Pakistan's intelligence agents are likely responsible for recent attacks in Afghanistan, and the international community should support the Afghan government's complaints about such activity, a senior United Nations envoy says.
Chris Alexander, a former Canadian ambassador now serving as a UN deputy special representative in Afghanistan, says he believes the Afghan authorities, who say their neighbour's spy service is sending terrorists across the border.
President Hamid Karzai has accused Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency of plotting many spectacular attacks in his country in recent months, including an attempt on his life and an embassy bombing that killed at least 41 people in Kabul.
"We have to ask ourselves, was Karzai right on this point?" Mr. Alexander said in an interview. "I think the answer is yes."
While many foreign officials and analysts have privately endorsed Mr. Karzai's view of the ISI, Mr. Alexander is the first Western diplomat to back the accusation in public. "If we support him as President of Afghanistan, and we support the cause of peace and security in Afghanistan, we should be prepared to speak lucidly about these issues as well, and not be given pause or forced to back down simply because there's a reaction from someone who, quite frankly, is speaking for the spoilers," Mr. Alexander said. "Let's have some international courage on this front."
Western diplomats have previously said they tread carefully with Pakistan in part because of the country's fragile politics, its mistrust of foreign pressure and its nuclear arsenal.
When asked how Islamabad might react to blunt accusations of waging a proxy war, Mr. Alexander shrugged. "I'm not sure, but there's only one way to find out. The project on which we're embarked - with its high stakes, with its serious investment, with its sacrifices - deserves at least that level of courage with regard to this issue. Otherwise we really are pretending that Niagara Falls doesn't flow."
Islamabad has consistently denied using intelligence services to interfere with its neighbour, but Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani bowed to international pressure on the weekend by removing the ISI from military control and placing it under the Interior Ministry's civilian supervision.
Which lasted about a day ...
The head of Pakistan's ruling party said the move was intended to deflect criticism of the spy agency and the announcement was timed to coincide with Mr. Gilani's visit to Washington today for talks with U.S. President George W. Bush.
But the switch to civilian oversight was only a symbolic gesture and could aggravate the chaotic situation in Pakistan as power brokers struggle for control of the spy agency, according to an assessment published yesterday by Strategic Forecasting Inc., a private intelligence firm. "Increased civilian say over the affairs of the agency will, in the short term, add to the crisis of governance faced by the state," the assessment says.
After years of excusing rumours of Pakistani involvement as being the work of rogue agents or retired intelligence officials acting on their own, Western leaders have become increasingly blunt with Pakistan in private conversations about the ISI's role in the Afghan war.
Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited Pakistan this month and confronted his counterparts in a meeting that one diplomat described as stormy. "He lost his temper," the diplomat said.
Did he threaten to bomb them back into the stone age (assuming they ever had made it out)?
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson, who made a whirlwind visit to Kabul on the weekend, was more measured when a reporter asked him about relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"Canada does have concerns about the insurgency platform, if you like, that is developing and has developed in the border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan," Mr. Emerson said. " ...We believe that ultimately there has to be a collaborative approach to solving the situation between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and look forward to dialogue taking place in the months ahead."
Pakistan's intelligence services are widely believed to have helped create the Taliban in 1994 and to have shepherded the movement toward its takeover of nearly all of Afghanistan. Pakistan supposedly formally cut ties with the Taliban in 2001, under U.S. pressure, but rumours of assistance received by Taliban insurgents in the lawless border region have persisted for years.
Mr. Alexander said the message to Pakistan must go beyond pressing the government. Concrete actions should be demanded against the networks of terrorists and insurgents who take shelter in the country's tribal areas, he said.
But assurances must also be given to Pakistan that moving against militants in the border regions will not harm its own national interest, he said, alluding to Pakistan's concerns about India. Members of the military establishment in Pakistan have argued that supporting Islamic militants can give their country a supply of irregular forces if needed against India, and prevent Pakistan from being squeezed on two fronts in the event of war.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/28/2008 08:30 ||
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#1
I Pakistan would quit fomenting trouble in India and Afghanistan I don't think it would face any problems with it's neighbors. Pakistan's troubles wiht India and Afghanistan are all self inflicted.
Sen. Barack Obama has not been a fan of private police like Blackwater in war zones, and some news outlets even reported that they were spurned for his trip last week to Afghanistan and Iraq. But Whispers confirms that Blackwater did handle the Democratic presidential candidate's security in Afghanistan and helped out in Iraq. What's more, Obama was overheard saying: "Blackwater is getting a bad rap." Since everything appeared to go swimmingly, maybe he will take firms like Blackwater out of his sights, the company's supporters hope.
#1
When the chips are down, and it's YOUR ass on the line, you go with the best.
And if things had gone south, and Blackwater had shot a couple of civilians by accident in order to save Senator Obama, how strongly would he have complained?
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
07/28/2008 2:11 Comments ||
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Much military construction, security and food services, etc is contracted out. Why the hell not?
#4
He's not a fan of private police but he's not a fan of the military either. I think he's a coward and a New Age dreamer--if you wish hard enough, evil will no longer exist. Check out this note from Afghanistan:
Hello everyone,
As you know I am not a very political person. I just wanted to pass along that Senator Obama came to Bagram Afghanistan for about an hour on his visit to 'The War Zone'. I wanted to share with you what happened. He got off the plane and got into a bullet proof vehicle, got to the area to meet with the Major General (2 Star) who is the commander here at Bagram.
