US intelligence analysts are putting the final touches on a secret National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Afghanistan that reportedly describes the situation as "grim", but there are "no plans to declassify" any of it before the election, according to one US official familiar with the process.
Officials say a draft of the classified NIE, representing the key judgments of the US intelligence community's 17 agencies and departments, is being circulated in Washington and a final "coordination meeting" of the agencies involved, under the direction of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, is scheduled in the next few weeks.
According to people who have been briefed, the NIE will paint a "grim" picture of the situation in Afghanistan, seven years after the US invaded in an effort to dismantle the al Qaeda network and its Taliban protectors.
Spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Vanee Vines, said "it is not the ODNI's policy to publicly comment on national intelligence products that may or may not be in production."
The finished secret NIE would be sent to the White House and other policy makers.
Mike McConnell, the director of National Intelligence, has made it his policy that such key judgments "should not be declassified", although several have recently, including a report on Iran's nuclear ambitions. "That does not portend that this is going to become a standard practice," McConnell said it a guidance memo last year.
Last week, Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress "we're running out of time" in Afghanistan. "I'm not convinced we're winning it in Afghanistan," Adm. Mullen testified.
Perhaps foreshadowing the NIE assessment on Afghanistan, Adm. Mullen told Congress, "absent a broader international and interagency approach to the problems there, it is my professional opinion that no amount of troops in no amount of time can ever achieve all the objectives we seek in Afghanistan."
#3
I suspect that this is yet another "election contingency plan", and intentionally negative report purely for political reasons.
Clearly, by what we know of the situation, it sucks, because unlike Iraq, Afghanistan to a great extent *is* like Vietnam, but instead of Laos and Cambodia giving free run to insurgents, there is half the border shared with Pakistan.
That is, until we can freely smite the troublemakers, they can endlessly trickle across the border an endless supply of thugs to create trouble and keep Afghanistan destabilized.
#7
I don't get why anyone expects Afghanistan to become Wisconsin when that place has never been united or even functional. That we should spend blood and treasure to do so is insane. All we should care about it is that they never again be used as a launch point to attack us and the dire consequences clearly explained to them.
Posted by: ed ||
09/23/2008 17:11 Comments ||
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#8
As I understand it, the adversary there has changed. An infusion of well-trained, well-equipped militants from Iraq means we have to rise to the occasion. If Afghan and Pak governments get serious, it becomes very doable. The experience AQ's get caught in a border squeeze and squirt out to cause trouble someplace else. Northern Africa?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/23/2008 17:18 Comments ||
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#9
Maybe we can get them to move to Chechnya.. give Putie something to keep him occupied instead of muscling in on his neighbors
In the 4th century B.C., Alexander the Great fell afoul of Pashtun tribesmen in today's Malakand Agency, where he took an arrow in the leg and almost lost his life. Two millennia later the founder of the Mogul empire, Babur, described the tribesmen of the area now known as Waziristan as unmanageable; his main complaint seemed to center on his inability to get them to pay their taxes by handing over their sheep, let alone stop to attacking his armies. A couple of hundred years later, in the middle of the 19th century, the British experienced disaster after disaster as they tried to bring the same Pashtun tribes to heel, particularly in the agencies of North and South Waziristan. In 1893, after half a century of jockeying for position with Imperial Russia in the "Great Game," the British administrator of the northwest of Queen Victoria's Indian Empire, Sir Mortimer Durand, demarcated the border between India — now Pakistan — and Afghanistan. The Durand line, as it is still known to foreigners — the Pashtuns call it "zero line" and completely ignore it — separated the tribes on both sides of the line into 26 agencies, each with its own laws and tribal councils. It was this area that became the buffer between the British and Russian Empires, an agreed-upon "middle of the lake." The tribes were then left mostly to themselves for about 80 years.
#11
#8 Richard of Oregon has it about 110% right. We've got lots going on in Djibouti(military & civilian), we're advising the Ethiopians and Kenyans, Dept of the Navy did a little stretching, warm up sorties into Somalia in January and February of this year, President Bush proved our commitment to the Africans in general by stemming the tide of AIDS/HIV with billions in Rx, doctors and education starting back in '01 and continuing to this day. Africa is where we'll bleed 'em till they get the point. Probably get the Chinese on board when the jihadis start interrupting their commerce.
