Could Afghanistan's opium boom be over? Perhaps. According to the latest report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, opium cultivation has crashed in just one year, with prices at their lowest level since the late 1990s. "The bottom is starting to fall out of the Afghan opium market," says Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the agency, which released its annual opium survey on Sept. 2.
Keeping a stable of jihadis on salary is expensive, it seems. But although oil prices are up since hitting bottom, they are still half or so of the peak last summer, so the Saudis, et al haven't nearly as much to donate. Things could get very interesting in Pashtunistan and the surrounding countries.
Posted by: ed ||
09/02/2009 14:33 ||
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U.S. officials are planning to add as many as 14,000 combat troops to the American force in Afghanistan by sending home support staff and under-utilized soldiers and replacing them with infantry units, Defense officials said.
The plan represents a key step in a drive to beef up U.S.-led forces as the Obama administration presses to counter Taliban gains and demonstrate progress amid crumbling public support for the war effort. Forces that could be swapped out include units assigned to non-combat duty, such as guards or look-outs, or those on clerical and support squads.
"It makes sense to get rid of the clerks and replace them with trigger-pullers," said one Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the plans have not been announced.
We've come a long way from Horse Soldiers ...
The changes will not offset the potential need for additional troops in the future, but could reduce the size of any request from Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. and allied commander, officials said.
The plan reflects the view that after eight years of war, much of the military bureaucracy that has built up no longer serves a useful purpose. Services performed by soldiers that are no longer considered crucial could be outsourced to contractors or eliminated, officials said. However, the change is likely to increase the number of private contractors in the war zone, a source of controversy in Iraq and a growing issue in Afghanistan.
The move comes as McChrystal this week submitted a broad assessment of the Afghan war effort, calling the situation there "serious." Details of the assessment remain secret, but officials said it did not contain a request for more troops. Such a request could be submitted in coming weeks.
The planned changes in the U.S. troop mix are part of what military officials call a "force optimization" review, a critical mid-step between the assessment and a request for additional troops, designed to ensure the existing force is operating as efficiently as possible. Defense officials said they did not know how many positions and jobs might be eliminated until the review was completed. But two officials estimated the total could be between 6,000 and 14,000 troops.
The review will scour the U.S. roster for situations where several people perform the same job or for service members who considered less then fully utilized for example, working just a six-hour shift. "[S]ome people are doing jobs that are just not essential to the fight," said a Defense official.
Army Col. Wayne M. Shanks, a spokesman for U.S. Forces in Afghanistan said that some people may no longer be needed and can be "streamlined." "We have asked all commands to take a hard look to reduce redundancy, eliminate any excess and generally look for efficiencies in all our structures," Shanks said. Shanks declined to outline any specific groups of soldiers or Marines that were no longer needed, but said the command would not "compromise the welfare of the troops."
Raising the overall number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan has been contentious. President Obama has ordered an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan to bring the U.S. force to about 68,000. There also are about 38,000 non-U.S. NATO troops in the country. Top Obama administration officials have sent mixed signals about whether they would approve more troops.
But advisors to the military command believe McChrystal needs a larger force to carry out his counter-insurgency strategy -- potentially as many as 20,000 additional soldiers. Culling unneeded units would allow McChrystal to increase U.S. combat power without running afoul of political sensitivities at home.
The Defense official said the effort was not designed by McChrystal primarily to reduce the size of any potential troop increases, but to ensure that everyone being sent was in a "mission critical" job. "If he is asking for more, he certainly wants to insure we are maximizing the use of everyone that is here now," said the official.
Most of the dozens of combat outposts and outlying bases in Afghanistan have soldiers or Marines assigned to gates or guard towers. But the Pentagon official said those troops could be moved put and placed into more valuable duty. "They just stare out from the tower. So let's bring in contractors," the Pentagon official said. "Now you can have a thousand more troops in the field," the official said. Any needed job left vacant could be filled by hiring local Afghans or using military contractors, officials said.
Critics have charged that the military has relied too heavily on contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, handing over too many critical responsibilities to outsiders. A Congressional Research Service report completed last month found there were more contractors than military personnel serving in Afghanistan. The report was based on figures gathered in March, before additional troops ordered by Obama began arriving. Although a majority of outside hires are local Afghans, the CRS reported that the percentage of contractors in Afghanistan was the highest recorded by the Defense Department in U.S. history.
Army officials said the way to solve the problem of underutilized soldiers is to reassign them to relevant jobs. In Iraq for example, many cooks have been retrained to serve as security guards for commanders. "You can always find a job for someone who is under employed," said the Army officer.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/02/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Does this really help if they're crippled by Zero's insane ROE?
#3
If you add trigger pullers, you'd better add support people too (communications, truck drivers, cooks, medics, helicopters, etc.) Our guys are the most effective trigger pullers in the world, but they, with rare exceptions, don't work alone.
#4
I have seen the theme that Americans are against the Afghan war mentioned with greater frequency in the news of late. Is this true, or is this something the press is using to play with their readers' thinking? I don't think Americans think much either way. Perhaps that is being confused with this "negative" perception the press is touting?
#5
"I have seen the theme that Americans are against the Afghan war "
In polls the majority say they support the afghan war. The majority also says they oppose any increase in the number of troops. But everyone Ive read on either side of the debate says we need to EITHER increase troop strength OR redefine, withdraw, change mission, etc.
Conclusion - lots of people who answer polls have not been really following the debate.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
09/02/2009 15:15 Comments ||
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#6
Does this really help if they're crippled by Zero's insane ROE?
Not if you believe the old ROE was working. AFAICT, Petraeus, Gates, and McCrystal do not believe it was.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
09/02/2009 15:16 Comments ||
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Posted by: liberal hawk ||
09/02/2009 15:45 Comments ||
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#8
#1: Airpower, I believe, was not deemed unusable, just had more restrictions on who, when, where.
#2: Previous ROE . . . was fairly broad. Essentially, any civilian with a weapon could be engaged. As I recall, no Afghan is allowed a weapon for self-defense. It is my opinion that the unarmed populace cannot defend itself from the thugs, both those in cahoots with the Taliban and those who are affiliated with the warlords (or both).
