Pakistan must not allow its soil to be used to launch attacks in Afghanistan, the government said on Saturday, after a Pakistani militant vowed to continue jihad while pursuing peace talks with Islamabad. The statement by Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud on Saturday was naked interference in Afghanistans affairs, Defence Ministry spokesman General Muhammad Zahir Azimi told AFP. Our hope from the Pakistan government is to prevent its soil being used against our country, Azimi said. Azimi reiterated calls by Afghan and Western leaders for a combined approach to fighting the extremism that straddles the border. Any agreement must be based on regional and bilateral interests ... Any unilateral agreement posing threat to a second country would be against the interests of the region and the world.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2008 00:00 ||
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Suicide bomb suspect Nicky Reilly may have been brainwashed in a honeytrap set by terrorists. Loner Reilly, 22, told friends, he would have done anything for a girlfriend Muslim pals found for him on the internet.
But security services are investigating whether the girl actually existed - or whether his "romance" was an extremist plot to persuade him to carryout a terror attack. They were still waiting to question Reilly last night after a makeshift nailbomb had exploded in his face at the Giraffe restaurant in Exeter on Thursday.
A family friend, who lives below the flat in Plymouth Reilly shares with his mother, Kim, said: "Essentially, he was a lonely kid. He didn't have a girlfriend and wasn't interested in local girls.
"He used to have non-Muslim friends but gave them all up after he befriended some local Kurdish lads.
"He wanted a girlfriend and his Muslim friends set him up with one. He was really proud about this girl and boasted about her all the time, even though they had only ever chatted over the internet.
"He always used to say, 'I'd do anything for her'. He also said he loved her.
"It's chilling now to think of that after what he is supposed to have done at the restaurant." Security sources last night revealed they are investigating an alleged al-Qaeda-linked Mr Big in connection with the failed attack.
The man, who has not been named, successfully claimed political asylum in the UK and is understood to be suffering from a terminal illness.
It is painful by any chance?
A security source said: "We believe we know who is behind this cell and we are closing in.
"He has been given leave to remain in the UK and has come up on our radar."
Police yesterday continued to question two men they swooped on in Plymouth on Friday. One man was arrested and the other was detained to help with their inquiries. Reilly is under police guard in hospital after suffering eye and face injuries in the blast.
Yesterday, forensic officers continued to search the flat where Reilly lived with Kim, 40, and stepbrother Elliot, 10. They emerged with plastic bags full of books, DVDs and videos.
IN ANNOUNCEMENTS that have sent shockwaves through the region, Colombia has said that the leader of Latin America's longest-running insurgency is dead, and that some of its leaders are ready to free the high-profile hostage Ingrid Betancourt.
The President, Alvaro Uribe, said he had heard from some leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who were ready to surrender and free hostages. In a potential breakthrough, just after Colombia confirmed the death of Manuel Marulanda, Mr Uribe said "the Government has received calls from the FARC in which some of the leaders announced their decision to leave the FARC and hand over Ingrid Betancourt if their freedom is guaranteed.
"The Government's answer is 'yes, they are guaranteed freedom' [if they hand over hostages]", Mr Uribe said.
In a speech carried live on national television on Saturday, he said FARC leaders who free the captives could be turned over to authorities from "France, so that they enjoy that freedom there".
"You can have 'em, we don't want 'em!"
Mr Uribe also touted the Government's offer to reward rebels up to a total of $US100 million ($104 million) when they turn themselves in alongside one or more hostages.
Being a revolutionary isn't as much fun as it used to be, I take it. You have to live in a gawdfersaken jungle, deal with the bugs, unreliable allies, always worried about money and ammo, losing support of the rural population, and now facing a newly competent military that wants to kill you and just might be able to make it happen. Yup, the Riviera is starting to look good right about now ...
Aside from Ms Betancourt, the French-Colombian politician who was seized in 2002 while campaigning for the Colombian presidency, FARC guerillas are holding three US nationals and dozens of Colombian police and military staff. They want to swap the hostages for about 500 imprisoned comrades, including three in US jails.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2008 13:40 ||
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#1
They want to swap the hostages for about 500 imprisoned comrades, including three in US jails
NO.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/25/2008 14:23 Comments ||
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#2
Didn't the grand olde fart of FARC shuffle off last March?
/the veal, it good.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
05/25/2008 14:35 Comments ||
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#3
"the Government has received calls from the FARC in which some of the leaders announced their decision to leave the FARC and hand over Ingrid Betancourt if their freedom is guaranteed.
