Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) Secretary General Mushahid Hussain has said steps are being taken to initiate talks with the Taliban chief Mullah Omar.
In an interview to a private television channel, Husain said he had talks with an Afghan ‘intellectual’ last week, who told him that he wanted to convene a grand Afghan ‘jirga’ (meeting) to start negotiations with all factions of the Taliban.
Husain claimed that that the Saudi, German and Norwegian leaderships were also making efforts to form the ‘jirga.’
He said United States was also expected to hold talks with Omar.
Meanwhile, political analyst, Hassan Askari Rizvi, has said that Washington wants the Taliban to recognize its power and realize that the US has the ability to destroy them in Afghanistan.
“The US believes that a potential dialogue process could be advanced if the Taliban became aware of the US deterrence capability against the Taliban,” the Daily Times quoted Rizvi, as saying.
Rizvi, however, said the Obama administration would not talk to the Taliban directly, instead would ask Hamid Karzai to initiate a dialogue with the banned outfit. (ANI)
But nobody is gathering up the lashkar or the tribes to go a-feuding over it.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his chief rival declared victory on Friday in the country's second presidential election since the NATO's invasion as election authority said the vote count was over.
"Initial results show that the president has got a majority," Karzai's campaign manager Deen Mohammad told Reuters, although he said it was the duty of the election commission to announce the official results. "We will not go to a second round. We have got a majority."
Mohammahttp://rantburg.com/editArticle.php?E=277174#d said the estimate of victory was based on reports from nearly 29,000 monitors the campaign had at polling stations throughout the country.
But a spokesman for his chief rival, Abdullah Abdullah, dismissed the claim. "It isn't true," said Fazl Sangcharaki. "We also say, 'Maybe we don't need a second round and Abdullah has won.'"
"The results that we have received from our observers from the sites tells us, as we speak, we have 63 percent, Hamid Karzai has 31 percent," Sancharaki told AFP by telephone. "This is not a final result. We are still receiving more results from our people on the ground. We might be done by tomorrow," he added
Polls conducted before the election showed Karzai in the lead but suggested he might be headed for a run-off against Abdullah, a former foreign minister with strong support in the north.
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08/22/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Saudi Arabia says it will no longer recognize national cards of travelers from the United Arab Emirates over a map printed on the document, requiring a passport instead.
The decision comes in contrast with a mutual agreement between the two Persian Gulf littoral states, allowing for UAE and Saudi citizens to enter the other country holding their national identity cards.
Saudi Immigration Office chief Gen. Salem al-Bolayhed announced his country's withdrawal from the deal, saying the UAE map on Emiratis' ID cards did not correspond to the border agreed by the Arab states in 1974.
"Citizens of the two countries wishing to move between the official crossings have to use their passports instead of their national identity cards," he said.
Bolayhed explained that the decision followed Riyadh's "many measures to contain the issue by submitting an official memorandum via diplomatic channels" to urge the UAE authorities to correct the map.
The UAE government has not responded to Riyadh's efforts made in that respect, prompting the Saudi officials to ban Emiratis from entering the kingdom with their official identity cards, he added.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE, a federation of seven states, settled down long-standing disputes over their mutual boundary line in 1974 when they inked a borders treaty in the Saudi city of Jeddah.
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[Bangla Daily Star] Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday vowed to bring to book the masterminds behind the August 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally through proper probe. "Our government will surely conduct a thorough investigation into the grenade attack. The culprits, no matter how powerful they may be, will be punished," said Hasina, also the president of ruling Awami League, at a discussion at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh.
AL organised the discussion chaired by Deputy Leader of parliament Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury marking the fifth anniversary of the grenade attack.
On this day in 2004, 24 people including AL leader Ivy Rahman, wife of President Zillur Rahman, were killed and 500 others got injured in the grenade attack on an AL rally.
Hasina, who narrowly survived the attack, held the then BNP-Jamaat coalition government and its top leadership responsible for the attack. Addressing the discussion as chief guest, Hasina said they have already received a lot of information on the perpetrators and more information will be derived through proper investigation.
The premier said she wants that the agencies investigating the incident locate the places where the attackers received training and from where the grenades were brought. She also questioned why the law enforcement agencies remained inactive during the attack and how same type of grenades used in the attack made their way to the Dhaka central jail.