#12
I have little patience for the war in Afghanistan. Unless the Pak's get serious, there is no way we are going to win there. Flattening the tribal areas while trying to remain in A-stan is NOT an option. Other than not wanting another hell-hole failed state (which the tribal areas are anyway, with Pakistan close behind) what is the upside of the years and years and billions it is going to take to get this place to a point where it can be regarded as a normal state? Rathole if you ask me.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pakistan and Afghanistan are discussing a possible joint force to combat militants on both sides of their border near Pakistan's tribal region, which has become a safe haven for al Qaeda and other groups, a senior Afghan official said on Monday.
Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak told reporters that such a force would include U.S. troops and address soaring insurgent violence that he said has stretched the capabilities of U.S., NATO and Afghan forces inside Afghanistan.
"We should have a combined joint task force of coalition, Afghans and Taliban Pakistanis to be able to operate on the both sides of the border," Wardak said at the Pentagon during a visit to Washington to discuss a Kabul plan to nearly double the size of the Afghan army.
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he had not heard the details of Wardak's proposal but said any effort to improve security in the border area was welcome.
"I think anything that impacts better security on that border is a good thing," he told reporters in Los Angeles.
"I am encouraged that a leader in Afghanistan has spoken out with this kind of idea," he said. "As in all these things, the devil will be in the details."
Mullen told Congress this month that he had ordered a new U.S. military strategy for the region that would for the first time encompass Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Wardak said the Afghan government had discussed the task force with Pakistani officials within the past several weeks. "They say they're looking at it," he said.
Speaking two days after a truck-bomb attack on Islamabad's Marriott hotel, Wardak said that given recent events in Pakistan, "everyone should realize we have a common threat, a common enemy and a common objective to achieve."
He noted that insurgent violence in Afghanistan rose three-fold from 2005 to 2007 and said, "2008 is going to be the highest among all."
INSURGENCY EXPANSION
The core of the insurgency consists of 10,000 to 15,000 fighters in Afghanistan, he said, not including those who operated outside the country in areas such as Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, on the Afghan border.
"Now I think they're operating geographically in more areas and more provinces than before, and I think they have stretched the capability of the combined forces of ISAF, the coalition and Afghans," the defense minister said.
ISAF, NATO's International Security Assistance Force, totals about 47,000 troops including 13,000 Americans. An additional 20,000 U.S. troops operate in Afghanistan under a separate U.S. command.
U.S. commanders in Afghanistan have asked for three more combat brigades totaling around 10,000 troops. Washington, strapped by commitments in Iraq, plans to send one Army combat brigade and a smaller Marine force by February.
U.S. and Afghan officials blame the rising tide of attacks in Afghanistan partly on safe havens in Pakistan where they say militants are recruited and trained and cross-border actions are planned.
But there has been frustration in Washington over Pakistan's slowness to act against militants on its soil.
U.S. commandos crossed the border into Pakistan on September 3 to attack a suspected al Qaeda target that officials said was contributing to violence in Afghanistan. The operation raised an outcry from Pakistani officials who said women and children were among the 20 people killed.
"A terrorist does not recognize any boundaries," Wardak said when asked about the raid. "We have to deal with the sanctuaries and the real hide-outs of the terrorists, wherever they are." I wonder where "wherever" is.
(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
#1
ION WAFF > CATHOLIC NEWS - seems INDIA's CATHOLIC LEADERS are finally formally belabeling recent bloody HINDU violence agz local Catholics and Christians as a "CLEAR CONSPIRACY" INVOL LOCAL POLICE AND PRO-HINDU PUBLIC AUTHORITIES???
#1
May need 'em dem dar les forcez truppes back in PARIS' > TOPIX/OTHER -THE END OF THE "LONG LUNCH" IN FRANCE:THOUSANDS OF FRENCH RESTAURANTS FORCED TO SHUT DOWN DUE TO FINANCIAL CRISIS.