"The Government's answer is 'yes, they are guaranteed freedom' [if they hand over hostages]", Mr Uribe said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Couldn't da Gubmint drive a slightly harder bargain?
For it reads as if the Government was more desperate to capitulate than the FARC?
Columbia may have just made the worstus bargain ever.. Youse decide..
Whats to prevent the vast remnants of FARC from kidnapping and ransoming their group of hostages and then retiring in Yourope... ad nauseum..?
#6
What is to stop FARC from pulling a hostage taking a week? The fact that they have lost the majority of their leadership, 2/3 of their experienced troops and weapons, their no-go areas, and the fact that the Columbian military is killing them is small lots every day of the week.
Also, the hostages that are being discussed have been in FARC's hands for YEARS, not weeks. And the offer is for the grand poobahs of FARC to get the hell out of Dodge, not for the rank and file. The little guys and gals are being betrayed and left to rot in jungles by their "leadership".
Turkey's ruling AK Party has been derided by an opposition party accusing it of waging a holy war against the country's judiciary.
The secular opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), claimed that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) was attacking the legal establishment in its bid to avoid being shut down for alleged violation of Turkey's secular constitution. "Instead of defending themselves on a legitimate basis, the prime minister and the AKP have chosen the path of showing their political strength and practically declared a jihad (holy war) against the judiciary," MHP leader Devlet Bahceli claimed in a statement.
Turkey was plunged into political turmoil in March when the Constitutional Court agreed to consider a case by a chief prosecutor, who seeks the AKP's closure.
Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek responded by saying the court is politically motivated and accused it of trying to bolster legal moves to close the party.
Turkey's financial markets are nervously monitoring the court case, fearing the impact of months of political uncertainty. The lira fell earlier this week on fears the ruling party would be closed down.
Turkey's secularist establishment, including the judiciary and army generals, accuses the AKP of plotting to erode the republic's separation of state and religion. The AKP which holds 340 of the 550-seat Turkish parliament rejects the accusations.
The chief prosecutor of the Court of Appeals is also calling for 71 AKP members, including President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, to be banned from politics for five years.
Secularists claim that a recent amendment to the constitution lifting a ban on female students wearing the Muslim headscarf at university is evidence of the party's efforts to undermine the country's secular system.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2008 00:00 ||
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Pakistan is said to be threatening to turn over to Iran six members of a tribal militant group Iran claims are CIA spies, according to ABC News.
The American television network reports that the group, Jundullah, operates in Balochistan on both sides of the border between Iran and Pakistan and has carried out a number of violent attacks on Iranian army facilities and officers inside the country.
The CIA has denied any direct ties with the group, but US officials have said that officers frequently meet and advise Jundullah leaders, and current and former intelligence officers are working to prevent the men from being sent to Iran.
The six Jundullah members were taken into custody by Pakistani authorities last week, and the Iranian Mehr News Agency reported Pakistan would soon extradite the men to Iran, where they would likely be put on trial as spies and face execution.
Officials told ABC the groups leader, Abdel Malik Regi, was not among those arrested by Pakistan.
ABC News quoted one American official as saying, The new Pakistan leaders have said they are going to do it, but they are saying a lot of things and trying to make a lot of deals. If they are seeking stability inside the country, why would they want to inflame people in this region?
Iranian officials claimed this week that the US had a hand in an April 12 bomb attack at a mosque in Shiraz that killed 14 people, according to Mehr News Agency, quoting Iranian Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei.
The US is behind many events in Iran and the region with the aim of bringing insecurity, the Intelligence Minister said. We have proper documentations in this regard, the Minister told the news agencys reporters. A senior US official said Irans claims are nonsense, ludicrous.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2008 00:00 ||
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Tehreek-e-Taliban Swat leaders met the deputy inspector general of police (DIG) Malakand Range and district co-ordination officer (DCO) of Swat on Saturday to discuss the release of arrested Taliban members, withdrawal of cases registered against them and fledgling peace agreement with the government, sources said. They said a local Taliban delegation led by spokesman Haji Muslim Khan met Malakand DIG Tanvirul Haq Sipra and DCO Shaukat Ali Yousafzai and discussed the peace agreement in detail. The local Taliban demanded the earliest compliance with the treaty. They said that the Taliban spokesman told the meeting they would provide list of the people to the government who had been arrested during the operation in Swat, so that those held could soon be released. He also demanded the withdrawal of cases filed against Taliban members as soon as possible. Sources said that officials assured the Taliban their demands would be met soon.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2008 00:00 ||
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Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud said on Saturday that he will not co-operate with the United Nations (UN) in its probe of Benazir Bhuttos assassination. Surely, the UN will say its the Taliban that have murdered the former prime minister, as the United States has already said that Baitullah is involved in her assassination, he told journalists at a press conference. The UN is a slave body [to the US], he said, reiterating his denial of any involvement in the murder.