People who cannot defend themselves don't get to vote, nor do they live long enough to make good allies against the thugs*
*The tailor who worked at the FOB I was at referred to the local 'Taliban' as thugs, because they did not believe in the religion, they just wanted power over other people.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
09/02/2009 16:06 Comments ||
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#9
Every time i try to answer a poll, they always refuse to allow me to finish without giving my E-Mail address
They're NOT getting it, so my answers get shitcanned
Multiply this by 300 million americans and they're only truly polling the careless.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/02/2009 19:30 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt hints that the US and its European allies, with thousands of troops in Afghanistan, have no "exit strategy."
"There is no time line, it is clear that no one has an exit strategy, because we have a transition strategy," Bildt said before leaving Kabul after a two-day visit to Afghanistan. "It is vital that Afghans have the confidence that we will stay," Bildt added. So why would an exit strategy be needed if it's vital we stay? Remind me how much skin Sweden has in the game?
However, the top diplomat expressed concerns over the deteriorating situation in the war-ravaged country, adding that there appears to be no military solution to a decade long conflict.
"This is not a conflict that can be won by military means alone," said the Swedish official, whose country currently holds the presidency of the European Union.
Which is precisely not what the expensively educated journalist wrote.
There are currently more than 101,000 international soldiers in Afghanistan. The US-led force lost 77 more troops there during August, setting a new monthly casualty record since the occupation began in 2001.
I do wish that death rates would be reported as X deaths per thousand troops per number of enemy contacts... or however the military types report such things. There are considerably more troops there now, and we are being much more aggressive, so it would be reasonable to expect more casualties as a raw number. It's the perspective that matters. What I'd really love to see is the number of our deaths per enemy deaths, but I know I won't get to see that particular ratio until a generation or two has passed.
The previous record was set just a month before in July when 76 soldiers of the so-called International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) perished, reflecting the rapidly worsening conditions in the country.
The insurgency has skyrocketed in the eastern and western provinces where the foreign troops have lost several grounds to the Taliban-linked militants over the past months.
Has it skyrocketed, or is it just that we've wandered into territory they thought was theirs?
US launched military operations to overthrow the Taliban regime in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in the United States. The occupation was labeled "the war against terror," reportedly leading to more terror and insecurity in the conflict-torn country.
Pressure is mounting on the US and its western allies to pull out troops from the violence-wracked country amid growing troops causalities.
Pressure wouldn't be mounting if little journalist idiots didn't invent that pressure out of whole cloth in the hope of making it come true. After all, it worked in Viet Nam.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
That's because they're there to harvest organs.
#3
Ariana Afghan Airlines supposedly has three flights a week to Frankfurt, Germany. Should be able to get a connection to Stockholm from there. How's that for an exit strategy for the Swedes?
#5
So why would an exit strategy be needed if it's vital we stay?
I think what he meant is, that calling for an exit strategy isnt really the point. We want to transition (to Afghan forces) not talk about exiting. IE it was a hawkish statement, not a dovish one. Iran Press TV is twisting it. NOt surprising, eh?
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
09/02/2009 15:12 Comments ||
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#6
Remind me how much skin Sweden has in the game?
Hmmm.....Swedish skin . . . . Swedish Bikini team could come as part of a USO tour and I think that would cover all of Swedens obligations to the war effort. 8)
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
09/02/2009 15:57 Comments ||
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#7
What liberal hawk said. I think it's very brave of the foreign minister, considering which country he represents.
The only man convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing was taken to intensive care Wednesday after his illness from terminal prostate cancer worsened, family members said.
According to Libyan officials, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi's health has swiftly deteriorated since he was released from a Scottish prison less than two weeks ago and returned home to Libya to die. Welcome to state of the art Libyan health care. Try the pureed koran soup.
Posted by: ed ||
09/02/2009 14:21 ||
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#5
When I think of Lockerbie, I always think of that innocent young Syracuse Univ coed sitting upside down in her airline seat way up in a tree. All of Libya and anyone else involved should have been put to the sword. We're paying the price today.
[Mail and Globe] Two key militant leaders in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta have started informal talks with the government about surrendering their weapons in return for clemency, an amnesty committee spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Representatives of Ateke Tom and Government Tompolo, the leaders of factions of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), have spoken with government officials about accepting an amnesty offer, said Timiebi Koripamo-Agary, spokesperson for the presidential panel on amnesty.
"We are discussing with them, but it is all informal," she told Reuters. "We are assuring them that the amnesty is for real as they have expressed concern about their personal security."
President Umaru Yar'Adua in June offered amnesty to gunmen in the Niger Delta to try to stem unrest which has prevented Nigeria from pumping much above two-thirds of its oil capacity, costing it billions of dollars a year in lost revenues.
The amnesty programme has split militant factions in the region, with hundreds of rebels, including some senior leaders, handing over weapons but others refusing to take part.
Mend, which has warned it will resume attacks once a ceasefire period ends in two weeks, said it was abandoning militant leaders who engaged in talks with the government.
"Mend is shedding most of its popular commanders whose identities have become known to government agents as this will not make our secrecy style effective," the group said in an email to Reuters.
"It is possible [Agary] may have had private talks with Ateke and Tompolo but this has nothing to do with Mend ... Mend has not returned to the negotiating table and talks remain suspended until we announce a resumption," the email said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2009 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Asharq Al-Awsat- The father of the alleged Jeddah suicide bomber who attempted to assassinate Saudi Assistant Minister of the Interior for Security Affairs, Prince Mohammed Bin Naif, is torn between acceptance and disbelief at the Al Qaeda statement which named his son, Abdullah al-Asiri as "the perpetrator of the attack." This uncertainty is because DNA analysis on the identity of the bomber has yet to be released, and this will confirm or refute whether al-Asiri was in fact the perpetrator or not.
Hassan al-Asiri, the father of the alleged suicide bomber, did not hesitate to meet with Asharq Al-Awsat yesterday at his home in eastern Riyadh. Al-Asiri is a man of advanced years who walks with the aid of a cane; he also suffers from a neurological disease, the symptoms of which include involuntary hand movements.
Despite the Al Qaeda statement confirming that his son, Abdullah al-Asiri, was responsible for carrying out the failed attack on the Assistant Minister of the Interior for Security Affairs, Hassan al-Asiri told Asharq Al-Awsat that he hopes that this is not true.
Hassan al-Asiri also confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that both his sons, Abdullah "the alleged suicide bomber" and his brother, Ibrahim, were included on the list of 85 most wanted suspects issued by the Saudi Interior Ministry. Al-Asiri added that prior to their mutual disappearance almost 3 years ago, he did not notice any change in the ideological belief of his sons.