The AL president said a guard of the prison was allowed to leave the country after the recovery of the grenades. "Who was the prison guard and how could he leave the country without the then government's help?" questioned Hasina. The premier also wondered how 24 grenades went missing from the huge cache of illegal arms hauled in Chittagong.
The AL president said the previous BNP-led coalition government staged a drama arresting Joj Mia in a bid to hide the real culprits. She said BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia proved that she patronised the perpetrators by making BNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu's younger brother Sultan Salauddin Tuku, one of the main accused in the grenade attack case, Chhatra Dal president.
Hasina accused the BNP-Jamaat coalition of patronising militancy and terrorism to eliminate political opponents. She said the patrons of militancy are still active and have been conspiring against the pro-liberation war forces.
Hasina said her government is committed to building a developed and prosperous "digital Bangladesh" for changing the fate of the poor in the country.
She also directed the party activists to help the families affected by the grenade attack. The premier said she wants to keep the pledges for which the people voted them to power.
LGRD and Cooperatives Minister and AL General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam alleged that former premier Khaleda Zia, her sons and cabinet colleagues obstructed the course of law to save the real culprits.
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The British Government has come under mounting pressure to explain its role in the release of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali Al Megrahi, amid claims it was linked to a lucrative trade deal. Opposition parties said that ministers had "serious questions" to answer after Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, claimed that the decision to free Megrahi was tied to a trade agreement.
The Foreign Office issued a strongly worded statement insisting there was no such deal and that Megrahi's release was purely a matter for the Scottish government. However Libyan television showed pictures on Saturday of Col Gaddafi himself meeting Megrahi and praising "my friend" Gordon Brown and the British Government for their part in securing his freedom.
He said: "To my friends in Scotland, the Scottish National Party, and Scottish prime minister, and the foreign secretary, I praise their courage for having proved their independence in decision making despite the unacceptable and unreasonable measures that they faced. Nevertheless they took this courageously right and humanitarian decision.
"And I say to my friend Brown, the Prime Minister of Britain, his Government, the Queen of Britain, Elizabeth, and Prince Andrew, who all contributed to encouraging the Scottish government to take this historic and courageous decision, despite the obstacles."
Shadow Foreign Minister David Lidington said it was essential Mr Brown now answered the questions put to him by Tory leader David Cameron as to whether British ministers had at any time suggested or requested that Megrahi should be released or transferred to a Libyan jail. "I think there are some serious questions to be asked," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
"I am sure that the Libyans were pressing for Megrahi to be released and I think that what both Col Gaddafi and his son have said in the last 24 hours makes it even more important that Gordon Brown, our Prime Minister, answers the questions that David Cameron has put to him. It is very important, I think, for the reputation of our institutions of justice that it is made clear beyond any doubt that this was not connected with some political trade."
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Edward Davey said the Government in Westminster appeared to be acting in close co-operation with the SNP government in Scotland, which ordered Megrahi's release on compassionate grounds after serving less than eight years of his life sentence. "They are dancing around each other, not criticising each other. I don't think any pressure was actually put from Westminster on Holyrood. I think they are willing partners in this," he told the Today programme.
"The new-found compassion is welcome on one level, but one does remember that there are billions of pounds of oil, gas, and bank contracts behind it. There is some evidence to suggest that, while there may not have been a written deal, we all know that diplomacy and trade operate in rather more subtle ways."
The speculation about the role played by London has been fuelled by the disclosure that the Business Secretary Lord Mandelson met Saif al-Islam Gaddafi earlier this month while holidaying on the Greek island of Corfu. A spokesman for Lord Mandelson said at the time that they had discussed the Megrahi case only fleetingly and that the Business Secretary had not been cited on the issue.
A statement from the Foreign Office, however, denied there was any trade deal behind Megrahi's release. It said: "There is no deal. All decisions relating to the Megrahi case have been exclusively for Scottish ministers, the Crown Office in Scotland, and the Scottish judicial authorities. No deal has been made between the UK Government and Libya in relation to Megrahi and any commercial interests in the country."
#1
In other news: Lamps at Balmoral to get new wicks and oil.