We didnt kill Benazir Bhutto. We are not involved, Mehsud said. She had not taken any action against us, so there was no need to harm such a person. He alleged that intelligence agencies had killed her, but did not elaborate, the AP news agency reported. He said that he was in contact with Pakistan Peoples Party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari about allegations against him, adding that Pakistanis should think about who could benefit from Benazirs assassination.
Proud: Mehsud said that he was proud to be an enemy of the US. America is our enemy and well fight against it wherever it is possible, he said. He said that the Taliban could not negotiate with Americans, as Christians and Jews could not be friends with Muslims. They are the enemies of Muslims, he said. He said that Afghan Taliban made up 95 percent of those leading the fight against US-led forces in Afghanistan, adding that Pakistanis and other foreigners made up only five percent of the insurgents.
Peace: Mehsud confirmed reports that the Taliban had been holding peace talks with the government. He said the peace accord would be successful only if Pakistan did not allow America to interfere in its internal affairs, adding that durable peace could return if Pakistan controlled its prevailing situation on its own as a sovereign state. However, he said that the Taliban could not tolerate the army and all troops would have to abandon the area. He said his group sincerely wants peace talks being conducted via tribal elders to succeed. He defended suicide attacks as a viable form of self-defence, saying that such attacks were equivalent to atomic bombs. He said there were no training camps in the area and that Mullah Omar and Osama Bin Laden were not hiding in the region. But well welcome them. They are great people and mujahideen and Muslims love them, he said.
The TTP leader said his organisation was not involved in the kidnapping of Pakistans Ambassador to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin, saying the ambassador had been kidnapped by some other group and had not been in South Waziristan. According to Online, he said that the TTP helped secure Azizuddins release but had no knowledge of his location. He said reports of foreigners in South Waziristan were propaganda to justify US attacks in the area, NNI reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
Surely, the UN will say its the Taliban that have murdered the former prime minister, as the United States has already said that Baitullah is involved in her assassination,
Ja, we are sooo FRIENDLY w/ the Taliban that we take that you had NOTHING 2 do w/ it We didnt kill Benazir Bhutto. We are not involved,
INCOMING EMERGENCY ACTION MESSAGE ON VLF! RECOMMEND ALERT ONE!
(Sounds of cruise missiles spinning up] America is our enemy and well fight against it wherever it is possible, he said.
We'll do our very best to suply you with some... (*cough* Marines* *cough) He said the peace accord would be successful only if Pakistan did not allow America to interfere in its internal affairs...
Too late. So sad.
Al-Qaida fighters and other Sunni insurgents have largely scattered from the northern city of Mosul in the face of a U.S.-Iraqi sweep, fleeing to desert areas further south, an Iraqi commander said Sunday. He vowed the forces will not allow them to regroup.
The U.S. military said al-Qaida in Iraq was "off-balance and on the run" but remains a very lethal threat, tempering remarks by the U.S. ambassador a day earlier that the terror network was closer than ever to being defeated.
The comments came amid a flurry of attacks in Baghdad and other areas, most likely attributable to Sunni insurgents. A roadside bomb targeted a patrol of U.S.-allied Sunni Arab fighters near a mosque in northern Baghdad, killing one of the so-called Awakening Council members and wounding three others, a police official said.
Bombings and shootings killed three people in and around the city of Baqouba, north of Baghdad, where U.S. forces waged a fierce offensive last year to break al-Qaida domination of the city, police said. Police officials in both cities spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.
Iraqi security forces also made their first major discovery of a weapons cache in Baghdad's Shiite district of Sadr City, where troops and police deployed last weeka move that could raise tensions in the military's truce with the powerful Mahdi Army militia.
The U.S. and Iraqi military have called Mosul the last remaining urban stronghold for al-Qaida in Iraq after successes against the terror network in Baqouba and major towns in the western province of Anbar.
Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Askari said security forces had arrested some 1,030 people during their sweep the past week in Mosul. Another 251 detainees had been freed after being cleared of suspicion, he said.
He said some 2,000 al-Qaida and other Sunni insurgent fighters were believed to have been in the city before the sweep was launched. He could not say how many remained in the city, but said most who managed to flee were believed to be taking refuge in deserts near the cities of Tikrit and Ramadi, further south.
