Afghan President Hamid Karzai has criticised the US-led coalition for pushing the war on terrorism in Afghan villages, saying the real terrorist threat lay in sanctuaries of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Pakistan. In an interview to the New York Times published on Saturday, Karzai cautioned Pakistan against striking a peace deal with hardcore terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, though he backed Islamabads efforts to hold talks with non-threatening Taliban.
He expressed optimism over Afghanistans future, saying the change of government in Pakistan could bring progress against terrorism. He criticised the British and American conduct of the war in Afghanistan, insisting that his government be given the lead in policy decisions. He said that he wanted US forces to stop arresting Taliban.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2008 00:00 ||
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The 26 crew members onboard a fishing boat hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia nearly a week ago have been freed, Spanish and Somali authorities said Saturday.
"The ship is free and the pirates disappeared into their villages," said Abdi Khalif Ahmed, chairman of Haradhere port local authority in central Somalia, by telephone. Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega declined to say if a ransom had been paid to the hijackers, insisting the release of the Playa de Bakio had been achieved by "cooperation and diplomacy."
"The fishing boat Bakio has been liberated and is now sailing in total freedom, escorted by a Spanish frigate toward safer waters," De la Vega told a news conference.
The 250-foot tuna fishing boat from Spain's Basque region was captured Sunday while it was fishing in international waters off the coast from Mogadishu, Somalia.
De la Vega said the crew's release had been achieved through negotiations in London between the Spanish government, the ship owners and representatives of the hijackers. The crew was in good health, she said. "The 26 crew are in perfect condition, and we are communicating this to the boat's owners and the families," she said. Spain had sent one of its frigates, the Mendez Nunez, to the region, and it was now escorting the Bakio, De la Vega said. It had been on maneuvers in the Red Sea when it was diverted to the Somali coast.
"We are satisfied because the crew's safety has been preserved at all times," De la Vega said. She said the crew would be relieved from duty aboard the fishing vessel "in the shortest space of time possible," to allow them to fly back to Spain. De la Vega said the government would be taking up the subject of maritime piracy at a European Commission meeting Tuesday.
Morocco has recently started recruiting and training mourchidat, female Muslim clerics whose role is to help usher in a more moderate Islam, according to a report published in the Telegraph on Saturday. The Dar al-Hadith al-Hassania a madrassa training the mourchidat (female guide) is training a second batch of 50 female students, after a first batch of 50 graduated in April 2006. Men and women learn side by side, but only men will be able to lead prayers.
The mourchidat help women with religious questions, with their education and give support in schools and prisons. The long-term hope is that by working face-to-face with the community, they will help foster a more moderate Islam.
Funded by the government, the initiative is part of a wave of liberal reforms begun by King Muhammad VI in 2004. This is a rare experiment in the Muslim world, Muhammad Mahfudh, the centres director, said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Hope their wills are made out....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/27/2008 0:18 Comments ||
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#2
Tis a brave experiment, to be sure.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/27/2008 6:36 Comments ||
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#4
This is the second class; the first class graduated and was sent out into the world back in April, 2006. They must have been successful, or this second class would not have been permitted.
This will certainly rock the status quo wherever women are ignorant of their rights under Islamic (and no doubt Moroccan) law. After all, this has the imprimatur of the king of Morocco, himself, and his family claim direct descent from Mohammed himself.
A couple paragraphs on what is more or less a mundane construction project, and then substantial blabber and nonsense on those evil neo-cons who bang the drums of war, followed by 'analysis' of the relationship between Syria and the Norks. How much of this is true?
North Korean military engineers are completing an underground runway beneath a mountain that can protect fighter aircraft from attack until they take off at high speed through the mouth of a tunnel. The 6,000ft runway is a few minutes flying time from the tense front line where the Korean Peoples Army faces soldiers from the United States and South Korea.
The project was identified by an air force defector from North Korea and captured on a satellite image by Google Earth, according to reports in the South Korean press last week. It is one of three underground fighter bases among an elaborate subterranean military infrastructure built to withstand a shock and awe assault in the first moments of a war, the defector said.
The runway, reminiscent of the Thunderbirds television series, highlights the strange and secretive nature of the regime that provided the expertise for a partially built nuclear reactor in Syria, film of which was released by the CIA last week. The airstrike appears to have convinced North Korea to harden its own defences and to spend more on its military, even as it struggles to cope with a new food shortage that could see millions of its citizens go hungry. In recent days North Korea has ordered its people to be vigilant against warmongers.
Continued on Page 49
#1
I guess they never thought about what happens when the tunnel entrance is no longer there. How about a few cruise missiles flown right into the tunnel blowing nice big holes in little Kimmy's runway.
Plenty of money and food to complete this shit while the countryside starves. What Morons.
#2
But it's America's fault that North Korea feels threatened, otherwise they wouldn't spend so much money on defense. Everything is America's fault, you just have to dig down a little bit.
#5
Ya know, it might be worth it for Bush just to flatten these pissants before he leaves office with an alpha strike using penetrating warheads on Syria an the Norks, cause them both to collapse and isolate Iran in the process.
THat way his successor gets to blame Bush, and Bush can leave knowing he did the right thing.
#6
The project was identified by an air force defector from North Korea and captured on a satellite image by Google Earth
No doubt captured by more sophisticated tools as well. Not just the tunnel mouths, but a map of the interior spaces of the mountains. Technology is a wonderful thing!
Kim had refused to make a full declaration of his nuclear programme by a December 31 deadline; now, in effect, the CIA has done it for him. The revelation was a highly orchestrated one, commented The Korea Herald, adding that it enabled Pyongyang to make its declaration without losing face.
How is it not losing face, when what President Kim though secret is revealed for any teenaged boy with a computer to laugh at?
Last year Hill persuaded the White House that the talks offered a realistic chance to accomplish a peace treaty formally ending the 1950-3 Korean war, in which more than 50,000 Americans died. His critics, such as John Bolton, the former United Nations ambassador, say North Korea has a long recidivist history of selling missiles and unconventional weapons to unstable Middle Eastern regimes such as Syria, Iran and Libya.
John Bolton, esq. does see rather further into a stone than most. Clearly further than Christopher Hill of the United States State Department.
#7
This sounds vaguely familiar. I recall stories of this in the '80s. It's right there with the Soviet aircraft carrier/troop transport SSN_CVN_AT.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
04/27/2008 7:18 Comments ||
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#8
North Korean military engineers are completing an underground runway beneath a mountain that can protect fighter aircraft from attack until they take off at high speed through the mouth of a tunnel.
I'm no engineer, but it doesn't mention or seem obvious how these planes are supposed to land.
Then again, getting shot down by F-15's - that's sort of landing, right?
#10
One of their airfields, built in the late '60's, has all its hangar space and repair facilities inside a mountain, while the runway is outside. Of course, the US knows all about that airfield, including the supposedly hidden air circulation vents. I'm sure that if we go back to war with Nort Korea, there will be a series of Tomahawk missiles flying into that space and detonating. Can you imagine what would happen if a 50kt weapon detonated in those enclosed spaces? I'm sure this "new" airfield is also well-known to the US military, just as we know about the 14 tunnels dug 2/3 of the way under the DMZ (and heavily targeted).
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/27/2008 13:15 Comments ||
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#11
just like the Paleos, the Norks are really only happy when they're burrowing
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/27/2008 13:16 Comments ||
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#12
wouldn't them firing up their jets in this enclosed space cause carbon monoxide poisoning too
#14
Considering how few hours a year that the Nork pilots fly and how many hours a year the SKor pilots fly, I expect that the "glorious People's air assault" would consist in the main of a swarm of badly piloted aircraft barely making it past the border {LOTS of SAMs on the SKor side}, and then dying in droves when they run into the Allied CAP over Seoul. A few might even drop bombs in a general vicinity of their targets (CEP of probably a mile), and make back across the border. But then, where are they going to land?