D *** NG IT, ITS OFFICIAL - MCDONALD'S = US FAST FOOD HAS CONQUERED FRANCE. EU TO PLAN FOR SURRENDER!
(SomaliNet) The Alliance of Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) based in Djibouti has slammed the Al-shabab fighters for threatening to close Somalia's international airport.
The ARS led by Sheikh Sheriff Shekh Ahmed condemned the threat because the international airport is one of the key economic outfits for Somalia, according to a statement released Saturday afternoon.
I really, really hate the fact that Ahmed looks like the sane one in this argument ...
The Islamist group, Al-shabaab, warned last week that airlines should stop flights to the Mogadishu airport from 16 September, arguing that the airport was helping Ethiopians military occupation of Somali.
This article starring:
Sheikh Sheriff Shekh Ahmed
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
This will piss people off. How else will they get the khat in?
South Korea has revealed that, although it has practically no Moslems, it has arrested 74 foreigners as terrorism suspects in the last five years. There were 19 separate investigations. Most of the suspects were Moslems from South Asia or Southeast Asia. Most were involved in collecting information on American military forces in South Korea, or planning terror attacks against non-Koreans. Some Arabs have been caught involved in criminal activities that were apparently to provide funds for terrorists. ...
Posted by: ed ||
09/23/2008 08:50 ||
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#1
Life for a foreigner in a South Korean prison would not be good. Koreans have no sense of humor about these things.
Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith says the Federal Government is still seriously considering trying to prosecute Iran's President in an international court.
Mahmood Ahmadinejad is due to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York overnight, while Prime Minister Kevin Rudd begins meetings at UN headquarters. When Mr Rudd was opposition leader, he told Australia's Jewish community he would like to take legal action against President Ahmadinejad for inciting genocide.
Almost a year later, Mr Smith says the issue is still being examined. "We are continuing to have that matter under legal and other advice," he said. "It's a very serious matter. We're giving it serious consideration and we'll make an announcement when that consideration has completed."
#1
More grandstanding by the leader of the bunch of amateurs running the country now. OTOH the opposition looks like it has a political death wish with the recent change of leader.
I bet dinnerjacket is just peeing his pants at the thought of the Aussie government taking him to court.
Posted by: Aussie Mike ||
09/23/2008 2:52 Comments ||
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#2
Yeah, especially the Hague. He could die of old age waiting for the mistrial.
#3
I bet dinnerjacket is just peeing his pants at the thought of the Aussie government taking him to court.
Posted by Aussie Mike 2008-09-23 02:52|| Front Page|| ||Comments Top
Must be another Chris Mathews "warm moist feeling going down his leg."
(AKI) - The Turkish government on Monday submitted a parliamentary motion to extend its authorisation for cross-border operations in northern Iraq.
The motion, cited by Turkish media reports, said that separatists from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) took shelter in the north of Iraq and called for a one-year extension of its authorisation. It said the PKK continued to threaten the peace, security, national unity and territorial integrity of Turkey.
The motion said Turkey also attached importance to the protection of territorial integrity, national unity and the stability of Iraq. The current motion is due to expire on 17 October.
According to the Turkish website Hurriyet, officials from both Turkey's opposition parties, the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), supported the motion, while the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) officials declared their opposition.
Turkey, backed by US intelligence by the United States, has stepped up military action against the outlawed PKK since December. Turkey carried out several air strikes and conducted a week-long ground incursion into northern Iraq in February.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2008 00:00 ||
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French lawmakers are to vote on whether to keep troops in Afghanistan, as oppositions to the French presence in the region increase. The vote comes after 10 French soldiers were killed and 21 others wounded last month near the Afghan capital Kabul in France's worst military loss since a suicide bomber killed 58 paratroopers in Lebanon 25 years ago. The August deaths brought the number of French troops killed in Afghanistan to 24.
Reports say both houses of parliament, dominated by President Nicolas Sarkozy's party, are likely to support maintaining the French presence.