Security information indicates that the al-Asiri brothers were last seen in Yemen. Hassan al-Asiri also revealed that his son, Abdullah, had reached the third year of university education prior to dropping out, whilst Ibrahim al-Asiri had been studying at King Saud University's Faculty of Science.
The father of the two men who are wanted by the Saudi Arabian security apparatus informed Asharq Al-Awsat that they both had a passion for doing charitable works, and during Ramadan of each year, would stand at the traffic lights and help to distribute food to those who were fasting. Hassan al-Asiri also said that he did not know what had promoted his two sons to join the Al Qaeda organization.
Al-Asiri also told Asharq Al-Awsat of his hope that his son would return to their senses, saying "I hope that it is not long before they return to their previous convictions, and do not allow the devils to continue exploiting them.'
Hassan al-Asiri also told Asharq Al-Awsat that he last spoke to his sons, Abdullah and Ibrahim, one and a half years ago. He said that during this telephone conversation he attempted to convince them to return, but they had rejected this idea, and have not contacted the family since.
Asked whether he would like to send a message to Prince Mohammed Bin Naif, Hassan al-Asiri said "This man is a model that should be emulated to achieve goodness, a man of perfect qualities, and I pray to God that he does not suffer any harm."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, Master Ass Blaster has certainly brought a whole new meaning to "assassinate". Or attempts thereof.
Posted by: Black Charlie Spick8465 ||
09/02/2009 0:18 Comments ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Militants fighting in Kashmir have regularly used Bangladesh as a transit point to travel to Pakistan and have built safe havens here to shelter and train militants for terrorist operations in the region.
Detained Indian terrorist Mufti Obaidullah, a top leader of the India-based Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF), revealed this information to law enforcers in his interrogation statement, obtained by The Daily Star. ARCF works as an associate of international terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Obaidullah said that Pakistani militants crossed the Line of Control (LoC) to enter India to run terrorist operations and fight with government forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir then cross the border into Bangladesh to fly back to Pakistan.
"As it was tough to cross back to Pakistan through the India-Pakistan border, the Mujahideen would cross to Bangladesh and then left for their destinations using fake passports and visas," the statement said.
He said his student Selim and close associate Jalal helped him in this operation.
The detained Indian militant also said that he built a safe-home in Habiganj in 2002 to shelter fugitive terrorists, and recruit and train Bangladeshis to take part in terrorist attacks in Kashmir, India, Pakistan.
Obaidullah built the safe-shelter under the cover of a kindergarten named 'Noor Shah Islami Kindergarten' in Habiganj's Shayestaganj upazila.
One of LeT's operations chiefs in Bangladesh, Faisal alias Khurram Khaiyam alias Abdullah, supplied Tk 18,000 in two lots to Obaidullah to construct the house.
Intelligence sources said, however, that Obaidullah has not revealed all the details about his operations in Bangladesh since his arrival in 1995.
In his statement, Obaidullah said several other militants in Bangladesh visited his safe-home, including Moulana Mohiuddin, who he knew from the Deoband madrasa, and Harkat-ul Jihad, Bangladesh leader Mufti Abdur Rouf.
His fellow Indian LeT member Habibullah alias Mansur and Jamal, visited Srimangal twice in 2002 to rent a house for a temporary safe-home.
Later, the then ARCF chief Asif Reza ordered Habibullah and Jamal to open a training camp for Bangladeshi recruits that would also serve as a safe shelter for Pakistani and Indian mujahideens, according to Obaidullah's statement.
Obaidullah decided against opening the training camp because of security risks.
In 2005, Obaidullah met ARCF chief Amir Reza, Asif Reza's brother, at Khurram's house near the Noorani mosque in Dhaka's Goran area. There, Amir asked Obaidullah to buy a permanent safe house and provide Jihadi training to Bangladeshi recruits.
Obaidullah claims they insisted on giving him the responsibility for the camp despite his reluctance.
At the end of 2008, Khurram called him from Pakistan to press him to work harder for the organisation as demanded by his senior commanders. Khurram also told Obaidullah that he may return to Bangladesh after he (Khurram) discusses the move with "ISI and LeT high-ups."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2009 00:00 ||
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WASHINGTON - Attorney General Eric Holder warned his Scottish counterpart in June that the man convicted of blowing US-bound Pan Am Flight 103 out of the sky could get a hero's welcome if allowed to return to Libya, according to the head of a group representing the families of victims.
June, you say?
Holder's warning to Scotland's justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill, came nearly two months before the bomber, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, was released from a Scottish prison and greeted by a cheering crowd on his arrival in Libya last week.
So Holder knew of the proposed pardon back in June. Wonder if Bambi knew ...
If not, he'd be under the bus about now. One does NOT do that to the big boss.
Notes prepared ahead of Holder's June 26 conversation with MacAskill were provided to the Associated Press by Frank Duggan, president of Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 Inc. Duggan said a Justice Department official read him notes that Holder used during the conversation.
When can we see them?
Duggan also provided notes of a July 9 teleconference between MacAskill and some victims' relatives, an emotional exchange in which family members told stories of their loved ones and implored MacAskill not to return Megrahi to Libya.
Scotland has faced unrelenting criticism from both the US government and the families of American victims of the airline bombing since the decision to free Megrahi on compassionate grounds. The Scots said he was dying of prostate cancer.
Perhaps they can release the medical chart while they're at it ...
Libya's leader, Moammar Khadafy, plans to visit the United States next month when he addresses the UN. US Representative Steve Rothman said yesterday that he's been assured that Khadafy won't stay in Englewood, N.J. The Libyan government has been renovating an estate there ahead of Khadafy first US visit. But Khadafy is unwelcome in New Jersey, which lost 38 residents in the 1988 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. The attack killed 270 people.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/02/2009 00:00 ||
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Obama Admin refuses to allow release of documents:
The Scottish government told FOX News Tuesday that the U.S. government refuses to allow them to release details of any communication between Scotland and the U.S. over al-Megrahi's release.
A source with the Scottish government, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the demand was made in a letter sent Tuesday from U.S. Embassy Chief of Mission Richard LeBaron.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/02/2009 6:01 Comments ||
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#2
And that's how you know a) the story is true and b) it's damaging ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/02/2009 7:57 Comments ||
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#3
The only thing that surprises me is that Holder and Barry were not there on the tarmac waiting for him to arrive.