Basically, Kimmie is setting up his pilots for an Okinawa scenario against Seoul - burning up his air force in a mass kamikaze raid.
#17
Ya know, it might be worth it for Bush just to flatten these pissants before he leaves office with an alpha strike using penetrating warheads on Syria an the Norks, cause them both to collapse and isolate Iran in the process.
Bush wouldn't want anything like that. It might make his trip to Beijing for the Olympics awkward.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/27/2008 18:30 Comments ||
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#18
Only a reporter can think like this. Once you know where the opening is, anything coming out is dead meat.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/27/2008 19:17 Comments ||
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#19
update version of 5 o'clock Charlie?
I was thinking something along the lines of the A-4's original purpose...
#20
? A-4? The orginial purpose was for the smallest plane that could carry a umm.... oh.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
04/27/2008 20:50 Comments ||
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#21
WAFF.com Thread > CHOSUN ILBO - NORTH KOREA ASKING FOR CHIN J-10. SO far various Netters are opining that any J-10 purchase is insensible given NOKOR's poor economy + pervasive threat of famine, + lack of experience wid post-modern hi-tech mil aircraft, + NOKOR AF would be hard-pressed to match US, SOKOR, + JAPANESE fighters heavy or light.
Muslim community leaders have urged Griffith University to return a $100,000 grant from the Saudi Arabian embassy as prominent academics attacked vice-chancellor Ian O'Connor for his confusion over the Islamic ideology embraced by Osama bin Laden. Professor O'Connor was yesterday also attacked by fellow academics for partly plagiarising his written defence of the Saudi grant from online encyclopedia Wikipedia - as revealed by The Weekend Australian - and accused of being out of his depth on Islamic issues.
The anger in Muslim and academic circles follows revelations by The Australian that the Queensland university asked the Saudis for a $1.37 million grant, of which it received $100,000, and offered to keep elements of the funding deal secret.
The nation's most senior female Muslim leader, Aziza Abdel-Halim, urged Griffith to return the Saudi funds, saying the Saudi Government was known for funding projects such as mosques and religious activities in Australia to "subtly" impose its hardline ideology on recipients. "If there are no guarantees they have a free hand in their curriculum ... then it is safer to give the money back," she told The Australian. "If they are not able to have no strings attached, then it's better to not have the money."
Documents unveiled by The Australian last week revealed that Professor O'Connor, among other staff, offered the embassy a chance to "discuss ways" in which the money could be used.
Professor O'Connor was defended yesterday by Griffith's chancellor, Leneen Forde, who described him as an "outstanding leader", saying the university would not have accepted Saudi funds if they had conditions attached. "In relation to the two sentences lifted from the Wikipedia entry, Professor O'Connor has acknowledged this was inappropriate," she wrote in a memo to staff. "This is regrettable, but is a very minor error compared to the outstanding work which Professor O'Connor has done and will continue to do for the university."
A Howard government adviser on Islam, Ameer Ali, said Professor O'Connor was wrong to interchange the term Wahabbism - a Saudi-pioneered Islamic ideology espoused by al-Qa'ida - with Unitarianism when he defended the Saudi grant in an opinion piece published by The Australian last week.
Melbourne University associate professor Shahram Akbarzadeh said Professor O'Connor played down and did not properly reflect the essence of Wahabbism by calling it Unitarianism. "Wahabbism and Salafism are a social ideological movement ... and it's all about merging political power with religious piety," he said. "That was an early case of ... political rulers appealing to Islamic principles and Islamic justification for their rule."
Posted by: ryuge ||
04/27/2008 10:53 ||
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#1
Wahabbism and Unitarianism??? That's not ignorance or a simple mistake, that's an outright lie. A lie so blatant even little American housewives know it to be so. The Unitarians are about the most peaceful, accepting, inoffensive people on this planer; Wahabbi Muslims are taqfiri jihadists who use their money and connections as well as the less stable of their sons to expand the writ of their form of Islam to the rest of the world.
Hand back the money and fire those who supported the deal, tenure or no.
#2
Hand back the money and fire those who supported the deal, tenure or no.
Close any institution that takes saudi money and lifetime ban all involved from working in any aspect of education.
Fixed...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/27/2008 19:11 Comments ||
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#3
and offered to keep elements of the funding deal secret.
I find that outrageous and in a better world the good citizens would be calling for his head (in the metaphorical sense, not Muslim one). If the university receives any public money they should be required to provide full disclosure.
#4
Wahabbi Muslims are taqfiri jihadists who use their money and connections as well as the less stable of their sons to expand the writ of their form of Islam to the rest of the world.
Tell it to jimmuh carter.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/27/2008 23:03 Comments ||
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A 17-member civilian production crew spent six months and sailed 57,000 miles aboard a US Navy aircraft carrier to produce a stunning 10-part documentary series for PBS.
Titled "Carrier," this series from Mel Gibson's Icon Productions might be the most candid look at everyday life on board a U.S. warship in wartime that has ever been filmed. It premieres Sunday with the first two episodes (9 p.m. on WNET/13 and 11:30 p.m. on WLIW/21), after which two episodes will be seen every night through next Thursday.
Produced on the nuclear-powered U.S.S. Nimitz, "Carrier" documents the ship's deployment from May to November 2005, from Coronado, Calif., and back, including a stop in the Persian Gulf, where the ship served as the staging platform for 1,167 bombing missions.
The ship is one of the largest of its kind - a virtual small town 23 stories high, 252 feet wide and 1,092 feet long, and inhabited by 5,500 male and female personnel. Their average age: 19œ - which sometimes makes the ship seem like the world's largest floating high school, according to some of the enlisted personnel in the series.
"It was unbelievably interesting and unbelievably difficult," said series co-creator Maro Chermayeff, who last left her New York City home for six months when she worked on the reality series "Frontier House" for PBS. Mrs. Bobby read a review, in the WaPo, not doubt, that called it "overlong and disjointed."
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/27/2008 10:28 ||
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#1
I guess all the Nimitz's problems are the fault of us Jews.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
04/27/2008 13:40 Comments ||
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#2
Either 10 parts is very detailed or a waste of film.
#3
PBS take: After Pearl Harbor, our carrier force swelled to a size that was just "unfair" for japan to deal with. America is to blame...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/27/2008 19:13 Comments ||
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#4
ENJOY IT = NIMITZ-CLASS, etc. WHILE WE STILL CAN > in reality, wid CVN21-class we'are prob looking at the last "classic/traditional" USN "flat/throughdeck" CV. The USDOD-USN is already seeling to base UAV robo-units and squadrons aboard the current NIMITZ-CLASS, to include UAV ATTACK BOMBER + SUBMERSIBLE ATTACK-OTHER VARIANTS. POST-CVN21 + "SEA BASING" CONCEPTS > will likely be some kind of MULTI-SYSTEM, ALL-PURPOSE HYBRID SUPER-ARSENAL SHIP = FLOATING BATTLE STATION WID BOTH OFFENSIVE-DEFENSIVE CAPABILS, LOCAL CONVENTIONAL THRU GMD THRU SPAWAR THRU "FIRST/SECOND-STRIKE" STRATEGIC MISSLE WARFARE, ETC.
What I liked and used to label back in the 1980's, and still do, gener as SEA/BATTLE FORTRESSES, among other sur-labels.