"Now they are in a confused situation," he said at a joint news conference with U.S. military spokesman Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll. "We will not allow them to reorganize themselves."
After past sweeps, Sunni insurgents have regrouped to carry out major attacks and dominate other cities to use as a planning base.
U.S. and Iraqi officials have been taking a more confident tone over security gains in Iraq in recent weeks, particularly since the high profile crackdowns in Mosul and Sadr City, and the southern city of Basra. Those sweeps aim to impose Iraqi government control in areas that have been under the control of Shiite militias or Sunni insurgents.
U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said Saturday that Iraqi forces have made important progress in confronting extremists, adding, "You are not going to hear me say that al-Qaida is defeated, but they've never been closer to defeat than they are now."
Driscoll sounded a cautionary note, however. He said that while al- Qaida in Iraq fighters "certainly are off-balance and on the run," the group "remains a very lethal threat."
Still, the number of attacks in the past week decreased to a level "not seen since March 2004," he said, without giving specific figures.
The U.S. military has consistently been cautious about recent security gains amid fears that al-Qaida and other insurgents are trying to regroup after suffering setbacks from military operations as well as a Sunni revolt against the terror network.
Sunni tribal leaders who have joined forces with the Americans have been credited as a key reason for the sharp decline in violence over the past year. The other factors include a troop buildup of some 30,000 additional American forces, which is currently being reduced, and a fragile cease-fire with anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the Mahdi Army.
Iraqi forces in Sadr Citythe Mahdi Army's longtime strongholdhave found a number of large weapons caches in the district, including ones in a mosque and a hospital, a military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
Among the weapons were rockets, anti-tank shells and land mines, he said.
The issue of weapons searches is a sensitive one. Under the truce, Mahdi Army fighters in Sadr City are keeping their light weapons, and the group has denied having heavier weapons like explosives in the area. Al-Sadr officials have warned the government not to be too aggressive in its searches and arrests of wanted militiamen, and the two sides have held talks on how to carry out raids without sparking tensions.
The Sadrist Movement says it is sticking by the truce. But weapons seizures could provoke rogue Mahdi Army members already impatient with the cease-fire, which has been crucial to keeping the Sadr City deployment smooth since it began Tuesday.
At the same time, the past several days have seen violence in other Shiite districts of Baghdad as Iraqi forces move against militias there, including the Mahdi Army.
Clashes broke out before midnight Saturday between Shiite gunmen and U.S.-Iraqi troops in the Amin area in eastern Baghdad, killing two civilians and wounding three others, including a 4-year-old boy, according to police and hospital officials.
Iran has secretly paid Iraqi insurgents hundreds of thousands of American dollars to kill British soldiers, according to a leaked government document obtained by The Telegraph. The allegations are contained in a confidential "field report" written by a British officer who served in Basra during one of the most dangerous periods of the conflict. The report, which has never been made public, shows the full level of Iran's involvement in the insurgency for the first time.
Wonder why the Brits kept it quiet?
The document states that the Jaish al-Mahdi (JAM) also known as the Mahdi Army one of the most violent insurgent groups operating in Basra, used money from Iran to recruit and pay young unemployed men up to $300 (£150) a month to carry out attacks against the British. The findings have been passed to the highest levels in the military.
The leak comes at a time of rising tension between Iran and the international community, as Tehran continues to stonewall UN inquiries into allegations that it has carried out research to develop a nuclear weapon.
The report, "Life Under Fire in the Old State Building", details the activities of British troops under the command of Major Christopher Job, of the 2nd Lancashire Regiment, between November 2006 and March 2007. In the report, Major Job discloses that in the course of five months his base was attacked 350 times. Old State Building, which is in the centre of Basra, is the most-attacked British base in recent history.
In an attempt to discover who was behind the attacks, the officer says he established a network of informers, who supplied him with detailed intelligence on the actions of the insurgents and who was behind their funding. The officer states that the reports of Iran's involvement came from a network of 25 sources, which included a former Iraqi army general, prominent businessmen, local sheikhs and council leaders. He writes: "We learnt from a number of our Key Leadership Engagements [local contacts] that the source of the problem was the level of unemployment in Basra.
"JAM, using funding from Iran, paid the unemployed youths in the region of $300 per month to attack Multi National Forces. We also learnt that JAM had a drugs culture and that youths literally got hooked on being associated with JAM."
None of this is surprising. The south has had a calm Anbar didn't have for years. Most of the people who could do something with their lives got on to doing it. So the JAM grabbed up the losers with cash and drugs.