#4
seeing as the govt of Scotland is still disputing with the govt of UK exactly what their communications meant, I doubt whats in the US comms is any more incriminating. Probably something along the lines of "we do want to improve relations with Libya" "we recognize your right to follow your law" and "He will get a heros welcome, and releasing him is dumb" Admin is playing up the last, so Scotland wants to show they said the other things.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
09/02/2009 15:09 Comments ||
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#5
Any important communications between Brown and MacAskill were not written or emailed communications. At least I do not think that they are THAT stupid..............
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/02/2009 20:08 Comments ||
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U.S. special representative for North Korea policy Stephen Bosworth is expected to tour South Korea, Japan and China early next month.
South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported, citing an official familiar with the matter, that Bosworth will be accompanied by Sung Kim, the U.S. envoy for the six-party nuclear talks, and other U.S. officials.
The source explained the upcoming tour is aimed at fine-tuning related countries' stance regarding North Korea's peace-offering gestures of late and their negotiating terms in case Pyongyang returns to dialogue.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/02/2009 00:00 ||
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The 800 Yeonan, a South Korean fishing boat towed to North Korea in July, strayed across the Northern Limit Line in the East Sea because it lacked any GPS homing device. A government team disclosed the outcome of its investigation on Tuesday, saying the Yeonan went squid fishing without GPS and was returning to Geojin Port relying only on a compass and experience, when it failed to find the right sea route and crossed into North Korean waters.
The trawler had left Geojin Port around 1 p.m. on July 29. It made a mistake in finding the right sea route during its return voyage from the open seas 69 miles (127.8 km) east of the port. It had decided to return because there was a small school of fish there.
The Yeonan last had radio contact with the Sokcho fishing information and communications bureau to report on the appearance of a North Korean patrol boat around 6:17 a.m. on July 30. At 6:30 a.m., it was seized by the North Korean boat in waters 8 miles (14.8 km) north of the NLL, 22 miles (40.7 km) northeast of Geojin Port.
While in North Korea, the crew were reportedly intensively interrogated whether they crossed the border intentionally to spy. "North Korean officials forced Yeonan crewmembers to admit that they had intentionally entered the North with a mission to scout around North Korea" in preparation for joint South Korean-U.S. military exercises, the team said, "They were also interrogated why they had not installed the GPS device in the first place."
The crew were also reportedly threatened with referral to a kangaroo court on charges of illegal entry into North Korean waters. The crew were interrogated on their boat for two days and afterwards taken to Wonsan Port, where they were questioned for 30 minutes to an hour every day until Aug. 19. They denied spying but admitted their mistake in crossing the border and submitted handwritten statements in that regard.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/02/2009 00:00 ||
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[Kyodo: Korea] A North Korean delegation led by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il arrived in Beijing on Tuesday on a visit that China says is part of a bilateral exchange to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries this year. The North Korean delegation will meet with Chinese Foreign Ministry officials to ""exchange opinions on bilateral relations and issues concerning both parties,"" Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a regular press briefing.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2009 00:00 ||
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The final member of a Melbourne-based terrorist cell to be jailed has been sentenced to five years in prison. Shane Kent will serve a minimum term of three years and nine months.
Kent is one of nine men convicted of being a member of a terrorist organisation based in Melbourne. The 32-year-old Islamic convert helped to make a terrorism recruitment video and trained with paramilitaries in Afghanistan.
Kent was arrested in 2005 and faced a long-running trial last year. But the jury could not decide on the charges against him.
On the day his retrial was due to begin, the Campbellfield man pleaded guilty to being a member of the cell, and to making the video. A charge of providing support for Al Qaeda was dropped. With time already served, Kent could be eligible for release in about nine months.
A majority of Americans think the country isn't winning the war in Afghanistan , and an even larger majority opposes sending more troops in an effort to turn things around, according to a new McClatchy / Ipsos poll.
The survey found that 54 percent of Americans think the U.S. isn't winning the war, while 29 percent think it is winning. Another 17 percent weren't sure or had no opinion.
At the same time, 56 percent oppose sending any more combat troops to Afghanistan , while 35 percent support sending more troops. Another 9 percent had no opinion or weren't sure.
Posted by: ed ||
09/02/2009 14:50 ||
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#1
If we want to stay there until the job's done, we had better tell Americans why we are there and why we need to stay.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/02/2009 15:55 Comments ||
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#3
There are some that just want us out (see Code Pink), there are some who don't think we are fighting to win and are just putting our troops at risk (see Rules of Engagement and PO'ed conservatives). In both cases they want us out. I personally think that is short sighted as we will be back to fix the mess we left behind and more lives will be lost than if we stay and finish the job. We have Vietnam as an example for the "Run Away" reflex and it's consequences.
#4
On behalf of WWF, here in the US and around the world, we can promise you this ad does not in any way reflect the thoughts and feelings of the people of our organization.
"Those how felt so have either been shipped to Brazil or sent around the corner to Starbucks."
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
09/02/2009 8:33 Comments ||
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#5
What the miscreants who created the ad choose to ignore was the tsunami of relief sent to the world by not just the US government but the American people which dwarf the relief efforts by others [often hampered by the lack of four star accommodations for UN officials]. What other country was able to send a carrier task force to provide immediate supplies and relief to the far reaches of Indonesia. It is just another reflection of the MSM work to bury something 'good' that happened during the Bush administration. So why would anyone be surprised this is an attitude we reap for the abject bigotry of our 'media professionals'.
#6
I think I liked the WWF better when it was the World Wrestling Federation.
And yeah, what P2K said! IIRC, the first to show up to help at the tsunami in Indonesia were the United States, Australia and Singapore - capitalist infidels, all of them. And they got there long before the People of the White Land Rover.
#8
Oh, US aid doesn't count. It usually arrives via aircraft carrier. Of course, aircraft carriers have planes and helicopters to drop and deliver food, desalinization plants to produce fresh water, doctors and corpmen to treat patients, and nuclear reactors to produce power. In short, they work. Does the UN?
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
09/02/2009 21:23 Comments ||
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#9
"In short, they work. Does the UN?"
"Work" is a four-letter word, Eric.
It has no business being used in the same paragraph universe as "UN."