Meeting Abdel Basset al-Megrahi and his family late on Friday, Gaddafi thanked British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Queen Elizabeth for "encouraging" Scotland to release the dying prisoner from a Scottish jail, said Libyan news agency JANA.
"This step is in the interest of relations between the two countries ... and of the personal friendship between me and them and will be positively reflected for sure in all areas of cooperation between the two countries," the Libyan leader said.
Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill made decision to release al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds because the Libyan has prostate cancer and was given only months to live by top British doctors. MacAskill said he rejected an option to release al-Megrahi under a prisoner transfer deal between Britain and Libya.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt on Friday played down a diplomatic row with Israel sparked by a Swedish newspaper's claims that Israeli soldiers stole organs from dead Palestinians. But Bildt declined to condemn the piece, saying the government has to respect the Swedish constitution's principles on freedom of expression. "As a member of the Swedish government, acting on the Swedish constitution I have to respect the freedom of the speech, irrespective of the personal views that I might have," he said. Perfectly understandable. I can understand his position and respect it. Swedish newspapers have the right to print any kind of drivel they please. As with the issue of the Mohammad cartoons, no one has the right to tell them not to. Jews probably won't even riot world-wide. The civilized world does, however, have a perfect right to poke holes in the "news" presented, to question the motives of the writer, editors and publisher, to compare them to Julius Streicher, and to regard the paper in the same light as dog crap.
When asked by reporters if the report published by the Aftonbladet tabloid would sour relations between the two countries, Bildt said: "I don't think so." "No, no! Certainly not! Jews have been putting up with this sort of thing for a couple thousand years now! They're used to it!"
"We have very strong state relationship between Israel and our government. We are both open and democratic societies," he told reporters during a meeting of Nordic and Baltic foreign ministers in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik.
Anti-Semitism
On Thursday, Stockholm distanced itself from a statement by Sweden's Ambassador to Israel Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier expressing outrage at the article, drawing a stinging response from the Israeli foreign ministry. "It is regrettable that the Swedish foreign ministry does not intervene when it comes to a blood libel against Jews, which reminds one of Sweden's conduct during World War II when it also did not intervene," it said in a statement.
Sweden's Aftonbladet newspaper sparked the row on Monday when it published a report claiming Israeli soldiers snatched Palestinian youths to steal their organs and returned their dismembered bodies a few days later. The article implied a link between charges of organ theft from Palestinians and the recent arrest in the United States of an American Jew suspected of illicit organ trafficking. Headlined "Our sons are plundered for their organs," the story made news in Israel, where officials described it as racist and accused it of using "vile anti-Semitic themes."
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he planned to make a "serious protest" to Bildt over the Swedish Foreign Ministry's previous decision not to comment on the article. "A country that truly wants to defend democratic values must strongly condemn deceitful reports with an odor of anti-Semitism of the kind published this week in Aftonbladet," Lieberman said in a statement.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he would look into suing the reporter for libel.
Bildt rejected claims that Sweden harbors anti-Semitic feelings, adding that the condemnation of anti-Semitism was the only issue on which there has ever been complete unity in the Swedish Parliament.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Press freedom from any sort of accountability (unless they say something true offensive about Islam)?
INTERROGATORS from the US Central Intelligence Agency used a handgun and an electric drill to try to frighten a captured Al-Qaeda commander into giving up information, The Washington Post reports.
Citing a report by the agency's inspector general and unnamed former and current US officials, the newspaper said the tactics were used on Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.
Nashiri, who was captured in November 2002 and held for four years in one of the CIA's secret prisons, ultimately became one of three Al-Qaeda leaders subjected to waterboarding, the report said.
A federal judge in New York has ordered a redacted version of the classified IG report to be publicly released next week, in response to a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, the paper said.
The report, written in 2004, offers new details about Nashiri's interrogation, including episodes in which the detainee reportedly was threatened with death or grave injury if he refused to cooperate, The Post said.
In one instance, a CIA interrogator showed Nashiri a gun and sought to frighten the detainee into thinking he would be shot, said the paper, citing unnamed sources.
In a separate encounter, a power drill was held near Nashiri's body and repeatedly turned on and off, according to the report.
The federal torture statute prohibits US nationals from threatening anyone in his or her custody with imminent death, The Post said.