As the Soldiers were lined up to shake his hand he blew them off and didn't say a word as he went into the conference room to meet the General. As he finished, the vehicles took him to the ClamShell (pretty much a big top tent that military personnel can play basketball or work out in with weights) so he could take his publicity pictures playing basketball. He again shunned the opportunity to talk to Soldiers to thank them for their service.
So really he was just here to make a showing for the American's back home that he is their candidate for President. I think that if you are going to make an effort to come all the way over here you would thank those that are providing the freedom that they are providing for you.
I swear we got more thanks from the NBA Basketball Players or the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders than from one of the Senators, who wants to be the President of the United States. I just don't understand how anyone would want him to be our Commander-and-Chief. It was almost that he was scared to be around those that provide the freedom for him and our great country.
If this is blunt and to the point I am sorry but I wanted you all to know what kind of caliber of person he really is. What you see in the news is all fake.
In service,
CPT Jeffrey S. Porter
Battle Captain
TF Wasatch
American Soldier
#5
Obama wanted to evade videotaped confrontations. Unfortunately, his trip led to a 9% lead. Americans are buying his undeliverable promises. Brazen Karzai protection of the Helmand drug lords was exposed in NYT mag. And they weren't blowing smoke. McCain needs to attack NATO indulgence of the drug trade. The Taliban took an estimated $150000000 from the trade this year. That could have been prevented.
(Xinhua) -- Afghan Interior Ministry has dismissed the police chief of northern Sar-r-Pul province and four other senior security officers on charge of negligence in arresting and punishing those responsible for gang-raping a 12-year-old girl there, a press release of the ministry issued here Sunday said.
The Interior Minister during his visit to Sar-e-Pul province sacked police chief of the province Abdul Khaliq Samimi, and the head of criminal department and three others for their negligence in the dealing with the case, the press release said.
A 12-year-old girl according Afghan media had been gang-raped by influential armed men last week and the father of the ill-fated girl warned to become suicide bomber if the government fails to provide justice.
Months ago, another girl was raped by the son of a powerful figure in north Afghanistan. The shocking incidents have prompted many to criticize President Hamid Karzai for failing to protect the lives and honor of poor citizens. President Hamid Karzai has instructed all the concerned authorities to thoroughly investigate the case and bring to justice those responsible for the crime.
The President, according to a statement released by his office also received both the families of the victims Sunday and besides condemning the assured all those responsible for the heinous crime would be brought to justice.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2008 00:00 ||
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For his part, Gilani said he wants the people of the United States to know that the vast majority of Pakistanis want revenge against the filthy kufirs peace, and want to subvert cooperate with the United States.
#2
From The Messiah and The Promised Land
Margaret Bourke-White
Halfway to Freedom: A Report on the New India,Simon and Schuster, New York, 1949
In the weeks to come I was to hear the Quaid-i-Azam's thesis echoed by government officials throughout Pakistan. "Surely America will build up our army," they would say to me. "Surely America will give us loans to keep Russia from walking in." But when I asked whether there were any signs of Russian infiltration, they would reply almost sadly, as though sorry not to be able to make more of the argument. "No, Russia has shown no signs of being interested in Pakistan."
This hope of tapping the U. S. Treasury was voiced so persistently that one wondered whether the purpose was to bolster the world against Bolshevism or to bolster Pakistan's own uncertain position as a new political entity. Actually, I think, it was more nearly related to the even more significant bankruptcy of ideas in the new Muslim state -- a nation drawing its spurious warmth from the embers of an antique religious fanaticism, fanned into a new blaze.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/28/2008 14:33 Comments ||
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#3
I want what Bush is drinking/smoking.
It would do wonders for the headache I have today.
#8
Or so he says, SPoD. Secretary of State Rice also publicly said today that Pakistan must now do considerably more to prevent armed incursions into Afghanistan... and the Secretary of State is very much her master's voice on such things.
McCain surrogate blasts Obama's canceled meeting with wounded soldiers
Obama spokesman says criticism is "wildly inappropriate"
Obama aide says Pentagon nixed visit with wounded U.S. troops in Germany
Spokesman Robert Gibbs says Obama is "comfortable with the decision"
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2008 00:00 ||
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Obama would pull US troops out of the Middle East, and leave it to local power holders. Wounded soldiers would take that mentality as an insult to their great military work.
#2
Is there a difference between the "Obama spokesman" and the "MSM"
Posted by: Jan ||
07/28/2008 10:13 Comments ||
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H/T to Blackfive At that Army Times post, part of their evidence is a photo of Senator Obama talking to troops at Bagram - the caption states "Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama speaks to troops at Bagram Air Field on July 19.".
Here's the AP photo on the Army Times site:
AP Photo
Just one minor problem here - that's not Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.
THAT'S CAMP ARIFJAN, KUWAIT.
Posted by: Jan ||
07/28/2008 10:22 Comments ||
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#4
If SHOULD have visited the troops and yes he COULD have. He only had to leave teh circus outside and not make a big thing about it. Bush manages regular visits and rarely do you hear about them.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has traced the terror email sent to media houses, minutes before the blasts in Ahmedabad, to a residential flat in the Sanpada area in Navi Mumbai.
The 15th-floor flat is occupied by an American family that has rented it for over six months. The ATS team, led by Hemant Karkare, reached Gunani Cooperative Housing society in the posh Sector 16 area of Palm Beach road early Sunday. The squad reportedly found a personal computer and seized the hard disk. The family has reportedly claimed that the email was not sent from there and that the id has been hacked into. The mail may have been sent from a mobile phone, they say.