They're mutually exclusive.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/02/2009 21:40 Comments ||
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#10
Barbara, you are too harsh on the UN workers. They have to endure many hardships when working in the field. For example, after the tsunami, many of them had to eat at three star restaurants for days at a time.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
09/02/2009 21:49 Comments ||
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#11
I disagree - the U.N.'s 'Vampire Vulture Elite' (from the Diplomad) didn't show up until 4-star restaurant service and 24-hour (4-star) catering had been restored - and they could take all the credit for USAID without having to deal with those icky common people.
Journalists rights groups say U.S. forces may be misinterpreting legitimate journalistic activities in war zones. Taking pictures of Shi'ite militiamen battling U.S. troops, for example, might look like enemy propaganda to a U.S. soldier.
Was said cameraman embedded with the "militiamen at the time? Separately, in a war zone it would be wise for the journalist not to do things that look like the creation of enemy propaganda to a U.S. soldier, as a matter of principle.
Meanwhile, Jassam's mother, Fadhila Alwan, is waiting impatiently to welcome him back to the family home in Mahmudiya, 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, so she can see her son marry.
Which is ever so much more important than determining whether or not her son actually was creating enemy propaganda.
Six months before Jassam's arrest, another teenage son was killed by what the family says was fire from a U.S. helicopter while he was crossing a street to buy bread at a bakery.
One is sorry for her loss, of course, but sometimes one gets caught in the statistics.
Mahmudiya, in the "Triangle of Death," was a violent town, in the grip of Shi'ite militias, and gunbattles were common.
#2
If you blame the US for the death of your child, you get paid (death payments prevent blood feud, standard in Iraq).
If you blame the militia who actually shot and killed your son for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, you get no payment and might get visited again by the militia to 'adjust' you attitude about making sacrifices for Allah.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
09/02/2009 16:15 Comments ||
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The United States military is packing up to leave Iraq in what has been deemed the largest movement of manpower and equipment in modern military history - shipping out more than 1.5 million pieces of equipment from tanks to antennas alongside a force the size of a small city.
The massive operation already under way a year ahead of the August 31, 2010 deadline to remove all US combat troops from Iraq shows the US military has picked up the pace of a planned exit from Iraq that could cost billions.
The goal is to withdraw tens of thousands of troops and about 60 per cent of equipment out of Iraq by the end of next March, Brigadier General Heidi Brown, a deputy commander charged with overseeing the withdrawal, told AP.
Convoys carrying everything from armoured trucks to radios have been rolling near daily through southern Iraq to Kuwait and the western desert to Jordan since President Barack Obama announced the deadline to remove combat troops, leaving up to 50,000 troops under a US-Iraqi security agreement until the end of 2011.
First out, Brown said, will be the early withdrawal of an Army combat brigade of about 5000.
That will be followed by the Marine Corps, which has already shipped out about half of its 22,000 troops and more than 50 per cent of its equipment since May.
"In about six months or less, they will be gone," she said.
The US military also plans to shrink the contractor force from roughly 130,000 to between 50,000 and 75,000 by September 2010. Those remaining would pick up additional duties from departing troops.
The nearly 300 American bases and outposts currently remaining will shrink to 50 or less and the Al Faw Palace in Baghdad, which serves as the US military headquarters, is expected to be turned over to the Iraqis, Brown said.
The price tag for all of this has not been fully calculated by the Pentagon because it was not immediately clear how much equipment would be returned to the US, donated to the Iraqis or shipped to Afghanistan, according to officials.
However, a report to Congress this year that the withdrawal would be a "massive and expensive effort". It also estimated an additional US$12 billion ($17.5 billion) to US$13 billion a year would be needed for two years following the withdrawal for maintenance, repairs and replacement of equipment returned from Iraq.
Not since Vietnam has the US withdrawn so many troops and so much equipment with a looming deadline.
The military anticipates keeping the majority of its 130,000 combat troops currently in Iraq until nearly two months after the January 16 national elections, then rapidly drawing down troops and equipment in the weeks that follow.
#2
"That will be followed by the Marine Corps, which has already shipped out about half of its 22,000 troops and more than 50 per cent of its equipment since May."
Has Murtha informed the Okinawans?
Posted by: Black Charlie Spick8465 ||
09/02/2009 2:54 Comments ||
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#3
A large chunk of the Marines are probably headed to Afghanistan, so it's more of a lateral transfer than a pullout.
[Al Arabiya Latest] One of Iraq's main Shiite Muslim parties on Tuesday appointed the son of its leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim as his successor after his death last week, averting a potentially damaging public power struggle.
Ammar al-Hakim had been groomed for some time to take over the influential Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (ISCI) from his father, who died in Tehran where he had been receiving treatment for lung cancer. The cleric was buried over the weekend in the holy Iraqi Shiite city of Najaf.
His death cast fresh uncertainty over Iraqi politics at a time when alliances among Iraq's majority Shiites are shifting ahead of a parliamentary election in January, and when recent progress toward stability has been rocked by bomb attacks.
"Voting for Ammar al-Hakim is normal because of the symbolism of his family name and the sacrifices that the family made," said ISCI lawmaker Nabil Ismail, who said Ammar al-Hakim had been picked by the party's advisory council.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, if nepotism works for the Kennedy's it should work in Iraq. /s
Ma'an -- The government of Italy delivered 20 Piaggio X7 motorcycles and a Mitsubishi pickup truck to the Palestinian Authority tourist police on Tuesday.
The donation, coordinated by the European police training and assistance mission EUPOL COPPS, includes training on use and maintenance of the vehicles as well as fleet management. Motorcycle helmets and protective clothing will also be delivered to all the drivers.
The European mission said the consignment will significantly enhance the mobility of the Tourist Department of the Palestinian Civil Police throughout the West Bank. The tourist police previously shared just a few vehicles among its 80 staff.
The pick-up truck will provide the tourist police with the ability to reach remote tourist sites and investigate cases of trafficking in antiquities. The delivery of another three specialised vehicles for the Tourist Department is still pending, according to EUPOL COPPS.
On the occasion Italian Consul General, Luciano Pezzotti, said, in a statement, "This donation is an example of Italy's commitment to building the essential institutions of a future Palestinian state."
"In the field of security, the Tourist Police have a fundamental role in protecting the national Palestinian heritage and improving the local economy".
EUPOL COPPS Head of Mission, Chief Constable (ret.) Paul Kernaghan, added, "The twenty motorcycles provide the sort of mobility that the Tourist Department is in acute need of, particularly when negotiating the narrow roads in the centers of towns like Bethlehem.