As for GUAM > Various personages are still telling me that the proposed "MARINE RELOCATION-BUILDUP" from Okinawa is actually part of a LT PRE-PLANNED "PHASED CLOSURE/SHUTDOWN" of the USG-USDOD sector here on Guam, that the Marines [or those that come here] will actually only stay a short time before relocating again back to CONUS, + that starting after 2015 the USG MAY ACTUALLY OFFER GUAM FORMAL UNILATER INDEPENDENCE. Iff these sources are correct, Guam's BIG NAVY will be formally shut down or mostly shut down by 2020, ANDERSEN AFB in roughly another decade after that???
FLOATING DRYDOCK > MY GENERATION in the 1990's HELPED TAKE DOWN THE AFDM-8 AT [former]SRF GUAM DUE TO BRAC; ANOTHER MAY END UP CLOSING DOWN THE AFDB, aka "BIG BLUE"???
* SEA BASING. MOB, GLOBAL/PROMPT STRIKE, SPACE STRIKE, LUNAR COMMRECCE + "SPACE PLANES", ETC. > eevrything will EVENTUALLY originate andor transit to, from CONUS-NORAM.
WHAT DOES GUAM GET = WIN IN THE US + WORLD GEOPOLITICAL LOTTERY???
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/27/2008 20:11 Comments ||
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#6
* GLOBAL WARMING > TOO LONDON/EURO-STYLE FOGGY for GUAM PORTOPS to see anything.
* ASIA-PACIFIC "EARTH CHANGES" > PORTOPS tug propellers driving over sunken parts of Guam's former Commercial Port, etal. See older posts.
* NEW > PHILIPPINES-ASIA RICE FAMINE 2020 > besides INDONESIAN-SUMATRAN, etc. regional diasporas caused by earth = land changes, Guam will also have to do its part as per potential FILIPINO DIASPORAS-MIGRATIONS due to pervasive famine, WHICH WILL AGAIN HEAVILY STRESS GUAM's TRADITIONAL DEMOGRAPHICS.
D *** NG IT, LETS NOT FORGET CHINESE EMIGRES TRYING TO LEAVE CHINA-ASIA ABOARD TRANPORTS MADE IN PART FROM OLD USAF B52S.
And INDEPENDENCE too - WHO SAYS THERE'S NO GOD!
AL PACINO to KEANU REEVES> Consider the Source, Son...The MAN UPSTAIRS IS THE GREATEST VOYEUR, DIALECTICIST, PERVERT, .........ETC. OF US ALL!
#8
IRNA > ASIA AND PACIFIC REGIONS NEED TO RETHINK THEIR ENERGY SECURITY. By Year 2030 AsPac demand will comprise 1/2 of world total, wid approxi 80% of same being for DECLINING? FOSSIL FUELS, i.e. OIL AND COAL.
#9
OTOH, Gibson's new documentary is appropriate as per FUTURE TIME + POST EARTH CHANGES > a future US servicemember from Guam being witness to US carriers transporting many islanders including Guamanians to new homes, vv GEOLOGICAL CRACKS/FAULTS IN THE PACIFIC???
The media continues to overlook the application of the Convention to illegal combatants, as opposed to soldiers in uniform. That would be becauee it is convienient.
The Geneva Conventions' ban on "outrages against personal dignity" does not automatically apply to terrorism suspects in the custody of U.S. intelligence agencies, the Justice Department has suggested to Congress in recent letters that lay out the Bush administration's interpretation of the international treaty.
Lawyers for the department, offering insight into the legal basis for the CIA's controversial interrogation program, reasserted in the letters the Bush administration's long-held view that it has considerable leeway in deciding how the conventions' rules apply to the harsh questioning of combatants in the war on terrorism.
While the United States is legally bound by the conventions' Common Article 3 and its requirement to treat detainees humanely, the definition of humane treatment can vary, depending on the detainee's identity and the importance of the information he possesses, a Justice Department official wrote last September and this March to a Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee.
"Some prohibitions . . . such as the prohibition on 'outrages against personal dignity,' do invite the consideration of the circumstances surrounding the action," Brian A. Benczkowski, the principal deputy assistant attorney general, asserted in one of the letters.
Benczkowski's letters were provided to The Washington Post by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who asked the Justice Department to explain the legal foundation for President Bush's executive order last year authorizing the CIA's continued interrogation of terrorism suspects. The existence of the letters was first reported last night by the New York Times.
A spokeswoman for Wyden said the administration's suggestion that the Geneva Conventions could be selectively applied was "stunning."
"The Geneva Convention in most cases is the only shield that Americans have when they are captured overseas," the spokeswoman, Jennifer Hoelzer, said in a phone interview. "And for the president to say that it is acceptable to interpret Geneva on a sliding scale means that he thinks that it is acceptable for other countries to do the same. Senator Wyden -- and I believe any other reasonable individual -- finds that argument appalling." To my knowledge, and I've been paying attention, most American civilians and no American military, who've been captured by al-Qaeda and its work-alikes have survived the experience. The enemy specifically disavows the Geneva Conventions, all of them, in favor of the blessings of shariah, which appear to condone killing any prisoners and booby-trapping their bodies. And let us not forget the provision that applies in Soddy Arabia that you can kidnap American civilians, chop their heads off on videotape, and keep the heads in your refrigerator.
Theory, meet practice.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/27/2008 07:07 ||
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#1
"And for the president to say that it is acceptable to interpret Geneva on a sliding scale means that he thinks that it is acceptable for other countries to do the same.
That's funny - as Bobby mentions above, I don't believe I've once heard any media / leftist complain that terrorists aren't adhering to the GC, but it's okay for them to accuse our soldiers of not adhering to same.
#2
Actually, that is what we *do* expect other countries to do in similar circumstances. Beyond those minimal requirements, all the US can do is reach bilateral agreements for higher standards of treatment if both sides wish it.
If other countries have unilateral higher standards, then that is their business.
#3
Technically, its 'conventions'. And there are numerous addendum which all states, including in some instances the United States, have not signed on to or ratified. So all parts are not applicable, thus 'selective'.
#4
The GC protections do not apply to illegal combatants anyway. They can (and should in many cases) be summarily executed in the field.
If we were doing it to uniformed soldiers of another nation - who was also abiding by the GC - then I'd be concerned. Until then I just don't give a shit - bring on the next Paris Hilton story.
As it is I don't think China or Iran or whoever our next adversary is will give a flying f-k about GC protections for American prisoners. Simply because they know that we will abide by it in any event (even for illegal combatants) and that the media will ignore any of their violations and magnify our own.
#6
There are 4 major Geneva Conventions that the US is a signatory to, and one major that we said "Hell, No" to. Also, the moment the other side fails to abide by the Geneva Convention regarding conduct of warfare, we are NOT obligating to apply its provisions to them, as is STATED in that Convention.
#7
Geneva Convention is a joke. Unless both sides follow it is meaningless and McCain should stand up and say so.
We should perhaps follow similar guidelines because they are right, or because its for the best mental health of our own guys but following the letter of the law when the other guy doesn't is nonsense and actually undermines the Geneva Convention.
Personally I'd follow all of them because I don't think the convention Explicitly covers toilet paper with Koranic verse on them.
Next month, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who was once a driver for Osama bin Laden, could become the first detainee to be tried for war crimes in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. By now, he should be busily working on his defense.
But his lawyers say he cannot. They say Hamdan, already the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, has essentially been driven insane by solitary confinement in a tiny cell where he spends at least 22 hours a day, goes to the bathroom and eats all his meals. His defense team says he is suicidal, hears voices, has flashbacks, talks to himself and says the restrictions of Guantánamo "boil his mind."