The ATS has sealed the flat and barred the media from entering the premises. The gates of the housing society gates remained shut to outsiders throughout Sunday. The anti-terror squadÂ’s investigations continued well into Sunday night. But they refused to comment on the issue.
Though residents of the building refused to speak, local residents said the flat was occupied by Kenneth Heywood who stayed with his wife and two daughters. Kenneth is reportedly employed with an IT firm. Locals say they have seen him on morning walks.
Dhiren Prabhakar Singh, who runs a photo studio in the area, said: “Almost a month ago, the American aged around 35, came to my studio a couple of times with two girls. He got some pictures published. Since I did not understand his English, I didn’t speak to him much. He paid promptly.”
DCP Shinde said: “The flat seems to be owned by a relative of the Navi Mumbai-based builder of the society.”
The 'timber mafia' is responsible for funding militancy in the NWFP and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and the provincial government is devising a strategy to crack down on the covert industry, Environment Minister Hameedullah Jan Afridi said on Sunday. Dawn News quoted the minister as saying that Pakistan was suffering annual losses of Rs 65 billion due to environmental degradation and deforestation. Earlier, officials of the Environmental Protection Agency briefed the minister on the agency's projects and forestation efforts in various parts of the province.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
You know, if insurgencies in the frontier agencies and parts of the Philippines (I seem to remember Richard Fernandez going on about Marco-era Communists living off of timber poaching) are financing with pirated lumber, then doesn't that some of the air out of the narco-guerilla "we've gotta legalize the drug trade" panic?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/28/2008 11:15 Comments ||
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Financing terrorism with timber has another downside. Lumber ships have large open cargo holds that can easily conceal missiles, too. Read it in a Clive Cussler novel so it must be true;)
Eight tribes of Hangu district on Saturday decided not to provide shelter to the Taliban or any other militant outfit and to co-operate with the government, reported BBC Urdu.
And I, for one, believe them. Simply because similar assurances have in the past proven to be mere vapor doesn't mean they're just passing gas his time. No sirree.
According to the BBC, the decision was made at a jirga held at the office of the Hangu district co-ordination officer and attended by representatives from numerous tribes. Talking to the BBC, Darsamand Union Council Nazim Malik Jaleelur Rehman said all the tribes had agreed against providing shelter to members of militant outfits.
"Yep. Each and every one. You can count on us tribesmen to keep our word, too!"
He said it had been decided that every tribe would be responsible for maintaining law and order in its area, and also to extend co-operation to the government if required. He said the jirga had also demanded the government maintain law and order on GT Road.
And if you can't depend on the government of Pakistain who can you depend on?
Meanwhile, security forces on Sunday allowed residents to return to their homes in Zargari and Shinawari after the conclusion of a military operation in the areas. Sources said residents had begun returning to their villages.
This article starring:
Shinawari
Zargari
Darsamand Union Council Nazim Malik Jaleelur Rehman
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
8 tribes agree not to shelter Taliban , and then the wind changed direction again .
Swat-based militant chief Mullah Fazlullah on Sunday warned of a string of suicide bombings if the government re-launched military operations against his forces.
The government's already beaten him relatively easily once, only to surrender at the first opportunity.
Addressing a news conference in the Kabal tehsil of Swat, the Taliban leader claimed that he had prepared a brigade of suicide bombers who would be unleashed in case of a military operation.
"Hoo, boy! Are you gonna get it!"
He said the attacks on official installations were in reaction to the government's action against the Taliban and denied reports that the Swat Taliban were using child bombers.
Fazlullah alleged that the Pakistan Army was involved in anti-Islam activities, adding that these would not be tolerated.
Fazlullah alleged that the Pakistan Army was involved in anti-Islam activities, adding that these would not be tolerated.
Dialogue: Reacting to the threats, Awami National Party (ANP) Senior Vice-President Afra Siab Khattak said that any kind of threats would have an adverse effect on the ongoing dialogue process in the province. Talking to Aaj TV, Khattak said that the government wanted to achieve peace in the province through talks with non-violent elements only.
That statement makes no more sense than Mullah F's accusation that the Mighty Pak Army's engaged in anti-Islamic activities.
Meanwhile, a youngster was killed and two more people injured as a result of a bomb blast in a shopping centre for women in the Charbagh tehsil of Swat. The 10-year-old boy, named Faisal, was killed while two more people -- Latifur Rehman and Arshad -- sustained injuries, locals said. Eight shops were also damaged in the explosion.
This article starring:
Mullah Fazlullah
Taliban
Senior Vice-President Afra Siab Khattak
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2008 00:00 ||
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.. and they call him, "Warrior-Scholar"
Petraeus won't join bandwagon for Iraq withdrawal timetable
The top U.S. military commander in Iraq isn't buying the increasingly popular idea of a publicly stated timetable for American troop withdrawal.
Gen. David Petraeus, the Iraq commander, said in an interview with McClatchy that the situation in Iraq is too volatile to "project out, and to then try to plant a flag on a particular date."
With violence at its lowest levels of the war, politicians in both the United States and Iraq are getting behind the idea of a departure timetable. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was first, suggesting he would have combat troops home within 16 months of Inauguration Day. The idea got a big boost during his overseas trip last week, when Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki indicated support for that general timeline.
During a Friday interview on CNN's "The Situation Room," Republican candidate John McCain, who had opposed setting a timeline, appeared to shift ground. McCain said that 16 months "is a pretty good timetable" but must be based on conditions on the ground.