She held that the man's brief stint at an Al Qaeda training camp and two encounters with Osama Bin Laden were not enough to justify his confinement. Since when is it her call?
In another Gitmo case, U.S. District Judge James Robertson ruled the government may continue to detain Adham Mohammed Ali Awad, also a Yemeni. The government alleged that the 27-year-old had trained with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and was badly injured in an air strike. Though the nature of the injury was redacted in Robertson's opinion, other public military records say that Awad lost a leg in the bombing.
He and other fighters barricaded themselves in a hospital. The others fought to the death, but Awad was left behind because he was too badly injured, the government alleged.
Though Robertson ruled that the government had met its burden in the case, the judge was less than impressed. "The case against Awad is gossamer thin," he wrote. I am less than impressed with these judges
Sri Lanka's army has said it will be happy to give training to members of the Pakistani military. It says Islamabad has requested the training because of the country's success in defeating the Tamil Tigers.
The Paks may finally be on to something, though it's a race between the Paks and the Lankans as to who has the worse record in protecting civilians ...
The army's new commander told the BBC that Pakistan had already asked if it could send its military cadets to train in counter-insurgency operations. "We'll give a favourable response," Lt Gen Jagath Jayasuriya said of the request.
He said the Sri Lankan military envisaged specialist courses lasting up to six weeks, directed towards small groups from interested armies.
Lt Gen Jayasuriya said there was external interest in how the military had defeated the rebel group in practical terms. The army now wished to construct a written military doctrine in English.
He said Sri Lanka had offered similar training, through diplomatic channels, to other countries including the United States, India, Bangladesh and The Philippines.
He dismissed reports that the Pakistanis might receive military training in newly recaptured parts of northern Sri Lanka, saying it would be more likely in the south-east. But he did say new permanent military bases would be set up in those northern areas including the rebels' former headquarters, Kilinochchi.
Sri Lanka and Pakistan have long enjoyed warm relations. In late May, Pakistan - like India, China and Russia - helped Colombo defeat a motion at the UN which would have criticised both the government and the rebels for allegedly violating humanitarian law during the war.
But India, which is highly influential here, might well be uncomfortable at this news of the Pakistanis' interest in being trained.
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08/22/2009 00:00 ||
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[AFP] Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari on Saturday alleged there had been collaboration between Iraqi security forces and the insurgents whose massive truck bombings killed 95 people three days ago. Zebari, whose ministry lost 32 workers in the blast at its headquarters, admitted the attacks were a serious security setback and that the government had failed to protect its citizens. "How could this truck pass unless there is collaboration?" Zebari told reporters in Baghdad. "There was collaboration between security forces and the terrorist group to facilitate the passing of this truck through such a sensitive area." Zebari said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had ordered the arrest of 11 senior security officers on Thursday so they could be questioned on how a four-tonne truck had entered an area where even two-tonne vehicles were barred.
Wednesday's bombings at the ministeries of foreign affairs and finance culminated in the worst day of violence seen in the conflict-hit country in 18 months, with around 600 people also wounded.
He also made the first official admission that the blasts signalled that security gains made in the past year were under serious strain following a series of deadly attacks in recent months. "They have been moving their attacks... now they have focused on their main concern, their main attention, on Baghdad and this is a dangerous and a serious development and a security setback," said Zebari. "This has been going on for the last two months. Every week, every two weeks we see a wave of these bombings and killings of innocent people."
Premier Maliki said after Wednesday's bombings that the attacks were "a desperate attempt to derail the political process and affect the parliamentary elections," planned for January 2010. But Zebari went further and called for a re-appraisal of the country's entire security apparatus as it was not, he said, obtaining sufficient intelligence to counter the enemy threat. "The Iraqi government and security forces are doing their best but our enemy is mobile so we know how hard it is," he said.n"Sometimes you can't fight these people with checkpoints. You should be mobile. You should go after them you, disrupt and penetrate their network to get human information. This is the key," he added.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Powerful Shiite politicians and Iraq's leading Sunni insurgency group on Friday accused each other of being responsible for massive truck bombings in Baghdad that killed 95 people two days ago.
Separate statements from both sides exposed the gulf between the country's two main Muslim groups in the wake of Wednesday's attacks at the ministries of finance and foreign affairs, which also left about 600 people wounded.