Twenty-seven members of the Armed Forces died and dozens were seriously injured in southern Iraq between November 2006 and May 2007, the period that Major Job covers in his report.
A senior British officer who has recently returned from southern Iraq said that the existence of "Iranian finance teams" in Basra was widely known by the British military and Foreign Office, although always officially denied. He said: "It suited Iran to arm JAM in order to allow them to have the means to hit us."
So when do we arm a surrogate in Iran ...
Patrick Mercer, the Tory MP and a former infantry commander said: "This report makes it quite clear that Iran is directly involved in funding the insurgency." He added: "The Government must confront Tehran over the deaths of British troops anything else is appeasement."
At which point Barack Obama jumped up and down and yelled, "he's talking about ME!"
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: "There is evidence to suggest a malign influence in Iraq by Iran, including the supply of equipment and armaments which are used by insurgents against UK forces in Iraq.
"This influence is completely unacceptable and serves only to undermine the efforts by the government of Iraq and the coalition."
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2008 13:31 ||
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Iran was paying its little terrorists in American dollars? If not, how misleading for an English newspaper to give information to its British readers that had to be translated into British pounds and pence to be intelligible to them.
An article by Nibras Kazimi, Visiting Scholar at the Hudson Institute
.... all the following is classified under the category of gossip:
The Iraqi Army and the Marines are preparing for a major campaign against Mahdi Army and Iranian targets in Maysan Province (Amara). Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki may even put the entire elected leadership of Amara many of whom are Sadrists out of a job, by flexing his authority under emergency powers. There is even talk of air strikes against military targets weapons depots, transportation vehicles and individuals on the Iranian side of the fence; these are targets that are arming and otherwise supporting the Special Groups throughout Iraq.
Irans logistics trail goes from Maysan through southern Babil/Hillah Province (al-Hamza) and from there into central Iraq, i.e. Baghdad. Theres another route also going from Maysan into Qurnah and then onto Basra. The southern route has been effectively crippled. And the last stretch of the northern route that used to take weapons from south-western Baghdad all around to Sadr City has also been shut down. ....
The talked-about airstrikes would take out forward Iranian border stations that have recently been moved into Iraqi territory, especially around oil fields. Then there are weapons depots of rockets, advanced RPGs and assorted weaponry right near the border ( on the Iranian side, though) that are on the target list, as well as buildings and Iranian individuals involved in facilitating logistics for the SGs, also on the Iranian side. ....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
05/25/2008 04:52 ||
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Which is not at all the same as America doing it. Clever, if true. Prime Minister al Maliki appears to be proving out, which would be awfully nice.
(VOI) A legislator from the Sadrist bloc, or Iraqis loyal to Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, threatened on Saturday that the bloc would adopt a "firm stand" if security forces banned Friday prayers in the mosques belonging to the bloc.
"We would use all legitimate legal and constitutional means available against whoever denies access to the next Friday prayers," Uqeil Abdul-Hussein told Aswat al-Iraq Voices of Iraq (VOI) on the sidelines of a press conference in Baghdad on Saturday. Security forces on Friday banned the Friday prayers in al-Amil neighborhood, southern Baghdad, and the Iraqi port city of Basra, 590 km south of Baghdad, and shot rounds to disperse masses of worshippers.
Abdul-Hussein called on the "cabinet, as the sponsor for the constitution, to respect the rights to perform prayers." The Sadrists, who hold 30 out of a total 275 seats in the Iraqi Parliament, had quit the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in which they used to occupy six ministerial posts, in April 2007 due to "the government's failure to come up with a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Mahdi Army
#1
Pardon me but there is nothing in the koran that says that prayers have to be conducted in mosques.
#2
You know, if all those mosques were to go boom at the same time during Friday prayers, I'll bet there would be no further need for their representation in government.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/25/2008 14:16 Comments ||
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#4
You are so wrong McZoid (if that's your real name) Allah requires prayers in masqux with hands trembling with love by the weight of the RPG.
Why it reminds me of the awesome priest of Pearl Harbour "Praise Gawd and Pass the ammunition, steer 093 for the Mosque."
You can look it up.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
05/25/2008 14:41 Comments ||
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#5
George Smiley: Why it reminds me of the awesome priest of Pearl Harbour "Praise Gawd and Pass the ammunition, steer 093 for the Mosque."
You can look it up.
Hey I read that too.. Its on that main bulkhead as you enter Pearl's Brig..
The U.S. ambassador to Iraq praised Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Saturday for cracking down on Shi'ite militias and Sunni Arab militants and said al Qaeda in Iraq had never been closer to defeat. "You are not going to hear me say that al Qaeda is defeated, but they've never been closer to defeat than they are now," Ryan Crocker told reporters during a visit to the Shi'ite holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala in southern Iraq.