Meanwhile, the Bush administration has embraced "time horizons" as it negotiates with the Iraqi government a status of forces agreement over the future role of U.S. troops. Petraeus said any timetable must have "a heck of a lot more granularity than the kind of very short-hand statements that have been put out."
"We occasionally have commanders who have so many good weeks, (they think) it's won. We've got this thing. Well we don't. We've had so many good weeks. Right now, for example we've had two-and-a-half months of levels of violence not since March 2004," he said from his office at Camp Victory.
"Well that's encouraging. It's heartening. It's very welcome. But let's keep our powder dry. . . .Let's not let our guard down."
Petraeus is pushing for what he says as a more nuanced debate as both U.S. and Iraqi political leaders are in campaign seasons, with many voters in both countries wanting to hear there is an end. Maliki is trying to sway voters in time for this fall's scheduled provincial elections by winning support from his political rival, firebrand cleric Muqtada al Sadr, who has called for a U.S. withdrawal date since 2004.
Throughout his tenure, Petraeus has argued for a drawdown based on conditions, saying that the last of the five surge brigades could leave earlier this month because Iraqi forces are increasingly capable of securing Iraq.
Petraeus said that while both Sunni and Shiite extremists groups are weaker, Iraqi security forces still face threats as the groups try to reconstitute themselves throughout Iraq. And because of that, U.S. and Iraqi forces must not assume that the battle here is won, he said.
Maliki's surprise spring offensive in the southern port city of Basra was a turning point in the security situation. It rid Iraq's second-largest city of militia control and bolstered the confidence of both the Iraqi people and military. But the Iraqi security forces turned to U.S. troops to help them win, leading some to call for a more cautious withdrawal plan.
Petraeus has said he believes there will be a "long-term partnership" in which the U.S. acts primarily in an advisory role to Iraqi forces, but with enough combat power to step in and help if major battles erupt. But he said that that like most things in Iraq, plans could change.
"We know where we are trying to go. We know how we think we need to try to get there with our Iraqi partners and increasingly with them in the lead and shouldering more of the burden as they are," Petraeus said.
"But there are a lot of storm clouds out there, there are lots of these possible lightning bolts. You just don't know what it could be. You try to anticipate them and you try to react very quickly. . . .It's all there, but it's not something you want to lay out publicly."
...north of Baghdad sits a prison with no prisoners. It holds something else: a chronicle of U.S. government waste, misguided planning and construction shortcuts costing $40 million and stretching back to Saddam Hussein.
"It's a bit of a monument in the desert right now because it's not going to be used as a prison," said Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, whose office plans to release a report Monday detailing the litany of problems at the vacant detention center in Khan Bani Saad.
The pages also add another narrative to the wider probes into the billions lost so far on scrubbed or substandard projects in Iraq and one of the main contractors accused of failing to deliver, the Parsons construction group of Pasadena, Calif. Failed to deliver? Was the contract awarded before the MSM inspired insurgency? Details, details!
"This is $40 million invested in a project with very little return," Bowen told The Associated Press in Washington. "A couple of buildings are useful. Other than that, it's a failure."
Bowen estimated up to 20 percent "waste" - or more than $4 billion - from the $21 billion spent so far in the U.S.-bankrolled Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund. It's just one piece of a recovery effort that swelled beyond $112 billion in U.S., Iraqi and international contributions. Can we have this guy investigate Congress and the Government?
The idea for the modern-style prison began with the Coalition Provisional Authority running Iraq after Saddam's fall. On behalf of the authority, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $40 million contract in March 2004 to global construction and engineering firm Parsons to design and build an 1,800-inmate lockup to include educational and vocational facilities. Work was set to begin May 2004 and finish November 2005.
Nothing went right from the start, the report says. The Sunni insurgency was catching fire. The U.S. was under pressure to improve prison conditions following the abuses exposed at Abu Ghraib. Anybody else tie the waste to Congress and the MSM?
Washington's focus shifted quickly from rebuilding to just holding its ground. The prison project got started six months late and continued to fall behind - until Parsons asked to push the completion date to late 2008, the report said.
The U.S. government pulled the plug in June 2006, citing "continued schedule slips and ... massive cost overruns." But they hadn't abandoned the hope of finishing the project - awarding three more contracts to other companies in a doomed effort. And now that security is improving?
The waste was made more egregious by the fact that Diyala badly needs more prisons to handle a growing inmate population. Bowen's team was told that about 600 inmates are crowded into an existing Diyala prison designed for 250 inmates and that the overcrowding and health conditions are so grave that several inmates have died, the report says.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/28/2008 06:37 ||
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Parsons Construction Group?
Is that part of Parsons Brinckerhoff?!
They are one of the big dogs in the engineering biz.
Progress has been made regarding negotiations to reach a security agreement between the Iraqi government and the United States. US negotiators have agreed to the request of Iraqi negotiators to consider the beginning of 2010 as the date to start the withdrawal of US military troops.
"The Americans recently agreed to the scheduled withdrawal and evacuation of US forces from Iraq starting the beginning of 2010 and the Iraqi negotiator was informed of US approval days before, and the debate between the two sides began to focus on the important details of this date," Haidar Al Abadi, a prominent leader of the Shiite coalition told Gulf News.
Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish leader who is close to Iraqi President Jalal Al Talabani told Gulf News: "My information indicates that there is American approval for the rescheduling of withdrawal from Iraq at the beginning of 2010."
This date will also be the date of the final signing of the Iraqi-American strategy security agreement that will determine the nature of US relations between the two countries at all levels for decades.
