh armor not spread wide along the border like you'd need for border security ops, and its pure armor - they haven't cross attached with infanty to form company teams that you'd need for counter insurgent work in mountainous areas.
Add to that the areas the PKK is in are mountanous. Its a military reality that you simply do not send armor into the mountains, unless you have infantry with them, cross attached down to the company level (neighboring battalions swap a tank company for an infantry company, and companies swap a tank platoon for an infantry platoon).
And there's your problem, once you know that about miltiary ops in that terrain with that foe.
Pure armored divisions are the wrong tool to go after terrorists with in that area - you need infantry in that terrain with that type of foe. Tanks are support, not primary.
The other problem is those aremored division are deployed as pure armor, and they are deployed in assault formation deep along the roads like an arrow pointing at the border - meaning the only military operations they are set for (unless they change the posture and deployment) is a deep fast armored penetration along the road throgh the mountains, and beyond.
Its a subtlety that old military intel greybeards would catch on to, but a lot of other folks would not. Most folks think "OH an armored divsion on the border, than means they will have tanks to shoot the terrs".
As I shoed above, dead wrong depending on the posture, deployment and composition of their forces.
#16
THe optimal troops to do that work are airmobile troops with lots of air support - or even better, Rangers.
The Tuks mentioned above used "Commandos", which is the right tool for the job. The US shoudl put some of our own "Commandos" up there - a ranger battalion, and back it with a Stryker battalion from the reserve in Kuwait.
#17
The Turks could also be hedging their bets here too. If the commando raids and US pressure doesn't stop the PKK, they just might go for the whole enchilada of northtern Iraq.
#18
Spook, what you said makes perfect sense to me. (Everything I know about tactics and operational arts I learned from playing SPI games. Doesn't make me an expert, I realize, but I may have a claim to be smarter than the average MSM foreign correspondent.) That's why I think we want to send some people up there to "help" clean out the PKK--and screen Kirkuk from the Turk armor.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/24/2007 14:17 Comments ||
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#19
Winter is coming on. They'll not do anything too drastic (go too far south) in bad weather.
Im not a military expert, but what little I know suggest armor doesnt make sense in mountains. I wasnt disagreeing with that.
My guess is that the Turks are less sure that the Peshmerga and the Kurdish regional govt are 100% against the PKK than some here, and they want Barzani, Talabani et al (not to mention Rice, Petraeus, et al) to be aware that they are capable of going beyond the mountains if necessary.
They may also want to signal their own people that they are capable of going beyond, so they can attribute any cooperation they do get from Iraqi Kurdish authorities to their own deterrent capabilities.
#21
Liberlahawk, thats a decetn assumption, and one that I was hoping was the case- this was a bit of a "tantrum" to get our attention, and sabre-rattling for the folks back in Ankara to print headlines about.
But hope is never something to base military analysis on, as we learned with out military vitory and subsequent mess in the aftermath in Iraq. Set ops for the worst and have contingencies for better curcumstances.
I've seen to many "porefect plans" go into the crapper once they meet reality, and with the East Coast Elites liek Bush and Clinton have cozied up to in State and CIA, their reaction usually is "This cant be happineing, I said it was impossible, *I* wouldnt do that". Duh.
First rule of military analysis is put yourself in your opponent's place, including mindset.
Iraq promised on Tuesday to close the offices of Kurdish rebels and work to prevent them launching attacks on Turkey, hoping to head off a threatened invasion to crush them by Turkish troops massed on the border. But the government gave few details of how it could stop the rebels mounting cross-border raids from their remote mountain hideaways. And while Turkey said it would give diplomacy a chance, the publication of photographs said to show captured Turkish soldiers added to pressure on Ankara to act.