Maliki, a Shi'ite, has led a crackdown on Sunni Arab militants in the northern city of Mosul, where the government says al Qaeda fighters took refuge after being driven from other areas.
Maliki has also confronted Shi'ite militias in Baghdad's Sadr City slum and in the southern city of Basra.
Crocker said it was important that Iraqi forces were leading operations in Basra and Mosul -- where U.S.-led coalition forces played a supporting role -- and acting alone in Sadr City. "That's a level of capability that simply wasn't possible even six months ago," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The only thing propping them up now is the MSM.
TEL AVIV/GAZA - Despite international pressure Israel has erected more than 40 additional roadblocks in the West Bank, according to a United Nations statement Saturday. In total there are now 607 roadblocks in the Palestinian area, compared with 566 eight months ago, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in Jerusalem.
According to OCHA, Israel has dismantled 103 roadblocks since September but in the same period has erected 144 new ones.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev refused to confirm the claim. He said Israel is striving to improve the freedom of movement of Palestinians, but the government can't ignore the real security threats that exist. There was no comment from the Israeli army.
The roadblocks and checkpoints set up by Israel since the beginning of the second Palestinian Intifada (uprising) in September 2000 significantly restrict the movement of people and goods. Under pressure from the US Israel announced at the end of March that it would dismantle around 50 roadblocks and checkpoints. Israel has promised to gradually remove roadblocks as part of the revived peace process with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
more than 40 additional roadblocks in the West Bank
Translates to 1 - 3 Jewish lives saved per week---no wonder the World is upset.
Can't do it. Discounting the price of a human life is beyond the pale.
Did I spell pale right?
Posted by: George Smiley ||
05/25/2008 14:46 Comments ||
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#3
You spelled it right GS. A pail is an obhect to carry things in and right now it looks like the Paleos are getting so bad off they don't have a pail to piss in. If they had a pail they'd fetch a pail of water if they had any water.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/25/2008 16:37 Comments ||
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#4
"Paleos are getting so bad off they don't have a pail to piss in"
But do they have a pit to hiss in, DB? ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/25/2008 16:55 Comments ||
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#5
If they had a pail they'd fetch a pail of water if they had any water.
nahhhh. They put explosives in the bottom, fill it with nails and screws...shit, you already know where that's going
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/25/2008 19:34 Comments ||
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After rejecting Israel's conditions for a cease-fire, Hamas officials on Thursday expressed disappointment over Egypt's failure to endorse their stance. "Instead of putting pressure on Israel to accept the truce, the Egyptians are pushing us to accept the Israeli conditions," a top Hamas official in the Gaza Strip told The Jerusalem Post.
A Hamas delegation that held talks in Cairo this week with Egyptian General Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman left Egypt Thursday after failing to reach an agreement on the terms of the truce proposal. The delegation, which was made up of Hamas leaders from the Gaza Strip and Syria, was headed by Mahmoud Zahar and Musa Abu Marzouk.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2008 00:00 ||
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Michel Suleiman was sworn in as Lebanon's president Sunday after parliament elected him in long-delayed vote following an 18-month political stalemate that brought the country to the brink of another civil war.
Celebratory gunfire and occasional explosions reverberated across the capital Beirut as news of the army commander's election was announced.
In the general's hometown of Aamchit on the Mediterranean coast north of Beirut, hundreds of people broke out in cheers and dancing in the main square as they watched the vote on a giant screen.
The Hezbollah-led opposition and Western-backed government agreed last week to elect Suleiman as part of their deal to end the political crisis. The presidential vote had been postponed 19 times since November when the last president, Emile Lahoud, left office.
The Arab-mediated deal reached in Doha, Qatar was a major victory for the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its allies, who got their long- standing demand for veto power over all government decisions.
It was a setback for the U.S., which had strongly backed the Lebanese government for three years and is concerned that Iran's influence is spreading in the Middle East. Nevertheless, the U.S. has welcomed the political agreement in Lebanon.
"I am confident that Lebanon has chosen a leader committed to protecting its sovereignty, extending the government's authority over all of Lebanon, and upholding Lebanon's international obligations under U.N. Security Council resolutions," President Bush said in a statement.
Suleiman, a compromise candidate, ran unopposed. He won 118 votes of the 127 living members of the legislature, according to parliament speaker Nabih Berri.