We must be alert that the minute details of the strategy convention will be signed by the next American administration, he added. "After the withdrawal of additional US forces which came to Iraq under President Bush's plan to increase troops with the aim of supporting security in Baghdad, there will be approximately 130,000 US troops," Salim Al Qalaji, a retiree major general in the former Iraqi Army told Gulf News.
But to protect American interests US forces are likely to remain Inside Iraq with perhaps between 15,000 to 25,000 US troops, the time period they stay might not be specified but it will "certainly be a long one, perhaps five or ten years," he added.
Informed military sources in Baghdad revealed to Gulf News that Iraqi and American negotiators are looking to keep American military forces to intervene after the implementation of the scheduled withdrawal and the evacuation of US forces from Iraqi cities in the south, north and centre.
There is a proposal that the stationing of these troops in the Kurdistan Region be linked to the Turkish Ingerlik Air Base, with its mission being to intervene to attack any internal risk threatening the political and security situation in Iraq, these troops would receive support from the Turkish Ingerlik Base in case of unexpected high risk in Baghdad and other governorates of Iraq.
#1
So how will BO react to this? tell the Iraqis they're wrong? Take credit? Claim 2010 is 16 months after his election?
Hey.... 2010 is 16 months after his election! So he wuz right all along! Wotta genius!
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/28/2008 6:13 Comments ||
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After the Sept. reassessment, we will likely allow the total deployment to decrease by 30k. Probaby two thirds of this decrease will be completed by inauguration day 2009 (unless Al Q or the IRG agents can up their action significantly).
Majdi Jabour was beaten to the point of passing out by the Fatah-allied interrogators in the West Bank who accused him of ties to rival Hamas. In Gaza, the same fate befell a Fatah supporter who was bloodied in a lockup by club-wielding Hamas security men. Two human rights groups on Monday decried widespread mistreatment and torture in Palestinian jails - an issue taking on fresh urgency with a flare-up of Hamas-Fatah violence over the weekend in the Gaza Strip.
Detainees corroborated the reports in conversations with The Associated Press, and a doctor confirmed Jabour's account. The groups' reports looked at human rights violations during the past year, since the Islamic militant Hamas wrested control of Gaza from the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who now runs just the West Bank.
In the past year, the security forces in both the West Bank and Gaza have carried out large-scale, arbitrary arrests of political opponents, the Palestinian human rights group Al Haq said in an 85-page report. More than 1,000 people were detained by each side, Al Haq estimated, even before a roundup of some 200 Fatah supporters in Gaza over the weekend, following a bombing that killed five Hamas activists.
An estimated 20 to 30 percent of the detainees suffered torture, including severe beatings and being tied up in painful positions, said Al Haq director Shawan Jabarin, citing sworn statements from 150 detainees. The olde tyme stuff; no hip-hop music or waterboarding.
"The use of torture is dramatically up," added Fred Abrahams, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, a U.S.-based group that is releasing its own report on abuse later this week. Human Rights Watch said Abbas' forces need to come under closer scrutiny because of the massive international support they enjoy.
"The international community has pledged $8 billion to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and that gives them a heavy responsibility to make sure the security forces don't use torture and respect human rights," said Abrahams. Otherwise, it'd be O.K. But since we bought 'em...
Funding of Abbas' forces should be linked to an improvement in the human rights record, Human Rights Watch said.
Abbas' prime minister, Salam Fayyad, acknowledged "shortcomings," but said human rights violations have decreased. "I'm not defending anyone, but I can assure you that we have treated flaws and don't allow violations. The upcoming reports will be better," Fayyad said.
Barhoum acknowledged "mistakes" were made by the Hamas forces, but said that unlike in the West Bank, violators were increasingly punished.
The Al Haq report described a series of methods used by interrogators in both territories. Commonly, detainees' heads were covered by sacks and their hands tied behind their backs. They were made to stand for long hours. Those who moved risked beatings on arms, legs and the soles of feet. Other methods included threats, humiliation and isolation in tiny cells. But no panties on heads; that's really mean!
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/28/2008 06:15 ||
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#1
Oh yeah, a terorist gang's gonna have lots of respect for human rights because you told 'em to, right Chauncey?
Stop paying. Let them die if they want to so badly.
Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin painted a bleak picture of recent occurrences in Gaza and east Jerusalem during the weekly government meeting on Sunday. "Since the ceasefire began, four tons of explosives have been transferred into the Strip for Hamas, as well as 50 anti-tank missiles, light arms, and materials for Qassam manufacture -- metal rods and gunpowder," he said.
"Most of the smuggling is taking place by land, through tunnels. Hamas has taken control of the tunnels in the area. There is Egyptian action aimed to prevent the smuggling, but there have been no special reports lately."
The Shin Bet chief said the recent prisoner exchange deal with Hizbullah has encouraged terror groups to plan additional kidnappings of Israeli soldiers.
According to Diskin, Hamas has become empowered thanks to the ceasefire. "Hamas is very interested in preserving the ceasefire, and maintaining its stability," he said. "Hamas is still anxious to reap the full benefits of the truce: The removal of the siege and the opening of the Rafah crossing. As far as they're concerned, first the crossings open, and then negotiations on (kidnapped soldier Gilad) Shalit can resume.
"Hamas is continuing its massive defense operation. They are exploiting the truce in order to increase their training. They are bringing in weapons for their military wing, and cement has been imported, which the Shin Bet analyzes as a means for building bunkers."
He added that Hamas had completed the first step in the construction of its institutions, which will prepare the foundations for seizing control of all of the Palestinian territories, which has been Hamas' declared vision for years.