Shiites blame Sunnis
"Those attacks are clear evidence that there is a studied plan aim to kill more innocent Iraqis and destroy the wealth of Iraq"
A statement from the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite, on Wednesday said the bombings were "a desperate attempt to derail the political process and affect the parliamentary elections," planned to take place in January 2010.
A statement from the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, a powerful and influential Shiite party close to Iran, said the country was facing "comprehensive war" and not only "simple bombings here and there."
It blamed Sunnis who once formed the backbone of toppled dictator Saddam Hussein's regime for the attacks. "The remains of the former Saddam regime who are accusing Shiites of being unbelievers are continuing their crimes against innocent Iraqis, revealing their criminal plans against people's freedom and dignity," it said.
"Those attacks are clear evidence that there is a studied plan aim to kill more innocent Iraqis and destroy the wealth of Iraq," the statement added.
Sunnis blame Shiites
" The series of attacks took place in Baghdad confirm that some factions in government and the political process want to build a state full of sectarianism and division "
A statement by the Islamic Army in Iraq
The Islamic Army in Iraq, seen as the country's leading Sunni insurgent outfit and which includes army officers from the Saddam era, laid the blame for the attacks with the Baghdad government and U.S. forces. "We accuse the occupation forces, the government, political blocs whose militias are fighting between each other, in executing the attacks," said the insurgents' statement.
"The Islamic Army in Iraq always condemns all the attacks targeting innocent people.
"The series of attacks took place in Baghdad confirm that some factions in government and the political process want to build a state full of sectarianism and division."
Wednesday's truck bombings signaled the country's worst day of violence in 18 months, prompting outrage among Iraqis at security failings that had allowed the bombers to commit their atrocities.
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Fugitive henchmen of Saddam Hussein have adopted the cover of influential Muslim mystic groups to pose a real threat to stability in ethnically divided northern Iraq, Iraqi and U.S. commanders said.
The so-called Sufi orders have a large historical following in the disputed oil-rich region and commanders say that the exploitation by Saddam loyalists of the orders' extensive network of lodges holds more dangers than al-Qaeda.
"They have a pretty significant long-term potential to be a threat to the powers that be," said Major Chuck Assadourian, the intelligence chief of the U.S. Army's 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, who is based outside the oil city of Kirkuk.
Known as the Army of the Followers of the Naqshbandiya Order, or JRTN from its Arabic acronym, the insurgent group operates under the cover of the order's many lodges across Kirkuk and neighboring provinces, and counts Saddam's fugitive number two Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri among its leaders. It was founded under the auspices of Ibrahim and former interior minister Mohammed Yunus on the night of Saddam's execution for crimes against humanity at the end of the end of 2006, Assadourian said.
The members of its military wing are mainly made up of Sunni Arab former members of the Baath party and Saddam's disbanded armed forces, even though the Sufi orders traditionally claim to draw support from across the region's ethnic divide.
Capitalizing on Qaeda's mistakes
The JRTN has capitalized on the unpopularity of Qaeda and its foreign fighters, whose brutal tactics and enforcement of a strict version of Islam out of kilter with local traditions has alienated the region's population. "They're (Qaeda) not really as concerned with winning the hearts and minds of the people, they still have their extremist ideology--no alcohol, no smoking, those sort of things--and that's a big turn-off for the population," Assadourian said.
Provincial police chief Major General Jamal Taher Bakr agreed that the JRTN were now "the big threat," surpassing even Qaeda despite its continued mounting of spectacular, mass-casualty bombings. But he took issue with the JRTN's claim to focus its campaign of violence on U.S. targets rather than Iraqi ones. "They will attack civilian targets in cities, everywhere," Bakr said.
Assadourian said that overcoming the JRTN threat would take time and would need a political approach as much as a military one to woo former rank-and-file Baathists away from the diehards of the ousted regime. "Obviously national elections would help, if there was a more proportional representation of Sunnis," he said in allusion to the widespread boycott among Sunni Arabs of the last parliamentary elections in 2005. "And really there needs to be some determination as far as political accommodation for technocrats from the former regime, non-ideological individuals, because there's a significant population of those folks."
"With some of the political dynamics right now, a lot of the Baathists are excluded from holding positions and of course that's very contentious."