"He will shout at us," said his military defense lawyer, Lieutenant Commander Brian Mizer. "He will bang his fists on the table."
His lawyers have asked a military judge to stop his case until Hamdan is placed in less restrictive conditions at Guantánamo, saying he cannot get a fair trial if he cannot focus on defending himself. The judge is to hear arguments as soon as Monday on whether he has the power to consider the claim.
Next we'll hear that he's an orphan ...
Critics have long asserted that Guantánamo's climate-controlled isolation is a breeding ground for insanity. But turning that into a legal claim marks a new stage for the military commissions at Guantánamo. As military prosecutors push to get trials under way, they are being met with challenges not just to the charges, but to Guantánamo itself.
The defense teams are putting up whatever they can because they're pretty certain how the tribunals will turn out. This is their only real chance to derail the process, because the Supreme Court isn't going to overturn a settled tribunal verdict.
Conditions are more isolating than many death rows and maximum-security prisons in the United States, said Jules Lobel, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh who is an expert on U.S. prison conditions.
That's because these guys aren't death row prisoners, they're illegal combatants taken on a field of battle. The defense teams keep trying to get us to believe that this is just another civilian criminal matter.
Pentagon officials say that Guantánamo holds dangerous men humanely and that there is no unusual quantity of mental illness there. Guantánamo, a military spokeswoman said, does not have solitary confinement, only "single-occupancy cells."
In response to questions, Commander Pauline Storum, the spokeswoman for Guantánamo, asserted that detainees were much healthier psychologically than the population in U.S. prisons. Storum said about 10 percent could be found mentally ill, compared, she said, with data showing that more than half of inmates in U.S. correctional institutions had mental health problems.
Most of whom had their mental problems prior to getting into prison.
With their filings, Hamdan's lawyers are setting the stage for similar challenges to the procedures of Guantánamo in some 80 expected war crimes cases, lawyers for other detainees say. "The issue of mistreatment of prisoners, the miserable lives they live in these cells, will come up in every case," said Clive Stafford Smith, a lawyer for 35 detainees.
Other than being in a single cell, it's hard to imagine how they're being 'mistreated'. They're fed well, housed well, get privileges based on their cooperation and exercise. They have the Red Cross looking in on them. Someone will have to explain how they could be abused.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
That's not a drive, that's a 2-inch putt.
Same for the lawyers.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/27/2008 0:10 Comments ||
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#2
They say Hamdan, already the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, has essentially been driven insane by solitary confinement in a tiny cell where he spends at least 22 hours a day, goes to the bathroom and eats all his meals.
Just trying to make him a nice Islamic-friendly environment where he can pray every waking moment like a good Muslim should.
#5
More mind-boiling please. Thank you in advance.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
04/27/2008 7:20 Comments ||
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#6
I reek at knowing my ever recessing tax dollars are being piped into supporting the likes of Guantanamo Bay. Rendition__Yes; Hamdan should have been given a warriors death in the field, as a terrorist and disciple of 'binny'!
#10
Other than being in a single cell, it's hard to imagine how they're being 'mistreated'.
And they're given praying rugs, Korans and assorted paraphernalia... with guards wearing gloves to handle the Holy Book which would otherwise be defiled by infidels... think about it for a while. Pretty depressing, innit?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/27/2008 11:43 Comments ||
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#14
Thanks, Frank.
We do what we can.... ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/27/2008 12:30 Comments ||
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#15
Stake 'em out in the nice, Cuban sun, and their lawyer beside 'em. Leave 'em there 'till they're done, then feed 'em to the sharks. I have no sympathy for any muslim who considers it his DUTY to kill people of other faiths, or the lawyers that try to defend them with such stupidity as this.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/27/2008 14:31 Comments ||
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#16
Ignorance of the law is no excuse, so how can insanity be? Besides, we put down rabid animals for the sake of all, and this is no different. Terrorist should have only one fate. Death. Those who support them via word, deed or cash should also suffer that fate.
#18
Make the libs happy. They want the Geneva Convention? Give it to them. Stringently apply the Geneva Convention on non-uniformed combatants to the Gitmo inmates. Then, after the summary executions, throw the remains to the sharks.
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 ||
04/27/2008 18:08 Comments ||
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#19
that's what the end result will be. Liberals like these never seems to be able to get past their emotional talking points long enough to see the long term consequence of their actions. If POW camps as humane as GITMO are going to become more trouble than they are worth, then the end result will be that the taking of prisoners will not be worthwhile. And "take no prisoners" as a battlefield motto means unnecessary slaughter. It's like these liberals are unable to make that simple cognitive step.
#20
I just saw a story on ABC news about one of our soldiers in Iraq who was captured and subsequently executed in cold blood by al Qaeda bad guys. So it's kinda hard for me to work up any sympathy for any of those poor jihadis at Gitmo.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/27/2008 23:08 Comments ||
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Talking to local journalists, JI chief Wali Rehman said the name was changed following a decision of their shura(council). He said the partys aim was to end un-Islamic activities and implement Shariah throughout the agency. Rehman added that Abu Hamza had been appointed his deputy commander.
The split between the LI and the TTP occurred six months ago. The TTP claimed that it had recovered three kidnapped Sikhs from Orakzai Agency. The groups purported spokesman Maulvi Omar told journalists by phone that one bandit had been killed and the ringleader captured.
This article starring:
Jaish-e-Islami
Lashkar-e-Islam
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Abu Hamza
Jaish-e-Islami
Maulvi Omar
Tehreek-e-Taliban
Wali Rehman
Lashkar-e-Islam
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Ho-kay. Guess "p*ssy" is banned.
Too bad - I thought it was pretty good snark.
Nothing to write home to Mother about, but not bad considering the loser trash we're talking about.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/27/2008 0:24 Comments ||
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#2
I have unoffical word of a scheme to mount FLIR in all remaining Muffler Men and a possible budget item looking to rebuild, renew and reconstruct delapitaded M2.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
04/27/2008 7:25 Comments ||
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#3
Sounds like the Taliban in Pakiland has hired Burston Marsteller (terrorist's PR agency of record around the globe) for some repositioning and rebranding.
The potential good news: Taliban may be a tainted in brand even in Pakiland.
Bad news: rebrand is "Army of Islam"
Posted by: regular joe ||
04/27/2008 9:38 Comments ||
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#4
Next, they will do... a reboot of the franchise. Worked for Hulk, and he's green, the color of islam, so, why not?
The Pakistan Army on Saturday distributed pamphlets in Laddah, the second largest town in South Waziristan, confirming a peace deal with militant commander Baitullah Mehsud, the Voice of America (VOA) has reported. According to VOA, the pamphlets stated that the army had implemented a ceasefire even before signing the peace deal, and after it had eliminated militants from Jandola and its adjoining areas. The army has also opened the roads linked with the South Waziristan agency to facilitate travel in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2008 00:00 ||
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will meet President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani during a four-hour stopover in Islamabad on Monday.
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip
That started from this tropic port
Aboard this tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailing man,
The skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day
For a four hour tour, a four hour tour.
The leaders will discuss the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project, though no related documents will be signed, Iranian Ambassador Mashaallah Shakeri said at a press conference on Saturday. Shakeri said the Iranian delegation would include foreign minister, commerce minister and his key aides and several key issues will be addressed. The ambassador welcomed Chinese interest in importing gas from Iran through Pakistan, saying increased international involvement would contribute to the projects viability. However, he said the IPI project was trilateral and a separate project might be needed to bring in China.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
How can you choose between Ginger and Mary Ann when they're wearing burkhas?