"The vehicles will also extend the reach of the Tourist Department to the main archeological sites throughout the West Bank," he also said.
The contribution is part of an Italian donation of 1,928,000 US dollars to support the Palestinian Tourist and Traffic Police Departments which includes already-completed specialized driving courses for 50 Traffic Police and 33 Tourist Police officers.
Last month five Palestinian officers from the Tourist Police Unit completed a two-week driving training course in the University of Turin, Italy.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#1
Ah, so this is what's meant by "Cycle of Violence".
#5
Sheesh, I can't believe you guys leave it to me for the easy lay-up/slam dunk/empty net goal here: a two-week driving training course in the University of Turin, Italy.
#6
The Piaggio X7 is a scooter (I think Piaggio is the parent company of Vespa). I think it's a 250cc. So, not like they gave them a bunch of Ducatis or anything.
Ma'an -- Karen Abu Zayd, the commissioner-general of the UN agency for Palestinian Refugees, UNRWA, said on Tuesday that curriculum at UN schools in Gaza does not refer to the Jewish Holocaust.
During a news conference at the Gaza harbor Abu Zayd said, "I can refute allegations that UN school curriculum includes anything about the Holocaust. Anyone can have a look at the school books. Really we focus on human rights in curriculum."
"And the murder of six million Jews and five million-plus other undesirables like Gypsies, homosexuals, and Christian priests and ministers is not a human rights issue."
She went on to say, "Last year was the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and we found that the Palestinians were deprived of many rights." The human rights curriculum also teaches some history, she said.
Abu Zayd explained that the curriculum for these schools was written in the regional UN office in the Gaza Strip, and that it is revised by a group of editors from Palestine and from abroad.
Written by the UN. Of course.
The UN official was responding to accusations from refugee camp committees in Gaza that UNRWA was teaching a version of history to Palestinian students that "confirms the Holocaust and raises sympathy for Jews."
A dreadful thought.
In a letter to UNRWA's Gaza director John Ging on Sunday, the committees urged the refugee agency to scrap its program. "The refugee camps committees categorically refuse to let our children be taught this lie created by the Jews and intensified by their media," the committees' letter said. "First of all, [the Holocaust] is not a fact, and secondly, those who added it to the curriculum intended to mess with our children's emotions."
Holocaust denial is not uncommon in Gaza's refugee camps, where many feel marking legitimate Jewish suffering discounts the injustices done to Palestinians displaced from their homes in 1948.
Many know only what they were taught in school, from UN textbooks.
The refugee committees argued in their letter that Palestinians should be taught about the Nakba (Catastrophe), an Arabic term that refers to the forced exodus of some 750,000 refugees from their homes when Israel was established, rather than the Holocaust.
But not about the same number of Jews not given a choice about fleeing the other way. There's no word for that.
The Gaza group's letter was sent the same day that Israeli Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar told the government's cabinet that the word Nakba had been removed from all lesson plans. "It can be said with certainty that Arab Israelis experienced a tragedy in the war, but there will be no use of the word 'Nakba,' whose meaning is similar to Holocaust in this context."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2009 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] A Hamas spiritual leader on Monday called teaching Palestinian children about the Nazi murder of 6 million Jews a "war crime," rejecting a reported U.N. proposal to include the Holocaust in Gaza's school curriculum.
A senior Israeli official said such statements should make the West think twice about ending its boycott of Hamas, in place since the group seized Gaza by force in 2007.
Hamas spiritual leader Younis al-Astal lashed out after hearing that the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, the main U.N. body aiding Palestinian refugees, planned to introduce lessons about the Holocaust to Gaza students.
Adding the Holocaust to the curriculum would amount to "marketing a lie and spreading it," al-Astal wrote in a statement.
"I do not exaggerate when I say this issue is a war crime, because of how it serves the Zionist colonizers and deals with their hypocrisy and lies," he wrote.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri also objected to including what he referred to as the "so-called Holocaust" in the lesson plan. "We think it's more important to teach Palestinians the crimes of the Israeli occupation," he said.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said countries contemplating ending their boycott of Hamas must "seriously reconsider" after the Hamas statements, which he described as "obscene."
Many Palestinians are reluctant to acknowledge Jewish suffering, fearing it might diminish their own. Attitudes toward the Holocaust range from outright denial to challenging its scope.
Still, Hamas has been making overtures to the West, hoping to end a stifling blockade of Gaza. The statements about the Holocaust by senior Hamas officials could undermine the group's attempt to present itself as pragmatic.
The U.S. and Europe list Hamas as a terror group, but there have been growing calls, particularly in Europe, to talk to the militants. Hamas control of Gaza is seen as a key obstacle to any Mideast peace deal.
UNRWA provides education, health care and welfare services to more than half of Gaza's 1.4 million people. Spokesman Chris Gunness said a final decision has not been made about the Holocaust course for Gaza schools.
"While the Holocaust is currently not included on the basis of age appropriateness, all elements (of the curriculum) remain under review and under evolution," he said.
The U.N. runs 221 schools in Gaza for more than 200,000 students and is the largest independent agency in the territory, controlled by Hamas since a violent takeover in 2007. The West Bank, the other territory that is supposed to comprise a future Palestinian state, is controlled by Hamas' Western-backed rivals of the Fatah movement, led by President Mahmoud Abbas.
Three teachers at U.N. schools said that according to the new program, basic information about the Holocaust was expected to be taught to eighth grade students as part of human rights classes.
Two of the teachers said they were told about the lesson plan by colleagues involved in the new syllabus. Another teacher said he attended a recent meeting with education officials where he was told to try to teach the new syllabus without offending parents' sensibilities.
All three said they had not received the syllabus for the human rights classes yet, even though the school year began in late August. They requested anonymity because they are not allowed to speak to reporters.
Israeli officials said the statements place Hamas in a pariah club of Holocaust deniers that includes Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Some 6 million Jews were killed in the Nazi campaign to wipe out European Jewry, and the urgent need to find a sanctuary for hundreds of thousands of survivors contributed to the creation of Israel after World War II.
Many Palestinians are reluctant to acknowledge the full extent of the Holocaust because they feel it provided legitimacy for Israel's establishment. A majority of Gaza's 1.4 million people are descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven out of their homes during the 1948 Mideast war over Israel's creation.
Hamas' founding charter calls for Israel's destruction, though senior Hamas officials have recently said they would accept a Palestinian state alongside Israel as an interim stage to full Islamic control of the region.