But a stormy debate was in store after a report at the weekend in Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper said the Taliban fighters who ambushed the French soldiers on August 18 were better armed than their enemy. "The French did not have enough bullets, radios and other equipment. The troops were forced to abandon a counter-attack when the weapons on their vehicles ran out of ammunition only 90 minutes into a battle that stretched over two days," the paper said, quoting from the report.
"One French platoon had only a single radio and it was quickly disabled, leaving them unable to call for help," it added.
France currently has around 1,500 troops in Afghanistan as part of a 2,200-strong contingent serving in the region with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission and the US-led operation. Although Sarkozy insists that France is fighting a battle against terror in Afghanistan, a poll published after last month's ambush showed 55 percent of the French feel they have just been sucked into America's war.
French lawmakers voted Monday to extend their country's mission in Afghanistan with additional troops and materiel, despite popular opposition and French military casualties in the region. Lisa Bryant has more for VOA from Paris. French deputies voted 343 to 210 in favor of maintaining the country's 2,600 soldiers in Afghanistan, overcoming opposition by the opposition Socialist party. The senate, which also is dominated by the ruling UMP party, approved the measure later in the day.
And Monday, Prime Minister Francois Fillon announced plans to reinforce France's presence in the volatile country. Fillon said the government would deploy not only 100 more troops, but helicopters, drones and other equipment. France currently has 3,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of the 70,000-strong international force there.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Viva la France! Meet force with greater force. Having a Pole for president seems to have given them a backbone? A little one anyway. More than what they had.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/23/2008 1:34 Comments ||
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#2
The HTML's a little scrambled here, Fred.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
09/23/2008 7:25 Comments ||
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#3
Errr... sarko's father was hungarian, not a pole, and he's been born & raised in spoiled french, parisian upper class, by his (french) mother I seem to recall.
It's not backbone, it's sticking up to one's engagement & alliance, something the let's-retreat-from-afghanistan-it's-an-unjust-and-illegal-US-war deliberately forget, because they think being allied to the USA, even through Nato, is BAD - some sovereignty, neo-gaullist guy had a very successfully spread viral email that basically asked "what is treason?", when France talked about fully re-entering Nato a while back.
I'm really no fan of sarkozy, not at all, but on this front at least, he's not idiotarian.
(AKI) - A leader of the Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb has threatened France and Spain in an audio message broadcast on jihadist Internet forums on Monday. "To those that are involved in the war against Islam and have betrayed the Islamic nation, we say to them: Repent before God punishes you with his hands and with ours," said Abdel Malik Droukedel, who uses the name Abu Musab Abdel Wudud. "This is because judgement day is close and punishment is imminent. And whoever among the treacherous apostates thinks that France is in a position to ensure its safety, we tell them they are wrong, because France will not be in a position to do it, and will be worried for its safety."
In the audio message, entitled "Message to our nation in the Islamic Maghreb", Droukedel reminds his listeners about Spain and Morocco's territorial dispute over the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. "Dear nation, it is not conceivable for any Muslim that loves Islam to speak of the Maghreb without remembering Ceuta and Melilla, occupied by Spain without remembering the injustice suffered by our nation," said Droukedel. "The complicity between Spain and international organisations such as the Arab League, the Islamic Conference and the United Nations is clear."
Melilla and Ceuta are autonomous cities administered by Spain and considered by neighbouring Morocco to be an integral part of its territory and of immense political and economic significance. Morocco claims both locations to be "despoiled" territories, calling them by their Arabic equivalents of Sebta and Melillia. The cities have been under Spanish control for over 400 years.
In the message, Droukedel also speaks against new NATO military bases in North Africa and accuses Moroccan King Mohammed VI of having betrayed the prophet Mohammed by having a Danish embassy in his territory. Regarding Tunisia, Droukedel accuses the government of being anti-Islamic and of passing laws against the implementation of Islamic Sharia law.
Speaking about Mauritania, he reminds his listeners about Nouakchott's diplomatic relations with Israel, while he claims that Algeria is suffering from political 'interference' by France. "I assure you all that we do not kill innocent people and we will prevent the spilling of Muslim blood," he said.