Regarding the situation in east Jerusalem, Diskin said that residents holding an Israeli ID were attempting to move into Jerusalem due to the construction of the fence that threatens to disengage them from the rest of the country. For this reason the neighborhoods were slowly emptying out, he said.
According to the Shin Bet director, "the area is out of the IDF's hands. Israel Police is not active in the area, so there is no police activity. This creates phenomena such as arms dealing and Molotov cocktails in southern Jerusalem, and in Abu Dis and Azaria Hamas is beginning to move in. Palestinian forces have also begun to infiltrate the north." Diskin also informed the government that since the beginning of the year Shin Bet and police forces have managed to thwart the banding together of 12 different terror organizations in east Jerusalem.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The Israelis need to create a psychological line in the sand, in which, "If Hamas does 'X', then ALL Palestinians will be driven out of the Gaza Strip forever."
The purposes of such a doctrine are several. The first is to dare Hamas to cross that line. The second is to establish that there is a boundary, SOME boundary, in which Israel will no longer tolerate Palestinians at all.
Doha Al-Arab in Arabic on 26 July publishes an interview with Muhammad al-Hindi; a leading figure in Islamic Jihad, by Ibrahim Rajab in Cairo, in which he touches upon the need for national reconciliation among different Palestinian factions. He also speaks about negotiations with Israel, and relations with Hezbollah and Iran. Al-Hindi is on an undeclared visit to Cairo from where he intends to leave for Saudi Arabia to perform minor pilgrimage.
Asked about how he views the prospects of the calm in the Gaza Strip and to what extent it is affected by the internal Israeli struggles, Al-Hindi says: "The Islamic Jihad is committed to the calm, but Israel is trying to create a negative atmosphere from time to time that affects it." He adds: "Israel is responsible for poisoning the atmosphere of the calm by assassinating an activist in Nablus in the first week of the calm." He concludes: "If a shift happens in the Israeli premiership, the calm might go 'with the wind'."
Asked about the position of the Islamic Jihad towards Israeli attempts to link the release of the captured Israeli soldier Gil'ad Shalit to the subject of the calm, he says: "Shalit's issue is not on the table and can not be accepted within the framework of the calm. What was proposed by Baraq [Israeli defence minister] is the acceleration of Shalit's release." He adds: "Calm is the way for solving the issue of Shalit. The price of Shalit is the release of the Palestinian prisoners from the occupation jails. The price of the calm is the halt of the Israeli aggression, opening of the [border] crossings, and lifting the blockade."
Asked about where the efforts of the Islamic Jihad ended regarding the mediation about starting a dialogue between Fatah and Hamas, he said that putting the Palestinian house in order and restoring the Palestinian national consensus is a complicated subject, and there are pressures exerted, in addition to the prevalence of a difficult atmosphere on the ground. He adds: "There are strong US and Israeli pressures in order not to have internal Palestinian dialogue. Despite this fact, we have made efforts to repair this disintegration that hit the internal Palestinian structure. Sometimes we succeeded, but the successes were limited and small."
Asked how he views the outbidding between the old and forthcoming US Administrations regarding the Israeli-Arab conflict in the light of the verbal promises to the Arabs and the real support for the Jewish character of the state of Israel, he says: "The two-state solution that the US administration adopts is an Israeli invention to solve a problem that Israel may face in the future. [President] Bush is the most biased US president in favour of Israel and he adopts the vision of the Israeli right. He is more Zionist than many other Zionists and that was clear in the speech he delivered before the Knesset."
Asked about Israeli condition of not smuggling arms into the Gaza Strip or manufacturing them since Israel wants to achieve through the calm what it could not achieve through military operations, he says: "This is nonsense since you can not ask a resisting faction to stop developing itself." He adds: "Those are blackmail and media exaggeration. What is proposed is calm in return for calm and lifting the blockade." He points out that the calm was once given unilaterally by the Palestinian factions in 2003and 2005, but Israel violated it by assassinating Isma'il Abu-Shanab and Thabit Thabit. He concludes that even when Israel gives its approval to the calm, it may violate it [at any time].
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Two suspected terrorists insurgents, one believed to be involved in the killings of State Railway of Thailand workers abroad a train in June and earlier involved in the brutal attack on a woman teacher in 2006, were detained Monday morning by a combined police and military in Narathiwat Province.
Police detained Duerapa Je-uma, 24 - suspected of being the leader of a group of gunmen from the Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) insurgent group - who was apprehended during a raid on a house in Rangae district. Three mobile phones, modified to set off explosive devices, were seized. The other suspect, Nusee Buesa, also a member of the RKK group was also arrested. He was believed to be involved in a bombing and shooting attack at Ranae police station.
(Xinhua) -- The Philippine government said Sunday evening breakthrough has been made in peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on ancestral domain, one day after the MILF said the talks broke down due to renewed disputes over the issue.
Presidential peace process adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. told local TV network GMA News that the "breakthrough" was achieved Sunday evening and it would pave the way for the signing of a framework agreement on the ancestral domain next month. "With this positive development in the negotiations, the signing of the framework on ancestral domain is tentatively set early August this year," Esperon was quoted as saying.
The two sides signed a joint communique during their meeting in Kuala Lumpur Sunday evening, with government negotiation panel chairmen Rodolfo Garcia and MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal giving their respective signatures.
The MILF said Saturday that the peace talks with the government held on July 24 to 25 broke down because the government side attempted to make changes on the agreed upon issues on ancestral domain, which is referred to most of the Muslim areas in Mindanao.