Hamas is frequently at loggerheads with the U.N. refugee agency, which it considers the only serious challenge to its control of Gaza. Over the summer, Hamas accused the U.N. of spreading "immorality" in summer camps for children, because it offered activities such as folk dancing and crafts.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2009 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
The statements about the Holocaust by senior Hamas officials could undermine the group's attempt to present itself as pragmatic.
Nah. The European and a significant portion of the current US political classes will ignore or explain away the statements.
#2
Anyone who can deny the murders of 6 million Jews, 5 million "undesirables", plus 30 million starved to death in the Ukraine, 3 million killed in Cambodia, and dozens of other examples is an idiot. All idiots should be rounded up and forced to live on a desert island so far from other land that any attempt to leave would end in death. Such people should never be allowed to contribute to the next generation.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/02/2009 22:27 Comments ||
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Ma'an -- De facto Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Monday evening reiterated Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel repeating his famous line, "Castles will not fall, neither will they determine our attitudes by force, and we will not recognize Israel." Haniyeh's comments came during an iftar, the sundown meal breaking the Ramadan fast along with dignitaries from the eastern Gaza Strip. "The pledge between us and the Palestinian people is that we do not remiss martyrs' blood, nor Jerusalem, nor our holy land. Our prisoners will be freed for sure."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2009 00:00 ||
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[5 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Since Haniyeh says Hamass will never recognize Israel, the next step is to declare that a state of war exists between Israel and Hamass, and against anyone that supports them. Israel should then invite the civilized world to use Gaza as a live-fire bombing range.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/02/2009 22:29 Comments ||
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[Straits Times] A SUSPECT wanted in connection with hotel suicide bombings in Jakarta had infiltrated the national airline in a plot to carry out a 'bigger attack', the national police chief told MPs on Monday.
The suspect, identified only as Syahrir, had been recruited by a militant network and was working as a technician with flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, said General Bambang Hendarso Danuri.
Documents seized by police uncovered the plot to strike in Indonesia's airline sector, he said, without providing details. Syahrir had resigned from the airline, but remains at large, Gen Danuri added.
Blasts at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels on July 17 killed seven people and wounded more than 50 others, ending a four-year pause in terror attacks in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation.
Syahrir is the brother-in-law of a militant suspect shot dead by police last month in an hours-long standoff in Central Java province, Gen Danuri said.
The suspect who was shot, Ibrohim, had been working as a florist at the two hotels for years before smuggling in explosives and the bombers for the July attacks, the police said.
Gen Danuri declined to provide further information to reporters, after making his comments to Parliament's national foreign affairs and security committee.
Police are still searching for several suspects in the hotel bombings, including alleged mastermind Noordin Top, said to head a breakaway faction of the regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiah.
They are also pursuing an Al-Qaeda connection to the bombings, after confirming that a suspect in custody had been a follower of Osama bin Laden.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2009 00:00 ||
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The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) has accepted an offer by Iran to provide it with weapons produced by the Iranian defense industries, a newspaper in Lebanon reported on Wednesday. According to Al-Akhbar, the proposal was sent from the Iranian embassy in Beirut.
In their response, LAF officers said the army was in need of anti-aircraft weaponry. Israeli officials have expressed concern that the existence of such weapons in Lebanon, whether in the hands of Hizbullah or the army, would constitute a change in the strategic balance between Israel and Lebanon.
The Jerusalem Post could not independently confirm the report.
In recent years, the Lebanese army, which is one of the smallest in the region, received weapon shipments from the United States, especially during and after the 2007 crackdown its security forces launched against the Jihad Sunni group Fatah al-Islam.
The Lebanese military, in its own words, as seen on its official Web site, regards Israel as its "primary antagonist and enemy," while maintaining Hizbullah's right to "resist," despite the military's official role in ensuring that the organization does not rearm south of the Litani river.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran has prepared an updated nuclear proposal and is ready to hold negotiations with world powers, Iranian television quoted the Islamic Republic's chief nuclear negotiator as saying on Tuesday, as the United States' September deadline loomed.
"The Islamic republic's package of proposals is updated and ready and will be presented (to world powers)," Saeed Jalili, who also heads the country's Supreme National Security Council, told reporters.
"We hope a new round of talks will be held for reaching a world full of progress and justice ... inshallah (God willing)."
Press TV, Iran's English-language state television, said in a scrolling headline, without giving further detail, "Iran ready to offer new nuclear package."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2009 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Well, looks like they are very, very near having that nuke weapon they've wanted for so long. That or they are trying to give legitimacy to the mullah regime via the world stage.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's parliament resumed the third day of debates on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's proposed cabinet by expressing full support for the nominee for defense minister.
Tuesday saw lawmakers at the Majlis in downtown Tehran review the credentials of seven of the 21-member cabinet, many of them dubbed as inexperienced by some parliamentarians.
The president's choice for the Social Welfare Ministry, Fatemeh Ajorlou received harsh criticism from lawmakers, with some accusing her of copying her proposals for the ministry from books and the internet to make up for her lack of knowledge of social welfare. The 43-year-old psychology graduate hit back by saying, I wonder whether an energy minister would also need to have academic knowledge of both electricity and water to take the job.
"If psychology is not directly related to people and their welfare, then what is?" she asked.
During vetting sessions, two lawmakers can take the floor to voice opposition to a ministerial nominee, while two can defend the proposed candidate. Ajorlou's supporters on the other hand called on fellow lawmakers to consider the nominee's sacrifices and commitment to the Islamic revolution" when casting their vote of confidence or no confidence. Two of Ajorlou's brothers had been military commanders "martyred" during 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, while another one is a veteran.
Another nominee debated during the session was the president's defense minster pick. Defense minister-designate Ahmad Vahidi received overhelming support from the conservative faction of parliament.
Although some lawmakers had previously signed up to talk against Vahidi's nomination, none of them showed up. One lawmaker even interrupted Vahidi's speech to announced that he has had a change of heart, due to Zionist opposition to the minister-designate. Israel has voiced concern over Vahidi's nomination, with a Foreign Ministry spokesman saying the nomination proves that Iran's President is a person you cannot deal with." Other deputies in the assembly chanted Death to Israel in support of Vahidi.
Clever. Very, very clever.