Progress has been slow on re-integrating former Baathists into government employment, after all but the most junior members of the party were barred from government jobs following the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 in what is now regarded as one of the most misguided policies of the occupation.
Assadourian said that JRTN fighters, who also operate in neighboring Salaheddin province around Saddam's hometown of Tikrit--a traditional Baathist stronghold, mostly used roadside bombs and grenades, and often exaggerated their battlefield successes.
Media war
"They post videos and they'll drop it off on the street corner--'Look at us, look at what we can do, we're capable, we'll stand up against the occupiers,'" he said.
"One of the funny things is that they do a monthly production of these videos, and you'll go from month to month sometimes and you'll see the exact same video, and they'll tell you that it's a different unit that did it or a different location."
But the group has scored some major coups against U.S. targets. In January, four U.S. soldiers were killed when two U.S. helicopters on a reconnaissance mission came down, which JRTN claimed happened as a result of their fire. The U.S. military initially insisted that it was an accident, only to acknowledge the following month that the aircraft were downed by "hostile fire," but gave no specifics.
Nationwide, security has improved markedly compared to last year, with the number of violent deaths falling by a third in July to 275 from 437 in June. But the JRTN's strength in volatile Kirkuk threatens a new flare-up with the movement's mainly Sunni Arab supporters bitterly opposed to longstanding Kurdish claims to incorporate the province and its oil wealth in their northern autonomous region.
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Iraqi lawmakers called Friday for a review to find and fix acknowledged shortcomings in the country's U.S.-trained security forces that were revealed by a wave of bombings this week, including attacks on government buildings in Baghdad. Lawmakers also called for an emergency session of parliament to address the security concerns, the deputy speaker said, as anger continued to mount over the attacks.
The bombings have shaken public confidence in Iraq's security forces and caused some to wonder if the security transition from U.S. to Iraqi hands is happening to rapidly.
A bombing Friday at a vegetable market in southern Baghdad exposed more lapses in security. An explosives-packed truck used in the attack passed through an Iraqi police checkpoint but was not searched minutes before exploding at the market's front gate, an Iraqi police official said. Two people were killed and 20 were wounded. The recommendation for a security review came out of a meeting of Iraq's political blocs and the ministers of defense, interior and national security, said deputy speaker Khalid al-Attiyah.
The meeting was called by the parliament speaker to look into the bombings Wednesday, which primarily targeted government buildings, including the foreign and finance ministries. The attacks killed at least 101 people and wounded more than 500.
The attacks revealed "breaches and soft areas in our security system," al-Attiyah said. "This matter requires a comprehensive review of the system and finding the shortcomings in order to fix them."
The lawmakers and officials called for compensation to be paid to those wounded in the attacks and to relatives of those killed. They also recommended the creation of a joint committee of officials from the interior, defense and national security ministries to determine how to better investigate and prosecute insurgents.
The Iraqi government said it was increasing security at checkpoints near government buildings and markets and keeping concrete blast barriers around potential targets.
While Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has blamed Al Qaeda in Iraq and accused them of stoking sectarian violence, authorities have detained 11 members of Iraq's security forces on suspicion of negligence.
New details emerged Friday about the attacks Wednesday at the foreign and finance ministries.
The truck bombs were water tankers that were loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer and artillery shells, said Maj. Gen. Jihad al-Jabouri, commander of an Iraqi bomb disposal unit.
The truck bomb that exploded near the Foreign Ministry held two tons of explosives, while the one that targeted the Finance Ministry held one and a half tons of explosives, he said. The bombs were likely built in Baghdad because it would be impossible to drive such a bomb from a long distance, he added.
Clerics roundly criticized the Iraqi government during Friday prayers, calling for the prosecution of those officials responsible for security lapses. "If the government is unable to protect the people, it can get the help from the occupying troops who are the reason for this catastrophe in Iraq," Sheik Ahmed Hassan al-Taha said during services at Baghdad's main Sunni mosque.
But Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Mohammadawi blamed American troops during a sermon in the city of Kufa, saying the U.S. wanted Iraq's security forces weak so U.S. troops could remain in the country longer.
U.S. troops withdrew from Iraqi cities on June 30, and the recent bombings have raised fears about the readiness of Iraqi forces to provide security as the U.S. winds down combat operations.