This article starring:
Kuala Lumpur
Hermogenes Esperon
MOHAGHER IQBAL
Moro Islamic Liberation Front
Rodolfo Garcia
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Former Youth and Sports Minister Ahmad Fatfat on Saturday said that the events of Jabal Mohsin and Bab al-Tabbaneh were totally linked to the political situation in Lebanon, blaming Hezbollah for the recent violence in Tripoli and pointing out that the Lebanese army could not "carry out its duty to prevent clashes."
In an interview with the Al-Mustaqbal newspaper, Fatfat said there had been "negligence" by the army in carrying out the "clear role assigned to the military institution - because the army should be firm and decisive."
He noted that "Speaker Nabih Berri has preached that crisis would continue if we did not reach agreement concerning the ministerial statement, and the aim of these conflicts was to exert more pressure. There is nothing harder than the sectarian rift that is happening in Tripoli, since each people's race for self-security is prevailing in the region."
Fatfat, who is currently a member of the Lebanese parliament, said he felt that there had to be "a party with an interest in propagating this dispute for political gains."
"This party is known... It is Hezbollah which has used violence on several occasions for political gains. Hezbollah has trained and armed the groups in the north to carry out such violence as needed by Hezbollah " he explained.
This article starring:
Bab al-Tabbaneh
Jabal Mohsin
Tripoli
Ahmad Fatfat
Speaker Nabih Berri
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07/28/2008 00:00 ||
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Presidential candidate Barack Obama said President George W. Bush's decision to send a senior diplomat to nuclear talks with Iran was a substantive move and should be taken seriously by Tehran. Obama, a Democrat, has been highly critical in the past of Bush's policies toward Iran and has promised that if elected he would pursue a policy of greater engagement aimed at persuading Tehran to abandon its nuclear enrichment program.
But in a rare signal of solidarity with the current Republican administration, Obama told a news conference in Paris on Friday that Iran should not wait for the next U.S. president to try to reach a deal over its nuclear program.
He also praised Bush's decision to send senior U.S. diplomat William Burns to talks in Geneva with Iranian officials. "Bill Burns is a very serious guy. And the Iranians should take that gesture seriously," Obama told Reuters in an interview on Saturday as he flew back from a weeklong tour abroad.
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#1
Problem is Iran won't take Obama seriously. I sure will not.
Hezbollah will attempt to focus efforts on hitting Israel Air Force [IAF] aircraft in the skies over Lebanon, Israeli officials assess. The organization's current weapons are insufficient for attacking Israel's aerial forces, and therefore Hezbollah is acquiring more modern weaponry, capable of hitting those targets.
"After the prisoner deal, Hezbollah adopted a defensive strategy," the officials say. "What that approach signifies is that there is no need for the Shab'a Farms or prisoners in order to set forth on an attack; from now on we are Lebanon's guardians." An analysis of that mindset shows that the organization will try to act against Israel on an issue regarding which there is a broad legitimate basis in Lebanon, such as the violations of Lebanese sovereignty that the IDF commits, mostly in the air and sometimes at sea. "Hezbollah does not want to risk an Israeli response, but on the other hand it is growing stronger," defence establishment sources say. Because of that, IAF aircraft may be a suitable target for it.
Israeli officials further assess that Hezbollah has recently been getting criticism at home and from Iran over the fact that it is not really engaging in armed resistance against Israel, and therefore it will be required to provide an answer to this pressure. The organization did try to carry out attacks abroad against Jewish targets, in revenge for the killing of Imad al-Mughaniyah in Damascus, but those attacks were prevented.
IDF sources also believe that Hezbollah needed the prisoner deal in order to score points with the Lebanese public, especially now, two months after the bloody events of May. In those events it became clear that the weapons of the "resistance" are aimed not only at Israel - as Nasrallah never tires of declaring - but rather at the Lebanese themselves. IDF officials further state that Hezbollah has not succeeded in repairing the destruction of the Second Lebanon War, which is considerable in many parts of southern Beirut and in villages in the south of the country.
Last week Nasrallah's deputy, Na'im Qassam, said that the account with Israel regarding Imad al-Mughaniyah is still open. Qassam said in an interview to Al-Arab, a newspaper published in Qatar, that his organization would like to avenge his death.
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Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri suggested adopting phrases from the previous cabinet's policy statement concerning the "role of the resistance" in addition to UNSCR 1701 to facilitate drafting the new government's policy statement.
Al-Anwar newspaper on Sunday reported, citing ministerial sources, that PSP leader Walid Jumblatt has approved the proposal but Premier Fouad Siniora wasn't informed about it yet. Meanwhile, al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper reported the majority has rejected the proposal .
Information Minister Tareq Mitri said on Saturday, following a lengthy meeting for ministerial committee drafting the policy statement, there has been no agreement on who would resist, the state or Hezbollah, that is why we haven't reached an agreement on a policy statement.
Mitri said the ministerial committee drafting a policy statement for the new cabinet was encountering "differences in viewpoints regarding the role of the state in resisting occupation and the role of the resistance."
He said on Friday the committee would persist with its efforts until Monday and asked those "who want to speed up the committee's efforts to help us by promoting flexibility ... so that controversial issues that we fail to reach agreement on would be referred to national dialogue that would be sponsored by the president."
Hezbollah insisted that the policy statement should include clear adherence to the "resistance role" as outlined in the previous cabinet's policy statement adopted in 2005.