There were six blank ballots. Two legislators voted for one-time presidential hopefuls and one was in the name "Rafik Hariri and the martyred legislators"a reference to the slain former prime minister and five other lawmakers killed in bombings in the last three years.
As the session got under way, four lawmakers objected to the vote, saying the constitution must be first amended to allow a sitting army chief to run for the post. But Berri rejected their requests.
Lebanon's constitution bans serving top government officials, including army commanders, from becoming president. Parliament should have to amend the constitution but experts said this time around is an exception because the president's post is vacant.
The voting in secret ballot got under way shortly after the objections were raised. A roll call of legislators present was read aloud and each deposited a ballot in the box.
A U.S. delegation of congressmenincluding Rep. Nick Rahall, D- W.Va., Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., Rep. Ray Lahood, R-Ill., and Rep. Charles Melancon, D-La.were in attendance at the vote.
Representatives from both sides of the Middle East's Sunni-Shiite divide came: the foreign ministers of Syria and Iran, which support Hezbollah, and Saudi Arabia, a strong backer of the government.
Other dignitaries on hand were French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manochehr Mottaki told reporters at the Beirut airport that he was carrying with him a "sea of support" for Lebanon.
Kouchner, in a veiled comment aimed at Hezbollah, said he had hoped the solution would come in a more "democratic" way. "But this is Lebanon," he added. Kouchner had for months tried to mediate between feuding Lebanese politicians to no avail.
On the eve of the election, there was anticipation and much excitement across Lebanon.
The Lebanese flagred and white with a cedar tree in its middleadorned almost every street and wall in parts of the country. Slogans welcoming the president-to-be, along with his pictures, stretched across highways leading to the capital.
The Arab-mediated agreement reached Wednesday in Qatar ended a standoff that had paralyzed Lebanon's government before boiling over into the worst violence since the 1975-1990 civil war. It left at least 67 dead and 200 wounded.
The Qatar deal was a major victory for Hezbollah and its allies, who got their long-standing demand for veto power over all government decisions.
But most Lebanese just seem happy that the shadow of war has been lifted, at least for now.
Over the past two days, life has returned to Beirut's upscale downtowna symbol of the city's rebirth after it was devastated and rebuilt after the 15-year civil war. The area had turned into a virtual ghost town by a Hezbollah-led sit-in for the past 17 months.
Already it appears that the economy, battered by violence and uncertainty, is on the upswing. The stock market is up and, according to tourism officials, 750,000 Lebanese expatriates have booked summer vacations in Lebanon.
"Hundreds of Arab and foreign investors are preparing to return with their money to Lebanon after they were searching for a secure place," Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said in a statement after chairing his Cabinet's last meeting Friday night.
The army general bid farewell to fellow officers Saturday, and was expected to take off this uniform in a symbolic break with the military just after he is elected president.
Suleiman's election is expected to add to political stabilityhe has pledged to strengthen "reconciliation and understanding" among rival factions.
"Lebanon is a country that deserves much from us. The Lebanese are a people who enjoy life. They have always proved that they are stronger than crises and pitfalls to which they have been subjected and for which they have paid blood, tears and sacrifices," An-Nahar newspaper quoted Suleiman as saying Saturday.
Syria rejected Israel's demand that Damascus cut its ties with Iran and Arab militant groups as a condition for a peace agreement, a state newspaper said Saturday.
It issues similar rejections every week.
The announcement comes even as Syrian ally Hamas, a sworn foe of the Jewish state, cast doubt on the Israeli government's ability to even deliver on a peace agreement due to the weakness of its prime minister.
The remarks underline the difficulties facing the negotiations between Israel and Syria, restarted Wednesday after an eight year hiatus. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni had said Thursday Syria would have to stop supporting Hamas and Hezbollah and cut ties with Iran if any agreement were to happen.
Saturday's editorial in Tishrin, which reflects official policy, said that Israel could not lay down conditions ahead of negotiations.
"Damascus does not want preconditions, that would put the cart before the horse ... It does not bargain over its relations with other countries and people," the editorial stated. "It goes without saying that impossible conditions cannot facilitate the work of negotiators," added the editorial which likened it to "putting stakes in the wheels" of the peace process.
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05/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
OK, would you consider cutting your ties with Pelosi?
Outgoing Lebanese PM Fuad Siniora has hinted that he is not willing to hold the post in the next cabinet, saying it is a time for a change. "I served for three years, and I believe it is somehow time for a change," 64 year old Siniora told AFP on Saturday.