If the United States has explicit proof of Osama Bin Ladens presence in Pakistans border regions, then it will categorically pursue him, US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte has said. Speaking to Charlie Rose, he said that as far as Bin Laden was concerned, the US would pursue him regardless of any permission from Pakistan to conduct a military operation within its borders. Im pretty confident that thats the way the president would react, he added.
Negroponte said that Pakistan was a very important country with respect to its proximity to Afghanistan. On President Pervez Musharrafs continued importance to the country, he said that it appeared that the prime ministers role was taking on greater importance.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The key 'trigger' is explicit! The preponderance of the evidence has been lowered from Echelon intercepts and/or positive satellite and/or drone id, to simple fingerprint and/or dna hits by the "Dark Sweepers"! I wonder what type convincing it took to persuade Musharraf to 'look the other way'?
#2
Dark Sweepers? Do you work for my Hungarian friend? This sort of thing shouldn't be public. I advise a low profile, perhaps retraining.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
04/27/2008 7:28 Comments ||
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#3
drones have id? ego too?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/27/2008 11:44 Comments ||
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#4
IDed by drones Frank. As Osama continues to 'Radiate' zero electronic emanations through Echelon, the task of mapping where Osama is and isn't, will fall more pervasively to the "Dark Sweepers"! These ultra secret clandestine teams of forensic 'CSI' trained trackers operate in the shadows,collecting fingerprints from rock trails, scent signals by bloodhounds (the US has hair and clothing samples of Osama and his family for database measurements)etc. Osama has even resorted to burying his groups 'poop' and cremating their dead to keep the "Dark Sweepers" from mapping close!
#5
No one should ever underestimate Osama + Zawi, etc. IMO, the RADICALIST JIHAD, which ultim is GLOBALIST in scope, will be humiliated and discredited iff Radical Islam fails to demonstrate its potency vv NON-ISLAMIC MAJOR WORLD NATIONS, i.e. the US-EUROS, RUSSIA, JAPAN, CHINA, INDIA, etc.. DITTO FOR MOUD, MULLAHS, + FUNDAMENTALIST/ISLAMIST IRAN, + any ISLAMIST INDEPENDENTS, + collusory COLD WAR COMMUNIST-SOCIALIST, ETC. ADHERENTS. I will be greatly surprised iff the USA can de facto capture or kill OBL by NOvember 2008 or ever, AS OSAMA IS VERY DEDIC TO HIS ISLAMIST BELIEFS AS WELL AS BEING VERY SAAVY. IN ANY CASE, EVEN PRESUM THAT OBL IS SUCCESS CAPTURED OR KILLED IN NEAR-TERM, WHICH I HIGHLY DOUBT, IT STILL LEAVES NUCLEARIZING IRAN + IRAN'S OWN RADICALIST AMBITIONS. The struggle for "Validation" and "credibility" as per Radical Islamism is only PART OF THE BIGGER STRUGGLE FOR SAME AS PER GENERAL/WORLD ISLAM.
* "THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE", not FEW or SEVERAL or MANY??? WOT > WAR FOR PARITY VERSUS SUPERIORITY vv NON-ISLAM/ISLAMISM. "DEFEAT" IS NEITHER PARITY NOR SUPERIORITY.
#6
POST-WOT > Many in the US-World would like to see [GLOBAL]FEDERALIST "CO-EQUALITY/EXISTENCE" = "BALANCE OF POWERS" = "SEPARATE BUT EQUAL", etc. prevail - but, isn't the former what Radical Islamists, + aligned Communists, Globalists, etc. FIGHTING AGAINST, i.e. WAR FOR INTOLERANCE, NOT AGZ INTOLERANCE???
Foreigners hiding in the Tribal Areas are carrying out and supporting terrorist activities, President Pervez Musharraf said on Saturday. Foreigners, especially Uzbeks and Afghans, who had links with Al Qaeda were hiding in Pakistans tribal belt and the mountains, the president said. He said they carried out terrorist activities in Pakistan and provided resources for terrorism.
The president said the militant Taliban, who had links with the foreign militants, were also facilitating terrorism. He said terrorism and extremist were hampering Pakistans development and feared the spread of Talibanisation beyond the Tribal Areas to Swat and southern parts of the NWFP.
Some groups in Balochistan, such as the Balochistan Liberation Army, had a separatist tendency, Musharraf said. We have to chalk out long-term strategy to address these grave problems.
New government: The new government could resolve Pakistans problems, including terrorism if there was harmony between the coalition partners, the president said. He stressed the continuation of the previous governments policies. Changing the previous governments policies would hinder Pakistans development, he said.
Musharraf also stressed bridging the gap between the formulation and implementation of policies. The government sector faces two major problems a large gap between policy formulation and implementation as well as lack of sustainability and continuation.
He said the delay in decision-making was also a major problem. The job of a government is to ensure security, progress and development of the country and welfare and well-being of its people, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2008 00:00 ||
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Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, told her closest friend that she was in love from the moment she set eyes on the young British soldier working alongside her in Basra, and she dreamed of a future with him.
It was an innocent infatuation but five months after Rand, a student of English at Basra University, met Paul, a 22-year-old soldier posted to southern Iraq, she was dead. She was stamped on, suffocated and stabbed by her father. Several brutal knife wounds punctured her slender, bruised body - from her face to her feet. He had done it, he proclaimed to the neighbours who soon gathered round, to 'cleanse his honour'.
And as Rand was put into the ground, without ceremony, her uncles spat on her covered corpse because she had brought shame on the family. Her crime was the worst they could possibly imagine - she had fallen in love with a British soldier and dared to talk to him in public.
Rand was murdered last month. That the relationship was innocent was no defence. She had been seen conversing intimately with Paul. It was enough to condemn her, because he was British, a Christian, 'the invader', and the enemy. The two met while he was helping to deliver relief aid to displaced families in the city and she was working as a volunteer. They continued to meet through their relief work in the following months.
Rand last saw Paul in January, two months before her death. It was only on 16 March that her father, Abdel-Qader Ali, learned of their friendship. He was told by a friend, who worked closely with police, that Rand had been seen with Paul at one of the places they both worked as volunteers. Enraged, he headed straight home to demand an explanation from his daughter.
'When he entered the house, his eyes were bloodshot and he was trembling,' said Rand's mother, Leila Hussein, tears streaming down her face as she recalled her daughter's murder. 'I got worried and tried to speak to him but he headed straight for our daughter's room and he started to yell at her.'
'He asked if it was true that she was having an affair with a British soldier. She started to cry. She was nervous and desperate. He got hold of her hair and started thumping her again and again.
'I screamed and called out for her two brothers so they could get their father away from her. But when he told them the reason, instead of saving her they helped him end her life,' she said.
She said Ali used his feet to press down hard on his own daughter's throat until she was suffocated. Then he called for a knife and began to cut at her body. All the time he was calling out that his honour was being cleansed.
'I just couldn't stand it. I fainted.' recalled Leila. 'I woke up in a blur later with dozens of neighbours at home and the local police.'
According to Leila, her husband was initially arrested. 'But he was released two hours later because it was an "honour killing". And, unfortunately, that is something to be proud of for any Iraqi man.'
At the police station where the father was held Sergeant Ali Jabbar told The Observer last week: 'Not much can be done when we have an "honour killing" case. You are in a Muslim society and women should live under religious laws.
'The father has very good contacts inside the Basra government and it wasn't hard for him to be released and what he did to be forgotten. Sorry but I cannot say more about the case.'
Rand, considered impure, was given only a simple burial. To show their repugnance at her alleged crime, her family cancelled the traditional mourner ceremony.