The Al-Qaeda leader says he will continue his fight to drive "France and the US from our country" and asks Algerian citizens to stay away from foreign organisations or government buildings because they are targets for attacks. Droukedel's message was aimed at Muslims in North Africa, and was also translated into French.
The Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb evolved from the Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat, initially formed to create an Islamic state in Algeria, but now believed to have more widespread goals.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
blah, blah, blah.
I sometimes wish that this scum actually did something in France & Spain using the Muzzie rabble in those countries as "shock" troops.
Then we could all get on with our lives after seeing whether France & Spain fold like the hollow, stuffed men or after those Muzzies get the beating they so richly deserve.
#2
Both Melilla and Ceuta are attached to Morocco, but are both pretty modern cities and I don't believe the inhabitants would want to go back to living in the 7th century.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
09/23/2008 11:32 Comments ||
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(AKI) - By Syed Saleem Shahzad - Pakistan's Tehrik-i-Taliban has denied any involvement in the devastating bomb attack at the Marriott hotel in Islamabad at the weekend. "Nope. Nope. Wudn't us."
But sources close to Adnkronos International (AKI) reveal that particular Pakistani groups linked with Al-Qaeda, such as Fidayeen-e-Islam, may have been behind the attack as Pakistan is about to embrace a new partnership with US forces.
The suicide bomb that targeted the hotel in the heart of the capital, killed at least 53 people and injured more than 266 others, a short distance from the country's parliament building. There were conflicting reports that Pakistan's political and military leaders were expected to dine at the hotel on Saturday night and changed their plans at the last minute.
Former Pakistani spy master, Retired Lt. General Hamid Gul said that the militants had watched their target for days and then selected a vehicle carrying construction materials and loaded the vehicle with over 600 kilogrammes of explosives.
There could be a variety of reasons for the selection of Hotel Marriott as a target. No one is certain whether political leaders were the targets.
Pakistan's advisor for interior Rehman Malik said that the Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Fahmida Mirza planned to host a dinner for President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani at the hotel, but the venue was changed at the last minute.
However, there is no precedent of any such high profile dinners being hosted at the Marriott or any other hotel. The hotel's management also denied any booking, which has raised questions about whether the government is trying to cover up its incompetence for failing to provide security to its citizens and to the foreign nationals and also failing to arrange effective firefighting to extinguish the fire.
According to reports, it took two hours for firefighters to charge their batteries so that they could use power hose. In addition, authorities did not have snorkels to reach the upper floors of the building and rescue people.
Sources said that militants took their action, not simply because of conflict in the Bajaur agency near the Afghan border, but broader US plans in the region against which militants carried out a pre-emptive strike.
Only 20 kilometres from Islamabad lies Tarbella, headquarters of Pakistan's Special Operation Task Force (SOTF) and 300 US officials recently arrived here to offering training to their Pakistani colleagues. However, highly placed security sources confirmed that this is not simply a training programme.
In the mid-1990s, during the government of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, a special CIA unit was located at the same place in a bid to catch Osama Bin Laden but due to a military coup in 1999, the unit could not achieve its targets and was asked to abandon the facility.
There is speculation that the preparations are setting the stage for a war theatre in Pakistan's troubled North West Frontier Province and is aiming to setup a powerful push from all four side around the sanctuaries of the militants belonging to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda led by Osama bin Laden.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2008 00:00 ||
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(PTI) Labelling the suicide attack on the Marriott hotel as "Pakistan's 9/11," leading newspapers here said the nation must take up the fight against terror on its own, no mater the reservation about American actions in Afghanistan or elsewhere.
The papers also said that the new civilian government must immediately craft a new policy to fight the growing threat from terrorists.
"Pakistan is fighting its own war against terrorism and not America's," the country's leading newspaper Dawn said in an editorial today.
Pakistan's oldest English daily pointed out that the target may have been "western" in Islamabad's carnage but the timing shortly after iftar ensured that that the majority of victims were Pakistanis.