The ministerial committee, according to an-Nahar newspaper, has been working since Friday on social and economic issues and suspended discussions concerning the resistance role pending political consensus on it.
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Lebanese MP Marwan Hemadeh said having good relations with Syria means having normal relations between two brotherly nations and two people that are fraternal twins Hemadeh said "good relations means recognitions of Lebanon's sovereignty , freedom and independence , demarcation of the borders between our two nations , establishing diplomatic relations and refraining from interfering in the Lebanese internal affairs"
During an interview with Qatari newspaper al Sharq he further spelled out what he meant by normal relations with Syria ." First it means that Syria has to end its prejudice against the International Tribunal ( charged with identifying and trying the criminals behind the crimes of assassinations and assassination attempts since 2004) and Second the liberation of Lebanese detainees from Syrian prisons."
Hemadeh said "Unfortunately Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem did not sound encouraging during his last trip to Lebanon when he referred to the Lebanese in Syrian jails as missing Lebanese...we have many proofs that there are many Lebanese in Syrian jails" ...Hemadeh added
Hemadeh expressed concern that Hezbollah may use its weapons in 2009 parliamentary elections to sweep the elections Hemadeh doubts Hezbollah will ever willingly give up its arms even after the liberation of the Shebaa Farms and placing them under the custody of the United Nations.
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During an interview by Dalia Nehme of Naharnet MP Samir Franjieh blamed the Tripoli clashes on Hezbollah that is trying to "abolish" the political concept of the Doha Accord and preempt any discussion of its weapons. Franjieh said Hezbollah is launching a "preemptive move" aimed at creating a "fait accompli." The Tripoli clashes, he said, are "pressures that victimize innocent people."
He called for "disarming the whole of Tripoli," and said Lebanon should ask Syrian President Bashar Assad to order Palestinian factions affiliated with Damascus to "pull their weapons out" of Tripoli and other areas. "Hezbollah is trying to abolish the political results of the Doha Accord and to block dialogue that is to be launched by President Michel Suleiman," Franjieh said. "There is no agreement between the Lebanese (factions) on mentioning either the resistance or the weapons in the new cabinet's policy statement," he noted.
He recalled that a ranking Iranian official has offered a barter deal , pledging stability in Lebanon in return for approval by the west of the Iranian nuclear program. "This should be humiliating for Hezbollah," Franjieh said. "The Lebanese people have no say in Iran's nuclear program. In fact we are for banning nuclear weapons throughout the Middle East," he added. "We want Lebanon pacified" in Middle East conflicts, he stressed.
Franjieh denied reports that he would be a candidate in the 2009 parliamentary elections for the Maronite seat in the Tripoli constituency. "I would not be a candidate in Tripoli constituency. This is out of the question," he stressed. However, he insisted that "we would run for elections and we would win the elections. I have no doubt about this. For us the elections (in 2009) are less difficult than what they were in 2005."
Nevertheless, premier Fouad Siniora's cabinet is faced by the "major question: Would elections be feasible if we have an armed faction?" Franjieh said. "Weapons eliminate the principle of majority. In the year 2005 the March 14 won majority of parliamentary seats in the elections. The result was practically eliminated by the use of force," Franjieh explained. "Having armed factions (running for elections) would limit freedom of voters," he stressed.
Franjieh spoke of "differences in opinion" between March 14 factions and said one of the main problems that the alliance faces is the lack of "interaction between its leaders and masses."
"The March 14 priorities should be set in a way to reflect the opinion of its masses, not of its factions, be they political parties or sects," Franjieh explained. "We have the will to overcome this problem," he stressed.
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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.
Eight tribes of Hangu district on Saturday decided not to provide shelter to the Taliban or any other militant outfit and to co-operate with the government, reported BBC Urdu. 
Swat-based militant chief 
Majdi Jabour was beaten to the point of passing out by the Fatah-allied interrogators in the West Bank who accused him of ties to rival Hamas. In Gaza, the same fate befell a Fatah supporter who was bloodied in a lockup by club-wielding Hamas security men. Two human rights groups on Monday decried widespread mistreatment and torture in Palestinian jails - an issue taking on fresh urgency with a flare-up of Hamas-Fatah violence over the weekend in the Gaza Strip.
Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin painted a bleak picture of recent occurrences in Gaza and east Jerusalem during the weekly government meeting on Sunday. "Since the ceasefire began, four tons of explosives have been transferred into the Strip for Hamas, as well as 50 anti-tank missiles, light arms, and materials for Qassam manufacture -- metal rods and gunpowder," he said. 
Doha Al-Arab in Arabic on 26 July publishes an interview with Muhammad al-Hindi; a leading figure in Islamic Jihad, by Ibrahim Rajab in Cairo, in which he touches upon the need for national reconciliation among different Palestinian factions. He also speaks about negotiations with Israel, and relations with Hezbollah and Iran. Al-Hindi is on an undeclared visit to Cairo from where he intends to leave for Saudi Arabia to perform minor pilgrimage. 
Former Youth and Sports Minister 
Presidential candidate Barack Obama said President George W. Bush's decision to send a senior diplomat to nuclear talks with Iran was a substantive move and should be taken seriously by Tehran. Obama, a Democrat, has been highly critical in the past of Bush's policies toward Iran and has promised that if elected he would pursue a policy of greater engagement aimed at persuading Tehran to abandon its nuclear enrichment program.
Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri suggested adopting phrases from the previous cabinet's policy statement concerning the "role of the resistance" in addition to UNSCR 1701 to facilitate drafting the new government's policy statement.