Two weeks after the murder, Leila left Ali. She could no longer bear to live under the same roof as her daughter's killer and asked for a divorce. 'I was beaten and had my arm broken by him,' she said. 'No man can accept being left by a woman in Iraq. But I would prefer to be killed than sleep in the same bed with a man who was able to do what he did to his own daughter, who, over the years, had only given him unconditional love.'
Now she works for a women's organisation campaigning against honour killings. 'I just want to try to stop other girls having the same fate as my beloved Rand,' said Leila who is forced to move regularly from friend to friend
A colleague of Leila's said: 'We prefer to change places each two weeks to prevent targeting. She has been threatened again by her husband's family and is very scared.'
Throughout her friendship with Paul, Rand confided in only one person, her best friend Zeinab, 19. 'She used to say that her charity work had more than one meaning now. From the first time she saw him, she was helping needy families but also that Paul was helping her. With just a simple, caring smile, he was able to give her the sense of love, making her forget all about the hard and depressing life in Iraq,' said Zeinab.
The two teenagers had spent hours talking about him,' she said. 'She loved to speak about his blond hair, his honey eyes, his white skin and the sweet way he had of speaking.
'He was very different from the local men who usually are tough and illiterate. I was in heaven when she was speaking about him. Everything looked so beautiful.
'But, I always had to remind Rand that she was a Muslim and her family was never going to accept her marrying a Christian, British soldier'.
'Unfortunately she never wanted to hear me. Her mind was very far from reality, but closer to an impossible dream.'
Paul gave Rand gifts. She kept them - and him - secret from her family and asked Zeinab to take care of these small tokens of his affection for her. He gave her a charming cuddly animal. 'She couldn't take it home so she asked me to keep it for her,' said Zeinab. 'It's hard to look at it every day,' she said.
Rand told Zeinab she and Paul had met only four times, though Zeinab doubts this. Their meetings were always in public and through the voluntary work that Paul carried out as part of his regiment's peacekeeping duties.
Rand had an excellent command of English and spoke it fluently and that, said Zeinab, allowed them to communicate freely without others around understanding what they were saying. 'She was the only one who could speak English and it made it easier for her to get closer "through words" to him,' she said.
Soon Rand began giving different and elaborate excuses to her family to enable her to continue her voluntary work. She persuaded her father that her work was vital in helping families. And she began paying daily visits to displacement camps, local aid agencies and hospitals in the hope of bumping into Paul.
'He used to tell her all about England. She told me his father had died from a disease and that it was a really sad story,' said Zeinab.
'She liked to speak about how couples could live together in his country. He told her that flowers could be found on every corner and he promised to take her one day to buy some in the streets of London. She was a fan of London and he told her about all the tourists attractions there.'
'But the thing she used to like talking about best was how he praised her beauty and her intelligence. She told me he called her "princess".'
Despite knowing how dangerous the consequences of her actions could be, and the punishment she faced if caught, her passion for Paul grew stronger, said Zeinab. 'She never did anything more than talk to him. She was proud to be a virgin and had a dream to give herself to the man she loved only after her marriage. But she was seen as an animal,' said Zeinab.
'What they did to her was ugly and pathetic. Rand was just a young girl with romantic dreams. She always kept her religion close to her heart. She would never even hurt a petal on a rose.'
Last year 133 women were killed in Basra - 47 of them for so-called 'honour killings', according to the Basra Security Committee. Out of those 47 cases there have been only three convictions for murder.
Since January this year, 36 women have been killed.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/27/2008 16:39 ||
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#1
I suggest that a woman's secret society be formed to punish men responsible for such murder. A gang of women catches one, then cuts off his genitalia and facial lips.
Such men are inherently cowardly dogs, and the men that support such honor killings are equally cowardly. If they fear a risk to themselves, they will stop being brutes.
#2
The repugnance I feel when reading this story is palpable. It's after I read things like this that I'm ready to see nukes used on this sick, insane excuse for a civilization. People who could do, and support, actions like this simply don't deserve to be treated as human.
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 ||
04/27/2008 17:34 Comments ||
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#3
he has no honor, and apparently (from the earlier abuse) never did.
*spit*
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/27/2008 17:55 Comments ||
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#4
I still have not figured out this islamic-honor thing.
The father is "responsible" for the actions of his daughter. Since the father messed up and raised an infidel for a daughter, it's the father's fault and he should kill himself. That's the definition of honor deaths in Japan.
#5
I like Anonymoose's suggestion, actually. Back in the days of the frontier, it was the women of the warrier tribes like the Comanche who were most especially notorious for the inventive way they had of torturing captives.
It would be nice, in the way of cultural sharing n' caring to put the women of Iraq in touch with women of the Amerind Tribes who have knowlege of their traditions... wouldn't it?
We hear so much about honoring tradtional cultural ways... would't it be keen to pass some of those on?
Especially those which have to do with sharp knives.
#10
I am, Muggsy G- although everyone who clicks on the link or goes to one of my book signings and buys my book makes my economic postion all that much better.
One of my late employer's clients hired me to do marketing for his business - and I am working like a dog to finish and polish my new book(s) the Adelsverien Trilogy to be available by 2008.
This story makes me so sad, though - as the mother of a daughter and as a woman who fell in love with another member of the services. My parents liked him and thought he would do well as a prospective SIL. So sad to think that by the rules of this culture, they would have been justified in killing me, him and by extension, my daughter.
#11
This is the face of Islam. The face the MSM and CAIR don't want you to see. Intolerance, hate and subjugation. The faster its power is broken, the better. One way is to make sure the youth of the Islamic world sees this story and its counterpart (and happy non-dead ending) from the west.
Baghdad, Apr 26, (VOI) An Iraqi legislator accused the U.S. forces on Saturday of using "internationally-banned weapons" during the military operations in the eastern Baghdad district of Sadr City. "Cogent evidence were shown by the criminal investigations and forensics' reports that the occupation forces have used fissile arms during the bombardment of Sadr City," Liqaa Al
Yassin, a member of parliament from the Sadrist bloc, or Iraqis loyal to Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, told Aswat al-Iraq Voices of Iraq (VOI). The Sadrists comprise a Shiite parliamentary bloc that keeps 30 out of a total 275 seats.
"When diffused, fissile bombs hit a large number of targets and spread on the body, which was evidently clear on the bodies of the dead and wounded in Sadr City," Yassin, a member of the Iraqi parliament's Health & Environment Committee, said.
For his part, Abdul-Latif Rayan, the media advisor for the Multi-National Force (MNF) in Iraq, told VOI that the accusations were groundless. "We only targeted armed groups in Sadr City that fired missiles at the Green Zone in central Baghdad," Rayan said.
#2
Such measures if true should have been deployed not only in the initial invasion of 2003 but also during the Fallujah offensive! Whatever it takes to save one more American life is fine with me, But I'm the suggester of using the MOAB during Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Neutron munitions in Fallujah. Don't preach the choir to me!!
#9
Yassin, a member of the Iraqi parliament's Health & Environment Committee and a member of parliament from the Sadrist bloc, or Iraqis loyal to Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr.
You just can't make this crap up. To quote the sage philosopher Snoop Dog: "Fissel my nizzle, yo."
Posted by: regular joe ||
04/27/2008 9:13 Comments ||
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#11
This reminds me of the italian leftist rag/ngo that claimed during the first fallujah fighting that the USA were using chemical weapons and mocro nukes, and also white phosphorous (this one was partly true, as it indeed was used for marking purpose IIRC), which "burned the bodies and left the clothing intact, a telling sign of white phosphorous (sic)". This was very silly, and was reported here, but it was too given air time by a french teevee guy, in his "against the Man" popular show. And later, this claim was taken as a fact by the various usual suspects, self-refential circle-j*rk at its best.