"In the days ahead, the bombing will take to a fever pitch the debate about whether Pakistan is fighting its own war against terrorism or America's. The debate will miss the point: it is an internal war, and it goes to the heart of what we want Pakistan to be," the paper said in the lead editorial Dawn titled "Defeating Terrorism".
"... Yet virtually no one in the country is aware of who we are fighting and why. Worse yet, it's not clear who is responsible for the operation: the political government, the military or both?" it added.
Another leading daily, the News said that the attack has created horror even in a nation that has become "resilient to shock" and "accustomed to terrorist violence". "It is being described as the worst suicide bombing yet to take place in the country - Pakistan's very own 9/11... The act has proven too that terrorism is an evil that Pakistan must fight. It is not a war that involves the US, or other powers."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Was the target western? I mean the only thing that saved a bunch of Pakistani politicians was a last minute change in schedule if I read the news reports right. That would seem to indicate to met that they might have been the targets and they got lucky.
#4
interesting difference from our own media. Ours would be interviewing the bombers and pointing out how it was all our fault. Never thought I'd say this about Pakistan, but maybe we can swap?
Posted by: Nautae cum puella in concubitu sunt ||
09/23/2008 13:59 Comments ||
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#5
That's an interesting nym, Nautae cum puella in concubitu sunt.
Three days after he was killed by the Delhi Police-- Atif is now being linked to the Jaipur serial blasts as well. Rajasthan Police has disclosed Atif's links to Jaipur blasts saying he not only masterminded the May 13 bombings but also executed the attacks that killed more than 50 people.
DIG Crime of Rajasthan Police, A Ponnuchami said Atif and his team visited Jaipur on May 11 for a reccee--that's two days before the actual blasts and went back to Delhi the same day.
Atif and his team returned to Jaipur with the bombs on the day of the blasts. They travelled by bus to Jaipur bought cycles and planted the bombs in them. After executing their plan they left Jaipur just two hours before the bombs went off.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2008 00:00 ||
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The NWFP government postponed the enforcement of Nizam-e-Adl Regulations 2008 in Malakand division for two to three months, the Awami National Party (ANP) central information secretary said on Monday.
Earlier, the government had said informally that it would announce the enforcement of the law by September 26.
ANP Central Information Secretary Zahid Khan told Daily Times that a two to three months period was sought for the implementation and it 'does not mean that there is any delay' on the government's part.
"This is a new structure with some new appointments and new offices and the whole process needs some time," he added. Khan said the chief minister would meet a Dir jirga to thank them for expelling Taliban from their areas.
Talking to a 25-member jirga from Dir district, NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti said shariah would be implemented in Malakand in two to three months.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2008 00:00 ||
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Karma, Iraq - When the Iraqi Army caught Abdul al-Wasit, a mid-level operative for Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), he was working undercover as a shepherd in a rural area. It was a far cry from his earlier days in a village 65 miles south, where he used to extort locals and openly execute rivals.
The once seemingly untouchable insurgent had been reduced to hiding on the fringes of society. Many of his fellow operatives had joined him, and they continued to plan operations while supposedly trading sheep.
Facing a local population that has grown intolerant of AQI's indiscriminate acts of violence, many operatives like Mr. Wasit have gone underground -- some have even formed sleeper cells in the Iraqi security forces. Members now only emerge from hiding to conduct high-profile attacks. Though this strategic shift has created an apparently less active AQI, the group has not given up the fight in Iraq and will likely remain a threat here for years.
Continued on Page 49
Secret negotiations in Indonesia with separatist sympathisers at the weekend were aimed at isolating the terrorists insurgents operating in the deep South, not at striking a deal with them, a Defence Ministry source insisted yesterday. The talks followed a strategy proposed by former prime minister Samak Sundaravej to handle external factors affecting the violent situation in the deep South. ''This [dialogue] is to cut the lifeline and support given to the militants in the South,'' said the source.