Under an Iraqi-U.S. security pact that took effect Jan. 1, American forces will withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011. President Barack Obama has ordered all U.S. combat troops out of Iraq by Aug. 31, 2010, leaving up to 50,000 U.S. troops in training and advising roles.
The U.S. military has not been asked to help provide additional security in Baghdad or elsewhere in Iraq, though it has been asked by Iraq for help in gathering intelligence and analyzing evidence as part of the investigation into the recent bombings, said Maj. David Shoupe, a U.S. military spokesman.
In the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad, gunmen killed a bodyguard of a prominent tribal official during a drive-by shooting, an Iraqi police official said. Sheik Abdul-Rahman Dhahir al-Dhari escaped injury, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason as the others.
Al-Dhari is the cousin of Sheik Harith al-Dhari, who heads the Association of Muslim Scholars and has been accused by Iraqi authorities of having ties to Sunni insurgents.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military continued to release or hand over to the Iraqi government thousands of detainees nationwide, under the U.S.-Iraqi security pact.
Among the latest released was Amer al-Husseini, who ran anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's office in Baghdad. The U.S. has not released any details about allegations behind al-Husseini's detention. Al-Husseini told The Associated Press it was because he was al-Sadr's aide. He pledged his continuing support to al-Sadr and predicted the release of other Sadrists in the coming days, saying the cleric was pressing the Iraqi government for their release.
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08/22/2009 00:00 ||
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Ma'an -- Palestinians deported from Bethlehem during the 2002 siege of the Nativity Church insisted on Friday their hunger strike at Palestine's embassy in Rome was meant to pressure Italy, not the Palestinian Authority.
The hunger strike, which began on Thursday, was started to pressure Italian authorities to abide by conditions the prisoners said were promised to them, including living a decent life in Italy and eventually returning to Bethlehem, following their agreement in 2002 to end their shelter inside the Church of the Nativity in exchange for guarantees they would not be killed or jailed by Israel.
The three Palestinians involved in the strike were identified as Mohammad Abu As-Sa'eed, Khaled Abu Nejmah, and Ibrahim E'beyat. They were deported to Europe as part of an agreement that would see Israel end its siege of Bethlehem in exchange for the Palestinian militants' deportation to Europe and Gaza.
On Thursday, Abu As-Sa'eed told Ma'an in a telephone interview that he and his fellow deportees would "sleep on chairs inside the embassy until our demands are met."
A similar hunger strike was carried out some two months earlier and ended upon the Italian government's promise to meet their demands, they said. But Italy's failure to abide by its commitment has forced the deportees to begin anew, they insisted on Friday.
"Our primary demand is either to return to Palestine, but if that's not possible, the Italian government should respond to our demands that we live in dignity on its soil for the period of our deportation," Abu As-Sa'eed said.
Rather than blaming the PA for their predicament, Abu As-Sa'eed said Palestine Liberation Organization negotiator Saeb Erekat and the staff of the Palestinian embassy in Rome had "supported our stance through intensive contacts [with Italian authorities]."
Abu As-Sa'eed urged media outlets to continue focusing on their plight, including that of deportee Jihad Ij'areh in Ireland, and threatened to expand the strike to all of Europe if progress is not made soon.
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#1
I have no sympathy for hunger strikers. If they follow through to death, they are just committing slow motion suicide, like Bobby Sands from the IRA.
If they are just going through the motions, like Cindy Sheehan and Al Sharpton, they are just on a diet. They are also acting like a spoiled child who holds his breath to make a "point".
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/22/2009 12:40 Comments ||
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#2
Did it occur to those gentlemen that most Italians (gasp) WORK?
Posted by: European Conservative ||
08/22/2009 19:18 Comments ||
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Ma'an - Bethlehem deportees declared an open hunger strike at the Palestinian embassy in Italy in protest of what they say are difficult living conditions in Europe.
Half a dozen of the men deported to Europe following the Israeli siege of the Nativity Church in Bethlehem say they are not receiving enough money from the Palestine Liberation Organization to cover their cost of living.
Spokesman of the deportees Jihad Ij'arah told Ma'an that those deported to Italy say Palestinian official's "ignorance and carelessness" over their situation has resulted in many of the men having their water and electricity cut off from their homes and others being threatened with eviction as they are unable to pay high rents in European cities.