The parliament will elect army Chief Michel Suleiman as president on Sunday and under the constitution, the government is obliged to resign in order for the new president to appoint a new prime minister. The premier will be elected by the parliamentary majority and both leader of the bloc Saad Hariri and Siniora have so far been suggested as the March 14 candidates. "The final decision rested with the parliamentary majority and ruling bloc, which is set to deliberate in the coming days," Siniora said, adding that "But if it were up to me I would like to leave. It is somehow time for a change... It's time for me to go and seek other matters that have to do with public affair."
Earlier, informed sources suggested that if Hariri is elected Prime Minister, Siniora will travel to Jordan and then assume a post in the World Bank.
This article starring:
Fuad Siniora
Michel Suleiman
Saad Hariri
Posted by: Fred ||
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Do you wonder why the price of oil has skyrocketed of late? Purportedly the governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela are engaged in a major covert effort to keep the world's oil tanker fleets from carrying petroleum to the thirsty global markets that need it. This is according to reliable sources who monitor the tanker industry, and sources within the American law enforcement community. The Iranian government has leased and engaged the bulk of the available supertankers, and smaller vessels and is storing oil in ten of them in the Persian Gulf, and keeping others idle whilst under lease or charter. The government of Venezuela is allegedly assisting Iran in this manipulative practice, which has resulted in the tripling of the daily charge for tanker use since April, because of a fifty per cent drop in vessel availability during the next thirty days, this is according to authoritative industry sources. Is this the functional equivalent of a declaration of economic war against the United States? What will the response be, and when will it occur?
Here is what we know so far:
A large number of tankers lie at anchor in the Persian Gulf, and elsewhere, all leased by Iran and Venezuela, and all therefore unavailable to carry oil for other prospective charter clients.
Iran has also commenced to lease tankers in the spot, or single-trip, market, where it had previously used only its own vessels. This of course, is a delberate act to tie up additional tankers. Its transparent claim, that it is storing grades of oil which have low global demand, cannot be taken seriously, as all levels of quality are urgently needed for the increased consumption rate.
Venezuela has a classified agreement with Iran that requires it to engage available tankers, in support of the Iranian objective, which is to delay, and ultimately, deny oil shippers transport to needy consumer markets, thus driving up oil prices to stratospheric levels, and benefitting both countries financially. Notwithstanding its own oil revenues, Venezuela's economy is in a shambles, and its government has distributed both large amounts of dollars and free or discounted oil, all to fund radical political movements in Latin America. It is in desperate need of more money, and this dark maneuver could accomplish this, though at a high cost to the rest of the world.
The Iranian scheme will not only disrupt global markets, it could cause serious economic distress in both North America and Europe. Since we know that the US government is aware of the scheme, it should also be assumed that they have planned an adequate response, whether it be major regulatory sanctions, universal economic sanctions, limited military action, or even general war.
At this point, country risk evaluators must assume the worst, and create contingency plans to respond to any of these possiblities, no matter how remote the chance that they may occur.
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.
IN ANNOUNCEMENTS that have sent shockwaves through the region, Colombia has said that the leader of Latin America's longest-running insurgency is dead, and that some of its leaders are ready to free the high-profile hostage Ingrid Betancourt.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud said on Saturday that he will not co-operate with the United Nations (UN) in its probe of Benazir Bhuttos assassination. Surely, the UN will say its the Taliban that have murdered the former prime minister, as the United States has already said that Baitullah is involved in her assassination, he told journalists at a press conference. The UN is a slave body [to the US], he said, reiterating his denial of any involvement in the murder.
Al-Qaida fighters and other Sunni insurgents have largely scattered from the northern city of Mosul in the face of a U.S.-Iraqi sweep, fleeing to desert areas further south, an Iraqi commander said Sunday. He vowed the forces will not allow them to regroup. 
Iran has secretly paid Iraqi insurgents hundreds of thousands of American dollars to kill British soldiers, according to a leaked government document obtained by The Telegraph. The allegations are contained in a confidential "field report" written by a British officer who served in Basra during one of the most dangerous periods of the conflict. The report, which has never been made public, shows the full level of Iran's involvement in the insurgency for the first time.
(VOI) A legislator from the Sadrist bloc, or Iraqis loyal to Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, threatened on Saturday that the bloc would adopt a "firm stand" if security forces banned Friday prayers in the mosques belonging to the bloc.
TEL AVIV/GAZA - Despite international pressure Israel has erected more than 40 additional roadblocks in the West Bank, according to a United Nations statement Saturday. In total there are now 607 roadblocks in the Palestinian area, compared with 566 eight months ago, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in Jerusalem.
Outgoing Lebanese PM 