The talks, mediated by Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla at the presidential palace in Bogor, involved five representatives from the deep South and negotiators from Bangkok. Indonesia's Secretary of State Hatta Radjasa said the five members of the separatist Pattani Malay Consultative Congress were led by Wahyuddin Mohammad, Antara news agency reported yesterday. The talks were inconclusive and will resume in November.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met the Thai Muslim delegates at the presidential palace yesterday. He had met the Thai team led by Gen Kwanchart Klaharn on Saturday. ''Do not say it was our initiative to play a role. This is the wish of the two parties as part of their efforts to end their conflict,'' Mr Radjasa said. ''Indonesia is considered an experienced mediator and is the largest country in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.''
The talks on Saturday and Sunday ''produced several points as reference for making a framework for their next meeting'', Antara reported. ''They had also signed notes on the meeting's results,'' it said. The two sides resolved to meet again in Bogor, about 50km south of Jakarta, on Nov 1-2 and Nov 14.
The Defence Ministry source said that under Mr Samak's directive, teams were sent to countries believed to be home to insurgent supporters, including Malaysia, Indonesia and the Middle East. Gen Kwanchart, a former Fourth Army commander, was tasked with getting help from Indonesia. Southern militants received training in Indonesia, particularly jungle survival and bomb making, the source said. Gen Kwanchart would make no comment yesterday. ''I have no idea ... I cannot talk now,'' he said. A source close to the general said he was surprised the news leaked and he felt he had been stabbed in the back.
Defence Ministry spokesman Lt-Gen Peerapong Manakij and army spokesman Col Acra Tiproch distanced the army from the talks in Indonesia, saying Gen Kwanchart had made a personal trip. The Fourth Army had no knowledge of Gen Kwanchart's actions, Col Acra said.
DUBAI: A top security official in the United Arab Emirates warned Iran yesterday not to drag its Arab neighbors in the Gulf into any conflict with the West.
"Our strong relations with Iranians don't mean that governments in the GCC will not react strongly to any work that will endanger social stability and economic prosperity," Dubai police chief Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim said in remarks posted on the Gulf News website.
His remarks came one week after the same Dubai-based paper quoted a senior Iranian defector as alleging that Iran runs a network of agents in the six Gulf states that could be used to destabilize the region.
Iranian Defense Minister Mustafa Mohammad Najjar dismissed the claim as "lies and provocative remarks from enemy Western media." And Kuwait's defense minister yesterday called the defector's reported comments "mere rumors."
"Lies! All lies!"
According to Gulf News, Dubai's police chief acknowledged that Iran might have sleeping agents in the region. "My advice to them (is to) keep them sleeping because it is not in the interests of Iranians in the region to destabilize host countries," he was quoted as saying.
Tamim said Iran's conflict with the United States over its controversial nuclear program should not involve the Gulf Cooperation Council states. "We are in favor of a peaceful resolution... This doesn't mean that they can cut the life vein of the region just because they can't confront the US directly," he said. He was referring to Iran's warnings that it will retaliate militarily or close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil route, if it comes under US attack.
Adel Al-Assadi, who was Iran's consul general in Dubai before defecting in 2001, said last week that Iranian Revolutionary Guards began setting up sleeper cells in the GCC states after the 1979 revolution.
Kuwait's defense minister, also in remarks published yesterday, dismissed as "mere rumors" the claim that spies from neighboring countries are operating in the emirate. He did not specifically name Iran. "Reports about the presence of spy networks from neighboring countries in Kuwait are mere rumors," Al-Sheesh Seyassah newspaper reported Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah as saying. "We have good relations with our neighbors."
(AKI) - The Lebanese army claims 10,000 Syrian troops have been deployed on the border of Lebanon to prevent cross-border smuggling. The troops are part of a special unit trained to stop smuggling across the border between both countries.
"We asked the Syrians for clarification and they told us it's an internal situation, inside Syrian territory and not directed against Lebanon," a Lebanese army spokesperson told local network LBC.
Syrian troops were stationed in Lebanon for over 30 years and withdrew in 2005 following the murder of former premier Rafik Hariri. His death was widely believed to be the work of the Syrian government and currently the subject of a United Nations inquiry.
Since then the country has been deeply divided along sectarian and political lines.