"The PKK is a terrorist organization and we have taken a decision to shut down their offices and not allow them to operate on Iraqi soil," Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said. "We will also work on limiting their terrorist activities, which are threatening Iraq and Turkey," Maliki said after crisis talks in Baghdad with Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan. Analysts say an effective Iraqi crackdown on the rebels would need to involve U.S. forces in Iraq, something Washington has so far been reluctant to agree to.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara was allowing time for a diplomatic solution, but reminded Iraq that Turkey's parliament had given the go-ahead for a military incursion at any time unless rebel attacks were halted. "Right now we are in a waiting stance but Iraq should know we can use the mandate for a cross-border operation at any time," Erdogan told a joint news conference in London after talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Hopefully this is what the Turks were after, and all the rest was window dressing.
#2
There's a principle here. No matter whether we like the Turk or not and whether or not the Kurds have grievances, if we insist we have the 'right' to pursue and destroy those crossing the Syrian and Iranian borders to kill and destroy in Iraq, then that same justification must hold here. Trying to keep to principle is what separates us from other countries who routinely give it lip service or just being a Donk at home.
Hat Tip - GatewayPundit
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Deputy head of Iran's judiciary here Tuesday called on the world's independent legal and judicial bodies to form a war tribunal to punish the United States' warmongering ruling party for its crimes.
He further said that the crimes committed by the US ruling party in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as Washington's increasing threats in the international arena would bring nothing to the US but further political isolation.
The official said the world today knows very well that the hawkish policies of the US administration have come to a dead-end, "and in case the United States continues violation of the international norms and criteria, it will have to face increased pressures from the side of the world Public opinion, particularly the American people, insisting the illogical leaders of that country to revise their current attitudes."
Posted by: DanNY ||
10/24/2007 07:25 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
The deputy head of Iran's judiciary has a "Diary" page at dailykos.com. Who'da thunkit?
Posted by: Mike ||
10/24/2007 7:38 Comments ||
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#2
Seriously, Mike? How embarrassing for his country!
#6
PAYVAND > INCREASING RISK OF WAR DUE TO INCOMPREHENSION BETWEEN USA AND IRAN; + RIAN > TEHRAN OPTS FOR THE HARD WAY. Article indics that Iran's OIL EXPORTS is expected to decline 10-12% a year, all the way to ZERO by 2015.
Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun described his meeting with former President Amin Gemayel as "excellent." "The fact that there was a meeting, an understanding and a joint statement issued is something good," Aoun told reporters following a meeting of his Change and Reform Bloc. "There is a will to reach a solution," Aoun said.
Aoun also pointed out that he was willing to meet Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea. "I don't mind holding a meeting with Geagea, whether this week or the next, but my meeting with Hariri could take place first," he added.
Aoun said the main topic that he discussed with Gemayel what the importance to reject violence, adding that most Lebanese are for peace, "even if some marginal groups reject it." Responding to a question, Aoun did not exclude the possibility that army commander General Michel Suleiman could become a consensus president, saying his election lies with Lebanon's Parliament.
This article starring:
Amin Gemayel
Michel Aoun
Michel Suleiman
Samir Geagea
Posted by: Fred ||
10/24/2007 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
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DAMASCUS - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has ordered ID cards to be granted to Syrians citizens living in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the state news agency SANA reported on Tuesday. The Syrian president has issued orders to grant Syrian ID cards to Syrian citizens of the occupied Golan Heights, the official news agency reported.
The move aims to ease the suffering of the Druze people living on the Golan, caused by harassment and Israeli human rights violations, SANA added.
Funny, haven't heard the Druze complaining about their situation ...
More than 18,000 Syrians -- most of them Druze, a sect of Islam -- live on the Golan and have refused to take Israeli nationality.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#3
The Golan is part of the territory of the Land of Israel, as much so, as Tel-Aviv.
The Druse were always oppressed under the Arab occupation of the Golan.
Posted by: ANA ||
10/24/2007 10:07 Comments ||
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#4
Let's think about this. If the Druze take the ID card and claim Syrian citizenship, then they are Syrians living in Israel and the Israelis should repatriate them. Compensate them for their property, but deport them to Syria nevertheless. Sounds like a good way for the Israelis to get rid of a fifth column.