#12
And don't forget the various paleos claims of isreali uses of unconventional weapons (my favorite still being the "enriched uranium shells", depleted uranium was a little to miserly). SOP arab victimology.
#14
We don't need no stinking nukes in Sadr City - one decent ARCLIGHT strike would collapse every house there (not to mention about half the rest of Baghdad, which is why we don't do it). A half-dozen fuel-air mix (FAM) bombs would do equally as well, but the civilian death toll would be half the city (10% killed by the bomb, 40% killed by Sadr's bad boys shooting wildly in the air).
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/27/2008 14:41 Comments ||
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Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president on Saturday called the return of his boycotting political bloc to the Shiite-led Cabinet a priority, saying the government needs to reconcile quickly to "save Iraq." So somehow bailing out of the government before was an act designed to "save" Iraq? Afraid you might miss the train, Tariq?
Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi's comments were the latest to signal readiness by the main Sunni bloc, the National Accordance Front, to rejoin the government after an absence of nearly nine months.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki also said Friday that he expected to present a new Cabinet list "within a few days" a step that would be a boost to his government and seen by Washington as a significant step forward.
But while the two sides have said they were prepared to join forces for more than a week, internal power struggles within the National Accordance Front have delayed a formal announcement, according to a Sunni official familiar with the negotiations.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said disagreements were focused on who should hold which posts.
Al-Hashemi has been one of al-Maliki's most bitter critics, accusing him of sectarian favoritism, while the prime minister has complained that the vice president is blocking key legislation. I'd go with the former.
But al-Hashemi and other Sunni leaders apparently have been swayed by al-Maliki's crackdown against Shiite militias that began late last month and focused on the feared Mahdi Army of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Al-Maliki also has threatened to politically isolate al-Sadr if the Mahdi Army is not disbanded.
Shiite militias were responsible for the deaths of thousands of Sunni Arabs in the sectarian bloodletting of 2006 and 2007. The Mahdi Army is blamed for much of the killing.
"The priority today should be given to re-establishing a national government with a clear political program, and to deal with the basic issues regarding services," al-Hashemi said.
"This country needs patriotic stances by parties, one of which is to re-establish a national government as soon as possible so that this new government can take quick important steps in order to save Iraq," he added.
Al-Maliki has struggled with so many of the Cabinet posts vacant to keep together the disparate factions of his government and reconcile Iraq's feuding Shiite and Sunni politicians.
Al-Sadr's followers also left the government last year after the prime minister, himself a Shiite, refused their demands for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
Clashes continued Saturday in the Mahdi Army stronghold of Sadr City, a sprawling district in northeastern Baghdad, although they did not appear as fierce in recent days.
Two suspected militants were killed Saturday when an unmanned drone fired a Hellfire missile at a vehicle after observing them loading weapons inside, the military said.
A hospital official in Sadr City, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information, said six people, including a woman and girl, were killed and 37 others wounded on Saturday.
In other violence, three suicide car bombers targeted Iraqi security forces, killing at least seven people and wounding 28 in the northern city of Mosul, local police spokesman Brig. Gen. Khalid Abdul-Sattar said.
Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, is believed to be the last urban stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq.
Turkish warplanes and artillery units also struck Kurdish rebel positions for a second day in northern Iraqi areas close to the Turkish border. No casualties were reported
The Turkish military said its raids Friday and Saturday targeted Kurdish rebels who were preparing to infiltrate Turkey to carry out attacks.
(KUNA) -- The fire that broke out in a southern Baghdad oil pipeline and injured eight Iraqis was the result of an accident, and firemen have successfully put it out, according to the US Army in a statement on Saturday.
Last night, an Iraqi security source said unknown militants attacked an oil pipeline in the area of Jilawiya, north of Hillah, causing a great fire to erupt, adding that at least eight guards were wounded and that ambulances and fire fighters rushed to the location. Meanwhile, a medical source at Museeb Hospital said four of those wounded were in critical condition. However, the US Army statement said the bombing was an accident, which was confirmed by head of operations in Karbala Major General Raed Jawad, who said, "The fire was an accident caused by maintenance workers." He added that fire fighters were able to control the fire at 1:30 a.m. this morning and put it out completely. The same pipe had been vandalized on June 2007.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2008 00:00 ||
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Hamas urged Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas over the weekend to officially declare the failure of peace talks with Israel and to resume negotiations with the movement and other Palestinian factions.
The appeal came in response to Abbas's announcement that he had failed to make progress in his talks with US President George W. Bush last week.
Abbas is scheduled to brief Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the outcome of his visit to Washington during a meeting between the two in Sharm a-Sheikh Sunday. The two will also discuss Egypt's efforts to achieve a truce between Israel and Hamas
PA officials in Ramallah warned that the failure of the peace talks with Israel would "strengthen" Hamas and other extremist groups in the Middle East.
The officials told The Jerusalem Post that Abbas was "very disappointed" with the results of his talks in Washington last week. "The Americans don't want to make a commitment about the borders of the Palestinian state," said one official. "Nor do they want to put pressure on Israel to stop settlement expansion and remove checkpoints [in the West Bank]."
Another official told the Post that in the wake of the US position "it's ridiculous to talk about an agreement between the Palestinians and Israel before the end of Bush's term in office." He added that Bush's failure to exert pressure on Israel was likely to undermine the PA.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
When you constantly say the same thing, and your opponent says he cannot accept many of those options, you won't get anywhere. Hamass knows this, Ab-ass knows this, the Israelis know this, and even Mubarack knows this. It's just window dressing. Israel will only be safe once all the Arabs/muslims are driven from the area, and her borders are guarded by nuclear mines every thirty yards.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/27/2008 15:17 Comments ||
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#2
nuclear mines every thirty yards might just be a little counterproductive?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/27/2008 15:33 Comments ||
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(KUNA) -- Head of the Damascus-based Hamas Politicial Bureau, Khaled Mashaal said Saturday that Egypt must calm the situation in Mideast if Israeli continued refused efforts for a ceasefire.
"Yeah. They gotta do it. It's ain't like we could do anything..."
In a press conference here, Mashaal said that Hamas would take a decision as soon as Egypt would provide a solid document reflecting Israel's intentions to calm down. The official warned that the situation would explode if the aggression on the Gaza Striped continued, saying that Hamas was concerned about all Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. He indicated that there were several criteria for establishing the Palestinian state, affirming that going back to the 1967 borders, allowing all Palestinians to returned back to their lands, and recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of the state were among condition of establishment.
Regarding Hamas meeting with former US President Jimmy Carter, Mashaal revealed that the veteran official recommended that the movement would cease missiles attack on Israel for a month period in hopes that the Jewish state would stop its siege on Gaza. Hamas refused this notion, stated Mashaal who indicated that the movement revealed to Carter the Egyptian role in reaching a just settlement between Israelis and Palestinians.
He also touched on the issue of exchanging prisoners with Israel, blaming the Jewish state for spoiling the exchange when it refused to hand in 350 Palestinians. The Hamas official expressed a grim view on the issue of the Palestinian election, saying that it was illogical to hold election when Palestinians were in a state of disunion.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
And a pony!
Does this nonsense mean he thinks he's winning or he's losing?
Fourth Army Area Commander Lt Gen Wiroj Buacharoon has ordered a tightening of security in the southern region after reports terrorists insurgents could stage an attack in the next three days, because Monday is the the fourth anniversary of the Krue Se mosque massacre. Lt Gen Wiroj said intelligence reports indicated the Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) group was planning attacks to mark the anniversary.