Recent clashes in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli have raised fears among politicians and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad asked Lebanese President Michel Suleiman to send more troops to Tripoli. Some politicians considered the request foreign interference in Lebanese affairs and believed that the clashes could be used as a possible excuse by Syria to return its troops to Lebanon.
Tripoli is dominated by supporters of the anti-Syrian Sunni ruling coalition. Alawites - members of a small offshoot of Shia Islam allied to Syria - are allied to the Lebanese Shia opposition.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Sounds like they are going to preven cross border smauggling by eliminating the border altogether.
Much of this is a rehash of the last few days of gibbering threats and such ...
A senior Iranian military official has said that despite all shortcomings, the nation will be ready to defend against any act of aggression. Our youth will be prepared to 'carry weapons' to protect our sovereignty should any form of danger threaten the country, Major General Yahya Rahim-Safavi said on Monday.
"Strategic calculations show that if Israel wants to take the smallest measure against Iranian interests - either independently or with the US - all areas under Israeli control would instantly become unsafe," Maj. Gen. Jafari responded in late August.
Dismissing the possibility of renouncing its uranium enrichment rights in line with the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran has begun making major military preparations to counter any act of aggression on its soil.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
They trust the "youth" with weapons. No bullets, but weapons.
#2
The continuing shrillness of their statements suggest that they are having trouble keeping control of the country. Anything we can do to make things less stable?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/23/2008 1:37 Comments ||
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#3
the last few days of gibbering threats and such
It is like monkeys flinging poo, but with better punctuation and goose-stepping.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Lebanese delegation sources said that although Suleiman's agenda is not yet complete, the president plans to meet with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani, Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Brazil's head of state Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
(AKI) - By Hamza Boccolini - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi are among several Arab leaders considered enemies of Al-Qaeda, according to a new video released by the terror network. Their names are included on a list of enemies in the video released by Al-Qaeda's production arm, al-Sahab, on the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, and Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Husaini al-Sistani, and leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, are also included on the list.
The video, released by the Arab network, also focuses on relations between Al-Qaeda and other Islamist groups. After having accused Iran of complicity in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the number two of the group, Ayman al-Zawahiri, focused on Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood for the first time.
"While the muftis of Saudi Arabia ask the mujahadeen to fight and have dialogue with Jews and Christians and make Muslims accept the Jewish presence in the heart of the Islamic world, the leaders of the international organisation of the Muslim Brotherhood come to Kabul in American tanks talking about wanting to liberate it from the Taliban and agents of Pakistan," the video says.
But the former Egyptian doctor has even harsher words for Iran. He accuses Tehran of driving the Islamic Afghan warlord, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is linked to Al-Qaeda, out of his own territory. Ahmadinejad is accused of taking part in the United Nations General Assembly on 25 September 2007 "recognising an organisation that includes countries like Israel and like Spain that occupies (the Spanish enclaves) of Ceuta and Melilla".
The video accuses Iraq's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, of serving American interests and also attacks Lebanese Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Segments of the video had already been released and sent to Al-Jazeera on 8 September. The full 90-minute video was distributed on several Islamic web forums on Friday.
Many analysts have questioned why for the first time Al-Qaeda was so late in releasing a video dedicated to 11 September.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2008 00:00 ||
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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.
US intelligence analysts are putting the final touches on a secret National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Afghanistan that reportedly describes the situation as "grim", but there are "no plans to declassify" any of it before the election, according to one US official familiar with the process. 
(AKI) - A leader of the Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb has threatened France and Spain in an audio message broadcast on jihadist Internet forums on Monday. "To those that are involved in the war against Islam and have betrayed the Islamic nation, we say to them: Repent before God punishes you with his hands and with ours," said Abdel Malik Droukedel, who uses the name Abu Musab Abdel Wudud. "This is because judgement day is close and punishment is imminent. And whoever among the treacherous apostates thinks that France is in a position to ensure its safety, we tell them they are wrong, because France will not be in a position to do it, and will be worried for its safety."
Secret negotiations in Indonesia with separatist sympathisers at the weekend were aimed at isolating the 