The deportees are reportedly entitled to 2000 Euro each month, with an additional 150 Euro to provide for their families, most of who remain in the West Bank.
Ij'arah said he had attempted to contact PLO member Sa'eb Erekat, and sent letters to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Translation = 1.433 dollars to 1 Euro = 2150 euros x 1.433 = 3080.95 per month or $36971.40 per year
#2
That's like poverty for an American family of four, I think. It probably didn't occur to the striking gentlemen to share a flat together to reduce expenses, or learn to cook spaghetti instead of letting restaurant chefs cook for them every night.
[Al Arabiya Latest] A hard-line Iranian cleric urged the judiciary on Friday to arrest the leaders of post-election unrest, in what appeared to be a reference to defeated moderate presidential candidates Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, while Iran granted U.N. nuclear inspectors the first access to the Arak site in a year.
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, who heads the powerful Guardian Council, did not name Mousavi or Karoubi, but other hardliners have repeatedly accused the two of fomenting post-election street protests in which at least 26 people were killed.
"(Post-vote) riots are our main issue today ... Some people were arrested and some were not. Why weren't the leaders behind the riots arrested? ... Their arrest should be the first thing that the judiciary must do," Jannati told Friday prayer worshippers. The sermon was broadcast live on state radio.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Please, arrest them. Keep rolling the dice and over-playing your hand.
" Mr Vahidi was a deputy defense minister and this is very senior political position. Therefore it seems that this is a new trick being planned and is basically a Zionist plot "
Ahmadinejad press adviser Ali Akbar Javanfekr
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran's defense minister-designate Ahmad Vahidi is being sought by Interpol in connection with the worst terrorist attack on Argentine soil, the 1994 bombing of a Jewish charities headquarters building, a prosecutor said Friday.
Prosecutor Alberto Nisman said Interpol has had a warrant for Vahidi's arrest in the case since November 2007.
Ahmad Vahidi, who commanded a unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard known as the Quds Force at the time of the attack, was nominated by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Wednesday along with others named to fill Cabinet positions. The Quds Force is involved in operations abroad. "His nomination is very serious, given that Vahidi is a person who -- as former head of Al-Quds -- is deeply implicated with this attack," Nisman said
Posted by: Fred ||
08/22/2009 00:00 ||
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Barf alert!!!
The BEEB is ramping up it's "We for one welcome our Overlords" credentials.
Coming up next:
How practicing Catholics and Anglicans fast during Lent and what it means to them, or the meaning of Yon Kippur for Jews. Maybe even how Greek or Russian Orthodox Christians observe the Great Fast of Lent, as well as the Fast of the Apostles, the Dormition Fast (two weeks), and the forty-day Christmas Fast, from 15 November to 24 December.
Maybe, but don't hold your breath waiting.
#1
Meanwhile, in one of the worst coincidences of bad timing seen in a US president in years, Obama begins his two week holiday. Which caused the instant comment, "What is he going to be doing for the final two weeks of Ramadan?"
#2
"What is he going to be doing for the final two weeks of Ramadan?"
Continue to bitch and moan consult and seek the guidance by phone of his faith based stooges and shaman in liberation theology land. Remember, LSMFT. "Be Happy, Go Lucky!" Lite'm up if you've got em.
#4
Muslims eat on the sly during Ramadan. They are allowed to do so, should they feel week or sick, and many stretch the indulgence. Wahabi clerics tell their stooges that even swallowing one's own saliva, breaks the fast. I have bad Muslim co-workers ask for food. I was eager to obstruct "allah's" need for justification by starvation.
Imagine the state of a Muslim pilot, 1 hour before the daily fast ends. They are non-functional. And the prohibition against breath mints, gives their mouth the stench of a camel.
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.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt on Friday played down a diplomatic row with Israel sparked by a Swedish newspaper's claims that Israeli soldiers stole organs from dead Palestinians. But Bildt declined to condemn the piece, saying the government has to respect the Swedish constitution's principles on freedom of expression. "As a member of the Swedish government, acting on the Swedish constitution I have to respect the freedom of the speech, irrespective of the personal views that I might have," he said.