On April 28, 2004, more than 100 militants, the majority of them unarmed youths, launched attacks on 10 police outposts across Pattani, Yala and Songkhla provinces. Most were killed in the initial assault, but 32 survivors attempted to take refuge in the Krue Se mosque in Pattani province. Army forces stormed the mosque and killed all 32.
According to intelligence reports, more than 2,000 youths have allegedly been undergoing intensive physical training since last month, and are awaiting orders from their superiors.
Iran demanded Sunday that Azerbaijan deliver a Russian shipment of nuclear equipment blocked at its border with Iran for the past three weeks.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in his weekly briefing that his country has asked the Azerbaijani ambassador in Iran to get his government "to deliver the shipment as soon as possible."
The blocked nuclear equipment "is in the framework of Iran-Russia cooperation" and there should be "no ban on it," he said about the shipment destined for a Russian-built nuclear reactor in the southern Iranian port city of Bushehr.
Azerbaijan has said it was seeking more information about the shipment due to fears that it might violate any of the three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed on Iran over its failure to halt uranium enrichment.
On Monday, Russian state-run company Atomstroiexport said that one or two trucks carrying the equipment for Iran were stopped two weeks ago at the town of Astara, on the Azerbaijani-Iranian border.
Company spokeswoman Irina Yesipova said officials were holding talks with both Azerbaijan and Iran about the incident. She said the shipment contained "heat-isolating equipment" essential to the plant's operation but that the holdup was not likely to delay the startup of the plant.
Iran is paying Russia more than $1 billion to build the light-water reactor at Bushehr.
Construction has been held up in recent months by disputes between Tehran and Moscow over payments and a schedule for shipping nuclear fuel.
Russia delivered the final shipment of uranium fuel in January, and Tehran has said it was hoping the plant would begin operations by summer.
The United States initially opposed Russia's building Bushehr, but later softened its position after Iran agreed to return spent nuclear fuel to Russia to ensure it does not extract plutonium from it that could be used to make atomic bombs.
Washington and Moscow have also said the Russian nuclear fuel supply means Iran no longer needs to continue its uranium enrichment program a process that can provide fuel for a reactor or fissile material for a bomb.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/27/2008 19:43 ||
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Link ||
[15 views]
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#1
See also NEWSMAX > ISRAELI GENERAL WARNS ON IRAN. Warns that in the end, Israel should only rely/trust on itself, for there are worse things that can occur than the Israeli AF unilater = preemptively attacking and destroying Iranian nuclear facilities/reactors; + US EXPERTS: CATASTROPHIC NUCLEAR TERRORISM IS INEVITABLE [espec inside USA].
Syria's ambassador to the United States said Friday that the CIA fabricated pictures allegedly taken inside a secret Syrian nuclear reactor and predicted that in coming weeks the US story about the site would "implode from within."
"The photos presented to me yesterday were ludicrous, laughable," Ambassador Imad Moustapha told reporters at his Washington residence.
He refused to say what the building in the remote eastern desert of Syria was used for before Israeli jets bombed it in September 2007.
I bet he also wouldn't explain, if asked, why the Syrians so quickly and so thoroughly obliterated the site after the bombing ...
Senior US intelligence officials said Thursday they believe it was a secret nuclear reactor meant to produce plutonium, which can be used to make high-yield nuclear weapons. They alleged that North Korea aided in the design, construction and outfitting of the building.
Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Ja'afari, pledged on Friday to cooperate with the IAEA and suggested that "the main target of the American CIA allegations against Syria is to justify the Israeli attack against the Syrian side."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Yeah, it really made them mad to discover we could use fauxtography, too.
Just in case y'all think I'm unhinged, I think the Salmon-Pink comment is the key.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/27/2008 6:28 Comments ||
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These pictures are real. I will vouch for them myself!
Posted by: Dan Rather ||
04/27/2008 8:54 Comments ||
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He refused to say what the building in the remote eastern desert of Syria was used for before Israeli jets bombed it in September 2007.
Unfortunately for the Syrians, the 'baby milk factory' excuse had already been taken.
Iranian state media has announced partial results for run-off parliamentary elections indicating conservatives have consolidated their control of the legislature.
State television and the official news agency IRNA say that out of 82 seats included in Friday's run-off, 56 have produced final results.
Saturday's final results show supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won 12 seats, his conservative critics seven, reformists 12 and independents 25.
Preliminary results in Teheran show conservatives well-placed to win 10 of the 11 seats up for grabs in the capital and reformists to pick up one seat.
Many reformist candidates were barred by the government from running in parliamentary elections ahead of the first round of voting in March.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2008 00:00 ||
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[12 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
In Iran, "reformist" means they want surgeons to remove the limbs of sinners, and "conservatives" means they want it to be done with an ax.
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.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has criticised the US-led coalition for pushing the war on terrorism in Afghan villages, saying the real terrorist threat lay in sanctuaries of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Pakistan. In an interview to the New York Times published on Saturday, Karzai cautioned Pakistan against striking a peace deal with hardcore terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, though he backed Islamabads efforts to hold talks with non-threatening Taliban. 
A 17-member civilian production crew spent six months and sailed 57,000 miles aboard a US Navy aircraft carrier to produce a stunning 10-part documentary series for PBS. 
While the United States is legally bound by the conventions' Common Article 3 and its requirement to treat detainees humanely, the definition of humane treatment can vary, depending on the detainee's identity and the importance of the information he possesses, a Justice Department official wrote last September and this March to a Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee.
A spokeswoman for Wyden said the administration's suggestion that the Geneva Conventions could be selectively applied was "stunning."
Next month, 
The 
The Pakistan Army on Saturday distributed pamphlets in Laddah, the second largest town in South Waziristan, confirming a peace deal with militant commander Baitullah Mehsud, the Voice of America (VOA) has reported. According to VOA, the pamphlets stated that the army had implemented a ceasefire even before signing the peace deal, and after it had eliminated militants from Jandola and its adjoining areas. The army has also opened the roads linked with the South Waziristan agency to facilitate travel in the area.
If the United States has explicit proof of Osama Bin Ladens presence in Pakistans border regions, then it will categorically pursue him, US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte has said. Speaking to Charlie Rose, he said that as far as Bin Laden was concerned, the US would pursue him regardless of any permission from Pakistan to conduct a military operation within its borders. Im pretty confident that thats the way the president would react, he added.
Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, told her closest friend that she was in love from the moment she set eyes on the young British soldier working alongside her in Basra, and she dreamed of a future with him.
Baghdad, Apr 26, (VOI) An Iraqi legislator accused the U.S. forces on Saturday of using "internationally-banned weapons" during the military operations in the eastern Baghdad district of Sadr City. "Cogent evidence were shown by the criminal investigations and forensics' reports that the occupation forces have used fissile arms during the bombardment of Sadr City," Liqaa Al 
(KUNA) -- Head of the Damascus-based Hamas Politicial Bureau, Khaled Mashaal said Saturday that Egypt must calm the situation in Mideast if Israeli continued refused efforts for a ceasefire.
Fourth Army Area Commander Lt Gen Wiroj Buacharoon has ordered a tightening of security in the southern region after reports 
Iran demanded Sunday that Azerbaijan deliver a Russian shipment of nuclear equipment blocked at its border with Iran for the past three weeks. 
Syria's ambassador to the United States said Friday that the CIA fabricated pictures allegedly taken inside a secret Syrian nuclear reactor and predicted that in coming weeks the US story about the site would "implode from within." 
Iranian state media has announced partial results for run-off parliamentary elections indicating conservatives have consolidated their control of the legislature. 