Four other ministerial nominees appearing in Tuesday morning's session in parliament also took the floor to address the concerns of lawmakers. The proposed justice and agriculture ministers did not receive any criticism, while Health Minister designate, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi was grilled for her plans. "Certain problems in the health sector have not been included in plans presented by the proposed minister of health," the representative from the northwestern city of Khoy, Moayyed Hosseini Sadr said.
President Ahmadinejad submitted his final list of 21 candidates for the next cabinet on August 19. Nearly two-thirds of the nominees are new faces. To take office, the potential ministers will have to gain the Parliament's vote of confidence by winning the approval of the majority of the lawmakers. Majlis is scheduled to complete the vetting process and give votes of confidence or no confidence to President Ahmadinejad's 21-member Cabinet on Wednesday or Thursday.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2009 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Asharq Al-Awsat- Abbas al-Bayyati, the Unified Coalition deputy and member of [parliament's] security and defense committee, has disclosed new options toward Syria which the Iraqi Government intends to undertake following Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari's recent demand for the establishment of an international tribunal to deal with the perpetrators of the attacks in Iraq similar to the tribunal established to try the defendants in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
He stressed to Asharq Al-Awsat that "the first option is for Syria to extradite the Baath elements involved in the recent bombings who are wanted by Iraq and specific names denote their number." On the number of those involved wanted by the government, he said "the government is demanding 20 Baathists residing in Syria in addition to Muhammad Yunus al-Ahmad and Sattam Farhan for their role in financing and planning several terrorist operations in the country." Al-Bayyati added that "the second option is to resort to the Security Council to shoulder responsibility for maintaining regional security and the final option will be through Iraqi diplomacy by presenting the evidence and documents Iraq has which confirm these figures' involvement." He asserted that "Syria was not officially accused and we do not believe it is involved but are saying key Baath figures are involved in these actions." He expected "Syria's cooperation like its cooperation in controlling the borders, particularly as the chances of a settlement remain because of the government's desire to establish good relations with Syria. But we are hoping at the same time for the latter's cooperation in this."
Foreign Minister Zebari said in a joint press conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki the day before yesterday that "the issue might take some time but there is insistence on establishing this tribunal" and recalled the one the Security Council established for Al-Hariri case.
On his part, Kamal al-Saidi, a leading member of Al-Dawa Party, stressed that, by demanding an international court, the government is seeking to turn what happened into a strategic issue that is not concerned only with the recent terrorist actions but also with all that has happened in the country. He stressed to Asharq Al-Awsat that Iraq "wants to change the international opinion of the violent acts in the country into genocide crimes and crimes against humanity" and pointed out that "if Iraq succeeds in this, then it will be able to turn the case of mass killings and crimes against our people into an international case that tries all the parties and countries involved in all the terrorist bombings and actions that had taken place in the country in the past and that will take place in future." On his expectations from the mediation, Al-Saidi said "we welcome these mediations but will not go back to square one of watching our people being killed" and added that "the recent cabinet decision is historic and will be the basis for Iraq's stands from now on against those who commit crimes against the people by exposing them" and noted that "the policy of calm diplomacy is finished."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2009 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
You could always just bomb the crap out of Latakia...
[Asharq al-Aswat] Iran's new judiciary chief has called for the swift release of some protesters jailed in the aftermath of the June presidential election, newspapers on Tuesday quoted a prominent MP as saying.
"Ayatollah (Sadeq) Larijani said it is necessary to release immediately a group of detainees," said Kazem Jalali, who is the spokesman of a parliamentary panel set up to look into unrest that followed the disputed poll.
Jalali, who met Larijani on Monday, said the judiciary chief also "insisted that the defendants' trials should fully respect the penal proceedings code," the reformist Sarmayeh newspaper said.
The June 12 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparked massive street protests in Tehrean in which 4,000 people were initially arrested and at least 30 -- and by opposition accounts 69 -- people were killed.
Iran still holds hundreds of people, and has put 140, including senior reformers and journalists, on trial on charges of seeking a soft overthrow of the Islamic regime and inciting protests.
The opposition has condemned what it calls the "show trials" and says that defendants have been denied proper legal counsel and coerced into confessions.
Iranian authorities have also come under fire over allegations of rape and torture of protesters in detention.
Since his appointment last month, Larijani has reshuffled key officials in the judiciary and replaced hardline Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, who was behind the post-election mass trials.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to address this month's United Nations General Assembly meeting, an aide said on Tuesday, in what would be his first trip to the West since his disputed re-election in June.
Ahmadinejad's attendance of the annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. headquarters in New York would take place in the same month that Western powers have set as a deadline for Tehran to agree to talks on its nuclear program.
U.S. President Barack Obama, who has given Iran until September to take up an offer of talks on trade benefits if it shelves nuclear enrichment or face harsher sanctions, will speak at the same U.N. meeting on Sept. 23.
"The president's trip to New York is still on his agenda and relevant officials here in Tehran are working on the necessary preparations," Ali-Akbar Javanfekr, Ahmadinejad's media adviser, said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/02/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Last time this nutjob spoke at the UN he announced to the world that as he spoke he experienced mystical phenomena. Something about a halo of light, if I recall correctly. I wonder what he'll experience this time? Visions of dancing nukes . . . .
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.
WASHINGTON - Attorney General Eric Holder warned his Scottish counterpart in June that the man convicted of blowing US-bound Pan Am Flight 103 out of the sky could get a hero's welcome if allowed to return to Libya, according to the head of a group representing the families of victims.
Journalists rights groups say U.S. forces may be misinterpreting legitimate journalistic activities in war zones. Taking pictures of Shi'ite militiamen battling U.S. troops, for example, might look like enemy propaganda to a U.S. soldier.
Ma'an -- De facto Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Monday evening reiterated Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel repeating his famous line, "Castles will not fall, neither will they determine our attitudes by force, and we will not recognize Israel." Haniyeh's comments came during an iftar, the sundown meal breaking the Ramadan fast along with dignitaries from the eastern Gaza Strip. "The pledge between us and the Palestinian people is that we do not remiss martyrs' blood, nor Jerusalem, nor our holy land. Our prisoners will be freed for sure."
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran has prepared an updated nuclear proposal and is ready to hold negotiations with world powers, Iranian television quoted the Islamic Republic's chief nuclear negotiator as saying on Tuesday, as the United States' September deadline loomed. 
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to address this month's United Nations General Assembly meeting, an aide said on Tuesday, in what would be his first trip to the West since his disputed re-election in June.