#4
There is a video but I don't have the link. This woman and another who was being very disruptive were restrained and removed. The other woman after quite a fight with Capitol Police. Should be charges pending.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
10/24/2007 16:02 Comments ||
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#5
Video is at Drudge.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
10/24/2007 16:03 Comments ||
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#6
Shame on the Donks for letting these moonbats into the hearing. BTW what happened to the Secret Service? That one lady should have two broken arms and four slugs in her. We are talknig about the U.S. Secretary of State not some yahoo congressman. Someone is going to lose their job over this and deservidly so.
#7
Condi should bring in a teenage girl "assistant", who would sit there demurely until such an idiot approached, then demonstrate why she is a Kenpo 3rd Dan, inflicting the maximum control and pain with the least movement.
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.
Is it spinelessness, political caution (to get Ind. voters in 2008), financial profiteering from Mil/Ind Complex investments, lack of conviction, or simply not being good at stopping Rethug's from blocking legislation that makes our Congress ineffectual? Or is there another, more nefarious, reason for their inability to stand up to White House? 
I made a comment, earlier, about how Pelosi talked tough to W.H. but, then, backed down on everything. Senate can't put up any real fights, either. Couldn't even nab Gonzo. Now we get the FISA-Telecomm deal. I got to wondering if lots of Dem. Congress People are being blackmailed. That would explain a lot of folding and playing dead. Wireless surveillance could have been done on our House/Senate people, learning things that Rove could use, and now they're afraid. Maybe they were even quietly threatened with plantings of drugs, kid porn, gay porn, National Review...that kind of sorted thing. You get tagged with any of this stuff and your career is over.
Does anybody believe our current W.H. wouldn't get this low? It worked for Hoover, and Nixon (for a time), so why not?
Bhutto has blamed militants for the attack on her but accused elements in the government and security services of complicity and called for international experts to help in the investigation. She specifically objected to 
KARACHI, PAKISTAN The government of President Pervez Musharraf insists that those responsible for trying to kill former leader Benazir Bhutto in a bombing last week that left nearly 140 people dead will be brought to justice. But history suggests otherwise.
Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto received a death threat from a "friend of al Qaeda" on Tuesday, four days after 139 people were killed in an assassination attempt by one or more suicide bombers.
The Bush administration is starving for good news out of Iraq, and it may finally have some: new U.S. government statistics showing that violent attacks of all kinds are down to levels not seen since 2005. But until recently, the administration appears to have resisted acknowledging a key element of the new data, because it flies in the face of President George W. Bush's ongoing rhetorical confrontation with Iran's clerical regime. According to three senior U.S. officials, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information, the decline in Iraq violence also includes a decrease in the number of attacks attributable to insurgents backed or armed by Iran. Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell confirmed to NEWSWEEK that "there has indeed been a drop" in such attacks, but he added that "it's not entirely clear what the reason for that is."
A purported audio recording of Osama bin Laden posted on the internet today called for intensified fighting against US-led forces in Iraq and urged Muslims in the region to join the battle.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday ordered new measures to improve government oversight of private guards who protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq, including tighter rules of engagement and a board to investigate any future killings. The steps, recommended by an independent review panel she created after last month's deadly Baghdad shooting involving Blackwater USA, would also require contractors to undergo training intended to make them more sensitive to Iraqi culture and language.
THE Bush Administration is considering air strikes, including the use of cruise missiles, against the Kurdish rebel group PKK in northern Iraq in an attempt to stave off a Turkish invasion of Iraq to fight the rebels.
Iraq promised on Tuesday to close the offices of Kurdish rebels and work to prevent them launching attacks on Turkey, hoping to head off a threatened invasion to crush them by Turkish troops massed on the border. But the government gave few details of how it could stop the rebels mounting cross-border raids from their remote mountain hideaways. And while Turkey said it would give diplomacy a chance, the publication of photographs said to show captured Turkish soldiers added to pressure on Ankara to act.
Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. 
DAMASCUS - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has ordered ID cards to be granted to Syrians citizens living in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the state news agency SANA reported on Tuesday. The Syrian president has issued orders to grant Syrian ID cards to Syrian citizens of the occupied Golan Heights, the official news agency reported.
